Clarice Davis - Midwife

31/01/2023

Who attends your birth is everything Mama ✨

Lip service is easy when you’re choosing your care provider or hospital.
👉🏻”Yes, I support physiological birth”
👉🏻”Everything is your choice”
👉🏻”We don’t force anything here”
👉🏻”We have pools to use”

🤷🏼‍♀️But then you get to your 40th week and they start talking inductions, failing placentas, big babies and the water birth is off the table.

❓So how do you know if your care provider will truly support you in natural birth?

📣Ask for the stats!
And just ask…
❓What is the c-section rate?
❓How often is there a hands-off birth?
❓What is the intervention rate?
❓How many intervention free, physiological birth (including the placenta) happen here?

👉🏻👉🏻𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗺𝗮𝗺𝗮, 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵.

🚩If your OB (or midwife) stats don’t match what they are telling you it’s a major red flag. You can’t expect a care provider to be an expert in something they rarely see.

What questions did you have for your care provider before your signed up with care from them?

☝️and remember, the more you surround yourself with people that believe in birth, the more positively your will view birth!

24/01/2023

My thoughts on siblings at birth ✨

If we are truly wanting to change the culture of birth, children deserve a place in birth ceremony ❤️

For way too long now, birth has been held in secrecy, out of our homes and away from our next generations enquiring minds. 😢

👉🏻In fact children make wonderful birth companions… mainly because they haven’t been witness to years of social conditioning around birth and decades of scary birth scenes.

They come to birth with complete neutrality and wonder. 🤩

There’s many ways you can prepare your child for birth:
📚Reading birth books (Welcome home by .bourke.author)
🎥Watching birth videos
✨Include them in setting up your birth altar
👩‍🎨Create art about birth together

When preparing your child to witness birth there really needs to be zero pressure on you and them and it doesn’t need to be hard. 🙅‍♀️

Encourage their curiosity and let their interest organically unfold. ✨

If you are wanting your child there, go for it mama. 💜

28/12/2022

What an incredible year 2022!
 
It’s really hard to put into words how I’m feeling right now as 2022 comes to an end.
 
I moved to the Whitsundays in January and I feel so held, blessed, supported and encouraged by the community. Thank you, guys, from the bottom of my heart.
 
I think I’ve watched this reel a million times by now and I still choke up thinking about each and every one of the 21 mamas that trusted me in their birth space in 2022.
 
See the thing is, I find this profession very hard to call a job… its honestly a privilege, a calling or maybe just a way of life.
 
Living on call 24/7, with your mobile as an extension of your body, sleepless nights, long ass labours (you know who you are and you are freaking incredible), laughing, crying, wonderment, blood, p**p and amniotic fluid covered pants isn’t for everyone… but it is for me.
 
I reflect back to the first birth I supported as a private midwife years ago and I’ve changed…
 
I can hand on heart say I truly believe in women and I 100% believe in birth.
 
When I first moved here a doctor told me “Every woman is pathological until proven otherwise” but I absolutely know this to be untrue. I know this to be untrue because despite “risk factors”, BMI, GDM, postdates, previous C-section etc women keep showing up and birthing their babies undisturbed.
 
Women, you’ve got this. Trust yourself and your baby. No one knows you two better than yourself.
 
And don’t let anyone else tell you any different.
 
The truth is 99.9% births that I attend don’t need me there and I’ve spent a lot of time sitting on my hands this year and crocheting cord ties, and it’s the way it should be.
 
I’m going to share my stats in my next post… because I want you to know that birthing undisturbed is for you and it’s for ANY woman that chooses to. You don’t have to be skinny or big hipped or within the 37-42 week window. You don’t have to be a 2nd or 3rd time round mama. You don’t need a text book pregnancy or someone to sign you off to say its ok. You just need to be you.
 
Do your research mama.
 
A joy filled, life changing, ecstatic birth is for you too mama.

28/12/2022

What my university degree didn’t teach me about physiological birth 👇🏻
 
1️⃣ The less I touched, intervened, talked, took blood pressures, listened to the fetal heart…
The better birth worked.
 
It’s a learnt skill to sit on your hands, hold space and just be, when your whole career and knowledge is built on “doing” thing and managing women.

Margo from sums this up so well “𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴”
 
Things I did this year to strengthen this skill:
🤷🏼‍♀️Literally sat on my hands
🧶Crocheted cord ties for baby and wrist bands for siblings
☕️Sat in another room
💦Boiled the jug
 
2️⃣ Did you know that YOU are very capable of “catching” your own baby?
 
🙅‍♀️In-fact I NEVER assume that is going to be my job, and rarely I’m needed to help or do it.
 
There is so many benefits to parents catching their own baby.
💕Increased bonding at birth
🦠No contamination of microbiome
😌Mamas’ satisfaction
💪Less power externally placed
 
3️⃣ When the babies born, step away from the mama… I repeat step away from the mama and for goodness’ sake put the towels down- no one needs to launch themselves at a mama who just birthed with a towel… as well meaning as it is, it’s just not necessary most of the time.

Not every baby is going to need to be “rubbed up” or stimulated at birth- so if we could please stop doing this as routine that would be great, ok? 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
👀Watch, Wait, careful poise. In almost all my births I attend babies, need no resuscitation. So let the mama land, let her have that moments- just her and her baby. Intuitively she knows what to do if she’s given the opportunity. ✨

25/12/2022

It’s really not a lot to ask for…

All I want for Xmas is….

Recognition of womens experiences
Accountability and transparency
Bundled funding
Human rights to be upheld
Political donation scrutiny
And federal and state law reform

22/12/2022

Ring a ding ding 📞😂

12/10/2022

I want you to think of your first memory of surrounding birth 💭
 
💪Was the woman powerful?
💆‍♀️Was the woman being supported calmly?
💕Was the woman joyful, ecstatic, blissful?
 
