Southern Illinois Midwifery, LLC

11/12/2025

11/10/2025

History in the making! The FDA has officially listened to physicians and is asking drug companies to remove the black box warning on vaginal estrogen.What a privilege to serve on the expert panel and stand alongside my incredible colleagues on this landmark day for women’s health. Read the full story from USA Today: https://ow.ly/Gf1g50XpwCM

11/10/2025

Historic moment for women’s health!! Hormone support is a service I am proud to provide!!

Today November 10th marks a historic day in midlife womens health!

11/06/2025

An excellent article today from . Note the lack of evidence supporting the use of continuous fetal monitoring, the clear influence of business and economics, and the money grab from AI companies who claim studies support their product - when in fact they don’t - resulting in remote monitoring hubs.

I especially love that placenta accreta is described early in the article so the public can see that cesareans carry risk. As a result, we need to ensure that they occur only when needed or wanted.

Note that the photo for this article is of a remote monitoring hub. One such hub is up to 60 miles away from the hospital in which the woman is laboring.

“Nearly every woman who gives birth in an American hospital is strapped with a belt of sensors to track the baby’s heartbeat. If the pattern is deemed abnormal — too slow, for example — doctors often call for an emergency C-section.

But this round-the-clock monitoring, the most common obstetric procedure in the country, rarely helps baby or mother. Decades of research have shown that the tool does not reliably predict fetal distress. In fact, experts say, it leads to many unnecessary surgeries as doctors overreact to its ever-changing readouts.

The obstetrics field has long ignored these problems. Now, it’s putting more trust than ever on the flawed technology, often prioritizing business and legal concerns ahead of what’s best for patients, The New York Times found.

This fall, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its guidelines on continuous monitoring, sanctioning it even as some other wealthy countries have cautioned against its routine use…

All three remote hubs, along with 400 other hospitals around the country, use A.I. software to help analyze the heart data. The software’s maker, PeriGen, has claimed on its website that 50 studies backed up its products.

But none of the studies found that the technology improved birth outcomes. PeriGen removed the list of studies after an inquiry from The Times. The company’s chief executive, Matthew Sappern, acknowledged that no clinical trials had shown benefits.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/health/electronic-fetal-monitoring-c-sections.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zE8.145f.FPhFANzFoVZp&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

10/27/2025

10/11/2025

TTHHIISSS!!!!!!! Sometimes a transfer is needed to assist mom in finishing up he labor and delivery! And there should be NO SHAME in a transfer!

09/30/2025

Please consider attending this remembrance event for pregnancy and infant loss.
Celebrate every life 💕

09/30/2025

09/21/2025

09/20/2025

09/19/2025

We frequently evaluate progesterone levels in the luteal phase. Low progesterone can show up as a short luteal phase (less than 10 day from ovulation to the next bleed), premenstrual spotting, several days of brown bleeding at the end of the period, etc. Low progesterone can be the reason for various PMS symptoms and one of the possible reasons for recurrent miscarriages. Learning to chart your cycle properly and getting a basic hormone profile blood panel will be the first way to evaluate for low progesterone!!
Melissa is taking new clients for hormone evaluation at

https://mycatholicdoctor.com/resources/doctors/melissa-coello-cnm-aprn/

✨ Your basal body temperature is a built-in progesterone detector. ✨

A great way to assess progesterone is to think in terms of progesterone days — the days you actually make progesterone. More progesterone days mean more of its benefits for your uterine lining, breasts, brain, and immune system. That’s why temperature tracking (BBT charting) is such a great way to assess the duration of your luteal phase and know if you’re making enough progesterone.

You can also measure progesterone with a blood test or at-home urine test, but timing is everything. Your peak progesterone will be mid-luteal — about 7 days after ovulation and 7 days before your next period. That might be “day 21” in a 28-day cycle, but in a shorter or longer cycle, the mid-luteal day shifts, too.

💬 Chime in with your questions, knowledge, and favourite charting resources!