La Leche League Canada (LLLC) is a wonderful resource for new moms who are thinking about breastfeeding. 

LLLC has a wonderful book: The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
LLLC has some great local & FREE support groups. That you can attend before and after baby is born. 
LLLC has lots of information that is useful to moms just learning how to start or those overcoming certain challenges. 

I want for you guys to read this fact sheet put together by LLLCanada. 

A doula is a non-medical professional who supports mamas and their families through the childbearing year. She educates, accompanies, and empowers the mamas through their pregnancy and early parenthood. A doula is not a doctor, not a midwife, not a nurse. A doula should however, be able to work alongside with healthcare professionals for the benefit of the mother.

The healthcare staff has the very important job of making sure mom and baby are in good physiological health. They monitor and chart a mother's progress. They often get a pretty bad rap in the media for being pushy and ignorant to the wishes of their patients. Some of this is true, there are days when I have come across some staff members whom I have felt overstepped their bounds, took too many decisions without proper education of the patient. I would like to stress that this is only a part of the healthcare world. There are wonderful medical staff members out there. We have met and I would like to thank you on behalf of mothers.

My job, as a doula, is to keep mom educated and give her the confidence to speak up, ask questions, demand better. Your job as a mama is to be present, be engaged, and make informed decisions for your family. 
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​Tomorrow evening I am attending a workshop taught by two lovely labour and delivery nurses, both of which are wicked doulas! The workshop will have both doulas and L&D nurses in attendance, both parties looking to better understand and work with one another. It will also count for hours towards a 400-hour naturopathic doula certificate with the Montreal Doula School. 

I keep going back to this video. 
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​This is Jim Mulcahey. An english teacher at a small-town high school where I grew up. He has had his bouts of bad health and so has his whole family. He remains strong, compassionate and always a storyteller. He tells of his encounters with the healthcare system. He talks about CARE and how impersonal the hospital setting can be. "[They] treated me professionally and not personally" he says. He also tells about breaking down these professional barriers and treating patients like people. Although he encountered the healthcare system from a oncology point of view, many of the same feelings resonate for me in different departments in the hospital. 

I would like for the health care system to look at the whole person. I would like to see healthcare professionals looking into their patient's eyes. I would like to see care from one person to another. 

I feel as though this is my role in the health care system. I feel as though my role as a doula is to help mothers, and their families, to feel cared for - to feel touched. To help the person, the mother, the family.

He is right. Caring for another person is a, "sacred opportunity." He speaks the truth. I want nothing more than to share a moment with you and your family as you go into the healthcare world for your birth. You are not sick, you have no illness. I would like to hold your hand and look into your eyes as you see how powerful and wonderful you are. I want nothing more than to care for you, mama and for you baby, and for you, family. 

One of the most common questions I get from friends and expecting mamas is, "what do I need for baby?" 

Well, I have news for you. Babies need only a few things (at least for the first 6 months or so). 

• A place to sleep
• Clothes, mostly pjs
• Diapers
• Mama's milk or formula
• Love

Now, of course it's nice to have a few other items that are helpful for keeping babies clean, dry & happy. My advice is not to get too caught up in it. Many new mothers spend hours looking through Pinterest, mommy blogs, and the like to find the items which will suit her needs as a parent. It is easy to find oneself awake at 2 am (pregnancy insomnia) Googling, "Best diaper bags 2017" or, "What to pack for the hospital." (I actually have the hospital packing list covered here and here.) I know that I personally put in more hours researching a stroller than I did when purchasing a new car. ​

I chose to buy baby items with a few things in mind.

• second-hand: newborn items show little to no wear so we chose to give these items new life while saving our pocketbooks and our planet. Buy consignment, accept hand-me-downs, scour Kijiji...
• handmade: it is so lovely to look at a baby toy or blanket or sweater and think, "someone made that for my baby." 
• quality: when we did purchase baby gear new, we did our research and chose items that would last multiple children and would fit our lifestyle. Many of our baby gear items fold away or are travel sized because we started our family in a 600 sq ft. apartment. 

I say look at these lists. Why not? Look at a variety of them, from more eco-conscious sources to more mainstream and gadgety ones. Then talk to your friends who have kids, reach out on social media. I am sure that of all of these lists and recommendations, you will start to notice that everyone claims to have something that they could not live without! And that some things just don't matter as much. 

There is my rant. 

Again, through all of the advice I give moms, it comes back to the same thing:

You are the parent.
You do the best that you can for your family.