East Texas Doula

08/15/2025

Join us for "Held: A Gathering for Women Preparing for Birth" to connect, learn, and empower each other on this incredible journey to mother

08/10/2025

Homebirth emergency - is it what you think?

At home:

– Decels? I reposition mom, left lateral, call EMS before we’d need them.

– Baby crowns, no restitution. Shoulders not stuck, but not moving — PAC pull was the best move for this dystocia.

– Baby out to mom’s chest. Slow cry, great tone, fat pulsing short cord. Pinked up in our hands.

-Ems arrives with no job to do, and is sent away happy they didn't have to deliver a baby.

In hospital:

– Same decels? Likely whisked to OR for “emergency C-section” before pushing.

– If not, second alarm sounds for shoulder dystocia.

– Mom flat on her back in McRoberts, four-step sequence, maybe an episiotomy “just in case.”

– Cord clamped & cut instantly.

– Baby to warmer, then NICU “for observation.”

– Mom left with surgery or stitches, separated from her baby.

Birth isn’t just where — it’s how it’s handled.

07/04/2025

Ever heard of the fear tension pain cycle?
When you’re scared ➡️, your body tenses up ⬇️ That tension makes labor hurt ⬅️ more which makes you even more scared ⬆️. It’s a tough loop to be stuck in.

The good news? You can break it. 🙌
When you understand what’s happening in your body and how to work with it, things feel a lot less overwhelming. That’s what childbirth education does. It gives you the tools to stay calm, feel prepared, and trust yourself.

That’s what we’re here for at Birth Boot Camp. We’d love to help you break the cycle.
✨ Register for one of our midwife-approved online birth classes and start preparing for an amazing birth today.

Comment to learn more!

06/27/2025

Join us to learn about ways you can help prepare for labor and delivery! For first time and repeat moms alike.

Jami will be covering:
-Common pelvic floor issues during pregnancy and postpartum
- Labor techniques and positions to assist baby moving through the pelvis
-Pushing mechanics to reduce prolapse/tearing
-How to do perineal massage

Brittany will be covering:
-prenatal colostrum expression
-breast and bottle feeding, what to expect in the first 2 weeks of feeding your baby
-when to seek help with feeding your baby and/or for milk production
-what can an IBCLC help with?

We hope to see you there!!

Those that attend will have the opportunity to schedule a free one on one 15 minute session with Jami and/or Brittany! You don’t want to miss out!

06/18/2025

According to the March of Dimes, in Texas, 49.6% of counties are considered maternity care deserts—places where there is no hospital offering obstetric care, no birth center, and no obstetric provider.

That means nearly half of our state lacks essential maternal health services.
At ATMMTP, we’re working to change that—one midwife at a time.
By training dedicated, community-rooted midwives, we’re helping to bring care where it’s needed most.

Midwives are essential.
Access matters.
Change starts here.

04/12/2025

🗣️ Your Voice & Your Birth: The Throat-Cervix Connection

Did you know there is a direct connection between your throat and cervix? The way you use your voice in labor can actually influence how your cervix opens!

🔹 High-pitched sounds = Tension & Tightening
🔹 Low, deep sounds = Relaxation & Opening

When you tense your jaw and make high-pitched noises, your body responds by holding tension—including in your cervix. But when you allow yourself to relax, breathe deeply, and make low, open sounds, your cervix follows, softening and opening for birth.

✨ Try this: Keep your jaw loose, shoulders relaxed, and focus on deep, low moans or humming during contractions. Think "open mouth, open cervix!"

Your body is designed for birth—trust it, work with it, and let your voice help guide the way. 💛

10/18/2023

Postpartum depression affects up to 1 in 7 women and is the most common complication for women who have just had a baby.

So why isn’t this talked about more?

My biggest job as a doula is making sure you feel cared for, supported, and informed during not only your pregnancy and birth but also postpartum.

My wish is for women everywhere to have the support they need to be able to advocate for themselves and make informed decisions concerning their mental health.

Because early detection of PPD is crucial and its prevalence is growing in the US, the condition poses significant risks to both maternal and neonatal health.

10/17/2023

What would that kind of support do for you? 🤔

While we can't bring you dinner, we can absolutely give you a level of support you won't find anywhere else. Just send us a message or head to our website to learn how.

Make sure to follow for daily breastfeeding tips!

10/12/2022

SECOND NIGHT SYNDROME

Many new parents are quite caught off guard by night number two with their new baby!

After the first 24 hours of sleepiness and even having to "wake baby to feed," baby seems to wake up and discover that they are ravenous!

All. Night. Long. Feeding, then crying, then feeding then crying! It's easy to become concerned that maybe you're just not producing enough milk and your new baby may very well starve. Cue deep feelings of failure (which are then exacerbated because you're exhausted from the birth process and now not sleeping all night!)

It makes sense if you think about all that baby has been through - the physical exertion of birth and their bodies recovering and adjusting can make them exceptionally tired the first day. But by day two, they wake up and bit and realize that things are SO MUCH DIFFERENT than what they are used to.

They are experiencing a rumbling in their tummy that is quite disturbing. They have new textures on their skin, new noises all around, and the brightness of the lights makes them want to keep their eyes closed. The only thing they recognize is mama. The warmth of her skin makes them feel like they are safe. Home.

Another good reason babies seem to have their "days and nights" mixed up that second day is biological: Prolactin (our milk hormone) is highest when melatonin (our sleep hormone) is highest. And our milk supply is a supply and demand system.

Thus: the more your baby nurses at night, the quicker your milk supply will come in!

So mama, just be prepared. Your little one will need some extra attention on night number two!

Hold them close, lots of skin to skin, nurse as often as they desire, and don't get discouraged! You are doing exactly what you were meant to do! You're doing a great job!

08/24/2022

07/19/2022

No other mammal doubts their ability to give birth.

They seek out isolation - darkness - quiet - and they let the process unfold.

It really is silly, after all, to doubt our ability to procreate when it is quite literally what keeps our species alive.

But the indoctrination is real.

From before we can remember we’re told how painful & dangerous & impossible birth is. We’re told how long aunt Sally’s labor was & how many interventions were “required” & how she almost bled to death.

And then, once we start seeing birth on TV and in the movies, it’s always portrayed as a dangerous, intensely medicalized experience with a lot of rushing around, screaming, and machines constantly beeping.

So it’s no wonder that, by the time we get to be pregnant ourselves, we have no idea what our bodies are capable of.

But the truth is, you were made for this.

If we trusted our bodies to birth like we trust them to digest food or pump our blood or do any of the other incredible processes they do without help or even a thought, the birth world would be in an entirely different place.

For anyone who is thinking that birth doesn’t always go well & that, even in undisturbed births there can be complications, of course that’s true. My informational posts are always about how the majority of cases go, not the outliers, but I don’t deny that the outliers exist.

07/08/2022