Mystery Within: Functional Health & Birth Services

14/05/2024

Mark your calendars and spread the word! We have a guest speaker for the June 12, 2024 Birth Circle!

Chiropractic has long been a respected modality for the treatment of musculoskeletal ailments, particularly those of the spine. During pregnancy, the elevated hormones coursing through our bodies can cause the relaxation of our muscles, joints, and ligaments. While this is an important adaptation our bodies need to make to accommodate pregnancy and birth, it can still cause us a bit of discomfort! (Backache anybody?)

Chiropractic is not only an excellent way to help you experience a healthier, more comfortable pregnancy, but it can help ensure that your body is primed to enable your baby to rotate into an optimal position before you go into labor. This can translate to 1. a labor that will start on its own 2. a shorter labor and 3. a more comfortable labor. I wish I had known this for my first five pregnancies, but I experienced all of those benefits and more firsthand thanks to chiropractic care throughout my last four pregnancies.

Join us at the Catholic Birth Circle on June 12 from 6 p.m. until 8.p.m., where we will enjoy a presentation on benefits of chiropractic care in pregnancy by guest speaker Dr. Shelby Simon, DC. If you haven't met Dr. Shelby yet, you're in for a treat! As usual, we will have snacks and beverages, camaraderie, prayer, and a good time all around. You do not have to be Catholic to come, just respectful. You do not have to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing, just interested and supportive. Nurslings and babes-in-arms welcome. RSVP's not required, but always appreciated.

My contact information is in the flyer for more information!

08/05/2024

It's tonight! Looking so forward to seeing you all!

21/04/2024

Hey Mamas! Mark your calendars and spread the word! May Catholic Birth Circle is fast approaching and you won't want to miss this meeting!

We often fear what we do not understand, and if there is one aspect of labor which many mothers fear, it is pain in labor. Some women prepare for it by taking a good childbirth education class. Others hire a doula. Still others plan on receiving an epidural in labor. Whether you are planning on going medicated or unmedicated, having a solid familiarity with labor comfort techniques is going to give you a leg-up in having the best labor possible. For those going unmedicated, this knowledge is indispensable. For those going medicated, this will help you delay your epidural for better outcomes; additionally, in the event that your epidural does not take, or does not work quite as well as you were expecting, it gives you a back-up plan.

On May 8 from 6-8 p.m., we will be exploring a variety of labor comfort techniques which have been shown to help mothers ease their way through the discomforts and challenges of the first stage of labor. From relaxation, to breathing techniques, to positioning, to massage, and more hands-on maneuvers, we will cover not only the comfort techniques, but the physiology which underlies them as well. You will come away from this meeting with both the knowledge of what can be helpful, as well as why.

Plan to be there, and if you know another pregnant mama, make sure to bring her as well! As per usual, we will have snacks, drinks, good chats, and prayer. You do not have to be Catholic to attend, just respectful. Nursing babes/babes in arms are very welcome to attend with you. You do not have to be pregnant or postpartum to attend, just interested and supportive!

For more information, contact me via the contact information in the flyer!

13/04/2024

Not every case of dis-ease in the body is caused by thyroid dysfunction, but thyroid dysfunction will touch every system of your body. You won't be unaffected.

When thyroid dysfunction is suspected, a full thyroid panel needs to be run, not just TSH. You can have good thyroid numbers as well but if the hormone isn't getting *into* the cells, then you may exhibit hypothyroid symptoms.

Each stage in the thyroid manufacturing, delivery, and assimilation process is driven by different nutrients, and if you are deficient in any of them, you will experience thyroid dysfunction, regardless of how perfect your TSH or your T4 are.

Optimize your lifestyle and diet to protect this indispensable hormonal system. Test. Listen to the messages your body is sending to you through your symptoms. For most of you, hypothyroid isn't an indication that your body is broken, but that your lifestyle is. You can fix it, and when you do, you will be closer to restoring yourself to a state of vitality. 🙂

24/03/2024

💯!!!! 🙌

Applicable to much of life but how does it specifically apply to pregnancy and birth?

If you consistently walk away from appointments making excuses why they didn’t give you more than five minutes or answer your questions well, it might be time to ask the better question of whether they are giving you the care you deserve.

If you consistently have to ignore your intuition or research or are repeatedly feeling pressured into things you don’t want to do, it might be time to admit the problem is them.

If you consistently compromise your plans for your body, your baby, or your birth with a provider, place, or entire system, then it is time to stop giving the benefit of the doubt.

