Jill Magoffin -Doula- (2025)

23/08/2025

Last night was extra special 💜 My step-daughter Olivia came with me to a home birth. She spent all night wrangling the older kids so their mama could focus on bringing baby earthside.

Birth really does take a village, and sometimes that village is your teenager. Proud doesn’t even begin to cover it. Future doula in training? She said no 😂 She’s still sleeping it off.

21/08/2025

✨ Double the love, double the strength! ✨
Congratulations to my badass client who welcomed her twins vaginally! 👶👶💗
Vaginal twin births should be way more common than it is. Same with breech births—we know they can be done safely when the right support and skills are in place. The reality is, many families aren’t even given those options.
But this mom set her heart on a vaginal birth, put in the work, trusted her body, and when the stars aligned… she did it. 🌟 Two babies, one powerful birth story.
This isn’t about knocking anyone’s choices—cesarean birth saves lives and is absolutely the right path for many. But it’s also important to see that birth like this is possible. With informed options, skilled providers, and support, families can achieve the kind of birth they envision.
Pure strength. Pure possibility. Pure magic. ✨

10/08/2025

My last birth. 🤣🤣🤣. I kid. I kid. Most of what you see on social media? Staged. Edited. Lit just right with a fan blowing in from the perfect angle.
Birth is not an Instagram filter. It’s unpredictable, raw, and yours alone.

Envision what you want for your birth—then stay flexible. Things change, and that’s okay. The goal isn’t to match someone else’s dreamy forest birth with a banjo band and fairy godmother (unless that’s actually your thing).

Educate yourself. Know your options. And for the love of oxytocin—stop comparing. Your birth doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s to be powerful.

09/08/2025

It’s wild how little this gets talked about.
Everyone’s quick to blame what the baby is eating… but not how the baby is feeding.
And if you don’t look a little deeper, you might miss the real problem entirely.
Here’s the cycle — see if it sounds familiar:
Birth can sometimes leave a baby with body tension.
That tension can make feeding harder.
Hard feeds lead to more swallowed air.
Swallowed air turns into gas and discomfort.
Discomfort means less sleep.
Now the parents aren’t sleeping either.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Breaking that cycle early can make a world of difference.

No matter how your baby is born — fast or slow, vaginal or C-section, medicated or unmedicated — birth is a big event for a tiny body. Sometimes, it leaves tension in the neck, jaw, shoulders, or back.

And even mild tension can throw everything off.
A stiff neck can make it hard to turn toward the breast or bottle.
Jaw tightness can make latching exhausting.
If feeding is difficult, the cycle above kicks into high gear.

One of the most overlooked ways to actually stop it?
Gentle, intentional bodywork for babies.

Not cracking. Not rough. Just skilled touch that helps your baby’s body release tension, realign, and move comfortably again.

When a baby’s body is comfortable, they feed better.
When feeding improves, gas decreases.
With less discomfort, babies sleep better.
And when babies sleep better, so do their parents.

If you think tension could be part of your baby’s struggles, look for a provider trained in infant care, such as:

Pediatric Chiropractor (trained in gentle infant adjustments)
Occupational Therapist (specializing in infant feeding and bodywork)
Physical Therapist (pediatric-focused)
Craniosacral Therapist (infant-trained)
IBCLC Lactation Consultant (to assess feeding and refer if needed)
Your baby’s body matters.
Your peace matters.
And sometimes, a few gentle hands can change everything.

07/08/2025

I don’t bill insurance, and here’s why:
It’s amazing that more insurance companies are starting to recognize doula care — some doulas have figured out how to work within that system, and that’s awesome. More access for families is always something to celebrate.

But for me? Billing insurance directly doesn’t work.

➡️ The rates are low for many doulas, especially in high cost-of-living areas like California.
➡️ The billing process takes time, energy, and a lot of follow-up — and often, payment is delayed.
➡️ I want to focus on what I do best: supporting families through birth, not chasing down insurance departments.

If you’re a client hoping to use insurance, you still have options:

✅ Ask your insurance provider if they reimburse for out-of-network doula support
✅ Use an HSA or FSA — doula care often qualifies
✅ Request a superbill — I’m happy to provide one so you can try submitting for reimbursement
✅ Look into doula funds or local grants — especially if you’re in a high-need population

And to the doulas who feel pressured to take insurance:
You don’t have to.
Stick with what feels right. The work will come.

This field is changing — and that’s a good thing. But we all get to move through it in a way that makes sense for us.

💛

02/08/2025

Dear New Doula,
Just because you're new doesn’t mean you work for scraps.

You are not the clearance rack. You’re not “gaining experience” in exchange for being underpaid and overworked. You're stepping into one of the most intimate, emotional, sacred roles someone can have.

