Earth Mama Doula Services

18/08/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Zg9xpsfAc/

What if we told women the truth about birth?

We’d have to tell them that contractions will probably be more than “surges” or “sensations.”

That they’ll probably rock your world and leave you begging for salvation as you clutch the edge of the tub or the hospital linens.

That your gentle breathing exercises and your Spotify soundtrack will be left in the dust as you sweat and pant and sway and swear your way through it

That you’ll trip harder than any mushroom you ever did in college and vomit with the same ferocity and travel to places deep within yourself that you didn’t know existed.

That you’ll float above your body and simultaneously be trapped in it with an intensity you’ve never tasted.

And in that intensity,
in the sweating and the swearing
and the swaying and the vomiting
and the endless hours of contractions crashing down upon you ...

You’ll find your strength.
You’ll find a resilience you’ve never known.
You’ll find the power you need for the journey of Motherhood ahead.

In the messy humanity of it all,
you’ll find that you are holy.
A portal to the divine.
Capable of indescribable miracles.
A vessel of sacred life.

What if we told women the truth about birth?
We’d have to tell them they are capable of anything.

Worthy of being treated like goddesses.
Made to walk through the flames,
surf the tidal waves,
dive into the underworld
And come out alive.

Not unscathed.
Not unchanged.
But whole
and healed
and ready to take on the world.

If we told women the truth about birth,
we’d have to admit that we’ve lied about everything else,
and that they are more powerful,
more fierce,
more capable,
more beautiful,
than we’ve ever let on.

If we told the truth about birth?
We’d shatter the world.

Words and Art: Catie Atkinson

23/05/2025

Such a great, hands-off, way to ascertain progress in labour!

🚫STOP! YOU CAN CHECK PROGRESSION OF LABOR BY A LINE🚫

Checking for progression during labor and even during pregnancy has always been done by performing vaginal exams.

Routine checks to check for dilation during pregnancy are largely medically unnecessary and they tell us nothing hugely beneficial, and they carry risks that often outweigh the benefits.

But what about checking for dilation during labor?🤔 Is it necessary?🤔
Are there other options besides invasive vaginal exams?🤔

📌Checking for dilation during labor is the standard routine care. It’s done by inserting fingers into the cervix to check for thinning and dilation of the cervix. This can be painful during labor and can also cause problems like:
😭Accidentally breaking the bag of waters.
😭Introducing bacteria and risk infection to you and baby.
😭You might have not progressed quickly enough for the care provider, you are left feeling like your body doesn’t work and now you are asked to start the cascade of interventions to speed up labor, which can lead up to a cesarean birth😩
📌☝🏻All this is not fun and some studies have shown that the overall accuracy for cervical dilatation is between 48% to 56% with 1 cm error, to 89.5% to 91.7% and this accuracy is reduced with the increase of cervical dilatation 😒
📌Another method of checking for progression that is less invasive is checking THE BUTT CRACK LINE💜
📌On lighter skin it looks purple, red or pink
📌On darker skin the line can look grey or sillver
📌A study showed that checking for progression using the butt crack line is reasonable and a lot less invasive. It showed the butt crack line appeared in 75.3% of women during the active phase of labor and appearance of the line in the prediction of labor progress had 90.2% sensitivity😀
📌The appearance of a line of discoloration is seen to arise from the a**l margin and extend between the buttocks reaching the nape of the buttocks at the onset of the active stage of labor. There is a correlation between the length of the line and cervical dilatation and the station of the fetal head. So the higher up the line goes, the closer you are to having your baby!

💜According to the appearance of the line in most of the cases and its high sensitivity and specificity, we can use it as a non-invasive complementary method for clinical assessment of labor progress💜

✅Labor progresses at its own pace and we shouldn’t feel pressured into vaginal exams. The World Health Organization encourages mothers who are low risk to be left alone to labor without time constraints to limit unnecessary interventions and they emphasize that the number of vaginal examinations should be limited where it is necessary✅

-Love,
Flor Cruz
Badassmotherbirther

17/08/2024

💗💗💗

26/05/2024

It really must stop. Breastfeeding to toddlerhood was never weird, until society made it weird

I remember the first time I saw a toddler breastfeeding.

I found it weird. Really weird.

It seemed unnatural to me that a child who could walk and talk should STILL need to nurse.

The second time I saw it, it seemed less weird.
And the third, fourth and fifth time I was fine with it.

