About Us at Everything Birth inc.

Everything Birth inc. is dedicated to providing products and services that support and empower women through the birthing process. We are committed to environmentally sound practices and support using cloth diapers and natural and organic baby products.

Crystal White, owner    

I am the mother of three amazing children and wife to a very supportive husband! All three were born at home with the support of family, friends, and some amazing midwives!

My first child was born in 1997, and at the time I was still contemplating grad school and what direction my career should take. The more research I did on birth, intervention, and the unbelievably high cesarean rate in the US, I knew that somehow I wanted my career to be involved with birth. I wasn’t sure what avenue I wanted to pursue(midwifery and home birth or MD/midwifery and hospital birth). Being a childbirth educator and doula are great ways to really find out where your passion and skills lie. In 1998, I attended my first hospital birth as a doula. The doctor was an advocate of birth choices and really showed how birth in the hospital CAN be. At that point I set my sites on becoming a midwife with a long term goal of going to medical school and helping change the birthing community at the hospital level.

In 2000, my second child was born. Within a few weeks I knew something was wrong and by the time she was 7 weeks old, we had spent 2 weeks in the hospital and she underwent her first major surgery. She was born with a rare liver disease called biliary atresia. By the time she was 15 months old, she needed a liver transplant to survive. I was tested and able to donate half of mine, but the road to recovery for her has been long with a lot of bumps. I have learned through her experience that medicine has a significant place in our lives, but it is even more important to me than ever before to promote choices in care.

Throughout the many hospitalizations of our daughter I have become an advocate for parents of sick children, and advocate for sick children, and an even stronger advocate for the rights of laboring mamas. Seeing the world of medicine from both ends has given me a unique view and one that many don’t get to have. In some ways, entering the medical world feels even more important to me since I can offer an experience that many don’t share. But ultimately, being able to go to the hospital with our daughter and be available for all of her health needs became my priority.

 In 2001, in an effort to still be involved in the birth world, I started a small resource center. Everything Birth was officially born! I held birth classes, hosted workshops, and gathered as much info about pregnancy, birth, and parenting I could get my hands on! I purchased my first GentleBirth Pool to rent locally and started carrying a variety of natural parenting items. In 2003, our third child was born. Working from home became most important to me, as we continued to navigate the hospitals over a series of complications and a baby in tote. In the beginning of 2004, I purchased midwifesupplies.com(at the time known as Peaceful Beginnings) from a local friend, midwife, and soon to be mom. Helping midwives find the supplies they needed, putting together home birth kits, working with birth centers, and even working with hospital birth centers gave me the final push to make this business my calling.

I am fortunate to have all of these birth people in my life, and look forward to the occasional birth story with which I am blessed. My goal is to continue to advocate for informed birth choices, women’s rights, and the midwifery model of care. I support non-profits that stand by the same philosophy and have started a Midwifery Cause of the Month to help promote these agencies of change.

 

Thank you to all who make this so rewarding for me and my family. I look forward to many more years of birth advocacy!

Birth is more than a business, it’s personal.

 

Blessings,

Crystal

 

Update: I am running in the Boston Marathon for the first time! I will be on the Run For Research Team, raising money for the American Liver Foundation! I have been matched with my daughter!

To support us you can donate here

 

or Read more about our story

 

Meet our new blogger, Jessica:

Above picture is me Jessica Teesdale with my husband Jeff and three children Josephine, Eliza and Hutch.

When Crystal asked me to take over the blog for Everything Birth my first thought was “What would I have to say?” The more I thought about it, and the more I work at Everything Birth, the more I realized how much the products we sell resonate with my life.

From the moment I realized I was pregnant I knew I would seek the guidance of a midwife. My midwives gave me the confidence to trust my body and intuition as a woman. I refused most prenatal testing and sailed through a healthy normal pregnancy. At 37 weeks we went to our first weekly visit.  My midwife Laura laid her hands on me and said “Either your baby has two heads, or you are going to have twins.”  SURPRISE!!!  At that moment I chose to have an ultrasound and it revealed that one was breech and one was vertex. The breech twin had cord wrapped around her neck.  After two weeks of no labor and about 6 midwives planning to attend the home birth, we were risked out and sent down the path of cesarean birth. I was never induced and never actually went into labor.  At 39.5 weeks I was prepped for surgery and within 3 hours I had two healthy 6 pound baby girls.  It was one of the happiest days of my life.

My girls nursed until they were two. We used cloth diapers and I cooked all of their baby food. I learned a lot about mothering in those years, but I still felt like I would not be complete until I experienced natural childbirth. In March 2006 we found out we were pregnant again.

Preparing for a VBAC at home was not as easy as my first pregnancy. I experienced many more emotions and I had two incredibly active toddlers to chase around. With the help from Laura again, my goal was clear, stay healthy and conquer my fears about birth. In November 2006 after a 29 hour labor, my son was born via water birth in the comfort of our home.

After twins the first time around, nursing, cloth diapers, and the food mill were a no brainer.  Now the prefolds and Bummies are in a box, and everyone eats solids, but every birth kit I pack brings me right back to the excitement and anticipation I felt preparing for my homebirths.  And every diaper we ship to you is packed by a mama who has changed and laundered thousands of nappies.

My son will be three in November and my daughters started kindergarden this fall. We strive to live a simple, low impact lifestyle. We make an effort to teach our children to love the planet, love others, and love themselves.  My goal in writing this blog is to share with you what Everything Birth means to me.  I will be drawing on my experiences of of birthing, as a mama, and a natural products aficionado.  I hope you all enjoy what I have to share with you.

Bless,

Jessica Teesdale

Meet our newest blogger- we are super excited to have Dawn helping us spread the word of cloth, babies, and all things midwifery!

Dawn Papple was raised in a loving family by a stay at home mom among frogs, cattails, dragonflies and her two brothers. Now she raises her own three youngsters in an attachment parenting environment with the support of her husband, a tattoo artist named Darl Papple in a little home just 15 minutes from her stomping grounds.
 
Dawn created, owned and ran a natural parenting store in Historic Downtown Howell Michigan called Mama Gaia’s. There she practiced Reiki healing and training as a certified Reiki Master, and sold a wide array of attachment parenting & natural living products.  When she discovered her step-son, who was in her fulltime care had fetal alcohol syndrome, she chose to close the store to uncomplicate his life. She still practices Reiki Healing and Instruction independently in her community.
 
Dawn has been published in The Livingston Parent Journal, The Livingston County Press and other Michigan based paper publications. She was awarded a “Health Instructor” badge by the online writing community, Helium, where she enjoys adding to the ever growing alternative health feature articles section. Dawn also has written a book about the stillbirth of her first child entitled, “Aura Lin.”
 
Now, in her thirties and fully empowered, she has realized her purpose… to discover and spread the Magic of life.  She believes she is the creator of her destiny and is determined to make her world beautiful!