Just before I got pregnant with my first, a group of friends was sharing their birth stories–or should I say, birth traumas.

I remember thinking, Wow, this is making me never want to have kids…

At the same time, one friend came up to me and literally whispered, “It doesn’t have to be that way.”

And that changed everything.

It doesn’t have to be that way became my mantra of sorts for everything from the “pregnant waddle” (um, yeah, that’s actually not good for you!) to days-long labor to barely scraping through postpartum recovery (and I don’t just mean in that first year!).

I heard stories of friends and family members who were peeing when they sneezed, or still looked pregnant years after having a baby, or who felt like their insides were falling out through their vaginas, or who had horribly traumatic birth experiences because of careless providers.

And everything was just kind of treated with a shrug of, “That’s the price we pay for our babies.” Or–my personal least favorite– “All I want is a healthy baby.” (Um…we all want healthy babies!)

It doesn’t have to be that way.

As I entered into motherhood, I unknowingly believed the lie that if I just bought this program or listened to that voice that my baby would sleep through the night or never be a picky eater or that he’d successfully poop on the potty before he’s 2.

And then when those “guaranteed” methods didn’t work, where did that leave me? At one point, I concluded I was the problem, the failure, the issue.

Thankfully in time I came to understand the double-edged sword that is the Information Age we’re living in. It’s beautiful to have so many answers readily available to us, but what’s equally ugly is this lie that there IS an answer for everything–a right way to mother your children.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

I wished there was a resource that moms could use to, yes, get expert advice–but not at the cost of cultivating their own intuition.

I wished there was a safe place moms could go to ask other moms for insight and advice.

I wished I could use the powerful tools of yoga and education to show moms that pregnancy and postpartum didn’t have to “break” their bodies forever.

And that’s where Birth & Beyond was born.

In that space of wanting more for moms.

In that place of reminding moms that we deserve the best, and that self-care is not selfish.

So if you want to feel great during your pregnancy, have a positive birth, and thrive (not just survive!) in that first year of motherhood, Birth & Beyond is for you. Check it out here.