“Each to their own, but it’s not for me”, I would say.

I swore that I would breastfeed my own child till six months. Maximum.

Anything after that and they should be using bottles. Of expressed milk or formula. Particularly out in public. After all, they get all they need from solid food from six months anyway.

Six months came. And went.

He refused bottles.
I could barely pump a drop.
Breastfeeding in public was not the discreet affair that I had envisaged.....
And he refused milk in any other form other than straight from the tap...
I was stressed and confused and I inadvertently found myself breastfeeding into toddlerhood.

Every assumption that I had ever made;
About him not needing it past six months, and about how he should be taking bottles...
he dispelled my ignorance at every corner.

And he showed me that he DID need it.
I just had to find that out for myself.

And breastfeeding a toddler suddenly didn’t feel weird. It made so much sense.
For us.

When he was unwell he would rely on it.
When he was upset he would rely on it.
And when he was hurting, happy, tired, angry, hungry, thirsty, sad; he would rely on it.

Until one day he was able to check in with his own emotions, and he no longer relied on it.
He developed his own coping mechanisms.

So why is it important to normalise natural term breastfeeding?
Because if this is the first time someone sees it, then the second or third time it will be slightly less weird. And by the fifth time, it would hardly be noticed or commented upon at all.

Because the only thing that is unnatural about natural term breastfeeding, is society’s ASSUMPTION that it is unnatural or weird.
It was my unrealistic expectations that made it unnatural. And it was my lack of understanding that made it weird.

It is one of motherhoods greatest contradictions;
to push the importance of breastfeeding without adequate support, and then push for her and her child to stop before either of them are ready.

And that needs to end.

01/04/2024

Love this! I found my way to a more connected way through my parenting journey. Co sleeping, baby wearing, etc. It felt instinctually right to me.

Did you do the same?

“Did you know that Mayan families in Guatemala, consider bedsharing to be the only way to parent through the night?

Did you know that in Japan, breastfeeding and shared sleep (soine) is seen as a means to sustain connection through touch or ‘skinship’ between mother and child?

Did you know that In Bali, babies’ feet don’t touch the ground until 3 months of age?

Yet, we’re told in western culture that our babies need to sleep on their own, that we need to get our babies on a schedule and that we can ‘spoil’ them if we pick them up ‘too much’.

One of my favourite cross-cultural pieces of research to share to help us challenge the mainstream parenting narrative, comes from Dr. Charlotte Peterson. She spent forty years traveling the globe to live with local families and witness parenting practices in peaceful cultures. She observed that in Bali, babies are seen as a blessing.

At three months of age, there is a ceremony called Tiga Bulan or “three moons”. It is not until the celebration of this ceremony that a new baby’s feet touch the earth. Until that point, the baby is considered “of the heavens” and is constantly held in someone’s arms.

After the ceremony, the baby is considered “of the earth”. Although a baby can be put down and “out of arms” at this point, Charlotte has rarely seen a Balinese infant or toddler not being held or closely watched, by her parents or family members, within those first three months.

For me, it feels validating to gain a different perspective, reminding us that our instincts to hold our babies close are ancient, wise and innately human. I seek out research like this as it allows me to better understand the difference between social norms & what’s best for our babies.”

words: ❤️
📷: ❤️

29/09/2022

My gorgeous friend Reyna shared this and its just so shareworthy! I knew all of this, but I did birth all 6 of mu children into water and birthed my 5 girls at home and I am a doula and fierce birth advocate!

But did you know that before 1600 Western Women gave birth squatting, sitting and standing?
This changed when King Louis XIV of France ordered that in order for him to witness the birth of his children, his women had to give birth lying down.

Although this position makes childbirth more difficult and painful, it soon became widespread, and French doctors had to invent forceps to avoid some of its consequences. In a short time, obstetric instruments multiplied, and it came to be believed that childbirth was always an emergency that required medical attention to be without complications.

The idea that a woman should be guided by her own instincts when it comes to childbirth is becoming more and more popular. The number of mothers-to-be who opt for natural childbirth -understood as that delivery in which external intervention is the least possible- is increasing.

The French obstetrician Michel Odent, one of the most notable defenders of natural childbirth, affirms that the woman in labor should not follow any rules, but obey her instinct, which makes her an expert in giving birth. Odent gave his patients complete freedom to proceed as they wished, and even allowed them to sit in a tub of warm water to ease the pain of uterine contractions. This is where the idea of ​​water birth came from.

