Knowledge is power....and sometimes life-saving!

Greetings,

I believe what separates success in most situations is knowledge. Knowing what to do, when to do and how to operate. And when it comes to pregnancy and parenthood, learning as much as you can is a gift you can give your children.

As I mentioned in the blog that talks about Natural Crowning's purpose, access to information is key. The classes I took played a key role in my great pregnancy experience and help prepare me for motherhood. And I even bonded with the health educators and other moms. They were very much interested in my journey.  During discussion it was evident how one mother was able to save her baby's life with the information she gleaned. So I'm sharing the wealth! Below is the list of classes I took at the Eisner Pediatric Medical Center in Los Angeles. All of them are free except for the Hydrotherapy Class.  You do not have to be a patient to attend, but for some of the classes you need to rsvp. Most classes have food and sometimes offer gifts. (Below I offer tips for my readers outside of California)

http://www.eisnerhealth.org/

Lamaze 1 & 2

Healthy Nutrition & Fetal Development

Prenatal Exercises

Baby Basics

Postpartum Care

The Birth of Your Child

Breastfeeding

Hydrotherapy (cost)

And here's the bonus. They implemented for the first time a Daddy's Boot Camp class which my husband attended! Sir was so engaged in the class, they asked him to come back as a speaker, along with our baby Empress. I encourage Dads to attend. And just so you know, the wives are banned so it's men only. The Dads received organic baby carriers, t-shirts and a reference Daddy book.

Yoga classes at Yoga West, http://www.yogawestla.com/

Pregnancy Goddess Yoga with Khefri

Prenatal Yoga with Sada

These classes were uplifting, therapeutic and I connected with my baby in an unique way. I also bonded with the other moms and learned about their culture and traditions.

There are other classes in the LA area, I just listed the ones I had a great experience with. I was originally with Cedars and they offer classes for a fee, however when I switched to the midwifery team at Eisner, I just decided to go to their classes.

And here's some tips no matter which state you live to find great classes.

Ask your ob-gyn/mid-wIfe if they offer classes.

Check with your church, YWCA/YMCA or community groups that you belong to.

Check with your health insurance. I was surprised to learn mine health insurance offer classes.

As always, do your research and enjoy being a student for your baby!

P.S. If you enjoyed this content and would like more in detail, please become one of my supporters at https://www.patreon.com/Regena. It can cost as little as $1 a month.

With Love & Light,

Regena

Natural Crowning's Purpose-2nd Dimension

Congratulations Mamas and Daddies too!

         Welcome to the Natural Crowning blog. Chances are if you reading this, you're an expectant mama, budding parent or have decided you want to have a child, in either circumstance, congrats!! By reading this blog, you're taking the time to invest in knowledge that will assist you on your journey.

So here's the purpose of this blog...

Filled with gratitude and excitement, I learned I was pregnant in April 2016.  As I brimmed with a desire to have a safe and natural birth,  I soon realized there was a lot of conflicting information about pregnancy, rigid health insurance policies and unfortunately a capitalistic approach to birth. Meaning I felt some some doctors were more interested in how much money they could make from each patient versus a strong focus on the health of the mama and baby.  

Disheartened, I was determined to have a pleasant experience and healthy baby. I did lots of Google searches, read books, talked to some of my out of state friends who were already mothers. At the time I had only lived in LA for two years  so I didn't have any friends who were moms. And being in the entertainment industry, most of my colleagues were actors or writers without children. To complicate matters, my ob-gyn touched me inappropriately with the ultrasound handle so it was time to switch doctors. Shocking isn't it?.  My doctor was at a prestigious hospital but hey it doesn't matter if you're not treated well (that's another blog).

Divinely, I was serving at a charity event along with a group of soccer moms and one of them suggested I find a pregnancy support group. Great idea. So I did an internet search and many of the pregnancy groups info was outdated or the locations were an hour away. What kept popping up the most was pre-natal yoga. Ironically an awesome pre-natal class took place right down the street from my home at Yoga West in Beverly Hills. On my first day, during the introductions, the yoga instructor asked me where was I giving birth? She sensed it wasn't a good fit for me and she was correct. After class, she gave me a couple of doctors/options and as a result I switched to the midwifery team at Eisner Pediatric Medical Center.   This changed the trajectory of my pregnancy journey which led to great medical care, a series of free classes, two doulas, plenty of gifts, a baby shower and a beautiful healthy baby girl Empress born naturally! Eisner even had the right pediatrician for Empress. Wow! The experience was amazing. I ascertained my yoga instructor is a connoisseur of information. Eisner is a medical powerhouse. This made me realize that having access to information is key, and in some situations life-saving.

       I vowed to give back and the opportunity came sooner than expected. During my pregnancy journey, I was dubbed a champion mama and expectant mamas would ask me questions. And after dilating from 3 to 10 centimeters in thirty minutes and giving birth to Empress,  a multitude of women and their husbands asked me to share my insight. Eager to share my passion and the course of events gave birth to Natural Crowning. So allow me to be your connoisseur of information and online coach to help you navigate through this exciting journey. It's a blessing for me to be of service and I will be cheering you along for a wonderful birth and parenthood.

Sending you love and light,

Regena

My Glorious Pregnancy Photoshoot!

Greetings Beloveds!

As you may already know I'm sharing highlights of my amazing pregnancy to motherhood journey! It's been three weeks since I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl Empress!!

One of the heartwarming memory includes having a glorious photo shoot with the talented Heidi of Heidi Marie Photography! Heidi is very passionate about her artistry and she selected Arlington Garden as the location to capture the images. She suggested I look at Pinterest for some ideas and I saw a couple of photos that I liked, however I already had some ideas in mind for the photos featuring myself, hubby and baby in womb. Heidi scouted the beautiful Arlington Garden for the location. After I reviewed the photos, I agreed the garden would serve as the perfect backdrop.

