Joyful Birth Services

08/14/2025

I’ve WAY underutilized my page so I thought I’d give a little background on where I’ve been and what I do when I’m not a doula!

Here is a picture of my crew this summer. Green Lake Property Management is the company my husband and I run. We live near a vacation town and our niche is cleaning and managing short term rentals. Just this summer we cleaned over 250 times! It’s fast paced and stressful at times but I love it!

03/03/2023

There is more to labor than how open your cervix is!!

Follow for more on pregnancy, birth, and beyond!

Your cervix is only one part of your birth —how open it is, or dilation, is not a predictor or labor onset nor labor progress.

Learn more about how to assess labor progress without a cervical exam AND how you can use exams as tools to help you navigate your birth in our online childbirth education course!

Explore our course at MamasteFit.com/childbirth

07/23/2022

Wow! ❤

04/27/2022

Put them in water or take them outside...definitely works every time ❤

“Put them in water or take them outside.”

It was the first useful parenting advice I ever got.

“Sleep when the baby sleeps”?

I think the polite word for that gem is poppycock. But this particular axiom has saved me many times over.

I don’t remember how old my son was when I called my mom in tears because I couldn’t stop his, but his age was probably measured in weeks. Maybe days.

“Nothing is working; I don’t know what else to try,” I sobbed.

“He’s not hungry or sleepy or wet.”

“Try giving him a bath,” she suggested. “Or bundle him up and take him outside for some fresh air. I always say to take them outside or put them in water, and usually, the grumpiness goes away.”

It worked that day, and it’s worked many times since. We’ve done baths at 10 a.m. I’ve paced our driveway with a baby in my arms at 2 a.m. And today, at 5:15 p.m. when my children were fighting for the 17th time since they got home from school and I was about to lose it, instead I put one in the bath and I sent the other outside and now maybe all three of us will survive until Dad gets home.

Almost nine years later, it still works.

I can’t give you advice about sleep schedules or feedings or Montessori-approved toys. I don’t know what we’re gonna do about TikTok and Snapchat in a few years. But when they’re falling apart at the seams for no apparent reason, take them outside or put them in water.

Oh, and it works on grown-ups, too.

Shared with permission from Jenn Batchelor
https://www.instagram.com/jennbatchelor/

Her View From Home

☀️🌻 For support in your gentle parenting journey, pick up a copy of our beautiful bumper summer issue with gorgeous free Baby's First Year Journal. Grab your copy from supermarkets throughout NZ and newsagents throughout Australia! To find your local stockist, or to subscribe, visit https://linktr.ee/TheNaturalParentMagazine ☀️🌻

01/10/2022

At birth, ⅓ (or more) of your baby’s blood is still in the placenta.

That means if you immediately cut the cord, your baby is missing A LOT of blood.

If you were missing ⅓ (33%) of your blood, your heart and respiratory rates would increase, your blood pressure would drop, and you would become anxious and confused. If you lost 40% of your blood, all those symptoms would be worse and you would become lethargic.

If you lost more than 40% you would die.

So how long should you wait after birth to clamp the cord?

Ideally you would “wait for white”. This means the cord isn’t clamped until it has stopped pulsing and turned white because all of the blood is now inside the baby. This is usually over 5 minutes (I’ve waited until the birth of the placenta with my two homebirths [about an hour]).

But delaying cord clamping for even 60 seconds has been shown to have benefits including:

🔆 Increased hemoglobin
🔆 Increased iron
🔆 Increased blood pressure (early clamping means BP can be too low)
🔆 Increased urinary output
🔆 Increased body temperature (early clamping babies are colder)

If baby is having a slower transition to breathing outside the womb upon their birth, keeping them attached to the cord will also continue to provide them with oxygen until they begin breathing on their own.

12/25/2021

What a great depiction of what happens in peaceful transition after birth

・・・
Look for these transitional cues when your baby is born.

✨ The Birth Cry- Did you know this was part of their transition? Your baby is clearing their lungs & transitioning from water breather to air breather.

✨ The Relaxing- Once your baby has told you they are here they will relax. Their mouth, body & hands will relax and be still. This is a very important piece of transition. Often parents, & providers, think a baby should continue to cry, but it is ok, take a breath & relax with your baby.

✨ The Awakening- As with all things transitional times vary & babies are no different. About 3-4 mins after birth your baby will begin to awaken. This is demonstrated by opening of their eyes, bobbing their heads & moving their shoulders.

✨ The Active Stage- About 8-9 mins. after birth a baby will become more active. This occurs with increased mouth movements, rooting, or their hands going to their mouths. They will also begin to actively hunt for the breast.

✨ Resting- All of this transitional activity is hard work. A baby may choose to rest during one or more of the transitional stages. Resting will often occur after the initial hunt for the breast.

✨ Crawling- It is not an actual crawl, but a scooting towards the breast. This will usually occur between 30 mins & an hour after the birth and will often be mixed with more aggressive rooting.

