Bailey Gaddis - Feng Shui Mommy: Creating Balance and Harmony for Blissful Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood

Praise for Feng Shui Mommy

Bailey Gaddis brings a fresh new approach to holistic prenatal preparation in this uplifting and reassuring book that draws from the harmonizing principles of feng shui. Its an engaging read that takes your mind on a gentle trip down a river of wisdom, inspiring you to practice self-care and enjoy personal growth throughout the childbearing year.

Pam England, author of Birthing from Within

With wisdom, wit, and honesty, Bailey Gaddis offers mothers heartfelt advice that is as fresh as it is insightful. Bailey leads readers through a new, wonderful journey toward motherhood. If youre pregnant, just breathe, and read this book!

Robin Gerber, author of Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way

Bailey Gaddis has a beautiful and magnetic gift for allowing women to make much-needed shifts within themselves in a fun, spirited, and interesting way. Her approach is holistic yet entertaining, deep yet relatable, and it makes you laugh out loud while you tackle the big changes and fears pregnancy brings. In this book Bailey teaches women how to care for themselves on all levels, and she allows them to easily and effectively step into the enormous sea of transformation of pregnancy and motherhood. This book is like having a trusted and wise sister to hold your hand and tell you everything you need to know as you embark on this journey.

Taryn Longo, transformational teacher for women and
founder and director of Wild Heart Mama

This book is very well written and easy to read, with excellent ideas to make your birth experience the best it can be. Every birth experience is unique; childbirth is primal, and your experience is influenced by your culture. Fear of the unknown makes the experience worse, and preparation makes all the difference. Being open to what you and your baby need will make your experience better. The goal of every delivery is a healthy mom and healthy baby. This guide is a tool that may help you find balance and comfort in your life overall, not only in childbirth.

Kristi Schoeld, MD

We love Bailey Gaddiss sense of humor and authenticity throughout the book! This is such a great tool for mamas who want to be empowered, and it can lead them to have a more magical birth than they thought possible. Bailey is a gifted teacher and an incredible, essential part of any birth.

Rebecca and Josh Tickell, Sundance Awardwinning filmmakers
and founders of Big Picture Ranch

As the saying goes, Even mothers need to be mothered, and Feng Shui Mommy mastermind Bailey Gaddis, in her refreshingly authentic and honest, inherently trustworthy voice, does just that. Like a long-lost best friend, she creates a welcoming, nourishing oasis of safety, empowerment, and support for new mothers. She seamlessly weaves practical yet profound, ever-reassuring, often hilarious, and absolutely indispensable pregnancy and birthing wisdom with nurturing, uplifting food for the soul and spirit: the perfect recipe for a healthy, healing, joyful experience of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. Baileys gloriously grounded approach and her normalizing of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood elevate the experience to its rightful place as a spiritual milestone and the transformational opportunity of every womans lifetime to step into her truest, richest, and most resplendent, liberated self: balanced, confident, powerful, harmonious, and whole the Feng Shui Mommy! This delightful, inspiring book had my ovaries popping, my oxytocin pumping, and my heart champing at the bit to embark on the awesome, miraculous magic-carpet ride of mommyhood all over again!

Jessica Cauffiel, actor, writer, producer, shaman

Meet Bailey Gaddis, the fresh-voiced, bright-eyed, fully engaged mama mystic whose knowledge and passion for helping mothers find their bliss before, during, and after pregnancy are truly inspiring. A book brimming with fabulous resources, humor, and beautiful reflections, Feng Shui Mommy will be a favorite companion for your journey to motherhood and beyond.

Zhena Muzyka, author of Life by the Cup and
publisher of Enliven Books

Copyright 2017 by Bailey Gaddis

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

The material in this book is intended for education. It is not meant to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical practitioner or therapist. No expressed or implied guarantee of the effects of the use of the recommendations can be given or liability taken.

Illustrations by Amanda Sandoval

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

First printing, May 2017

ISBN 978-1-60868-471-7

Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-472-4

Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my son, Hudson, for waking up a better version of my Self, and to my partner, Eric, for being my cocaptain through the nitty-gritty of parenthood. You boys rock.

Birth is not only about making babies. Its about making mothers strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.

Barbara Katz Rothman

CONTENTS

JUST BREATHE: Inhale to a slow count of eight, hold for a count of two, and exhale to a slow count of eight. Repeat until you settle into a deep and rhythmic breathing pattern. As you read, return to this breath and allow it to calm you if any part of this story triggers an emotion you would like to melt away. Each pregnancy and birth story you encounter will be unique to the individual telling it: absorb the pieces of the story that inspire you and allow the rest to stay with the teller. Your experience will be your own.

T here once was a super sperm, stronger than all the rest, who found its way into the loving caress of a waiting egg. Together they bonded, creating a miracle as profound as the birth of a star, or a baby sleeping through the night. This blooming miracle began to grow in size, and its carrier vessel expanded to accommodate it. As the vessel expanded, her outer coverings began to stretch, her bosom swelled, and her flatulence became uncontrollable. Magic was happening.

The week before I peed on the stick to end all sticks, my partner, Eric, and I were suffering from paralyzing indecision over which summer concerts to go to and whether we should toy around with going vegan (we didnt).