Birth with Grace Doula Care

08/02/2023

07/17/2023

Taking on a clients who are looking to birth at home ✨ Send me a message with any questions you may have!

07/07/2023

05/18/2023

I will be away starting tomorrow until June 1st! I’ll still be around email and socials so if you need anything don’t hesitate to reach out, my response time may just be slightly longer. I will be working on June location planning and styling while I’m away so if you’re booked in for June don’t forget to send me any of your closet must haves. 🥰

05/18/2023

I’m sorry this is a bit late!
I hope you all had a fantastic Mother’s Day! Thank you to those of you who shared intimate births of your babies with me. I appreciate & love every each and one of you! 💗✨
I spent mother’s day witnessing a beautiful babe being born into water and her mama’s arms. Then spent it with my kiddos and my own momma.

Much love to you all, xoxo Sami

08/05/2022

Post partum visit with my favourite (and only) repeat client! Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey & for letting me snuggle this wee babe!! ✨

07/24/2022

Dear belly that covers my womb,

Thank you for knowing how to accommodate a life, for holding it close under your strained tautness. Thank you for letting go at a moments notice and going back from being a *Belly* to being a stomach again.

I love you in all your iterations, even if society does not agree and does not teach me to do so.

I see proof that we are learning to do so. Bodies of all shapes wearing bikinis this summer. Stretch marks with glitter in them. This photo by .lotje We are learning to show you the love and respect you deserve. Thanks for just being you while we learned this lesson.

Love, the woman you’re attached to

07/23/2022

Scientists have discovered an odorless scent molecule called hexadecanal, or HEX, that is released by humans and impacts aggressive behavior. The HEX molecule is the most abundant molecule released on the newborn baby's head. The researchers found that this molecule reduced aggression in males (biologically important as infanticide is a relatively common event in the mammalian world) and increased aggression in females (key to infant protection). We have shared with parents that when they are skin to skin with their newborn they should remove the baby's hat to allow them to inhale the scent of their newborn as it elicits an entire range of activity in the parental brain. This is one more reason to take a deep sniff! (Mishor et al., 2022)

Source: Eva Mishor et al, Sniffing the human body volatile hexadecanal blocks aggression in men but triggers aggression in women, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg1530

06/22/2022

A good thing to be mindful of!

And this here is why I NEVER break a woman’s waters at home - or anywhere (this, and a few other reasons). I’ll explain why in a second… but first… this is the placenta of a client of mine who recently gave birth at home. You can see there are some blood vessels placed in the membranes rather than in the placenta where they would normally be. The line represents the end of the placental tissue.

Breaking a woman’s waters in labour is called ‘artificial rupture of the membranes’ and your care provider might describe it as ‘breaking your waters’ or ‘JUST going to break your waters’.

In all the times I’ve heard maternity care providers ask for consent from a woman to break their waters, I’ve never heard one describe the risks of this procedure.

One of the risks is that there could be blood vessels placed IN the membranes rather than the usual placement of in the placenta. Remembering that ALL the blood in the placental vessels is the babies, you can imagine what would happen if one of the vessels of the ‘no placenta’ side got damaged. The baby would lose its blood supply faster than your care provider to get you to the operating theatre to get your baby out safely.

When midwives or doctors break your waters they use a crochet hook looking tool to break open the membranes and release the amniotic fluid from around the baby… they can also never truely know what they are doing because it’s all done by feel and not sight.

The risks include:
- cord prolapse
- physical damage to the baby from the tool
- exsanguination of the baby if blood vessels are ruptured
- increased labour pain
- increased risk of infection

Breaking a woman’s waters is never ‘JUST’ breaking waters. It’s an intervention and it has risks

10/28/2021

You were not responsible for your traumatic birth, māmā. I see you holding so much guilt and self blame... "I should have been stronger... I should have said no... I should have chosen a different path... I failed at birth, at bonding, at breastfeeding... I let my baby down."

You WERE strong and courageous and brave... and you were scared, pressured, bullied, silenced, abandoned, coerced, or otherwise let down by a system which denies the importance and sacredness of the holistic birth experience. You didn't let you or your baby down; you both were let down.

Remember, NO ONE wanted a safer and more positive outcome for you and your baby more so than YOU. You get that, right? So, whatever decisions you made and actions you took (or didn't take) during your labour and birth, were the ones that you deemed best.

You only had whatever information and support you had available to you at the time, on which to base your decision making. In hindsight, once you feel and know the outcomes of those choices and once you are armed with more information, you regret that you didn't do things differently. But that doesn't negate the fact that: You made the best choices you could for you and your baby, based on the information and support you had available to you at the time.

Please stop punishing yourself. Please seek out the healing you deserve. You are so, so worthy.

10/22/2021

This is great for Kamloops! ☺️

Are you pregnant or have recently had a baby?

Starting on November 2, the Thompson Region Division of Family Practice is offering support and education to new or expecting parents through a series of free online workshops sponsored by the Royal Inland Hospital. Over the first three sessions, the following topics will be covered:

💙 Breastfeeding: Nuts & Bolts - Tuesday, November 2nd – 7:30pm-8:30pm

💙 Postpartum Survival Skills: Preventing Depression and Harnessing Health & Happiness – Tuesday, November 9th - 7:30pm-8:30pm

💙 Sleep, Colic, and Crying: A baby toolkit - Tuesday, November 16th - 7:30pm-8:30pm

To register now, visit: www.kamloopsmaternity.ca!

The Royal Inland Hospital Foundation is proud to be able to do our part in giving expectant and new parents, and their children, a positive start in their life together.

08/19/2021

Sometimes our support person has no clue what to do!
Here are 3 easy but SUPER helpful tips for supporting the labouring mum 🤰🏼

08/02/2021

World Breastfeeding Week is among us ✨

07/09/2021

With over 1200 images from dozens of countries around the world, the 2019 Birth Becomes Her Image Contest was our biggest yet…and we couldn’t have been more inspired by the births you shared! Here at Birth Becomes Her, we believe there is POWER in seeing and sharing images of birth. We believe t...

05/31/2021

Tonight you can join in remembrance 🧡

05/31/2021

I have no words for the children that were taken from their families and never returned... for the survivors that went through so much trauma and still do to this very day. My hearts are with your families.
🤍🤍🤍

04/15/2021

How much did your babies weigh at birth?!

💙💜 for me!