Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erin Boje. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Erin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you ever experienced a times when your entire field felt like it was taking a U-Turn?

I had been a NICU nurse for 7 years before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was just returning to work at the hospital after the birth of my first son, who was 3 months old at the time. I saw the entire health care field take more than just a U-turn during that time – change was happening in the field faster than we could control and the whole system had to pivot. While providing quality patient care was still the top priority, I witnessed so much change during that time to protect everyone – health care workers, patients, etc. And all of the change and uncertainty around us drove me to make the decision to pivot within my field as well, for the protection and wellbeing of my family and new baby. So we decided as a family that I would leave the hospital and change course, and I’m so grateful that it was just the beginning of my journey.

After leaving the hospital and my job as a NICU nurse, I began working as a yoga instructor. I was still extremely passionate about birth, babies, holistic prenatal care, and empowering and educating mothers. I started the Becoming Mama blog in an attempt to utilize my passions and experience as a nurse and a mother to help other moms and create a space for community. After the birth of my second baby, Maya Grace, I began teaching prenatal yoga at Home Holistic in Overland Park – and truly found an outlet and space for my continued passion for birth and babies. The community and culture of empowerment and openness at Home Holistic truly changed my life as a mother and an entrepreneur. I have since then expanded my prenatal yoga instructing into teaching toddler yoga, mom/baby yoga, and I developed a holistic Newborn Care Course (OMbabies Infant Care Course) as well as an Infant CPR/Choking Course for parents and caregivers. I have loved building and expanding my classes, meeting and connecting with mothers and parents from all cultures, seasons, and walks of life, and partnering and working with other like-minded holistic practitioners to educate and empower mothers and families.

I am still utilizing my experience and knowledge that I gathered from working in the NICU for 7 years, but I am able to focus on preventative and holistic wellness in my current role. One of my favorite parts of my job as a nurse was educating, empowering, and nurturing mothers during such a stressful time in their lives. And now I get to continue to educate and empower mothers, lifting them up and helping them trust their intuition and inner wisdom as a mother. I believe all mothers have that inner wisdom deep inside them, and I want to encourage mothers to find community, share vulnerably, lean on other women, family and loved ones for support, and to educate and empower themselves to set themselves up for a journey of wellness – both for them and for their little ones.

Erin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a prenatal yoga instructor at Home Holistic Family Wellness Center in Overland Park, and I also teach Toddler Yoga (OMtots), and Mommy/Baby Yoga. I also offer private prenatal yoga sessions to clients that want a more personalized, in-home experience during their pregnancies. At Home Holistic, we teach our classes both in-person and virtually to meet the needs of mothers and caregivers during whatever season they are walking through.

The thing that many people in our current culture do not realize about pregnancy, birth, and babies is that there is so much to learn, and so little we as a collective know and understand about supporting mothers and babies. We can improve so much on providing holistic prenatal care, educating mothers to TRUST their bodies and the natural process of pregnancy and birth, and to trust their intuition as a mother while caring for their newborn. There is so much education and knowledge that is not always accessible to mothers, but is so important. I want all mothers to feel supported and nurtured themselves. I want all mothers to know birth does not have to be traumatic, a medical process that doesn’t even require the mother’s involvement. I want mothers to feel involved, connected, empowered, healthy and well, and to trust themselves! Mothers are amazing, and our culture doesn’t support and validate mothers in the amazing work that they are doing to bring new life into the world and nurture the next generation.

I have expanded my prenatal yoga instructing into teaching classes and workshops. I used my background as a NICU nurse and mother of 2 babies to create a holistic Newborn Care Class for both new and experienced mothers. In this course (the OMbabies Infant Care Course) you will learn about newborn care basics, common tests/procedures done in all birth settings, an in-depth overview of both breastfeeding, bottle feeding, and pumping, newborn hygiene basics, sleep and creating a safe sleep space for your baby, and so much more. This course is evidence based and holistic, and provide in-depth knowledge for both new and experienced mothers, AND their partners.

I also teach an Infant CPR and Choking Crash Course for parents and caregivers – this course is for any parent or caregiver of an infant birth – 1 year that wants to learn the basics of infant CPR and choking maneuvers, and how to respond to an emergency with the baby in their care. This class is for the community (parents, grandparents, and caregivers can all benefit!) and will not offer a certification for a work place, but provides basic knowledge and preparedness to respond to an emergency. This class can save your baby’s life!

I also offer all of my classes in-home in private settings. To inquire about a session or class, visit www.becomingmama.com for more information. You can also contact me at [email protected]. to inquire about a private session or to host a class or workshop in your home or workplace.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I think that even though I am not doing exactly what I started out doing early in my career, or what I thought I would be doing long term when I began my nursing career, I would absolutely not change anything about my journey! Nursing is a powerful field, and full of resilience! I am so grateful for all of the experience I have gathered as a bedside nurse for 7 years, and I’m also so thankful that I can use that knowledge and experience to continue to serve others in a way that I truly believe in. Preventative wellness for mothers and babies – that is my passion! As a NICU nurse in a hospital, so much of our work was in caring for traumatic events and things that went wrong during conception, pregnancy, and birth. So much in this life cannot be prevented, but there is still SO much that can! I truly believe in holistic wellness, in knowledge and empowerment, in the terrible effects that chronic stress and inflammatory causing/processed foods can have on our bodies during conception, pregnancy, and birth, Preventative wellness is where I am meant to be, and what I am truly passionate about and I’m so thankful for the journey that led me here.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think that there have been times when I’ve been uncertain if others will trust me, or trust the knowledge I have to share, or if my knowledge and experience is even valid or important… And what has gotten me through my self-doubt or times of struggle are just authenticity, being myself, and making genuine connections with others. I truly care about the mothers and families that I get to connect with. I genuinely care about the next generation of babies, and meeting women where they are in whatever season they are walking through to help them to best care for themselves, their babies, and their families. Authentic and genuine connections have kept me going. I have also learned so much about mothering my own children as I’ve gone through this journey in finding myself and my passion for whole family holistic healing and preventative wellness. It takes a village to raise the next generation, and I think it’s so important for the whole family to be well, supported, healthy, and nourished – but especially the mothers!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.becomingmama.org
• Instagram: @erinboje
• Facebook: Erin Boje
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Alexis Gian Photography