Current knowledge of physiology has shown that vertical delivery - standing or squatting - allows the birth of the baby to be faster and less traumatic. However, there is no universal position for giving birth. In the most primitive communities, first-time mothers are guided by the advice of more experienced women.

07/08/2022

So important to not hinder the bonding process post birth. The things we've adopted are strange!

It’s deeply ingrained, this habit of putting hats on newborns. Search online for images of newborns and almost all of them are togged up in a woolly hat, for all the world like they are about to go outside for a snowball fight. So why do we do it? And why do so many midwives […]

07/05/2022

Happy Mothers Day to all the mamas out there!

When I was pregnant with my daughter her cells migrated into my bloodstream and then circled back into hers. For 41 weeks our cells merged and crossed and after she was born these cells stayed in my body, leaving a permanent imprint in my tissues, bones, brain, and skin, and will stay there for decades. ⁠⠀�⁠⠀�And every child I have after will leave a similar imprint on my body. Even if a pregnancy doesn't go to full term or you have an abortion, these cells still migrate into your bloodstream. Research has shown that if a mother's heart is injured, fetal cells will rush to the site of the injury and change into different types of cells that specialize in mending the heart! Studies have also shown cells from a fetus in a mothers brain 18 years after she gave birth!⁠⠀�⁠⠀�Mothers have always intuitively felt their child even when they are not there, now there is scientific proof that we carry them for years and years even after we have birthed them. I know my body held and made my daughter, but she too made me. Leaving pieces of herself to forever flow through my body and heal me in ways I am only still trying to understand. Forever grateful for her not only being my teacher but also my healer.�⁠⠀⁠⠀�If you're curious to learn more google "Fetal-maternal microchimerism"⁠

(This made me think of my own mother so much too. Gem x)

Words by Kelsi Ludvigsen
https://www.instagram.com/kelsiludvigsen/

Art by the talented angelica.ch.r
https://instagram.com/angelica.ch.r?igshid=8kwpyzkw1c31

https://www.instagram.com/themotherhoodprojectnz

18/09/2021

I really love this chick! If you're looking to babywear and want to know how to wrap, she is fantastic! Go check her out!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1116141445459918&id=127323970616020

21/01/2021

This is bloody excellent!! After 6 live births (the first of which involving a mediolateral episiotomy) I had an extremely compromised pelvic floor and a diagnosed 5 finger diastasis recti. This simply must be talked about. And women should never be treated as second class citizens for needing medical attention after unnecessary procedures leave them physically unable to maintain a decent quality of life, post birth. I've actually now spent 9 years since the birth of my 6th babe, trying to get medical help for my lack of pelvic floor muscles and pelvic instability. I've worked hard to get my body into a healthy state again, and this is the last lingering thing keeping me from doing simple things like running.

My question to you is, do you have issues since having your baby/babies? Were you referred to a pelvic floor physio? (I've paid for and seen 2 on my own) and are you getting the necessary help to repair any damage you've sustained from the pregnancy/birth process?

12/01/2021

You may, or may not, know that I have been eating ketogenically for the past 2 years. I also run a Womyns Keto Group and was asked about the safety of eating ketogenically in pregnancy. I came across this vid from Dr Berg as I was searching for info to share on the subject.

There us some really great info here on the importance of eating high quality nutrient dense foods during the period when you are TTC, pregnant and breastfeeding. I thought it very shareworthy, whether you eat ketogenically or not

Talk to a Dr. Berg Keto Consultant today and get the help you need on your journey. Call 1-540-299-1556 with your questions about Keto, Intermittent Fasting ...

24/11/2020

A brilliant post! Just had to share!

Do you have enough milk? So many women get pressured into feeding their babies formula because, "you mustn't have enough milk," but in the vast majority of instances the signs used to justify that are completely unreliable.

🤱 It's normal for your breasts to progressively not feel as engorged as they did in the first days/weeks.
🤱It's normal for babies to have periods where they're unsettled and seemingly want to feed frequently.
🤱 Some women really struggle to pump even 10ml of milk, and yet their babies are stacking on weight like noones business!
🤱 It's normal for babies to cluster feed and, shock horror, wake in the night to feed, even after the early months!

Listen to your baby, look for reliable signs of supply, feed on demand and reach out if you need help or reassurance 🥰