http://www.midwifecourtney.com/

Midwife Courtney, San Diego, CA (2025)

03/02/2025

Just as your body knew how to grow your baby, your body also knows how to birth your baby. It’s a magic that unfolds within and through your physical form to welcome this new soul into the world. No matter what your birth preferences may be, the more you align your mind with your body’s wisdom, the more in tune you may be with the birthing process and what your body needs from you to bring your baby here 🙏🏻🤍

11/11/2024

🧉Hydration🧉
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During pregnancy, hydration is key for helping your blood volume expand, producing amniotic fluid, hydrating your tissues and brain, and keeping your uterus and other muscles from cramping. And those who are lactating need to be well-hydrated to keep up your milk supply. But hydration involves more than just drinking water… for adequate hydration, you need water + minerals / electrolytes!
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Having a good balance and abundance of minerals allows your body to hold onto and properly utilize the hydration that you’re introducing to your body. It also prevents your body from becoming depleted - which occurs much more rapidly during pregnancy and lactation. Did you know that in pregnancy alone you lose up to 20% of your mineral stores? 👀 If you’re not replenishing well, your body will begin pulling minerals from your bones and teeth.
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What’s the best way to hydrate during pregnancy and while lactating?
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💧 Make it a goal to drink water - half your body weight in ounces daily (as long as you’re including adequate minerals & electrolytes with your water intake). Ex: If you weigh 150lb, you’ll aim for 75oz of water per day.
🌿 Herbal Teas are an excellent source of minerals in addition to increasing your liquid intake (this counts as part of your daily water intake).
⚡️Adding a good quality mineral or electrolyte to your water 1-2x per day will help to keep you from getting depleted, support adequate blood volume expansion, give you more energy and help your body function better overall. This is especially needed if you are under a lot of stress or you do intense workouts.
☕️ Coffee and some teas are diuretics and can actually deplete you of hydration. Be sure not to over-consume coffee and balance out your dehydrating drinks with hydrating drinks.
🧉 My favorite daily hydration drink lately is 32oz of water, 1-2 scoops of Superieur Electrolyte powder, 2 squirts of Trace Minerals Potassium and 1-2 TBSP of You Gut This liquid probiotic. Healthy gut, healthy brain, healthy body. I’ll link each of these in my highlight reels!
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What’s your favorite way to hydrate?
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11/02/2024

Over the years, attending many hundreds of births in hospitals, birth centers and at home, I’ve seen and heard a lot. One thing I’ve paid close attention to, is the way that people are speaking to and about the baby. One of the most frequent comments about babies that I hear, that especially makes me cringe, is when people talk about how “stubborn” babies are. I have noticed this most when the labor has been especially long or difficult.
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And I just want to validate all the babies out there who are not actually stubborn, but who are doing their absolute best to navigate their way through being born into this world, with the resources and space that they have available to them.
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Our babies know how to be born. They have the blueprint for being born interwoven into their DNA. And while you are navigating labor, your baby is working hard to navigate it with you. And when you encounter challenges in labor, your baby encounters them with you. You and your baby are so intricately connected. Remain connected to your baby and remember that the two of you are doing your best to work together. Your baby is not stubborn. Even when challenges arise. Your baby has wisdom and inside information. Your baby knows how to be born, just as your body innately knows how to give birth.

10/28/2024

❣️Placenta Encapsulation❣️
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During pregnancy, your body incredibly grows an entirely new organ, specifically to support the life of your growing baby. And once your baby is born, your body automatically knows that it’s time to release and birth the placenta.
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Although humans are one of the only mammals who don’t routinely consume their placentas post-birth, more recent history has shown a surge in the practice, with women reporting a multitude of benefits. But instead of consuming placentas in one sitting immediately after birth, women are having their placentas turned into smoothies, capsules and other healing remedies for postpartum mood and physical recovery.
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So what’s the deal? Does it actually work?
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There isn’t much funding for researchers to look into the benefits of encapsulation. So the bulk of what we have to go off of is women’s reported experiences. As an encapsulation specialist, there was a period of time where I sent out a survey at 6wks postpartum to my encapsulation clients to ask them about their experience. This is what they shared…
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🌟 82% Quicker Healing
🌟 81% Better Mood & Feeling More Balanced
🌟 67% Increased Energy
🌟 57% Decreased Feelings of Sadness & Anxiety
🌟 48% Decreased Bleeding
🌟 43% Increased Milk Supply
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Did you encapsulate? What was your experience like?
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If you’re local to San Diego and interested in encapsulation, check out my encapsulation services on the website: MidwifeCourtney.com!
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10/24/2024

❄️Frozen Pads❄️
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This may come as a surprise… but I don’t usually recommend frozen pads / padsicles after birth 😬 Here’s why…
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It’s been a longtime tradition to prepare padsicles before birth. There are many recipes with ingredients like aloe and witch hazel to be found on the internet. And these recipes usually come with a recommendation to make a large batch for the freezer. And while they are definitely very soothing, here’s why I don’t *prefer* to recommend them…
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The vulva/perineum is an incredibly tender part of the body. If we have a tear after birth, the initial instinct is to make the pain and discomfort go away. And I’m right there with you! After all of the hard work you did to bring your baby here, no one wants you to suffer further after birth. That’s just rude 😒
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But hear me out… Anytime we have an injury to the body (like a vaginal tear after birth in this instance), applying cold *temporarily* can help to bring down the initial swelling and inflammation. But longterm (>12 hours after the injury), we actually want to support the body’s natural warmth in the affected area. Warmth encourages adequate blood flow, which ultimately supports better healing. When we apply cold too often or for too long, that causes stagnation of the blood flow in the tissue and slows down the healing process 🥶😱
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Then what can you do for the pain and tenderness? There are many great options… Check them out in the comments below👇🏻
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But first… are you team ❄️padsicle❄️ or team ☀️no-padsicle☀️?
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10/20/2024

