Midwife and Doula Services, LLC

08/05/2025

Feel the oxytocin flow watching this!!!!

08/05/2025

A random meet-up with Teddy Haas, one if my homebirth babies, at EateryA in Des moines! Always fun!
(Steph and David- where are you? I cannot find you! Please make contact!!!!)

07/31/2025

Practice this position!!

It took me having 2 kids to figure out how to nurse lying down. Love this drawing!

07/29/2025

Worth knowing about!!

This informative illustration sheds light on a crucial medical procedure for some pregnancies:

cervical cerclage. For individuals with cervical insufficiency, where the cervix might open too early during pregnancy, a cerclage can be placed to help keep the cervix closed and support the pregnancy.

The image clearly depicts three common types of cerclage:

* Transabdominal cerclage: Placed higher on the cervix, often requiring an abdominal incision.

* Shirodkar cerclage: Placed vaginally, with sutures placed higher on the cervix, often requiring a small incision to bury the knot.

* McDonald cerclage: Also placed vaginally, but with simpler sutures placed lower on the cervix, without the need for an incision to bury the knot.

Understanding these procedures can be incredibly helpful for those facing a high-risk pregnancy or supporting someone who is. It highlights the advancements in maternal-fetal medicine that help achieve healthier outcomes for both mother and baby.

07/23/2025

P***c hair is natural! Passing some stool is natural, too, when pushing a baby into the world! Neither ever bothered me during my midwifing career!

Removing p***c hair is not a pre-requisite for birth!

P***c hair is normal, natural, healthy and beneficial.

There’s lots of pressure to shave/wax for birth.

Most people consider hairless to be “clean” but removing hair actually creates and more bacteria and problems.

✅ P***c hair provides a cushion against friction that can cause abrasion and skin injury.
✅ It provides protection from bacteria and other unwanted pathogens especially with vaginal exams, hands, and tools involved, this barrier can help reduce exposure and lower infection risk
✅ It can help prevent chafing or skin irritation during long hours in labor positions.
✅ The presence of p***c hair helps maintain the natural balance of good bacteria around the v***a and vaginal opening, critical in birth when your body is working hard to protect both you and baby.
✅ During crowning, stretching, and the intensity of pushing, p***c hair provides a slight buffer for the sensitive skin around the l***a and mons. It’s not about vanity, it’s about support.
✅ Keeping your p***c hair is an act of self-trust and body sovereignty. You don’t owe anyone grooming, shaving, or altering your body to give birth.
It’s your body, your birth, your boundaries, down to the hair you choose to keep.

❌ Removing p***c hair irritates and inflames the hair follicles left behind.
❌ Removing p***c hair leaves microscopic open wounds.
❌ When that irritation is combined with the warm moist environment of the ge****ls, it becomes a happy culture medium for some of the nastiest of bacterial pathogens, like group A streptococcus Staphylococcus aureus and its recently mutated cousin MRSA.
❌ Removing it increases risk of staph boils, abscesses, pustules, cellulitis and herpes infections.

Your p***c hair isn’t “gross.”

It’s protective, functional, and perfectly designed for the work of labor and birth.

Choosing to keep it isn’t just safer, it’s liberation from a system that profits off your discomfort with your natural body.

-Love,
Flor Cruz
Badassmotherbirther

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭!
Nacer Ancenstral

07/17/2025

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"𝐌𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨."

Babies have a job that they are wired to do during birth.

But drugs, tools, and rushed timelines often hijack that job and the consequences aren’t always immediate, but they’re real.

Interventions and medications can absolutely interfere with the baby’s job during birth.

During an unmedicated, physiological birth, babies play an active role. They rotate, descend, flex, extend, and respond to the hormonal environment, it’s not just something that “happens to them.” It’s a synchronized, mammalian dance between parent and baby.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭:
💉 Epidurals & Narcotics can cross the placenta and can sedate the baby, making them less active during descent and birth.

🏥 𝐏𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐧 (𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐎𝐱𝐲𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐧)
📌Causes unnaturally strong, frequent contractions, which can stress the baby (less oxygen between contractions) and limit their ability to maneuver and rotate through the pelvis.

The more interventions you have on board, the more the body and baby have trouble navigating the birth process.

Our bodies are inherently designed for birth, they are not designed for protocols, policies, and interventions.

Which is why birth usually works when we leave it alone during normality.

But our current birth culture has forgotten what normality actual is and looks like.

So instead we heavily intervene and when it doesn't work out, we call our bodies and babies stubborn instead of calling it what it actually is.

A consequence of the disruption of normal birth.

-Love,
Flor Cruz
/ .like.a.badass

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭!

07/07/2025

Worth reading and pondering....

07/04/2025

very worthwhile message with this photo! encouraging birthing women to not let the rug be pulled out from under them at this precious point in labor! (hint !!-find a midwife and consider birthing outside hospital walls...home or freestanding birth center with midwife attending!)

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🩸 The Hijacking That Happens at the Crown 🩸

They "let" you labor.
They "let" you breathe.
They "let" you believe that you’re the one guiding your birth.

Until that baby begins to crown.
And then suddenly it’s their show.

🧤 Hands reach in.
🗣 Voices get louder.
🚨 Commands replace consent.

Your body, your rhythm, your baby, hijacked in an instant.

What should be the most sacred, instinctual, soul-deep moment becomes clinical, rushed, interrupted.

Not because something is wrong.
But because they’ve been trained to manage, not witness birth.
Because they believe they are the finish line.

But you were always the expert.

You didn’t need help at the end, you needed space.
You didn’t need “guidance”, you needed respect.

Let’s stop pretending that the birth is over when the head appears.

That’s when you are at your most powerful.

Don’t let them take that from you.

-Love,
Flor Cruz
/ .like.a.badass

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭!