Jackie Woodfin, Certified Doula

01/27/2026

So important!

01/23/2026

🔺Updated 2026 AWHONN 🔺 (Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses) position statement on continuous labor support …

The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) asserts that continuous labor support is critical to achieving the best birth outcomes.
Continuous labor support is a powerful tool, resulting in improved birth outcomes.

Childbirth is an intensely dynamic, physical, and emotional event with lifelong implications. Patients who receive continuous labor support experience improved outcomes compared with those who do not (KC et al., 2020; Stjernholm et al., 2021). Doula support is associated with the most significant improvements in maternal and neonatal outcomes, especially for patients who are marginalized (Bohren et al., 2017). A growing body of evidence highlights the measurable benefits of continuous labor support across a range of maternal and neonatal outcomes, including the following:
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shorter duration of labor (Bohren et al., 2017)
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increased rates of spontaneous vaginal birth (Bohren et al., 2017)
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decreased rates of instrumental vaginal birth (Bohren et al., 2017)
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decreased rates of cesarean birth (KC et al., 2020)
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decreased use of analgesia (Bohren et al., 2017)
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improved 5-min Apgar score (Bohren et al., 2017)
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fewer negative feelings about childbirth (Bohren et al., 2017)
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reduced fear of childbirth (Cankaya & Can, 2021)
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lower risk of childbirth-related posttraumatic stress disorder (Horsch et al., 2024)
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reduced labor pain (Cankaya & Can, 2021)

You can read the full statement here…
https://www.nwhjournal.org/article/S1751-4851(25)00180-1/fulltext?omnisendContactID=65b7f2af9d949cc084ea61a6&utm_campaign=automation%3A+MOVE+Nurture+Email+-+January+23rd+-+General+Audience+%286972a4f27758382eceb8b853%29&utm_content=6972a66249a1accab19213b1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=omnisend

01/16/2026

Milk & Honey Lactation Services, LLC

01/13/2026

If you’re in the Longview area, I can’t say enough great things about this OB. 🥰

01/02/2026

Such a special family! My first birth of 2025 and my first doula New Year baby. 🎉

01/01/2026

To my 2025 doula families,

Thank you for trusting me with one of the most sacred seasons of your life. Being invited into your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey is something I never take lightly. Each of you allowed me to witness your strength, your surrender, your courage, and your love—and that is a profound honor.

Every birth this year reminded me why I do this work: to protect space, to offer steady presence, to speak peace when things feel intense, and to help you remember that you are capable. Your stories, your babies, and your families will stay with me far beyond the moments we shared together.

Thank you for welcoming me into your homes, your birth rooms, your prayers, and your raw, beautiful humanity. Thank you for the vulnerable conversations and the trust you placed in my hands and heart.

It has been a privilege to walk beside you in 2025. I am endlessly grateful for each family who chose me to support them, and I will always carry your births with deep respect and gratitude.

With so much love and honor,
Jackie Woodfin, Doula
Upper Room Doula Services

01/01/2026

Happy New Year!🎊

Happy New Year from ETX Doula Collective!

We pray this New Year brings blessings, peace, and joy to your sweet family and we look forward to serving our community in even bigger and better ways as a group✨🫶🏻

12/31/2025

This year was marked by unmet expectations.

We live in an era of constant interaction. Not always the healthiest kind, but interaction nonetheless—and we invite a great deal of it into our lives.

With interaction comes information. Birth education is more accessible than ever. We research labor positions, medications, herbs, diets, fetal positioning, and breastfeeding. We write birth plans, exercise, eat well, and spend countless hours studying vitamins, gadgets, and techniques. Long before a baby arrives, expectations take shape. We watch videos, read birth stories, and create a mental picture of how we believe birth will unfold. Based on our histories, we form ideas of what should happen.

But what about the mother who prepares so diligently, only to find that nothing goes according to plan?

As a midwife, it’s easy to fall into this trap as well. This year there were a higher than usual number of births that I rushed to after barely making it to their last one. We labored, moved, breathed, and worked—patiently and beautifully—only to transfer.

Then come the what ifs, creeping in and questioning every moment of labor.

Unmet expectations can give rise to guilt, feelings of inadequacy, shame, and even depression. Others—well-meaning or not—may deepen that doubt. Over time, the pain, exhaustion, muscle fatigue, and concerns of labor fade, leaving behind a growing sense of disappointment. It is so easy to say you could have done a little more after you have had some sleep and rest.

Give yourself grace. Chase those thoughts away. Your success was all that you did to get to birth. All the work, and it was work, no matter how you birthed, that you put in. I highly encourage education, planning and preparing. It is a tool for you to use, not to rule over you. Create an atmosphere of contentment and peace and bring it into your birth and welcome it into your mothering.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made!