Bloom Education

We made it to 6 months post op 🙌 ✨️

My brain & spinal cord are thoroughly enjoying being bathed in an endless flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

The pineal gland requires a consistent pressure of CSF to release melatonin and serotonin. My body was not maintaining that pressure for years due to my spinal leak. I can tell this gland is healing and receiving what it needs because my sleep and mood continue to improve.

I haven't had high pressure headaches since August long weekend (yay!). I still struggle with upper body pain, but dry needling has been a game changer.

I was back to full hour days at work this week and managed to keep up at a couple of group workout classes. I'm riding my bike and doing yoga. Life is good ❤️

Im booked for surgery at the end of March and will not be offering classes for at least 6 months. I'm hoping to be back in fall 2025. In the meantime, please reach out to Brittney if you're in need of a class. She'll help you out 🫶

For those who know about my struggles with a chronic spinal CSF leak, I'm booked in to get this surgically fixed. I'll have a spinal fusion of my neck & a dural repair of the tear where im leaking fluid. I've been leaking spinal fluid for 5+ years because of a sharp bone spur in my neck, I expect it will take my body some time to recalibrate. Looking forward to an improvement in my quality of life after everything heals ✨️ ❤️

Expecting a baby in January, February, or March of 2025? This is your class!

Vegreville Group Prenatal Class

✨️Saturday, November 30th, 9-4:30 in Vegreville at VegMin learning society

✨️Register by calling 780-632-7920

✨️Investment is $150/couple $100/single

Some of the topics covered:
• What to expect during birth and postpartum

• How to prepare and support mom emotionally, mentally, and physically throughout the birthing process

•Medicated and non medicated pain control options

•Informed consent, birth plans, and advocacy

•Breastfeeding basics and newborn care

This class will also include information related to the Spinning Babies physiological approach.

With this approach, we aim to support the body's innate ability to give birth. The baby naturally rotates and "spins" to fit into the birth canal. We can utilize balancing activities and work with the body's anatomy/physiology to make birth easier. Birth is not one size fits all, and spinning babies supports that thinking.

Let's shape your birth and postpartum experience together!! Hope to see you in class 💕

When my CSF leak happened in 2019 I felt a lot of negativity towards my body. Some of those feelings included distrust, betrayal, anger, and abandonment. Previous to my leak I assumed my body would always be there to support and work for me when I needed it. I saw my body as a way to gain everything I wanted and needed in this world. I needed it to do my job as a nurse and be the mom I wanted to be to my children. Be the friend, daughter, wife I wanted to be. Without it I felt all those roles and dreams falling apart. It was here where all those negative feelings towards my body stemmed from. “Good health is a crown on the head of a well person that only a sick person can see.”- Robin Sharma

After 2 blood patches in July and August of 2019 they considered my leak sealed and my neurologist refused to see my lingering symptoms as a sign that I was still leaking. Physically I did feel 75% better than my initial leak symptoms. I was able to start performing all my roles again but I cursed at my body as I struggled with lingering symptoms. The system told me I was sealed so why wasn’t my body getting on board with that? Why did my body continue to betray me? Looking back, I see that it was the opposite–I was betraying it but not listening. I didn’t know how to flow with my body as it changed and the feelings of betrayal and distrust towards it continued for another 4 years.

I had minimal practice with gratitude for my body and didn’t know how to care for it in an honorable and instinctual way. How often do we stop to say “What is my body needing right now? What signals is it sending me? In what way do I need to nourish it?” So many days I pushed through the pain and didn't listen. I tried to force healing in ways that were not right for my body by listening to messaging from the outside world. What I really needed to do was listen to what my body was communicating. It was giving me strong messages of burnout, being over capacity, a need to rest, and a need to re-calibrate. It sent strong messages that I was still experiencing a CSF leak but at a level that I was considered a “functional leaker” instead of a bed bound one.

Last Spring I began actively trying to heal the emotions that I was carrying around since 2019. That emotional healing led me to re-building a relationship with my body and the courage to actively seek out testing and treatment from the system that told me I was healed when I wasn’t. I am not sealed but I am finding more at ease in my body these days by listening to its cues. I still have days where I feel angry at my situation but I don't direct it at my body any longer. I'm working with my body instead of against it towards long-term physical healing of my leak and I have hope that I'll be symptom free one day.