After the date was confirmed, I spoke with my favorite designer Afua Sam, owner of Global Fashion House Studio D'Maxsi about how excited I was about my upcoming photo shoot and she offered to to sponsor my outfits. In fact she shipped about ten outfits including gowns for me to choose from. I was so humbled by her generosity! Before I received the clothing Afua already mentioned which pieces she thought would work best. Upon trying on her immaculate outfits (Afua was right), I selected two flowing gowns-- an ivory gown and a pink gown. Both had accompanying shawls.

The image making  day had arrived and hubby and I were excited. The day was extremely hot so we were glad the photo shoot would take place at 4pm. Heidi and her husband Mark were very accommodating. We first took pictures sitting down which evolved into a myriad of pictures in the garden, on the grass, the atrium, laying down and even near a cactus! Husband had a great idea of taking photos of us looking off into the sunset as if we were an elderly married could reflecting on our years of marriage.

As a bonus, Heidi gave us cards to write our wishes for Empress to tie on the wishing tree. The moment was very heartfelt! And as a double bonus baby Empress let me get through the photo shoot without any cravings for food. All throughout my pregnancy, I've had food cravings every hour on the hour, however I think baby Empress wanted me to get through the photo shoot because she was enjoying her modeling time. I had a vision of her posing in my womb. And as soon as we finished the photo shoot, packed our clothing in the car, the food cravings had begun! I was right, Empress held off eating until the photo shoot was over, the character of a supermodel in the making! Until we connect again...

Be loving, be natural, be empowered!

Regena

Check out the link to a video highlight from the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pAcYizo_rI

P.S. If you enjoyed this content and would like more in detail, please become one of my supporters at https://www.patreon.com/Regena. It can cost as little as $1 a month.

Reflective

Proud parents of Empress!

P.S. If you enjoyed this content and would like more in detail, please become one of my supporters at https://www.patreon.com/Regena. It can cost as little as $1 a month.

Pregnancy Goddess Yoga!

Greetings,

     Without equivocation, a highlight of my pregnancy included attended weekly pre-natal Pregnancy Goddess classes at Yoga West in Beverly Hills! I vowed to develop a champion health and wellness regime so yoga fit into my goal. 

     I did my research on yoga studios in LA and decided to attend Yoga West. I made the right decision because the first yoga instructor I encountered was Sada. During introductions, Sada sensed immediately I needed to change doctors/hospital to an environment that would be more supportive of a first time mom. By offering such advice, Sada enhanced the trajectory of my pregnancy experience by matching me with Eisner Medical Family Center with delivery at California Hospital. The Eisner Clinic offered a team of mid-wives to low risk pregnant mamas and they have an amazing educational health program with compassionate health educators. I took a series of classes which included Breastfeeding, Nutrition, Prenatal exercises, Lamanze classes, Birth of Your Child and the Hydrotherapy Water Immersion class. One of the health educators suggested I look into having a water birth at California Hospital so I attended the class. And as a bonus, Eisner offer incentive gifts to complete classes, keep certain appointments and they gave patients a glorious baby shower with plenty of gifts.

     On the medical side with the mid-wives, they immediately reviewed my chart and classified me as low risk. It's ironic, what my doctor at Cedars Sinai considered high-risk, my scoliosis, actually is a blessing in disguise. During my major spinal fusion, the surgeon inserted two steel rods to halt my scoliosis which would later protect me during my pregnancy, for I experienced *no* back pain. God had a plan! My steel rods would protect me and my baby well.

In retrospect, Sada served as an angel to direct me to the medical center I needed to be. And her classes were filled with life saving breathing techniques, yoga moves and wisdom. From Sada, I learned to keep my head and shoulders down and breathe. During my painful contractions, I remembered what I learned which help get me through the contractions. Sada also empowered the mammas in the class to think about the type of woman/mama they would like to be in life. I learned to focused on what I could change and the decisions I needed to make to have a successful pregnancy, birth and beyond!

My second instructor at Yoga West, Khefri proved to be a a sexy Pregnancy Goddess! Khefri created a warm and loving atmosphere which consisted of meditation and resting the first 15 minutes of class, wisdom sharing and aeronautical yoga moves. Khefri was very impressed that I was planning to have a water birth and she mentioned I was very confident in my vision of have a wonderful birth. 

And the feeling was mutual. I was very impressed with Khefri as a woman, Goddess and yoga instructor. She is very into touch with her sexuality and power of experiencing life as a daughter of the she. Her yoga moves were very relaxing, productive and were even life saving. During my labor, I did  the yoga move "hip swaying" which helped me to stay active and keep my heart rate up. My first piece of advice to all expectant moms includes staying active, move around and don't lay on your back (I will go into detail in another blog). During class we also learned about other cultures from a guest doula and from some of the mamas from various countries. 

I didn't know being pregnant would expand my circle of influence and place me in a warm and loving yoga community. Yoga West is in the center of a Jewish community filled with uniqueness. I I learned of the myriad of resources in the LA birthing community, made connections with some of the other mamas and even attended a separate gathering.

I'm forever grateful to have step foot in Yoga West because it changed my pregnancy path as I walked towards my destiny! I remember saying a prayer about an hour before I attended my first class. As result, I reaped a mid-wife and educational team, quality health care for myself and my baby, a series of classes, gifts, heartwarming memories and close knit connections. If you're expecting or know someone who is, I encourage you to research yoga studios and take a class...it may turn out to be a wonderful experience for you as well. Check out the link for the preview video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEAtioTINi8

Be loving, be natural, be empowered!

Regena

P.S. If you enjoyed this content and would like more in detail, please become one of my supporters at https://www.patreon.com/Regena. It can cost as little as $1 a month.