N E W S

Release: Immediate
Date: September 2, 2010
Contact: Get Babied! Doula Collective: Ame Shillington doulas@getbabied.com

Man-to-Man Childbirth Prep – Austin’s First Fathers Only Class

Austin, (Texas) —The Get Babied Doula Collective is excited to bring the first ever fathers only childbirth class to Austin. Cliffs Notes for Dads sifts through what it means to be a dad in a fun, actionable dialogue filled with demonstrations, recommendations and anecdotes. Our goal is to help you be the very best husband and father you can be, while learning and having fun in the process. It’s pregnancy, labor and post-labor: for dads… by dads.

In this class, dads will learn:

* Things to do well before labor
* What to expect in the delivery room
* Dad’s role as a birth partner
* The Dad and doula relationship
* Comfort measures dads can do during labor
* Infant care 101

Cliffs Notes for Dads class will be taught by new father Leo Ramirez. Leo and his wife tried getting pregnant well before any of their friends and family did. Fortunately, and he’ll explain why in class, they were among the last to finally welcome their little one into the world! While the wait was hard, it helped him gain an immense amount of knowledge and experience living vicariously through those having babies before him. He researched everything to the nth degree and he and his wife even took a Bradley Method class once they knew their baby was on the way.

Cliffs Notes for Dads Instructor Leo Ramirez with wife Caroline and new baby Leif

There are a myriad of books you can read about the stages of your baby’s development and life, the changes your wife is going through, what labor is like and why it is that the only license you need to have a baby is a car seat! Some resources are great. Many conflict. And, almost all focus on mom and baby. But what about dads? They’re an important part of this, too!

And here’s the kicker… regardless of how ready you think you are: you have absolutely no clue what you’re in for until it finally happens! All you can do is inform, prepare and have an open mind and a heart full of love for the enormous joy being bestowed upon you.

Cliffs Notes for Dads will be offered on September 13th from 7-9pm at the Get Babied Doula Collective, 3823A Airport Blvd 78722. It will be offered again October 24th from 2-4pm, and December 6th from 7-9pm. Register online at www.getbabied.com.

Get Babied! 3823-A Airport Blvd. Austin TX 78722 (512)5-BABIED (512) 522-2243

www.getbabied.com

Hi Mamas!  Just wanted to let you know we have our next group prenatal appointment session coming up Sunday September 19th at 2:00 PM at our office.  The Get Babied! prenatal appointment is free for mamas signed up for our Get Babied! or Get Pampered! packages.  For mamas going the Get Doula’d! route, it is available as an a la carte add-on ($50).  This month it will be led by me (Ame Shillington) and Margaret Burns.

Feedback from mamas who have done this appointment with us has been very positive.  “Finally someone showed us what to do, not just what to expect!”  That’s our mission with this appointment.  It’s best for couples at or beyond 30 weeks gestation, so if you’d like to join us on Sunday, please let us know, or register online.  This appointment recurs each month, so you’re welcome to join us next month as well.  Here is a little info from our website (and also pasted below): http://www.getbabied.com/classes/group-prenatal-appointments

The appointment begins at 2:00 pm on the third Sunday of each month at our office, 3823A Airport Blvd.   The first hour of the appointment will be a private consult with your Get Babied! doula.  We will review and discuss your needs assessment form, and then will work together to create a birth plan.  The second hour is a group session including a review of breathing techniques, tutorial on positions for labor, a massage, counterpressure and comfort measures demonstration, and a labor rehearsal.  It’s our job to educate you beyond what to expect; we want to show you what to do!  The class time is followed by a circle discussion time and socializing and refreshments. We look forward to seeing you there!

Get Babied! is excited to be on the forefront of prenatal care advancement.   We will be implementing a centering model for prenatal visits and look forward to providing you with the highest level of quality care.  Register here for your group prenatal appointment.  Centering is a model of group health care, which incorporates three major components: assessment, education, and support. Group participants meet with their care provider and other group participants according to a regular schedule for a much longer period of time (usually 90-120 minutes) than a usual check-up visit. Centering promotes individual health empowerment and community-building.  For more information about the centering health care initiative, please visit www.centeringhealthcare.org

N E W S

Release: Immediate
Date: August 26, 2010
Contact: Get Babied! Doula Collective: Margaret Burns doulas@getbabied.com
MamaCents: Chris Twing ctwing@mamacents.com

Austin,(Texas) —The Get Babied Doula Collective will have their entire staff of experienced doulas on-hand to offer massages to pregnant moms who will be shopping at the MamaCents consignment sale at Palmer Auditorium on September 17th.  Pregnant moms are invited to an exclusive VIP (Very Important Preggers) presale on Friday evening before the main sale starts on Saturday.