If you’ve already HAD a birth(s) where you weren’t treated with respect or evidence based practice or had multiple encounters that pressured you into things or ignored your rights, then, sister, the time for the benefit of the doubt has passed.

If you've already HAD negative outcomes in your health or your baby's because of bad advice, lack of informed consent, or policies that harmed you, then they don't deserve the chance to harm you again.

Extending grace to people or situations is fine. Amen to less judgement, less quick accusation, and more grace in our culture. People can have bad moments or days and specific situations might merit compromise and flexibility.

But you only get to birth this baby once. Don't make the mistake of sacrificing it for the sake of not making waves or avoiding the temporary hassle or discomfort of changing your plans.

There comes a point when respect for reason and our own dignity demands that we aren’t afraid to call out consistent disregard for evidence, human dignity, or basic common sense. There comes a point where the benefit of the doubt is no longer charitable but instead foolish. Being virtuous does not mean accepting mistreatment, not acknowledging the obvious, tolerating terrible advice or outcomes, or ignoring a pattern of behavior from a person, system, or corporation.

Virtue honors truth, even when difficult, and it honors human dignity, even your own.

🤍

24/03/2024

Tearing. For a woman contemplating birth, especially her first, it may be a dreadful thought, but it shouldn't be! Don't let the prospect of perineal tearing during your birth create more stress than it's worth! Join us on April 10 at 6:00 p.m. for the next Catholic Birth Circle, where we will talk about the preserving perineal integrity through avoidance of episiotomy, as well as tips for tear prevention and healing if a tear does occur.

As per usual, we will have drinks, snacks, prayer, and plenty of good conversation! Nursing babies/babes in arms are welcome. You don't have to be Catholic to attend, just respectful. No RSVP required.

24/03/2024

Tearing. For a woman contemplating birth, especially her first, it may be a dreadful thought, but it shouldn't be! Don't let the prospect of perineal tearing during your birth create more stress than it's worth! Join us on April 10 at 6:00 p.m. for the next Catholic Birth Circle, where we will talk about the preserving perineal integrity through avoidance of episiotomy, as well as tips for tear prevention and healing if a tear does occur.

As per usual, we will have drinks, snacks, prayer, and plenty of good conversation! Nursing babies/babes in arms are welcome. You don't have to be Catholic to attend, just respectful. No RSVP required.

13/03/2024

When birth doesn't go the way we had hoped for

We can do all the things to prepare for our ideal birth, but sometimes things happen outside our control

An overly long birth
A not optimally positioned baby
A laspe in care
A poor team
Your least favorite provider
Not being what you expected
A transfer of location
A wonky heart rate
An induction

We as women need to acknowledge when something didn't go our way, whether someone is to blame or not and grieve what didn't happen

But this can't happen when we're trying to bond with our new baby because our brains can't physically do these two things at the same time

So we need to make time to grieve.
Even if it's 6 months or almost a year after the birth but we need to process and help to let go to make way for the new

Write it down
Talk with a professional
Take it to prayer

Listen to more about birth trauma on the episode

13/03/2024

Looking forward to tonight!!!

13/03/2024

💖 I love Tracie! She blessed us by speaking at the birth circle last year! Congratulations to her!!!

Congratulations to Tracie Stone, CPM who received her Alabama midwifery license yesterday. Here Tracie is pictured with two preceptors, myself and Nancy Megginson. Tracie worked with my practice for five years and has been such a blessing to me and so many clients. Seeing her certified, licensed and starting her practice brings me so much joy.
Tracie is the first African American licensed midwife who completed all her training in Alabama.

25/02/2024

🗓 Mark Your Calendar and Spread the Word! March Birth Circle is approaching!

You've done all the right things to prepare for your birth: You've educated yourself through books and classes. You've chosen your care provider and location of your birth carefully. You've nourished yourself and your baby optimally. Maybe you even hired a doula! But when the time of your birth arrives, there may be one one aspect of birth preparation that you may not have considered, one which every laboring mother confronts, sooner or later: surrender.

While it is in our best interest to come to our births as prepared as possible, in the end, the One who writes our birth story is God. There comes a time, in most every birth, where our preparation has taken us as far as it possibly can, and all that is left for us to do in that moment is to surrender. Join us from 6-8 p.m. on March 13 at the Catholic Birth Circle where Postpartum Doula and Maternal Health Coach Brittany Jones will speak on the topic of Surrender to God in Childbirth.

As per usual, we will have hot drinks, snacks, prayer, and good conversation! Nursing babies/babes in arms are welcome. You don't have to be Catholic to attend, just respectful. No RSVP required.