💫Morning💫 Sickness
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Morning sickness can be such a drag… Especially when it lasts all day and you just can’t get relief. Who decided to call it “morning” sickness, anyway?!
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In my practice, I’ve seen the root cause of morning sickness stem from three main avenues:
👉🏻 Blood sugar dysregulation
👉🏻 Magnesium deficiency
👉🏻 B vitamin deficiency
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1️⃣ Keep your blood sugar stable. Eating 10-20g protein every 1.5-2 hours (and not skipping any snacks/meals) will stabilize your blood sugar through the hormonal swings and keep you feeling less seasick and more like yourself.
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2️⃣ Most women are deficient in magnesium. And there are several forms that our body needs to utilize for optimal brain and body function. However, our body’s ability to utilize magnesium is directly related to our body’s overall mineral status, which is negatively impacted if you’re already throwing up. First, increase your minerals by salting your food to taste with a good quality trace mineral salt and adding electrolytes to your water. Next, take a good quality multi-magnesium supplement daily. If you can’t keep it down, try topical magnesium instead.
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3️⃣ B vitamins get used up quickly in the first trimester, as they are crucial for early fetal development. They’re also depleted more quickly when your body is under stress. Up your B’s to help settle your tummy. Specifically, B6!
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These are just the basics, and they’re a great place to start! If you find yourself needing more support with first trimester nausea and vomiting, comment PROTOCOL below and I’ll send you the link to my full Morning Sickness Remedies protocol, which includes nutrition guidelines, holistic therapies, homeopathic remedies, OTC and more!
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07/01/2024

Birth is sometimes referred to as the “everyday miracle.” All of the intricate steps and processes that need to take place for a human to form and grow inside of your womb, and then to be birthed into the world, make it a completely miraculous occurrence. A whole new soul emerging into physical form. And yet… it happens every day. In fact, the closest estimates tell us that approximately 4 babies are born every *second* around the world. The miracle of life happens! It happens often and well. When you are in labor and birthing your baby, you can remind yourself that miracles do happen, and for you, it’s happening today 🙏🏻❤️

06/02/2024

I think one way or another, we all end up finding our way. Even if the path doesn’t look quite how we envisioned, we keep moving along until we find what we need. You have a knowing inside of you that is older than the beginning of time. It’s been passed down to you, through you, from generation to generation, and it’s settled somewhere deep in your bones.
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One of my favorite parts of midwifery is showing up for people and just validating what they already know… about themselves and their experiences. So much integration and healing can occur when we are truly seen and heard.
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If you can, take some time today to tune into that knowing. Ask yourself, “what do I need more of?” “What do I need less of?” “What do I know to be true?” Breathe into this space and allow your instincts and intuition to re-tune themselves to this deep knowing.

06/01/2024

🍋 The Fresh Test 🍋
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Are you worried about all the sketchy ingredients in the glucola drink that’s used for gestational diabetes screening? I don’t blame you, I’m worried about those ingredients, too! I am also SO thankful that there are alternatives ✨
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What are common ingredients in the standard glucola drink?
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❌ Brominated Vegetable Oil - A flame retardant, research shows that BVO accumulates in body fat, the brain, liver, other organs and in breastmilk.
❌ Food Dyes (FD&C yellow #6, red #40) - Known carcinogens, which cause a host of other health problems, especially in children
❌ Dextrose - Corn sugar, which is GMO
❌ Natural Flavorings
❌ Additional Preservatives
❌ BPA - Endocrine disrupter
❌ BHA - Known carcinogen
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If you’re thinking, “Yikes! Why would I be asked to put these ingredients into my body when I’m already working so hard to stay as healthy as possible during pregnancy?!” I have the same question! I have heard countless women describe how they felt sick, nauseous and even threw up after drinking the standard glucose drink. No one in my practice wanted it, and honestly, I don’t want it for you, either.
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Since I started offering as a glucola replacement, I’ve had sooo much positive feedback from my clients. They say it tastes great, it doesn’t make them feel sick AT ALL, and they feel assurance in having an option that doesn’t feel like they’re dumping garbage into their bodies. Here’s some quick info about the Fresh Test:
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✅ It is a proven exact equivalence to the glucola drink in regards to gestational diabetes screening capability.
✅ NO gross ingredients! In fact it only has three total ingredients: Organic Non-GMO Dextrose, Crystallized Lemon and Organic Peppermint Leaf.
✅ It’s safe for you and your baby!
✅ Labs like LabCorp are starting to accept the Fresh Test, which hopefully means it will soon become the gold standard for gestational diabetes screening!
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If you have questions about the Fresh Test, feel free to DM me! I also stock extra 50g packets for those who are not in my practice to purchase locally (or I can also ship to you)! Check out the online shop on my website or DM me!
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Midwife Courtney

03/02/2025

11/11/2024

11/02/2024

10/28/2024

10/24/2024

10/20/2024

07/01/2024

06/02/2024

06/01/2024

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