You might be attending your first birth—but that doesn't mean you’re not holding space, regulating your nervous system, showing up at 3am with your whole heart. That’s not “practice.” That’s the real deal.

Yes, you're learning. So is every human ever.
But you’re also doing the work. And work deserves respect.

Stop thinking of yourself as someone who should “just be grateful” to be there. Want to offer a sliding scale? Gift your services? Beautiful. But you decide. Not the pressure. Not the panic.

And if you’re backing up another doula—make sure you’re paid fairly too. Your time is not a favor. It’s part of the work. Show up for others, but don’t disappear in the process.

You don’t need to prove your worth.
You just need to protect it.

✨This field needs doulas who feel supported and confident—not depleted and doubting.✨

31/07/2025

You’ve probably seen all my posts about what doulas do during labor… but did you know we’re often allowed in the OR too?

Not all hospitals make space for doulas during C-sections—but many do, and when they do, we show up (sometimes in full hazmat-chic like this 🥴). This photo? Snapped by the anesthesiologist to get a better angle for the parents. Not my best look, but hey—it’s not about me 🙃.

So what does a doula actually do in the OR?

✨ We prep both parents for what to expect
✨ We stand by their side through it all (literally)
✨ We support the partner, explain what’s happening, and help them stay grounded
✨ We advocate for birth preferences like skin-to-skin and delayed cord clamping when possible
✨ We snap photos and remind everyone—this is still your birth

Planned or unplanned, vaginal or belly birth—every birth deserves support.

27/07/2025

Their birth story is not your birth story.

When you’re pregnant, everyone has a story.
The emergency C-section. The 36-hour labor. The “I barely made it to the hospital!” drama.

Here’s the thing:
Even if you don’t mean to, those stories stick.
They plant little seeds of fear—
“What if that happens to me?”
And that fear can mess with your head before labor even begins.

But the truth is simple:
No birth story is like another.
Your body. Your baby. Your experience. All unique.

Learn from other stories if you want—take the tips, ask the questions—
but don’t let someone else’s ending live rent-free in your head.

Your story hasn’t even started. Don’t let someone else’s ending scare you out of writing your own.

23/07/2025

Today, she’s gone. And I’m sitting with this strange mix of sadness and gratitude—grateful I got to witness her life in these final days, even if I didn’t know her deeply. Sometimes it only takes a few shared moments—a smile, a quiet laugh, a memory drifting in—to feel the weight of someone’s absence.

I’ve watched someone I care so deeply for pour his whole heart into taking care of her—showing up, loving her, holding her through all the changes that come when life is winding down. That kind of care is beautiful, but it’s also exhausting and heavy in ways words don’t always touch. I see him. I see the love and the stress, the heartbreak, the strength it takes to care for a parent as their world shifts through life’s hardest stages. I’m sending him all the love, all the softness, all the space to grieve and breathe.

She loved her life, even with all the pain it held—including the shadows of the Holocaust—and still, she found joy in the simple things. A chocolate croissant. A nap in the sun. A quiet room. And I hope that wherever she is now, the croissants are warm and endless, the coffee strong, and she’s somewhere where the hard parts of life no longer reach her.

I get to see life burst into the world, and sometimes I end up here, watching it slowly slip away. Both are messy, beautiful, and gut-wrenching in their own ways. Being there for those moments—the first breaths and the last ones—reminds me how short all the middle parts really are, and how much they matter. .airport.sr

13/07/2025

Some families change you.
Years apart, two beautiful births, and I had the honor of being their doula both times.

I don’t take it lightly. I don’t take it for granted.
I’m the grateful one.

This is the kind of work that finds you right where you’re meant to be. And I’d show up for them a hundred times over.

09/07/2025

Setting the scene for birth matters. Whether you're at home, in a hospital, or somewhere in between—your environment can seriously impact how you labor.
We’re mammals. And mammals give birth in dark, quiet, safe spaces—away from bright lights and people staring at them. Your body needs to feel safe to do its thing. Low lighting, minimal interruptions, and music that makes you feel good—whether that’s calm and meditative… or trap. Or, in this mom’s case, a carefully curated playlist of Beyoncé and Salt-N-Pepa. (Respect.)
Birth is primal, not performative.
And yes, I’m the doula in this picture. I have no idea what my hair was doing—definitely not enhancing the peaceful mood—but the mom didn’t notice. She was too busy being a total badass and having a baby.
Moral of the story: set the space up like it matters—because it does. Lights down, stress low, vibes high. Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!

Jill Magoffin -Doula-

23/08/2025

21/08/2025

10/08/2025

09/08/2025

07/08/2025

02/08/2025

31/07/2025

27/07/2025

23/07/2025

13/07/2025

09/07/2025

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