Below is a recipe for healing skin wounds I made for a friend who had been hurt in an accident. Of course, common sense disclaimer: he used this salve on his hands after a stay in the hospital, and the salve is not a substitute for medical care. But there was alot of trauma, both physical and emotional, and his closed wounds were in for a long healing period.

The Fourth Trimester and Extended Family Different cultures acknowledge the postpartum period in different ways. In the United States, postpartum is viewed as a time when the new mom is expected to quickly recover and become mobile and get back to “normal” life. The focus is on healthy pregnancy and birth and how to care for a newborn. However, the mother's physical and emotional transition receives less attention as part of the postpartum conversation in the US. Think ab

Originally posted March 12, 2014. Expectant mothers are worried about sleep deprivation once their little angel arrives. What most of...

This article reviews a 2014 research study examining lavender aromatherapy as a complementary comfort measure during childbirth. It is provided for educational purposes and does not replace individualized clinical guidance. In 2014, Maasumeh Kaviani, Faculty Member at the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran, and her team of research scholars conducted a study to see the effects of using lavender aromatherapy during childbirth on pain intensity perception, duratio

Originally posted June 26, 2013. #lifelist Birdwatching! I’m a lifelong birdwatcher. I started when I was 12, on Long Island where I...

Originally posted June 17, 2013. Mom’s voice is perfection to her baby Today I am pleased to have Matt Logan, MA, MT-BC, a board-certified...

Originally posted May 22, 2013. This is my creative arts workspace. 52 years ago, my mom, who is now 92, created this beautiful...

Originally posted January 24, 2013. #LifeWellLived Did it. Done it. BOOM. I’m joining a small group of my bloggy friends, including Yuz...

Originally posted January 21, 2013. Today’s moms have access to a large online network of social media and blogging friendships and support. But are the online relationships fulfilling and real? I interviewed several women who use social media extensively, including Facebook, Twitter and who are bloggers, who say their online friendships are very real and often become IRL relationships; the women wind up meeting each other at different events across the country. Two natu

I met Ivy at Postpartum Support International’s Conference in 2011. She had such a nice feeling about her. Her accessibility, strength, humility and intelligence were quite strongly evident. Of course I had to kindle her book when it came out. Ivy, as she says, gives us a picture of the “ordinary postpartum depression” experience. But her personal story is about so much more than postpartum depression. I had a lot of emotions as I read her personal story and learned about

Originally posted June 7, 2012. ”Positive feeling systems must be built and maintained intentionally (as part of couples therapy or...

Originally posted May 29, 2012. ”Therapeutic horticulture...provides positive distraction and attentional engagement…(which) mediates ...