Luna Midwifery

04/25/2025

🚨 BIG NEWS for Southwest Virginia!

Huddle Up Moms is working to open southwest Virginia's ONLY diaper bank 💙

GIVE now: https://www.giveroanoke.org/organizations/huddle-up-moms

04/24/2025

“Birth is moving toward the unknown. It’s crossing a threshold where strength you didn’t know existed rises to meet you. It’s raw, powerful, and utterly transformative—a journey that redefines everything you thought you knew about yourself.”

Image and words by BBY Certified Birth photographer

04/17/2025

The birth of the placenta is part of a complex process that begins before the baby is born. Oxytocin is released by the posterior pituitary gland during labor to regulate contractions. It is a key birthing/bonding hormone and plays a significant role in facilitating effective contractions. As the birth of the baby nears, high levels of oxytocin circulate in the mother’s blood which create strong uterine contractions. After the birth of the baby, the contraction pattern is interrupted because the uterus is suddenly emptied and must contract down to its pre-pregnancy size. The placenta drains its full blood volume to the baby which reduces its overall volume.
After a resting phase of about two minutes, contractions should resume and come every three to four minutes.[1] Anne Frye has observed, “The uterus generally has resting-phase contractions for about twice as long as the length of time between the final pushing contractions before birth. For example, if the last several pushing contractions were about five minutes apart, expect the first noticeable ‘placental’ contraction to occur about ten minutes after birth.”[2] The post birth contractions allow the uterus to further contract to expel the placenta, and after that, to reposition and reconstitute the uterus to its pre-pregnancy size. The first of these contractions will dislodge the placenta from its attachment site in the uterine wall. This happens as the eight- to ten-inch surface area of the uterine-placental attachment reduces in size by creating multiple folds, while the size of the placenta stays the same.[3] As the placenta sheers away from the uterus, the blood vessels of this highly vascular organ are exposed. The mother will bleed between the time that the placental attachment site is exposed and when contractions have shrunk the surface area of the uterus enough to suture off the exposed vessels. This is the only point in birth when blood is a part of the normal physiology and not an indication of complication.
Instinctive mother-baby interactions stimulate further oxytocin release and thus resulting in additional contractions.

These interactions involve smell, touch (skin-to-skin), taste, and sound. Breastfeeding immediately after the baby is born also increases oxytocin. If allowed to, the baby ‘crawls’ on the mother’s abdomen in order to nurse; his feet will stimulate her uterus to contract. The placenta is thus compressed, and the blood in the intervillious spaces (the interface between mother’s blood system and the placenta/baby’s blood system) is forced back into the spongy layer of the decidua (uterine lining). Retraction of the uterine muscle fibers constrict the blood vessels supplying the placenta, preventing blood from draining back through the maternal vascular tree. This congestion results in the veins rupturing and the villi shearing off the uterine wall. A clot forms behind the placenta. The non-elastic placenta is unable to remain attached and peels away, usually starting from the middle. At this point, you may notice a small gush of blood as the placenta separates and the umbilical cord lengthens as the placenta moves downwards and is birthed.

[1] Dunn P. “The Placental Venous Pressure During and After the Third Stage Of Labor Following Early Cord Ligation.” Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of The British Commonwealth, 73(5); 747-756, 1966
[2] Frye, Anne. Holistic Midwifery: A Comprehensive Textbook for Midwives In Homebirth Practice. Vol II. Labrys Press, 2006, pp 509
[3] Yao Ac, Et Al. “Placental Transfusion-Rate and Uterine Contraction.” Lancet, 1(7539) 1968, pp 380-3.

http://www.birthphotographers.ca/blog/best-birth-moments-of-2016

04/15/2025

The placenta is the only organ that is created and discarded by the body. What did you do with yours?

04/11/2025

10 evidence-based ways to lower your risk of having a Cesarean birth:
-"the first strategy or tip that we have to lower the risk of Cesarean birth is to find and receive care from a healthcare provider who has a low Cesarean rate and someone who is patient with you, who will give you enough time in labor and while pushing."
-"the second evidence-based way to reduce your risk of Cesarean is actually to receive midwifery-led care."
-"the third evidence-based way to lower your risk of Cesarean is to give birth in a setting with a low Cesarean rate. Specifically, we see much lower rates of Cesareans among those who plan a birth center, a freestanding birth center, I have to say, or a home birth."
-"the fourth way that someone can help lower their risk of Cesarean birth is by avoiding routine non-medically indicated ultrasounds near the end of their pregnancy. So ACOG does recommend at least one standard ultrasound during pregnancy between 18 to 22 weeks."
-"number five on our list of evidence-based ways to lower your risk of Cesarean, doulas are really important because receiving support during labor and childbirth from a doula has a lot of benefits that have been shown in the research."
-"the sixth strategy that we’ve included is waiting to go to the hospital until you’re in active labor or until you require medical interventions or pain relief. And this really does only apply to healthy people in spontaneous labor or those who otherwise have the ability or the means to wait longer."
-"our seventh strategy for lowering the risk of Cesarean is by moving during labor."
-"So number eight on the list is also closely related to that, and that’s avoiding laying on your back during labor"
-"Number nine is to receive intermittent fetal auscultation that we like to refer to as hands-on listening of the baby rather than continuous electronic fetal monitoring. "
-Number 10 "intermittent auscultation and ways to perhaps lower your risk of Cesarean if you have a breech baby:

