Nettle Moon Midwifery

06/11/2024

Did you know that you don't have to be planning a homebirth to experience midwifery care?

Midwives can care for families through routine prenatal care in a private setting as well as postpartum care in your home and in the office!

I love being able to support families with different birth plans. I know it means they will receive and extra loving touch on their birth experience. Having a midwife to walk a long side you will provide thorough care, education surrounding the prenatal, birth and postpartum period and support through it all.

Prenatal visits outside of the hospital look different from the clinical setting in many ways. Visits take place at my office in Amherst, they often begin with conversation over a treat from the coffee shop downstairs. At each visit we will check in physically and emotionally, vitals are taken and your belly palpated and measured to check on that sweet growing baby. Routine testing is offered with informed consent and is never forced.

Postpartum care is done in your home for the first two weeks and then provided in the office for up to 8 weeks. This allows for comprehensive care for both you and your new baby. Visits include physical and emotional check ins, vital checks for mom and baby, including weight, and holistic healing support.

Midwifery care really is special and everyone deserves at least a little bit 🫶

Contact me for more details!

05/06/2024

It's International Day of the Midwife 🫶

So grateful for this calling and for my amazing clients and birth community 💞

12/07/2023

Hey Y'all!

Here in Lynchburg we have a beautiful thing growing. Trillium House is a beautiful space where families receive birth classes, meet with their doulas, receive midwifery care and even have their babies.

The Trillium Collaborative is a non profit that supports this amazing space and even can sponsor midwifery care for those who desire it and cannot afford it.

Please consider donating before January 31st and your donation will be DOUBLED!

Thank you for being apart of our vision ♥️

Welcometo a Great Idea The Trillium Collaborative was established in 2023. Our mission is to provide accessible holistic, individualized care to families who value and desire it.To fulfill this mission, donations to the Trillium Collaborative will:provide financial stability for Trillium House and h...

11/30/2023

Beautiful ♥️

11/01/2023

The Birth of Zephyr 🍂

Part 2: The birth

The water provided such deep relief, I was finally able to rest and sleep between contractions. We must have spent and hour or two like this. Noli got so shriveled she had to take a short break. Breakfast was made, waffles, many pots of coffee were passed around, someone fed me grapes.

Noli joined me again and every contraction asked if the baby was coming. I checked myself, this time I could reach a head. I felt the sutures were off center, and there was a bulging bag of waters. My midwife brain told me it was probably a nuchal cord or he had a hand up. I was completely dilated except for a little in the front, I pushed it back during the next several contractions.

I still wasn't quite pushy so I decided to get out and walk around. I made it to the bedroom doorway and felt progress. I made it to the bed and decided to go back to the pool. I stood just outside it and got another pushing urge. I jumped in and stood for another.

Baby was finally coming. Noli joined me once more. I went to my knees and felt him beginning to crown. Another push and his head was mostly out. One more. I checked for a nuchal cord, and reached back to feel his face, a little hand still right at his chin. One more push and I brought him straight up to me.

My eyes were only on him as I watched him transition, he scrunched his face and contemplated his first breath. He didn't wait long to let out his first cries. I looked up to see Noli in front of me in complete awe. She came over to meet her new brother. Odyn and Nyx looked on from right outside the tub. My midwives held a watchful eye over everything.

Heaven on Earth is right in this moment. I wish I could live it over and over.

I noticed the tub turning red, with no alarm. My midwives asked if my placenta was ready but the cord was still full and pulsing. I felt comfortable giving it time to be ready. They brought over herbs to help. My contractions had been spaced out and this happens. The pool was burgundy red as I finally felt the cord soften and the cramping return. Julia and I guided the placenta out and my last moments being pregnant were over

10/30/2023

🍂The Birth of Zephyr 🍂

When a midwife gives birth

Part 1: The labor

I've always hoped for a labor that started with the thought that a baby is coming. It has always been a hesitant and slow beginning that left us questioning.

We spent Saturday doing hayrides and pushing around a stroller, with the hopes it would start labor. We got home that evening with no signs in sight. I woke at 1:30 that night with strong contractions, they had an interesting pattern so I waited to see what the would do. I couldn't sleep through them but I was in such doubt that it was real. The waves felt like what I've experienced just before transition.

At 4:30 I decided to call my midwife. I asked if she would come check me because things were intense but this hadn't been my experience. She reassured me that it sounded like active labor and that she'd head over. My husband, Caden, woke up and I told him to get the pool ready. Leslie and Julia showed up shortly after. We talked about what I was feeling. My contraction pattern was still consistently every 10, 2, then 4 minutes, but they were so intense. They quietly observed and arranged their things. Soon they agreed we should call the rest of the team.

