Doula Moncton

02/05/2022

Un rappel pour ces journées plus difficiles ❤

It’s all fun and games
And sexy breathing exercises for birth
And romantic plans about how he’ll take the baby while you do yoga every day

Until you’re 10 days postpartum
Still bleeding and soaked in breastmilk
Riding a roller coaster of hormones and sleep deprivation
And your lovely partner forgets to pick up a smoothie on his way home from the grocery store

And you lose your sh✨t
Like sobbing into the bathroom sink
Like cursing his mother
Like wondering why you ever procreated with someone capable of such unimaginable selfishness

And then, when the storm has passed, and you’ve had a snack- you realize
Two shaky, raw, sleep deprived humans
Trying to be life rafts for one another
While sinking into the depths of exhaustion and stress
Keeping the tiniest, most fragile, precious being afloat
Is hard AF

We weren’t meant to do this alone
We were not meant to be sent out to sea on a tiny little life boat with no map
Even the most loving, stable partnership can sink under the weight of operating in survival mode while finding your footing as parents

So, if you’re out there, treading water
Buried in laundry and breastmilk
Surviving on freezer pizza and three hours of sleep
Thinking mildly unkind thoughts about the person you chose to parent with
Because he can’t seem to calm the baby or remember your smoothies or grasp the depths of the earth shaking transition you’re navigating
You’re not alone
And it will get easier
One sleepy, shaky day at a time

❤️ Image and words by:
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01/08/2020

Read that again. ⁠
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12/29/2019

05/22/2019

This morning was an emotional morning at our meetup in support of those possibly effected by the rogue nurse at the Moncton City Hospital...
In OUR community we have:
Mother's who have experienced traumatic births
Mother's who have felt alone and even told that their experience was isolated or partially their fault
Mother's who years later still can't look at their c-section scars
Partners who have watched their wives suffer with breastfeeding and bonding with their child due to the trauma at birth
Mothers who (may have been predisposed to postpartum depression, but) also may have experienced it exponentially worse because of the trauma
Parents worried about the delays they're seeing in their toddlers
Parents who are scared to have another child because of the trauma they experienced

We ALL need to be angry about this, we need to stand up as a community and support each other. We need to use our voices.
If you think you may have been affected:
PLEASE call the RCMP to file a report so she can be criminally charged.
PLEASE contact Fidelis Law Droit to be kept in the loop about the class action lawsuit.

Horizon Health Network/Réseau de santé Horizon and Nicole Ruest NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. They need to know everyone is waiting, and expect an answer to:
A) How did this happen? and how did it happen for so long?
B) How are they going to make sure something like this never happens again and
C) When will resources be made available to those who have suffered, and are currently suffering from what has happened to them.

We are happy to support our community in whatever way we can, thank you to everyone who came out this morning to chat, connect and meet with the lawyers.

I urge you to join Moncton Mama's Oxytocin Support --->
https://www.facebook.com/groups/401955133686686/
so you can find community online. Thank you Caitlin Middleton for keeping this story alive and connecting parents.

04/05/2019

Wow 💗

03/08/2019

This is a Haiku I thought of today, after witnessing woman after woman sharing their stories. All medical interventions, unless someone is unconscious or judged unfit to be able to participate in decisions that impact their bodies, should be explained and consent received. When interventions are applied without information or consent to parts of the body that also happen to be sexual, one can imagine the potential impact. Of course it is nobody's intention to cause harm, nor are the interventions in themselves bad. But if the impact of intervening "just because you're there" with no heads up would be truly understood, things would change. Things must change, because I hear this story all the time, often accompanied by tears and a deep erosion of trust.

02/23/2019

A healthy baby is NOT the ONLY thing that matters. You are NOT one feeling or one emotion. You are a complex human being who is allowed to have more needs than just staying alive, and more desires than having a healthy baby.
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The systematic dismissal of women and the importance of their experiences, and disregard for their comprehensive health is, perhaps, the ultimate driving force behind my purpose as a doula and educator. The “A healthy baby is all that matters” platitude is damaging and further perpetuates this disregard and dismissal of women.
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First of all, I have *never* met a parent who wouldn’t do anything necessary for the health of their baby, if recommended by a provider they *trust*. The healthiest mom and baby possible is the bottom line. But. OTHER THINGS MATTER TOO. Acknowledging that trust, autonomy, respect, being heard, and even hopes and dreams MATTER does NOT detract from one’s gratitude for their baby.
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Second, these needs can be met *regardless* of mode of delivery or birth preferences obtained/not obtained. When these comprehensive needs are met, many kinds of birth experiences can be positive.
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Third. Some babies are not born healthy. How a mother is treated its *always* important. Following the logic of “a healthy baby is all that matters”, then what matters when a baby is not healthy?
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Regardless of preferences, circumstances, controllables, and uncontrollables…How a mother feels during and about her birth experience affects her mental health, physical health, and bonding with her baby. That matters.

I regard this hierarchy of needs as imperfect and a work in progress! Please share anything you feel could be added.
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via .app

02/23/2019

The benefits of breastmilk don't stop at 1 year. How many of you are nursing toddlers?

01/11/2019

The failure to recognize the value of breast milk contributes to gender inequality in wages and the labor market.

01/06/2019

💗

A powerful image of by Amber Denae Photography.

If this scares you, sit with it. Lean into those feelings. Get to the why. Your why. Then you can honor and work through the valid emotions you carry in your heart and mind. You will go deeper. Layer by layer. And then, finally be in a confident sync with your body and baby. You will find the power you’ve always had. Hidden away. That is ready to be used to do what you were always meant to do. Let is flow through and out. You are ready. Love, Mama J

“A serene water birth. Baby guided gently by her incredibly strong + gorgeous mama. I’ll never stop being in awe of the miracle of life.”
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01/03/2019

Des mamans qui s'entraident ❤

11/29/2018

Merci Kevin d'adresser les droits des femmes lors de l'accouchement!

10/19/2018

Changeons le discourt

Boys will be boys!

10/04/2018

A correlational study recently published in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology revealed an interesting connection between birth delivery type

09/02/2018

"But for reasons that seldom distinguish life from death, does an instinct injured human female suffer politely abuses to body, mind and soul in the name of birth. If birth is the beginning of everything else, there is little wonder that the wounded female instinct keeps the sacred feminine from her rightful place in our wounded societies...Human rights cannot be reduced to options with a check box and the right of a mother to choose where and with whom and how she will birth her baby cannot be upheld even by putting a professional midwife on every block...How and who will preserve the knowledge, skills and experience of wise wimyn elders as bit by bit what they know is discounted or forbidden in practice? What was once a special circumstance or variation of normal is now a risk factor that labels a mother too early, too late, too small, too large, too many, too breech, too young, too old, too non compliant, too much and yet getting too little when it comes to looking at factors such as thought and feeling and fears and desires and compassion and home visits and genuine interest and patience and ethnic respect and kindness. For native peoples the world over, the professional has become the greatest risk factor in an undisturbed, instinctual birth.

Cherokee-Catholic midwife, Sister MorningStar, wrote the following letter last week to the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) as she declined to re-certify with the organization on ethical …

08/04/2018

A researcher has claimed that circumcision may be one of the major risk factors in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). In a study available on the pre-pri