Listen to more: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/ebb-343-top-ten-evidence-based-strategies-for-lowering-the-risk-of-cesarean/

04/10/2025

04/10/2025

The largest home birth study in the US (2004-2009) conducted by Midwives Alliance North America (MANA) showed:
89.1% of women completed their homebirth successfully
93.6% gave birth vaginally, regardless of hospital transfer
87% success rate of those attempting vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)
97.7% success rate of breastfeeding at 6 weeks
Low intrapartum and neonatal fetal death rate overall (2.06 per 1000 intended home births)
Low rate of low APGAR scores
5.2% cesarean section rate (compared to 32.1% in the US)
Less than 5% used Pitocin or epidural anesthesia

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jmwh.12172 #:~:text=This%20study%20reports%20maternal%20and%20neonatal%20outcomes%20for,Statistics%20Project%20dataset%20%28version%202.0%2C%20birth%20years%202004-2009%29.

04/09/2025

04/09/2025

Mothers who start pumping within the first 6 hours after birth and pump at least 5 times per day see a significant boost in milk volume. Research shows that early, frequent pumping—especially within the first hour—protects milk supply, even for those with known lactation risk factors. ✨
Maximize your lactation success and learn more about the best practices for pumping in the latest edition of “Best Practice for Expressing, Storing, and Handling Human Milk” by HMBANA.
Note: This recommendation is for mothers who need to stimulate lactation.
🔗 Learn more in the newest edition of "Best Practice for Expressing, Storing and Handling Human Milk in Hospitals, Homes, and Childcare Settings": https://www.hmbana.org/.../expressing-storing-handling...

04/08/2025

Amazingly, the placenta is the only organ compatible with two sets of blood types and genes.
The placenta also passes on the mother’s antibodies to the baby in order to keep the baby healthy for several months after birth. If the mother has acquired a natural immunity to a virus or disease, the antibodies that her body has created will be transferred to the baby via the placenta. This is the traditionally understood concept of ‘herd immunity’ operating naturally.
The fetus also contributes to the mother in surprising and unique ways. Research is finding an association between a migration of fetal cells into the mother's system and a reduced risk of cancer; these facts are consistent with research on how mother’s life-spans extend with each pregnancy.
Scientists are currently exploring the “exciting possibility that persistence of fetal cells in maternal tissue play a role in immune surveillance for cancer cells.”[1]
Simply put— each child a mother carries may produce cells that actively scan for conditions that threaten the mother.
The active migration of fetal cells into the mother begins in the first trimester. Detection of fetal DNA in maternal blood is an innovation in non-invasive prenatal genetic and fetal s*x diagnosis that is currently being implemented across the US, so doctors may be able to tell the s*x of future pregnancies with a simple blood sample! A mother literally has cells from every child (post 10+ weeks) she has conceived (aborted, miscarried, or successfully delivered); they are literally a part of her.
“As surprising as this intimate juxtapositioning of maternal and fetal cells is in the uterus, equally unexpected is the fact that fetal cells traffic into the maternal blood, lodge within maternal organs and, in some women, persist for decades.” [2]
[1-2] Helen Kay, D. Michael Nelson, and Yuping Wang. The Placenta: From Development to Disease. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Study with us at https://brilliantbirthacademy.com/

04/07/2025

“During breastfeeding, the baby’s saliva passes ‘information’ to the breast about viruses she’s been exposed to. This triggers the production of targeted antibodies, which are passed back to the baby through milk. That’s why, when everyone else in the house gets sick, the nursing baby often gets a milder version of the illness, or not sick at all. If the baby doesn’t nurse directly, you can still get some of this protective effect as long as the person whose milk the baby gets spends time around the baby, coming into contact with the same germs.” (page 26)

s://www.facebook.com/LaLecheLeagueUSA/posts/pfbid0w5WX547mgNWASYKiKP28j4w3tV3UG257MHPKWYezhH9rSCE7BqjFwokUvzZp6TS2l