In my other labors, we always struggled at some point of the labor to progress. I've gone through so many theories. My most recent being the position of my p***c bone. Reclining and lift and tucks had been the plan, and that the deep water of the birth pool would help. I pushed most of those thoughts aside when labor started. I sat, I walked, rested in bed, the waves stayed the same.

Noli woke up first, she came in our room excited to hear that baby was coming. Someone dressed her in the pink scrubs her daddy bought her, she was ready for her midwife duties. I asked my midwife to check me, it's hard not to be curious and I couldn't reach anything yet. Baby wasn't directly applied but she could stretch my cervix to a 7 or 8.

Not long after, I was ready to get in the pool. Noli put on her swim suit and followed me in. She played and swam around me as I labored. My most vivid memories are laying in the pool, music playing and the sun rising, gently filling the room with light. It was such a dream ✨

📸 Kerrisa Joelle Williams

09/12/2023

01/26/2023

🌠ᎢᎻᎬ ᏩᎾᏞᎠᎬN ᎻᎾᏌᎡ🌠

When you are able to hold off the fuss over mom and baby as much as possible and keep the two together within the first hour after birth nature is allowed to take its course.

"The Golden Hour"is a crucial time for mama and baby.

In each of their precious bodies, massive shifts are taking place as they adjust to life's new transition. Two separate creatures within learning to be one without. An every day miracle.

💁🏽What do you see happening?
I see:

🌸1st latch: establishing bond of trust, familiarity and nourishment. Surges of oxytocin constracting mom's uterus. Protecting against hemorrhage.

🌸Vernix Caseosa: the white sticky substance lubricating that new skin (Don't wash it momma, RUB IT IN)

🌸Gentle colonization of microorganisms which help baby adjust to the outside environment.

🌸Body temperature regulation, which babies in the beginning can have a hard time doing.

🌸 Trust developing, as the two new beings birthed through this process get to know eachother.

So much more takes place when you are able to allow yourself this special time.

📸:

Register for upcoming birth education workshop here!

www.thebirthimpact.com/workshops

01/21/2023

12/20/2020

Get a good grip Papa that baby is slippery!💦

Thank God for OBs and Midwives that give fathers this space. 💕

Photo Cred: .photo

08/25/2020

✨𝐍𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒✨
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🗣It’s and this week gives everyone the opportunity to learn about why black babies are at risk.
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🗣There is a disturbingly high black infant mortality rate. Black babies are dying at twice the rate(in some places, nearly triple) the rate of white babies.
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🗣According to the CDC, increased breastfeeding/chestfeeding among black parents could decrease infant mortality rates by as much as 50%.
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🗣Research shows 57% of Black parents initiate breastfeeding/ chestfeeding. The average duration is 6.4 weeks. By six months, only 35.3% of Black families are still nursing.
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🗣Black families are not supported properly in the delicate time immediately following birth to establish a healthy nursing relationship. They return to work sooner to jobs that do not adequately accommodate a nursing parent. And still, racism exists, hurting and hindering the nursing relationship even further. There’s also stigma, not enough resources available, not enough support from their loved ones, and outside stressors along with other challenges.
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🗣Formula is also pushed more on black families than any other race. They are 9 times more likely to be given formula than white parents.
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🗣We need more representation, support, resources, information, and images of black families nursing, and to stop racism. We have to be aware.
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🗣This is a matter of health and saving lives.
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PhotoCred: Carma Collective Photography & Gemmed By Jewell Photography

Mamas on IG:

07/28/2020

https://www.facebook.com/gentlesleeptribe/

07/26/2020

Too funny 🤣

Did anyone warn you about fundal massages? No one warned me and when my nurse did the first one, I was like, "what is this fresh hell??" 😂😱⁠
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So what is a fundal massage anyways? ⁠
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It is when your OB, midwife or nurse vigorously rubs down on your fundus (the top of your uterus) after your baby is born to cause your uterus to contract and clamp down on where your placenta was attached so you don't bleed out. They do this every 15 minutes or so for the first couple of hours until your bleeding is slowed down.⁠
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Now you know.

07/25/2020

If you care about children, take care of the mothers.⁠
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07/15/2020

✨✨✨

When I feel stressed about not getting anything done I remind myself that cuddling is very important 💛

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07/13/2020

💜💜💜

Can you tell these are some of my favorite images?! They were so completely smitten with him 💛