Hills Midwifery Services

28/04/2023

ARE YOU A MUM-TO-BE OR A MAMA IN ADELAIDE??

I'm a private midwife in the Adelaide Hills who has been attending homebirths since 2017. Lately, I have been feeling the call to work with women in a new way. To support women to move into motherhood feeling connected to community and spiritually grounded. To bring women together as they move through matrescence, transitioning from maiden to mother. To witness and celebrate each other's unique experiences, and share in the sorrows and challenges.

If you have a moment could you please fill out this survey? It's so important to make sure any new offerings match your needs as mothers and women.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/72HLQ66

21/04/2023

Lately, I've been feeling the call to work with women in a new way. To support women to move into motherhood feeling connected to community and spiritually grounded. To bring women together as they move through matrescence, transitioning from maiden to mother. To witness and celebrate each other's unique experiences, and share in the sorrows and challenges.

If you have a moment, could you please fill in this survey? It's important that any new offerings match your needs as mothers and women.

Please take the survey titled "Hills Midwifery Meditation Circles". Your feedback is important!

26/06/2022

Dilation Station? Labour Throne? 👸

DILATION STATION! 💯

Aka the "Get it done position." 💪🏽 Most of my clients know that I love using the toilet for labor. It's the best way to release a pelvic floor and help a baby descend into the pelvis. The contractions are super intense on the potty, but that's because they are super productive! Trust me when I tell you, this is one of the all time best labor positions!

🚽you are naturally prone to relaxing your pelvic floor and perineum while sitting on the toilet.
🚽the bathroom is a place of privacy and solitude and you are used to relaxing in this room.
🚽you are using gravity
🚽you are opening your pelvis.
🚽you are allowing your baby lots of room to rotate and navigate the birth canal.
🚽you can also turn around and straddle the toilet with a pillow in front of you for comfort.

I call it the “dilation station” for a reason. I’ve encouraged many mommies to spend some time laboring on the toilet. It’s not uncommon for baby to come rather quickly after that 🤗

Instagram: www.instagram.com/TheBirthImpact

📸:

08/06/2022

Theme 6: We were never meant to be doing this alone- we humans are social creatures who were never designed to raise our young solo or within a nuclear family.

We were always meant to have many knowledgeable, wise, and willing hands around us to ensure that we could stay well and thrive while meeting the intense needs of our littlest people.

The fact that so many of us don’t have access to this is an important thing to understand when we are questioning why we may be struggling so hard to cope, enjoy or even do more than survive this time.

The weakness is not on the individual’s part (or our baby’s), it’s a societal problem that needs addressing urgently.

We work hard every day to advocate for change at every level- top-down and bottom up. You can help support our work through our Australian registered charity, Little Sparklers.

We can and should be doing better by families.

Wrapping up the themes from Season 2 of The Beyond Sleep Training Podcast
Precious image: courtesy of Renee, Vida Images

06/06/2022

What a way to celebrate International Homebirth Day. First time at a homebirth (other than my own) in 3 years! What an honour to be welcomed into women's homes at such a sacred time 🌟🌟

Cheers to my assistant for being a good sport. My back is feeling it but my heart is happy 💜

18/03/2022

18/03/2022

Infant sleep is one of the top reasons women contact me for postnatal support. There's so much conflicting advice to be found from GPs, midwives, Family Health nurses, friends, family, paediatricians and influencer mums on YouTube and Instagram. It's enough to do your head in and make you feel like you need to “do something” to fix the “problem”.

I highly recommend the Possums program to new parents wanting to learn how to support their baby in a holistic way. https://possumsonline.com/

Postnatal support from a trusted midwife is also brilliant (mine were amazing!). If you feel like you'd like some extra support around baby sleep - book in asap to avoid disappointment! Postnatal packages for women due in August and September are still available.

Hils 🌿

14/03/2022

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbGlDZQBklK/?utm_medium=copy_link

13/03/2022

Your dignity matters. But how can you hold your dignity, when the culture around birth and the structure of the maternity system expect us to disregard ourselves?