✨ Familiarizing- Often mixed with the crawling efforts now your baby will begin to kneed and lick the breast or their own hand. Their tongues will begin to protrude and they will do as this stage suggests, become familiar with their new best friend.

✨ Nursing- This stage usually occurs right around 1 hr after birth. It is where your baby begins actively sucking. There will often be a stop start period. Give them time. It won’t be long until they are rather permanently attached.

✨ Recovering - Finally the recovering or sleeping stage is here. This transition took a lot of work and now your baby needs to rest. 1 1/2-2 hours after birth your baby will fall asleep. Hopefully you can too.

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12/17/2021

Never heard this ever happening before! Auto-pilot 🤪

Auto-driving has its critics but I'm guessing this baby won't grow up to be one of them:

11/11/2021

Great tip!

If your baby is draining the breast well and is not hurting you, then pumping is most likely NOT the best way to increase your supply. Try switch nursing instead!!

For more on this: https://themilkmeg.com/the-single-most-effective-way-to-increase-your-supply/

*3 minutes is the maximum timeframe. You might find that switching sooner will work better for you and your baby.

10/21/2021

Some alternate information for anyone facing a GBS positive result, probiotics can help! Original post in comments (when I "shared" this it only posted the study and not the original post where I saw this study and I found her words very valuable. )

This study is to examine the effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14 taken orally before bedtime on Group B Streptococc…

09/16/2021

Have your ever struggled with PPD? Here is how placenta encapsulation can help!

Contact me with any questions and to reserve your space on my schedule for encapsulation services 🌻

In the last trimester, the placenta begins to secrete a corticotropin-releasing hormone, or CRH, which enables the mother to mentally and physically handle extreme amounts of stress; by the time of birth, most mothers have up to three times their pre-pregnancy levels of CRH[1] (or what we like to call the super-hero hormone).

I clearly remember wandering around my home in the postpartum period, unable to figure out how to accomplish my daily tasks because of an inability to act decisively in the presence of normal toddler activity, mess, and demands.

The ability to multi-task, overcome problems, and discover new solutions when obstacles arise are all skills directly affected by CRH hormones.

When the placenta is born, the feedback system that regulated the hormone’s production is interrupted, and the mother is left with only the CRH production of the hypothalamus. Because of this, postpartum mothers have low levels of this stress-fighting hormone making them more vulnerable to depression and less able to perform well under stress.

Studies from the National Institute of Health have found that consuming the placenta stimulates and stabilizes CRH levels. Endocrinologist George Chrousos, who led the NIH study, concluded that since the placenta contains large amounts of orally-active CRH, ingesting the placenta will stabilize CRH levels resulting in “a more stable emotional life for the mother.”[2]

[1] Chrousos, G. “Baby Blues-Postpartum Depression Attributed to Low Levels of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone After Placenta Is Gone.” Brief Bnet., 1995.

[2] Makrigiannakis A, Zoumakis E, Kalantaridou S, Chrousos G. “Endometrial and Placental CRH As Regulators of Human Embryo Implantation.” Journal of Reproductive Immunology. 62(1-2), 2004, pp 53-9.

06/26/2021

It’s when the sun is setting & a lump forms in my throat because I don’t know what the night will bring. It’s when she’s crying hysterically as I try to change her & I can feel my heart beginning to pound. It’s when she’s sleeping but I can’t hear her breathing. It’s when she vomits out of her nose & I rush to put her on her side as she takes a moment to unblock her airways. It’s when I put her in her car seat & worry that it’s too tight or too lose. It’s getting a beanie on her head & making sure I’m not too rough.

It’s looking in the mirror & trying really damn hard to appreciate what I see. It’s remembering to change my nappy, to change my pad, to change my breast pads. It’s trying to find clothes that fit, that are comfy & that are clean. Its the fact that I smell & am sweating all the time. It’s having to choose between eating, sleeping, cleaning or showering because I know I won’t have time for it all. It’s the dwindling of days that my partner has off before he goes back to work & trying my best not to feel jealous.

It’s not playing the comparison game. It’s not looking at the mums who already fit into their pre-baby jeans when I can’t even fit into the clothes I bought for post baby. It’s not looking at the mums who can brunch & sip coffee with friends when I can’t find the strength to leave the house.

It’s a lot. The newborn bubble is a lot. It’s not all bliss & breastfeeding in a field of golden reeds with butterflies dancing around your head. It’s not all cute outfits & getting to finish that Netflix series. It’s the small things. It’s the big things. It’s a lot.

You are allowed to say that it’s a lot. It does not mean you are not grateful. It does not mean you do not love your child. It does not make you any less of an incredible mother. All it means is that you are human. That you are human like me. Because it’s a lot for me & I need you to know you are not alone in this bubble & that I promise you that one day soon, that bubble will burst just like I promise you that the sun will rise. And it WILL rise, just like you will. 🌞

📸 and words:

06/25/2021

I'm feeling nostalgic. One of my children said "lasterday" instead of "yesterday". 💞