Birthing A New Mother Course

It provides pregnant and new mothers with a blueprint for bringing healing consciousness to pregnancy and birth, thus promoting optimal health and happiness for all concerned.

Dr. Christiane Northrup, author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

I love how it’s structured by trimester, because I always feel like I have some place to go that will point me in the right direction for that particular stage. I’m so grateful to you for writing it! I was thinking just a few days ago, “I wonder if new baby love is a lot like falling into romantic love?” I was feeling a little guilty, honestly, because I don’t really feel connected to my baby yet… it still feels like an idea, not reality. But then I thought about what love would look like and thought it would probably be really intense when I need it (to get me through 2am feedings and the like), and then start to change as my child grows up and starts asserting their own voice, will and personality. And honestly that part is more exciting to me than anything. It was really good to be able to release needing to feel a certain level of excitement or love, and realize I’ll feel what I need to feel along the way…good or bad…and work on loving my child, just like any other relationship I have. I can’t tell you how grateful I’ve been to learn how to feel hard things and grieve even in the midst of good things. It’s invaluable! 

Sarah, St. Louis, MO

When I first became a mother, I was truly clueless. I did not anticipate motherhood to be so terrifying, and so lonely. I was sure that no one felt like I did. The fears and seclusion of a new mother are simply things our society never discuss. I thought I was so prepared to be a mother! I had read EVERYTHING on pregnancy, labor, and infant care. I only had images of a cooing, healthy, happy baby, and myself all aglow in some kind of lactational bliss. I had no idea how truly paralyzed I would become.

Sheryl helped me transform my feelings. She held my hand as I mourned the passing of my old life, my freedom, my identity, and then helped usher me into my new world. Through our discussions, I found that my original, creative self still lived deep inside the exhausted new me. Eventually, I found the new me was actually just a new version of my old self – with more sadness, more joy, and certainly more wisdom. I was no longer a stranger to myself, and gradually this new world settled. I am so grateful for Sheryl’s gentle guidance.

Sarah, Los Angeles, CA

I discovered Sheryl and her work in Conscious Transitions at just the right time – weeks after my daughter was born. I remember having little to no time for much other than infant care and barely tending to my own basic needs, but craving and so happy to find such solace and support in her website as an outlet for self-reflection on this new wild experience.

I remember spending my very rare, but precious alone time chewing on all the great information on her website about the transition of motherhood, how to stay conscious, how to be in the fog of all the day to day, yet still be present with the joy and wonder of this amazing experience, embracing the present.

As a late-30s new mom, I had the experience of hearing others along the way speak of the post-partum and first year of motherhood as something that was very negative or ‘hellish’. I always found this kind of sad and all I knew was that was not how I wanted to look back on this very special phase of my life as–no matter how hard the newborn care would be! It didn’t fit with my ‘yogi-mentality’ of staying present (or at least attempting to) with experiences, feeling it all and being aware of what life is offering–good or bad moments alike. Sheryl’s work helped me stay true to that part of me.

Also, motherhood being so overwhelming at times, it can be easy to get ahead of oneself which can cultivate unwanted anxiety. Sheryl’s work has also been helpful in reminding me of the collective of motherhood–how not alone we are and remembering we are all in this together. The “one day at a time” is the only approach. This has alleviated a lot of anxiety for me.

In speaking with Sheryl in sessions I have found it enormously helpful having a safe place to talk about all the changes (and there are a lot of them with a new baby) while receiving great advice on how to work with these emotions during this transition. I have and will continue to recommend Sheryl’s site and her services in helping navigate life’s transitions.

M. Nelson, Boston, MA

I found Sheryl’s work when I was pregnant with my twins. I was looking for someone, or somewhere, online where I could share my feelings about my pregnancy. I was part of an IVF support group for mothers who were expecting twins but I found myself feeling very alienated emotionally from the other women there. I didn’t feel able to “focus on the good”. Somehow that didn’t feel right for me. I was full of ambivalent feelings about giving up work. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to connect to my babies and I felt that I needed to honour the negative in how I was feeling because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be being honest.
“Sheryl’s work immediately made sense to me. I felt safe finally to let my guard down and talk about the fears I had. I loved working through her e-course. Listening to the midwife interview was especially useful for me. I could feel myself at my closest to my animal-self during my pregnancy. I felt the cocoon of pregnancy all around me and it was wonderful to know that the stages of my experience had already been mapped out and discussed by other women. I needed that introspective path and it was a tremendous help to me to have a course that gave me the permission to accept my feelings, whatever they were, and not judge myself.

When it came to giving birth I had a very traumatic experience as I had an emergency C-section and came close to death. I know that the work I did in my pregnancy helped guide me through the horror of the birth. I couldn’t bond with my children the day they were born, and the pain of that and the fear I had of not being able to bond at all with them was overwhelming. I was broken open by my twins’ birth and yet I did recover from that very quickly. I was able to recover because I’d already paved the way emotionally during my pregnancy. I’d prepared myself as best I could by embracing my difficult feelings.

I think it’s a wonderfully wise course. It’s gentle and yet it’s very powerful. Somehow, the process itself of pregnancy and the surrender that happens during that precious time is embedded in the way the course is presented. It’s a heartfelt guide into the experience of preparing to become a mother, and now that I am a mother I feel the benefit of coming to know myself early on in the process. I am sure that is the reason I didn’t suffer from post-natal depression and the reason that I was able to cope with the setbacks I had during the birth.

Christine, London

I also wanted to say I really admire the way you have skillfully and appropriately you shared yourself and your own story. It reminds me how incredibly important story and vulnerability are. 

Elise, Australia