Happy Birth~Day Mama Giveaway!

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It’s time to honor mothers!

We have amazing giveaways all week long leading up to Mother’s Day with all sorts of mama and baby resources for you! Scroll all the way to the bottom to enter both of these amazing giveaways!
And we have a Zulily maternity store gift certificate worth $100 – partnered with an Ultimate Homemaker’s Resource Library of 97 books {exclusive}!

Package #1

We are very excited to bless an expectant mother with a $100 gift certificate to Zulily Maternity & 1 Ultimate Homemaker Ebook Bundle {which is no longer for sale}!

To see what is included in the Ultimate Homemaker Bundle visit one of my last posts here or here.
 

~The Zulily Gift certificate generously brought to you by the bloggers below.~
Happy Birth-Day Mama
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Package #2

 

This giveaway package has it all! Something for any mom, whether this is your first baby or your tenth!

mama giveaway Lisa Jacobson of Club 31 Women donated her book How Did God Make Me?

Boys and girls love to know that they are special, and nothing instills a sense of uniqueness like the knowledge that they were known and loved before birth. Help your child develop feelings of understanding and closeness with the God who is intimately involved in our lives — even before we are born!

HDGMM The Mission-Minded Child is a practical book to encourage Christian parents and teachers placed in the strategic position of impacting the next generation.

As a guide to world missions, The Mission-Minded Child is filled with facts, information, and tools for teaching. It focuses on the “why” of missions–including our Biblical basis, historical heritage, and the world’s need–and contains over 25 mini-missionary biographies, motivational mission stories, classic poems, hymns, and hundreds of easy-to-use ideas. The Mission-Minded Child will inspire teachers and parents to look for God’s potential in their child, “release” their little one to God for His purposes, and “raise” their child to fulfill God’s specific mission, whatever that might be. As a resource tool, this book will be referred to again and again.

The Mission-Minded Child Heidi St. John donated her eBook The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance. Heidi blogs at The Busy Mom.

Homeschooling offers parents the best opportunity to shepherd their children both academically and spiritually. Yes. It’s worth it. But do you ever feel as if your life is “all homeschool—all the time?” Do you ever wonder where the girl your husband married went? This book is for every mom who has collapsed into bed at the end of the day, looked into the eyes of her husband and promised “tomorrow” she’d have time for him.Trouble is, tomorrow finds her more exhausted than the day before. If you have ever felt caught between the demands of homeschooling your children and meeting the needs of your husband, you’re not alone. Read and discover how even a busy homeschool mom can make time to nurture her marriage. It’s not as hard as you think—and more important than you may realize.

romance Shoshanna Easling, owner of Bulk Herb Store donated their Making Babies set that includes the book and 3 DVDs.

Making Babies is a fun, informational, artistic, and colorful pregnancy book. Follow Shoshanna through her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter as she stays healthy and builds a baby. The book covers information that is in the DVDs volumes 1, 2, and 3, includes many deliciously healthy recipes, wonderful gluten-free recipes, grandma’s remedies, herbal concoctions, and need-to-know facts, and is packed with research about fertility, conception, morning sickness, pregnancy, birth, nursing, postpartum issues, losing weight, and more!

Source: Laura Newman Photography Source: Laura Newman PhotographyBlessings God’s Way donated A Celebration of Pregnancy DVD Combo {DVD + Guide}

This set enables you to feel confident and sure about hosting a Blessing God’s Way gathering in your community! This DVD is 30 minutes long . Watch this prior to hosting your own gathering or pass it on, along with the book, to friends and family that you can share our message with. What a blessing to know there is a God-centered instructional DVD and book for celebrating birth! May God be glorified!

  The Joyful Giraffe donated one large snack bag and one large sandwich bag.

These are two great reusable products that will save you money and are eco-friendly too!Both have a waterproof lining on the inside and a zipper closure, so whether it has grapes or a sandwich, all messes are contained! Bags are handmade by a work at home mom.

joyful giraffe Angie of Leaving a Legacy is donating a signed Redeeming Childbirth Package {Book & Growth & Study Guide}.

Childbirth is more than an event that makes a woman a mother. This journey was designed to be a spiritual milestone that draws every woman’s heart back to the only Deliverer.

rc Bethany Learn of Fit to Be Usis donating a 6 Month Membership to her online exercise site.

Fit to Be Us films and streams workout routines that are fun, easy to access and non-threatening. We specialize in diastasis-aware and tummy safe moves!
Mission

Our mission is to make fitness safe, fun and accessible without intimidating you. We want to bring our living rooms to yours, inviting you into an intimate view of holistic wellness.

 

Company Overview

We are an online fitness studio featuring wholesome home workout videos that you watch on the web. We specialize in workouts that are safe and inspiring for those dealing with low back pain, diastasis, disabilities, stress incontinence, busy schedules, crazy kids, and more! No boot camps or x-rated stuff here. Just family friendly fitness at the click of a mouse! We blend Pilates and Yoga into beautiful, high-def, high quality sessions for everyone from beginners to advanced exercisers.

 

redeemingmybody Juju Band is donating one Baby Belly Binder.

Baby belly binding has long been used in various forms by many different cultures. The ancient art of binding has been made easy and quite cute by the Juju Band. Its design is simple and made to accommodate even the busiest of parents! The Juju Band has been a family tradition for over 100 years. It is a tradition still used today in our family. We hope that you will join our family tradition and try the Juju Band on your newborns and infants. Juju Bands are used for 2 different purposes. First, it is used on the Newborn as a shield to protect from constant contact of diapers and clothing. This helps reduce the likelihood of irritation and infection. The Newborn Navel Protector also helps give your baby the perfect “innie” belly button. Second, the Infant Belly Binder helps relieve colic and soothe fussy babies. The snug fit calms and comforts even the most finicky infants.