If your answer was No, No and No… 😫
 
👉🏻Chances are THIS is why you fear birth!
 
I want to let you in on a little secret though 🤫
 
I think humans LOVE drama so it’s no wonder our first introduction to the birth world is that of the media which has saturated our minds with of births filled with:
😲Violence
😢Gore
😱And births that are downright scary.

So it’s absolutely no wonder why our brain turns to FEAR any time we think of birth 💔
 
But Mama… I’m here to remind you today that you’re actually a mammal 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
… believe it or not
 
When we see a doco about a giraffe giving birth, we never once think:
🦒I wonder if her baby is too big?
🦒Has she gone past her due date?
🦒Is her pelvis too small?
 
No! We trust birth, we make the assumption that because they are mammal’s things will just… work! 🙌
 
👉🏻Just as giraffes, monkeys and elephants are mammals… we are too.
 
Mother nature’s physical design is not the problem.🧬
 
I mean, our bodies have been doing a pretty darn good job about keeping our species alive right… only 7 billion and counting. 🌏
 
🫵You, Mama, have the knowledge and the imprint in your DNA to birth.
 
If you want to find out how to unlock the fear around birth… even if you think you don’t have ANY… join my mailing list mama as I have some pretty exciting offerings coming up… 🫶🏻
 
💕My wish is to help mamas like you, unlock their birth knowing’s and step into their power.
 
Link in my bio 🔗

30/09/2022

I feel for all the women in my local area affected by this 😢. I know this is why homebirth is such vital important model of care that women deserve and need. What I will say is that Mackay Base Hospital management has been very welcoming of me offering continuity of care and homebirth in Mackay, so I’m hopeful for change. There can’t be any other way but to improve drastically for women and babies everywhere ❤️❤️

19/09/2022

There’s absolutely nothing worse when you have been working really hard to bring your baby earthside and your care providers says “You’re only 4cm dilated” 😭
 
😵‍💫Talk about deflating!
 
Please understand that in physiological labour this number literally means NOTHING, zip, nada…🙅‍♀️
 
See the thing is, birth is not linear, it doesn’t fit perfectly into an ascending graph.📈
 
You can’t measure it or control it 🎛
 
And you definitely can’t put labour in to a one-size-fits-all box!🎁
 
👉🏻You could be walking around for weeks with a 3cm cervix or you could go from 4-10cm in an hour… there’s no right way for your body to open and release.
 
Knowing where you’re at numbers wise for your cervix will not:
⏰Tell you how much longer labour will go for
🎬Let you know when labour will begin
🏁It doesn’t even predict the outcome of your birth

🤷🏼‍♀️Cervix checks CAN be useful if you want to make a decision regarding an intervention and they do tell you how far you’ve come however…
 
Cervix checks have risks such as:
🦠Increasing your risk of infection (esp. if your waters have released)
😵‍💫They can be an absolute mind bend if you are expecting to be further along
💉Which then leaves you venerable to choosing interventions such as epidurals, breaking your waters and Syntocinon.
 
A skilled provider can use many non-invasive ways to gauge how far you are by:
👀Seeing the purple line that extends from your buttocks
🧘‍♀️Observing your behaviour
🎵Listening to your vocal sounds
 
‼️Just because your 10cm doesn’t mean you’re ready to push and if you need to push you don’t need someone to tell you you’re 10cm!
 
✌️At the end of the day, it’s your body and nobody can put their fingers anywhere without your consent and being X amount of cms during labour doesn’t really mean a lot.
 
⏩Also, in physiological birth cervix checks are not evidence based.
 
🤔Did you have cervix checks in labour? Did you know you can decline them? We’re they helpful?
 
 
 
 

01/09/2022

The increasing medicalisation of birth is not benefiting mothers and babies… but benefiting mothers and babies is the reason medicalisation of birth exist 🤔
 
🫣Did you know that only 43% of women gave birth without a vacuum, forceps or c-section
 
YES, you read that right ONLY 43%!😲
 
Maybe we could accept these facts as beneficial IF there was improvement in our neonatal morbidity or mortality rate… but I’m afraid ladies and gents… there isn’t. 👎
 
😓In fact, the APGARS scores we give babies by 5 minutes are decreasing, showing us that more babies are being born more unwell because our increasing intervention.
 
I’m here to tell you mama… your body is not flawed!💜
 
I’ve noticed there are 2 types of care providers
🏥Medical or Holistic🫶🏻
 
Where does your care provider fit?
➡️Doctor is the Expert or Mother is expert of her body
➡️Fear of litigation or Trust in a woman’s body
➡️Pregnancy as a risk or Pregnancy as a physiological process
Inductions as policy or Physiology protection
➡️Medical event or Normal bodily function
➡️Technology and interventions for safety or Woman centred care for safety
➡️Patient or Woman
 
🚨Sometimes, women WILL need (or want) medical interventions- and that’s ok! I certainly am very thankful for the times it’s been lifesaving.🙏
 
But… you can’t convince me that 47% of first-time mamas NEED inducing!🧐
 
By looking at your pregnancy with a holistic mindset you are:
✨Empowering yourself
✨Connecting with your intuition
✨Growing your confidence
✨Harnessing your power
✨Tapping into your wisdom
 
🧬Your genetic blue print has set you up for success and sometimes we just need to relearn the tools to tap into the map.
 
👉🏻I’m running my next FREEBIE masterclass 𝕋𝕠𝕠𝕝𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕒 𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕓𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕙
26/8/22 @ 12noon AEST
LINK IN BIO♥️