This is one sale where moms will not need to shop till they drop!  Moms are invited to take a break from the shopping madness to join the doulas at the Get Babied table for a free hand or foot massage. This is your chance to get pampered, part of what the Get Babied Doula Collective is all about.

The doulas from the collective will also be there to answer questions about what they do as doulas.  In short, a doula is a childbirth assistant that provides continuous emotional, physical, and informational support throughout labor and delivery, and helps with initial breastfeeding. The doulas at Get Babied also provide extensive prenatal assistance, pregnancy and postpartum massage, lactation consultation and many classes.  Highlights of a doula’s job include providing comfort measures for moms in active labor including massage, acupressure, heat compresses, and focused breath work. Doulas stay by the mother’s side throughout her labor. She is there to answer any questions the mother may have about medical procedures and to advocate for the birth the mother wants. The Get Babied ladies are all mamas themselves and are experts in pregnancy and childbirth.

The MamaCents consignment sale at the Palmer Auditorium begins September 17th and is the largest and most established consignment sale in central Texas.  Register online at www.mamacents.com in order to attend the exclusive presale.

The Get Babied Doula Collective (www.getbabied.com) is co-hosting the VIP presale for pregnant moms only on Friday night. Download a Get Babied registry shopping list of must-have items from their website in the docs section and bring it to shop some amazing deals on gently used baby clothes, gear, & more.

Join us August 30th at 7:00 pm at our office at 3823A Airport Blvd for our monthly Meet the Doulas Night.

At 7:00 we will kick it off by having guests Van & Greer share the story of the birth of their baby Storey with the assistance of Amy N’s doula skills.  You can read Storey’s story here, and see a video of Van mastering the squat bar.

At 7:15 Jennifer Murray, owner of Austin Babyproofing, will share some tips and strategies for making your home baby safe.  She will also bring some of the latest babyproofing products for you to examine.  Austin Babyproofing offers in home safety evaluations, product sales and professional installation services.  You can learn more at www.austinbabyproofing.com.

At 7:30 we’ll give a short presentation summarizing an overview of our services, as well as touching on what you might expect at a Get Babied! doula assisted birth.

At 8:00 we’ll break for some tea and snacks.  This is our opportunity to talk with you one-on-one about your goals for your birth.  We also want to check in with you since last month to see what is happening in your pregnancy.  We consider this more like a free prenatal appointment with snacks and entertainment.  We’d like you to meet and get to know each of us, so be sure to make the rounds to come say hi to all of us.  Finally, you’ll have our ear for any other questions or concerns you might have with your pregnancy, labor, delivery or postpartum care.

If you are a returning friend – you’re welcome to start your mingling and visiting with doulas at 7:30 (so you don’t have to endure another presentation) but we always love to have you for the whole evening (so you can hear the lovely birth stories and bone up on the latest pregnancy and infant topics).

We look forward to seeing you there!

Join us July 26th at 7:00 pm at our office at 3823A Airport Blvd for our monthly Meet the Doulas Night.

At 7:00 we will kick it off by summarizing an overview of our services, as well as touching on what you might expect at a Get Babied! doula assisted birth.
Stick around for another exciting birth story at 7:15, another sweet baby born with the assistance of Get Babied! Doulas.  Caroline, Leo and newest family member Leif will be by to share their birth story with us.  You can see some videos of Caroline’s labor on our blog, she was kind enough to allow us to post a few clips -http://www.getbabied.com/2010-06-28/what-do-we-actually-do-watch-us

At 7:30 Lisa Young from Austin Prenatal Yoga will be discussing “How prenatal yoga can prepare you for labor & birth”.  Learn more about Lisa’s yoga practice on her website, http://www.austinprenatalyoga.com

At 8:00 we’ll break for some tea and snacks.  This is our opportunity to talk with you one-on-one about your goals for your birth.  We also want to check in with you since last month to see what is happening in your pregnancy.  We consider this more like a free prenatal appointment with snacks and entertainment.  We’d like you to meet and get to know each of us, so be sure to make the rounds to come say hi to all of us.  Finally, you’ll have our ear for any other questions or concerns you might have with your pregnancy, labor, delivery or postpartum care.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Hi Mamas!  Just wanted to let you know we have a group prenatal appointment session coming up this Sunday July 18 at 2:00 PM.  The Get Babied! prenatal appointment is free for mamas signed up for our Get Babied! or Get Pampered! packages.  For mamas going the Get Doula’d! route, it is available as an a la carte add-on ($50).  This month it will be led by Janet Jones and Amy Nevland.

Feedback from mamas who have done this appointment with us has been very positive.  “Finally someone showed us what to do, not just what to expect!”  That’s our mission with this appointment.  It’s best for couples at or beyond 30 weeks gestation, so if you’d like to join us on Sunday, please let us know, or register online.  This appointment recurs each month, so you’re welcome to join us next month as well.  Here is a little info from our website (and also pasted below): http://www.getbabied.com/classes/group-prenatal-appointments

Get Babied! is excited to be on the forefront of prenatal care advancement.   We will be implementing a centering model for prenatal visits and look forward to providing you with the highest level of quality care.  Register here for your group prenatal appointment.