The Birth Map was written to address this issue. What started as a birth plan template, that just got more and more detailed as it became apparent that the template approach to birth plans were doing us a disservice.

What we needed, as pregnant women, expectant mothers, was support to navigate this system which expected us to have no expectations and do as we are told.

And this is a problem, as consent is the framework for healthcare.

There is No One Way. Who we are matters. Our back story will influence our birth journey. We need to know The Questions to ask in order to determine our way forward. At the very least we need to understand what our options are, not just at a point in time, but what it looks like 'down the road'.

If you choose to birth in the system - you owe it to yourself to understand the system.

The Birth Map helps you to do that.

see blog post for more: https://birthmap.life/birth-with-dignity/

10/03/2022

If someone is wanting to put their fingers in your va**na - they'd better have a great reason. 🤷‍♀️ Just because you're having a baby does not mean you need to have multiple people across your labour perform a va**nal assessment. In fact, you may not require one at all.

Policy, “just checking” and an inability to assess labour progress from other cues aren't good reasons. Vaginal examinations are a tool, but they only tell us so much.

**nalexaminations

09/03/2022

She's not wrong 🤷‍♀️ This is why postpartum support is so 👏 important 👏

*Except not all women require stitching post-va**nal birth. Our bodies are clever and very stretchy, and built to “get big” and return again ✨

07/03/2022

Battle of the (pelvic floor) bulge

Okay real talk. I can do up my jeans, but they are quite tight around the middle by the end of the day. So for now I'm wearing them with an elastic 😂

But, why? Contrary to popular postpartum lore, extra “support” around your abdomen postpartum can hinder your recovery. Belly bands, tight jeans, postpartum recovery tights/shorts, tubigrip and wraps. Some women feel great using these, and that's awesome for them. Especially those with a diastasis recti or a weak core.

For those with a weak or damaged pelvic floor (including those with a prolapse) these things can increase the pressure in your abdomen, causing your organs to bulge down towards your pelvic floor 🙊🙈 extra pressure on your pelvic floor can cause or exacerbate weakness or cause excessive tightness in your pelvic floor. This means mamas with continence and prolapse symptoms may see their symptoms flare up after a day of wearing those jeans that are a touch too tight.

Not what we want! For more information on taking care of your postpartum body check out the lovely B and/or see a women's health physio.

If you'd like some extra support postnatally DM me x I'd love to be part of your empowering and supported pregnancy snd postpartum journey

05/03/2022

That feeling when it's your birthday AND you've just sold your first antenatal and postnatal care package 🍾🍾🍾 Woo hoo!! So grateful for everything this season brings. I feel blessed to walk alongside women through their journey to motherhood.

DM for more info about my midwifery packages. Spaces are limited 💜💜

Follow me over on Instagram Hills Midwifery Services for more fun 😊

01/03/2022

01/03/2022

Hi!
My name is Hilary. I'm a mother, wife and midwife living in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. My heart and passion lies in working one-on-one with women and their families. Magic happens when women experience respectful and personalised care from a known midwife. This is backed up fantastic birth outcomes,as well as women's satisfaction with their birth experiences*. I experienced this myself with my two beautiful pregnancies, thank you Claire and Jo . Now I am returning to private practice to give that same experience to the women in my community. I want every woman to come into motherhood feeling powerful, capable and supported.

I offer antenatal and postnatal support to women in the Adelaide Hills and surrounds in their own home or in Mylor.

I am available for:
💜 antenatal and postnatal packages
💜shared care for mamas birthing in hospitals
💜birth debriefs
💜extra support visits for mamas who need some TLC (including rainbow mamas, infertility mamas, anxious mamas)
💜care provider clarity sessions
💜birth mapping / birth plan sessions
💜 breastfeeding and lactation support
💜 midwifery consults for freebirthing mamas
💜birth and early parenting education

All antenatal and postnatal consults attract a Medicare Rebate. I can also order ultrasounds, bloods and prescribe if needed.

I am so excited to be back 🥰

*https://www.cochrane.org/CD004667/PREG_midwife-led-continuity-models-care-compared-other-models-care-women-during-pregnancy-birth-and-early

01/03/2022