We still have room for April 27th class please call Vegmin to register.

I've had some interest in adding another date after this. If anyone would be interested in a late May or early June class please reach out to me by direct message or email. If I can get atleast three couples confirmed I can add another date. After that, the next class will not be until September.

✨️Saturday April 27th, 9-4:30 in Vegreville at VegMin learning society

✨️Register by calling 780-632-7902 or email [email protected]

✨️Investment is $175

This class will include NEW information related to the Spinning Babies physiological approach. Katelyn attended a Spinning Babies workshop in November and is an enthusiast, friend, and admirer of the approach. (The goal is to one day be a certified Spinning Babies instructor. The workshop was step one ✔️ 😉).

With this approach, we aim to support the body's innate ability to give birth. The baby naturally rotates and "spins" to fit into the birth canal. We can utilize balancing activities and work with the body's anatomy/physiology to make birth easier. Birth is not one size fits all, and spinning babies supports that thinking.

Let's shape your birth and postpartum experience together!! Hope to see you in class 💕

In a world where everyone has an opinion on how you should be a mother, hold onto the truth that you know what is best for your child.

Whether its co-sleeping, breastfeeding, or working through a treatment plan for a new medical diagnosis you're choices should be based off of what you feel is best for your child, not what everyone else says is the "right" choice.

Baby acting out of character and your gut says something is wrong? LISTEN. Take them in to get checked out. Doctor minimized your concerns and refused to order further testing? Politely tell them to order some tests or to refer you for a second opinion. If you push hard enough, they eventually listen. No one will stand between a mamma bear and her cub.

In a world where the medical system holds too much power, lean into your instincts. We all have them, but we need to learn how to listen and follow them. If you don't agree with what your health care provider has recommended, voice that and follow your gut. There is no room for people pleasing in motherhood. We are our children's advocates and soul guardians. You are the best person for this job, so own that. Stand in the power of knowing what your child needs. Stop searching outside of yourself for the answers when you already know what to do. There's a reason that child's soul chose you. We might not see those reasons clearly now, but I hope as your child grows, you see the WHY and settle deeper into this innate knowing each year. I'm dam proud of you Mamma!

✨️Saturday February 24th, 9-4:30 in Vegreville at VegMin learning society

✨️Register by calling 780-632-7902 or email [email protected]

✨️Investment is $200

This class will include information related to the Spinning Babies physiological approach. Katelyn attended a Spinning Babies workshop in November and is an enthusiast, friend, and admirer of the approach. (The goal is to one day be a certified Spinning Babies instructor. The workshop was step one ✔️ 😉).

With this approach, we aim to support the body's innate ability to give birth. The baby naturally rotates and "spins" to fit into the birth canal. We can utilize balancing activities and work with the body's anatomy/physiology to make birth easier. Birth is not one size fits all, and spinning babies supports that thinking.

About our lovely guest speaker: Christal brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our class. She is a lactation consultant and infant feeding specialist. She has experience as a public health nurse and is a mom of 4. No matter what your feeding or postpartum goals are, Christal can help.

Let's shape your birth and postpartum experience together!! Hope to see you in class 💕

Our medical system is excellent at fixing visible injuries. Broken bones, cuts, and obvious symptoms are easy to treat and come with treatment plans that everyone can follow and believe in across the system. It’s the invisible illnesses, injuries, or unseen stressors that our system has enormous difficulty treating with any degree of confidence. We see this come up time and time again in women. Invisible illnesses like MS, PMDD, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, and so many others take years of fighting to get a diagnosis. And then you have to continue to fight to have that diagnosis recognized by different health professionals you see throughout your life. You will meet those professionals who do not see any visible signs or your illness and dismiss you based on that 5 minute encounter alone.

But guess what? We can take control of our health. We can continue to go back and seek answers. Do not take the dismissals as finality. The lived experience should trump all. And if your body is telling you something is not right. Listen. That is your truest instrument for finding out what is happening within.

As I reflect on a year of uncovering what my body was screaming at me, I am feeling the call to share some of my wisdoms from the journey. I’m grieving the years I did not listen, but I also feel a lightness knowing that I can trust my body and what it’s telling me again. Maybe this is your sign to book that doctors appointment and enter it with a new confidence in what your body is telling you.