Hi friends, meet Tori. Tori is our lovely secretary, a Chapter Support Volunteer, and has a great story! If you’ve been to one of our meetings, you’ve likely been greeted by her smiling face! Now for a little more on one of the non-education faces behind the magic, Tori!
Hi, I’m Tori! I have a wonderful husband, who I have been married to for nearly five years, and a little firecracker of a daughter who will be one at the end of July! I’m a Texan born and bred, originally from the Texoma area, but my husband is from Llano so we moved down here right after graduating college. Before kids I worked in real estate marketing, but now I’m a stay at home mom to our daughter (and I guess to our two dogs and cat also), which I love. We are pretty outdoorsy and love camping, hiking and sitting in creeks. Kiddo especially loves the sitting in creeks part. I also serve as the current Chapter Secretary for BWI of Greater Austin.
My babywearing love comes from a different place than most. When I was 30 weeks pregnant, my water broke unexpectedly and I was placed on hospital bedrest. 19 days later, my daughter was born at 32 weeks gestation via emergency cesarean and she spent 11 days in the NICU. During that time, we did a lot of kangaroo care because, at 4lbs 9oz, I wasn’t confident enough to wear her yet!
Upon going home, I felt like I had lost control over my pregnancy and birthing experience, and was feeling quite a 
bit of sadness and guilt stemming from that. Babywearing allowed me to exercise some control over this and helped me heal, both emotionally and physically, from a less than ideal series of events. When my daughter was six weeks old, I was finally confident enough to wear her in a Hip Baby Wrap that I had bought after relentlessly researching the particular wearing needs of premature infants and the first time I put her up, into the world’s jankiest FWCC, was so cathartic. I was able to refocus those negative emotions into creating a loving, nurturing bond with my child. Babywearing will always be an integral piece of our family puzzle because of that empowerment.
Before my baby was even born, I knew babywearing would be part of our story. It all started with a grey Galaxy Ergo. My sister-in-law had my nephew all snugged up in one while we were out shopping one day and I remember thinking “Now THAT is how you do it.” Several years later, I found out I was pregnant with my own child and immediately began researching carriers. I bought a sage green Baby K’Tan plus borrowed a Moby and that very same grey Galaxy Ergo. It was a very full circle thing for me to finally wear my daughter in that carrier once she was large enough.
I came to BWI after hearing about the group through a different sister-in-law of mine (I have a lot of sisters-in-law). I’m one of the newer volunteers in the group, but I’m so thrilled to be involved with this amazing bunch of caregivers! I attended my first meeting in October of 2014 and signed on to become a VBEiT in December, then took a step back from VBE training and became Chapter Secretary in March. My basic job within the organization is to handle memberships and assist our lovely President, Autumn, with various projects. You can usually find me at meetings sitting at the membership table up front. I’m always happy to answer questions or just chat in general.
Having an active, wiggly almost toddler means that kiddo doesn’t get worn as much as she used to. She’s too busy exploring her world and finding every speck of dirt I leave on the floor. We still have ups when she’s in meltdown mode or while we’re running errands, though sometimes, when the moon is in the right part of the sky and the weather is perfect, she will consent to being worn around the house for no reason. Before she became mobile, wearing was an everyday occurrence, especially when we lived in apartments.
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