The appointment begins at 2:00 pm on the third Sunday of each month at our office, 3823A Airport Blvd.   The first hour of the appointment will be a private consult with your Get Babied! doula.  We will review and discuss your needs assessment form, and then will work together to create a birth plan.  The second hour is a group session including a review of breathing techniques, tutorial on positions for labor, a massage, counterpressure and comfort measures demonstration, and a labor rehearsal.  It’s our job to educate you beyond what to expect; we want to show you what to do!  The class time is followed by a circle discussion time and socializing and refreshments. We look forward to seeing you there!

Centering is a model of group health care, which incorporates three major components: assessment, education, and support. Group participants meet with their care provider and other group participants according to a regular schedule for a much longer period of time (usually 90-120 minutes) than a usual check-up visit. Centering promotes individual health empowerment and community-building.  For more information about the centering health care initiative, please visit www.centeringhealthcare.org

We’re growing.  And we’re adding some apprentice doulas to our team.

The natural fit for the interim is to have other members of our practice fill in the gap while we interview and hire new doulas.  Amy Nevland is our childbirth class instructor.  She is DONA trained, and is an apprentice doula, she needs only one more birth to become a certified doula.  Janet Jones is our resident Lactation consultant.  Janet also has DONA training, and has done all of the requirements with the exception of the required births for certification.  Both of these mamas have two children of their own, have attended many births, and are skilled and compassionate in their roles as doulas.

But because they are not certified – they are offering their services to our collective at a discounted rate.  Amy and Janet will be attending births to clients who are open to a more junior doula, for a 50% discount from our $299 standard doula package.  If you are open to having Janet or Amy attend your birth, you will be charged $150 for the service (or refunded $150 if you have already paid in full).  For the upper two packages the package price will be discounted $150 if you’d prefer Janet or Amy at your birth.

As an aside – we’ve also decided to change our refund policy – if you decide that you do not need a doula at any time before we arrive at your labor, we are going to refund the entire doula fee ($299) – this changes from the $250 we have recently offered.  It is our continued policy to provide the best doula care we can in and out of the delivery room, so we want you to be 100% comfortable in signing up with us, and 100% comfortable that if you change your mind at any time you won’t be financially penalized.  I’m not sure of any other doula in town that offers a flexible policy like this so we want to be the best. 

We have a guest speaker for our March “Meet the Doulas Night”!  Melissa Light from Light Family Acupuncture will be talking about acupuncture for pregnancy, birth and postpartum.  She will also be giving away 1 free acupuncture session (up to $75 value) to one of our guests!

We will also be reviewing our services, answering questions and one of our past clients will be sharing her testimonial.

Come join us at East-West Family Health Center (2502 Manor Road) on March 29th at 7p.

We look forward to meeting you!!

N E W S

Release:     Immediate

Date:           March 18, 2010

Contact:      Get Babied!: Ame Shillington doulas@getbabied.com, MamaCents: teresa@mamacents.com

Baby registry list in hand; free, experienced personal shopper on arm

Austin, (Texas) — Shopping for a new baby can be an expensive, exhausting and overwhelming experience.  According to CNN Money, the typical new mom and dad spend $6,200 outfitting their baby in the first year, from cribs and car seats to clothing and formula.  In a tight economy, there are ways to save a buck, and buying baby registry items gently used from a consignment sale is one savvy way to go about it.

MamaCents (www.mamacents.com) consignment sale at the Palmer Auditorium in Austin starting March 26^th is the largest and most established consignment sale in Central Texas.  And this year it takes on an even more essential role in prepping for baby by providing personal shopping services to first time moms.

As part of the consignment sale, the Get Babied! Doula Collective (www.getbabied.com) is co-hosting the “Very Important Preggers” baby shower this year; and as part of the shower they are helping moms become even more efficient in outfitting their nurseries.  They have created an inclusive list of items, and are helping moms to navigate the more than 30,000 items to fulfill their list requirements.  In addition to being experts on pregnancy and childbirth, the Get Babied! Doulas are moms themselves, and can offer candid advice on if their escorts ‘really’ need that name brand luxury glider or if the knock-off is just as good; which breast pump gets the best reviews from lactation experts; and how many onesies a baby actually needs.

Can’t make it to the sale?  Email the Get Babied! Doulas (doulas@getbabied.com) for a copy of the list so you can still be sure you still get everything you need.

Get Babied! 3823-A Airport Blvd. Austin TX 78722   (661)-DOULA-61

www.getbabied.com