Faith, Hope & Doula - Jen Kosakowski, Postpartum Doula

11/10/2023

Hey everyone,
Go and like the Christian Doulas of Christian Doulas of Michigan page!! We are a group who have come together to support our families and each other!!

🌟 Introducing Jen, a radiant soul weaving faith and doula magic! 🙏✨ Her postpartum support is a testament to her unwavering love for the Lord, guiding new parents with grace and compassion. 🌈👶
Beyond doula duties, Jen's heart beats for the Luke 52 Project, where she extends her nurturing spirit to moms, creating a haven of support and understanding. 🤝💖 Join us in celebrating Jen's extraordinary journey of faith, love, and empowering motherhood! 🌟

Postpartum Doula
Hi Everyone. My name is Jen Kosakowski and I am a Postpartum Doula who serves families in the Metro Detroit and surrounding areas. As a mom I know how challenging those beginning days can be both physically and emotionally. I love supporting and empowering families with information, emotional, and physical support to get through those early postpartum days. I am also a lactation educator and birth doula so can provide breastfeeding support as well as support through labor and delivery. I love all things outdoors, being with my family, homeschooling and volunteering with a nonprofit I help run. I'd love to hear from you and learn more about how I can be there for you and your family during this miraculous time!
Jen Eskelinen Kosakowski

02/02/2023

A terrible loss to the birthing community!! Won’t you help me in being a voice!!

Save Accessible Midwifery Care for Detroit-Area Families. 354 signatures are still needed!

01/31/2022

♥️♥️♥️

“It’s all fun and games
And sexy breathing exercises for birth
And romantic plans about how he’ll take the baby while you do yoga every day

Until you’re 10 days postpartum
Still bleeding and soaked in breastmilk
Riding a roller coaster of hormones and sleep deprivation
And your lovely partner forgets to pick up a smoothie on his way home from the grocery store

And you lose your sh✨t
Like sobbing into the bathroom sink
Like cursing his mother
Like wondering why you ever procreated with someone capable of such unimaginable selfishness

And then, when the storm has passed, and you’ve had a snack- you realize
Two shaky, raw, sleep deprived humans
Trying to be life rafts for one another
While sinking into the depths of exhaustion and stress
Keeping the tiniest, most fragile, precious being afloat
Is hard AF

We weren’t meant to do this alone
We were not meant to be sent out to sea on a tiny little life boat with no map
Even the most loving, stable partnership can sink under the weight of operating in survival mode while finding your footing as parents

So, if you’re out there, treading water
Buried in laundry and breastmilk
Surviving on freezer pizza and three hours of sleep
Thinking mildly unkind thoughts about the person you chose to parent with
Because he can’t seem to calm the baby or remember your smoothies or grasp the depths of the earth shaking transition you’re navigating
You’re not alone
And it will get easier
One sleepy, shaky day at a time.”
Image and words by:

06/07/2021

As a doula I’ve been blessed to be around many babies and many parents of all ages, races, religions and whatever you can think of in between. Some things I’ve seen in parenting, birthing, relationships, practices I agree with and others I do not; but my job is not to agree with everything but to provide nonjudgmental support and love. I love that I can let God’s light shine in my profession and love people the way Jesus loves all of us. My most favorite people to serve are those who have been through the trenches or are in the trenches right now. Many have socioeconomic or educational hardships but the inspiring warriors are the parents who have suffered loss...babies who were here way too short for our understanding, babies who were taken way too soon and are no longer suffering, babies who were taken and the aftermath of guilt many suffer after making a decision they regret, babies who were carried and loved but born silent. Today marks a special birthday I want to acknowledge because all of these babies matter, all of these babies are gifts, all of these babies are still loved and this baby I never had the chance to meet physically but have had the pleasure of learning about him and his beautiful face!! Happy 16th Birthday Toby!! I’m sure you are having a great birthday party with Jesus today!! Thank you for making me a better doula for so many!! And Happy BIRTHday Heather!! I’m sure your boy is smiling down with pride at his little brothers!!💙🦋💙🦋

05/27/2021

Love this visual!!

Making up a new image for my breastfeeding class. Does this fit your experience?
What I often see is that parents think 8-12 feedings in 24 hours means feedings 2-3 hours apart. Except babies are much more likely to have feedings all over the place in the first 3 months when exclusively breastfeeding. (Bottle feeding lends itself more to a schedule, but still can range considerably.)
And by the time they are past the 4th trimester, the feedings change again to a more spread out time frame, particularly at night (thankfully). And than dramatically again once they start taking solid feedings and reduce the breastfeeding frequency.
What I really want my families to know is that what it looks like in the early days is not how it continues to be...so when it seems overwhelming at first, to hold on for the easier parts to come!
If this doesn't get the point across, what would you like to see to show what breastfeeding patterns can look like? I'm always working to improve the class to include what is most important to new parents.

03/22/2021

Spread the Doula Love! "Why are doulas so great?" Here are the benefits of having a doula!
❤️ Reduces the incidence of c-sections
🧡 May shorten the length of labor
💛 Reduces epidural and analgesic requests
💚 Increases breastfeeding initiation and continuation
💙 Increases mother’s satisfaction of birth experience
💜 Can reduce the incidence of postpartum mood disorders
🖤 Increases new parents’ confidence in the care of their newborn

12/01/2020

"Is he sleeping through the night?" "Is she a 'good' baby?" These are the loud lies of infant (& toddler) sleep. Read more to help the quiet truths rumble.

10/26/2020

To all 2020 Babies!! You all are a sweet blessing!!

Sweet 2020 Baby,

I just want to say thank you.

Because in many ways, this year has been a mess.

A bit of a disaster, really.

But you.

You’ve been the light in the darkness.

The calm in the chaos.

The joy in the midst of a whole lot of hardship and pain and frustration.

So I know people will talk about 2020.

They’ll talk about the stress and the fear and the sadness.

They’ll recount every bit of the hard stuff that’s brought tears to my eyes more times than I can count.

But I’m just so glad that, when I think back on this year, I also get to think about you.

Because you’re such a gift.

The sweetest blessing.

And even though things looked a little (okay—a lot) different than I’d planned, and it certainly wasn’t always easy or comfortable, your timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

So thank you, little one.

Thank you for allowing me to be grateful for 2020.

Because it gave me you.