Juju Band Jennifer Lambert of Royal Little Lambs donates a Gentle Babies book and Gentle Baby essential oil.

Combining two decades of professional knowledge with tried-and-true techniques and first-hand testimonials, the author Debra Raybern has compiled this insightful and easy-to-follow guide benefitting both experienced and first-time mothers. In addition, Gentle Babies book contains an introduction to therapeutic-grade essential oils and applications and provides safety information and a section on discerning the quality of essential oils. Every family taking proactive steps to better health should have this resource in their home library. Gentle Baby™ essential oil is a soft, fragrant combination of essential oils designed specifically for mothers and babies. It helps calm emotions during pregnancy and is useful for quieting troubled little ones. It is also soothing to tender skin. Many of the essential oils in this blend are used in elite cosmetics to enhance a youthful appearance.

Gentle BabiesGentle Baby essential oila Rafflecopter giveaway

Unbound Birth can now be purchased at the new power price of $2.99! You can find it at the Unbound Birth Store.

The Perfect Gift for Moms and Moms-To-Be!

How would it be to have instant access to a complete library of homemaking materials? I’m talking every topic from organizing and decorating your home to budgeting for groceries and planning meals. Topics like how to plan a fabulous party… then take great pictures of it with your iPhone! From working from home and how to grow your blog to homeschooling… including curriculum!

For 6 days only, more than 75 widely-known bloggers and authors in the homemaking sphere have joined together to offer 97 of their most popular eBooks and eCourses, valued at just over $600, for the incredibly low price of $29.97!

More than anything, our goal for this sale was for it to be, well… ultimate! We firmly believe that you will not find a more comprehensive collection of homemaking resources anywhere on the web, and particularly not in this price range. For this low price, you gain access to every single one of these resources, so that you can customize your own collection to contain exactly the ones you want and know you’ll use.

This library of homemaking helps include topics such as mothering, organization and cleaning, recipes and kitchen helps, home education, spiritual growth for both moms and kids, home décor and DIY, pregnancy and baby care, frugal living, health and fitness, and even work-from-home and financial tools. I’ve been reading through some of the books and I’m completely blown away by what this bundle of books (or should I call it “bundle of awesome!?!?!) contains! There are so many great books that one post cannot do them justice… there’s just no way! So… in a weak attempt to share the awesome with you and convince you that YOU NEED THIS…

Come by The Southern Institute for the entire list of books and for a chance to win a Starbucks gift card and a copy of Pursuit of Proverbs 31.

This post includes affiliate links, and I make a portion of the sale of each ebook bundle. Thanks for your support of this site!

Unbound Birth can now be purchased at the new power price of $2.99! You can find it at the Unbound Birth Store.

The Unknown and the Known.

image source

When I was pregnant with my first child I was full of excitement and hope. I didn’t give much thought to what could go wrong. My pregnancy was uneventful.  There were a few weeks of nausea, but it passed fairly quickly. My migraines disappeared, my skin glowed and stayed clear, and the world was my oyster. I gave plenty of thought to the upcoming birth.  I read books, switched to a doctor with a lower c-section rate, hired a doula and took natural childbirth classes.  My husband and I practiced our relaxation exercises at home and my best friend (who was also pregnant with her first) and I went for walks around the neighborhood.  I cut out caffeine and ate as healthfully as I could.  I never really got very nervous about the actual birth.  There wasn’t much fear factored into the equation.  I think it was because is was so unknown to me, and for some reason, since I had no idea what to really expect, I wasn’t very scared about what was coming.

Fast forward three and a half years later.  I became pregnant for the third time, after having a second pregnancy that ended with a miscarriage.  I’m not going to lie… this time there was some fear.  My first birth was a wonderful (lengthy) experience.  But on the morning that we were set to go home, the unexpected happened, and it was scary.  The doctor detected a heart murmur and while she was in the nursery and we were waiting for the cardiac consult, our precious newborn turned what is called “dusky” and was rushed to the NICU.  We weren’t told until we were walking to the nursery to check on her.  It was terrifying.  It’s a long story that stretched over three days, many tests, a round of antibiotics, and ultrasounds… all to find out that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her.  She was the only full term baby in the NICU, and the only one that was perfectly healthy and happy.  We were so thankful.

My miscarriage was the experience that instilled the most fear in this mother’s heart.  I found it so hard to get excited about my new pregnancy.  I had not finished mourning for the baby I had lost.  Joy did not come easily, and when it did it was not until a few months into the pregnancy, when the chance of miscarriage is reduced drastically.  Then that fear was quickly replaced by the fear of the known!  I had been through one natural birth and was planning for a second.  I knew what was coming.  I feared that I wouldn’t be as strong this time around and that I wouldn’t be able to do it.  I feared the pain, even though I had endured it already. I feared bringing a second child into the dynamics of our family.  How would I have enough love for two children?  How could I possibly love this baby as much as my daughter?  How would I face the challenges of mothering a newborn and a four year old?

Friends, there are so many things that we can allow ourselves to fear.  We can live in fear of the unknown or in fear of the known.  I don’t know which way you lean, or if somehow you have learned how to take everything in stride, how to not fear.  I have found that fear will paralyze you.  Fear will keep you from joy.  It will steal the everyday moments that are so precious.  It’s easy to allow it to sneak in if we leave room for it.  There is a place for fear.  There is a fear that is healthy, but not if it steals your joy or keeps you from living.

Where do you fall on the spectrum?  

How do you deal with your fears?  

I’d love to know.


Unbound Birth can now be purchased at the new power price of $2.99! You can find it at the Unbound Birth Store.