Luna Midwifery

09/15/2025

Luna midwifery is accepting clients for 2026! Are you thinking about a home birth? Have questions that you need to ask? Give us a call to schedule your free consultation! We look forward to working with you!

09/10/2025

“I'm so thankful for the support, comfort, and compassion my family and I received from Elissa and the Luna staff. I'm ever grateful for the relationship built with Elissa, who guided and encouraged me through two of my pregnancies, my second and third babies.
Having the comforts and ease of a home birth with my second and third, after experiencing an undesired hospital birth with my first, was of great importance to me. I received so much peace and reassurance from the Lord who provided Elissa not only as a trusted midwife to help bring my babies into this world but as a now dear friend.

Simeon, my third, out did his brother by one ounce, coming out at 10lb 8oz and covered in hair.”

Some words and photos from a client of Luna Midwifery. Shared with permission.

09/03/2025

Hello friends! Join us for a community potluck in Lynchburg if you can. Bring the whole family, let the kids run loose and share in a community meal! 🍎🍇🍞🥙🌮🥘🍝🥮

09/01/2025

Sometimes babies come slowly one by one and sometimes they all come at once. In the last 7 days our team has attended 5 births! We are so grateful to have an enough staff for these births to all be attended by well rested birth attendants so we can bring our best selves to support these families in their growth.

Our biggest baby this week weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz born at 39.4 weeks. Our smallest was 5 lbs and 10 oz born at 38.5 wks. What gestation was your baby/babies born and how much did they weigh? There is such a wide range of sizes and dates!

📷 Degra, Danielle and Rachel at a birth this last week.

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