Honoring Birth Co

04/02/2025

Have you heard of the postpartum 5-5-5 rule?

Planned C-section? Unmedicated birth center birth? Water birth at home? Epidural and no tearing? Hospital induction?

No matter how your baby made their grand entrance, one thing is the same: you grew a whole human AND its external organ (aka the placenta) for 9 months. And now? You have a placenta-sized wound inside your shrinking uterus—a uterus that spent 9 months stretching to watermelon status and is now attempting to revert back to its regular programming.

This is why the 5-5-5 rule exists:
💤 5 days IN bed (Yes, literally in bed, under the covers, skin-to-skin with that fresh baby)
🛏 5 days ON the bed (Move a little, but not as much as you feel like you can!)
🚶‍♀️ 5 days NEAR the bed (Slow and steady, you worked really hard for a long time!)

And that’s on top of other changes or possible wounds like perineal tears, breast engorgement, bleeding, recovering from major abdominal surgery (if you had a C-section), epidural after-effects, swelling from IV fluid, Pitocin recovery, an average of 12-24 hours of labor and 1-3 hours of pushing.

So yeah, rest isn't just "nice"—it's necessary. Your body did something incredible. Honor it.

If you know me personally, you know this might be the secret reason I have five kids. 15 days of bed rest and uninterrupted (well, I try) skin-to-skin with my newborn? Immediately yes.

03/25/2025

So excited to offer this to moms in my area!!! Go to my website for more details

Honoringbirthco.com

03/09/2025

Thank You!

I absolutely love being a Birth Doula. It feels so natural and yet I continue to be in disbelief that I get to be a witness to new life on such a regular basis.

I would not be able to do this very physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally demanding job without the support of my Husband, my kids and the entire village that surrounds us. Our week together was much needed and I really appreciated being able to SILENCE my phone and be present and in the moment with my family.

Thank you to Gina & Joy my amazing friends and fellow doulas who supported and cared for my clients during my time off! The Lord has been so kind to bring clients to me who were not only extremely understanding of my need to take some time off but did not let that hinder our ability to work together.

If you reached out to schedule a consult in the last two weeks you should hear from me by Friday as I am prioritizing connecting with my current clients and snuggling some babies!!

Love,
Olivia

01/24/2025

When clients ask me to contribute to the baby book 😍😍

It’s been a beautiful start to 2025 already with two births down - it might be a girl heavy year 😘

08/31/2024

Henry clearly knows the benefits of skin to skin!

💕 enhances bonding
💕 increases breastfeeding success
💕 increased oxytocin release
💕 accelerated postpartum recovery
💕 reduces stress levels in mama and baby
💕 regulates baby’s temperature
💕 reduces the post labor shakes caused by adrenaline and medications given during labor
💕 reduces blood pressure

And many more, these benefits can be experienced days, weeks and months after your baby is born- not just in that first “golden hour” (or two)

08/22/2024

Thank you Tammy for your kind review!

Check out my page Honoring Birth for more reviews like this

04/30/2024

04/19/2024

1. Again, we don't follow the 4-1-1 so we don't necessarily need to time contractions. Pay less attention to the timing, and more attention to the strength! Is it increasing? Great! That is a much better metric.
2. This is just asking for unnecessary interventions. As soon as you step foot in the hospital you are now on their clock and it's not in your favor. Going to the hospital before your labor is active can also cause a bit of a stall and can be frustrating in a hospital setting and, again, start the cascade of interventions.
3. This causes unnecessary adrenaline spikes. We want adrenaline down and oxytocin UP
4. You're so excited to finally meet your baby! You have a lot of hard work ahead of you in the very near future, please get all the rest you can! Rest increases oxytocin and relaxation allows your body to open.

04/18/2024

Taken from

04/15/2024

It’s a natural occurrence that uncommonly includes or results in a medical emergency.

Many of our “emergencies” in birth are created by interventions and augmentations used to “fix” a problem like late-term pregnancy, or
Pre rupture of membranes, or stalled labor. When in fact these aren’t problems at all to begin with and if we just do nothing then your baby will still be born.

We are born and created by God to birth our babies. He gave us the strength and ability to do so and somewhere along the line we forgot. Praise Jesus for modern medicine saving lives every day! There certainly are true emergencies in birth and pregnancy. Most of them are unpreventable and rare. Does that mean that medicine needs to be involved in every healthy birth? Absolutely not.

*this is not medical advice

04/13/2024

Writing a birth plan is not writing how you hope or expect your dream birth to play out, and it's DEFINITELY not for adding disclaimers after each intervention you would like to politely decline.

If this is how you wrote your birth plan - you are susceptible to medical coercion, fear-based care and MASSIVE disappointment in your birth outcome.

Instead, birth plans are an opportunity for you to make informed decisions BEFORE your birth.

✨This means researching interventions, options, and risks.

✨This means knowing what your preferences are in the case of an induction, prolonged second stage, or "emergency" c-section.

✨This means approaching your birth with confidence knowing that whatever obstacles you and your baby are faced with - you will be prepared.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or don't know where to start- that is normal and ok! Doulas and other birth workers are here to help you make informed decisions that feel comfortable and safe for you and your baby. You are not meant to walk this path alone.

Ask your doula to help you make a prepared birth plan that is clear on your preferences and not easily overlooked by the doctors and nurses on your care team.