The Midwife

08/03/2025

I know when I first starting nursing my daughter, almost 14 years ago, I felt so much pressure to start feeding her solids at 4 months and wean as soon as possible. We stopped breastfeeding before she was even a year old.
Next babies, I received more support and education on the incredible benefits of nursing and was able to nurse my littles longer and with so much less stress.
Providing a calm, dark, safe space at the very start of life to initiate breastfeeding your little one is so critical. I educate my clients and birth class attendees to initiate feeding within 30 mins of birth. It regulates your newborn - heart rate, blood sugars, nervous system - and also clears their lungs. It’s so critical for a newborns survival. Get help. Get support. Educate yourself. And trust your intuition.
Happy Breastfeeding Month!

Breast milk is the ideal first food for a baby👶. It's safe, clean and contains antibodies which protect against dangerous illnesses.

✅ Start within 1 hour after birth 🤱
✅ Breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months 🤱
✅ Continue alongside healthy family foods until the baby is at least 2 years old 🤱

05/05/2025

I had a wonderful weekend with some amazing midwife friends, learning, practicing skills, and sharing stories/memories. I found it incredible to have that many women, in one house, who genuinely love and support one another. We laughed, cried, paused the conference sessions to learn from one another and brainstorm ways to make our community safer and better.
We missed several other amazing midwives who couldn’t attend but I can’t wait for the fall.

One of our objectives is to continually pursue learning and skills education to improve quality of care and birth outcomes.
Another objective of our association is to encourage and come alongside our association members.
Our first, annual local midwives retreat was very successful in meeting both of those objectives. So successful that we're planning one every spring and fall.

And if you have never been to Three Roots Boutique in Gladewater, it is a definite must visit.

Love hanging out with these sister midwives.
Plus couldn't tag. Erin Dorr & Laura Mroz

04/25/2025

URGENT ACTION REQUESTED BY The Association of Texas Midwives
House Bill 4553 has officially been set for a hearing in the House Public Health Committee on April 28 at 8:00 A.M. in Room E2.030 at the Capitol.
House Bill 4553 threatens the autonomy of our profession under the guise of data collection. While framed as a neutral reporting bill, HB 4553 lays the groundwork for invasive oversight, misrepresentation of outcomes, and the further medicalization of midwifery care without the context or nuance necessary to accurately represent our clients or our work.
We need every midwife, student, client, and supporter to contact the public health committee and urge them to oppose HB 4553
What You Can Do Today:
1. Call the Public Health Committee – urge them to oppose HB 4553.
Phone: 512-463-0802. Contact Chairman VanDeaver directly – tell him to withdraw his support for this bill.
Email: gary.vandeaver@house.texas.gov
Phone: 512-463-0692
⸻
Call Script or Email Template:
Subject: Oppose HB 4553 – Protect Midwifery from over regulation and medicalization. Protect Family Choice
Dear [Chairman VanDeaver / Public Health Committee Member],
I am a [licensed midwife/client/family member/supporter] writing to strongly oppose House Bill 4553, scheduled for hearing on Monday, April 28. This bill, though presented as a neutral data reporting proposal, contains harmful and confusing language that would result in over regulation, redundant statistics collection, the medicalization of and the erosion of midwifery care in Texas.
Texas midwives are already held to high standards of safety and accountability. This bill duplicates existing reporting, imposes burdensome new rules, threatens privacy, and undermines informed choice in birth.
I respectfully urge you to oppose HB 4553 and support true solutions that protect safe birthing options across our state.
Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Address]
⸻
We must act now. Please make your call today, and help us mobilize clients and supporters i

Added easy copy text in comment below

04/18/2025

✨✨5 Tips for a healthy pregnancy✨

Prenatal care is great, but what you do at home matters most!

Eating a whole foods, high protein diet, staying well hydrated (don't forget those minerals and cell salts!), moving your body and cultivating peace and community will ensure you feel your best - inside and out.

Check out:
Lily Nichols, RDN book Real Food for Pregnancy Book
Spinning Babies Daily Balances
Green Acres Baptist Church Square One group
The AXIA Center Mentorship and education

Our next birth and postpartum class for mothers and fathers is May 10th!

04/17/2025

A beautiful and powerful editorial about the sovereign rights of women to birth, behold, and touch their newborn before anyone else.

The Birth Pause is a critical moment for a new mother that is often robbed from them with the excessive rubbing, stimulating, and touching of the baby by a provider. As long as all is well, the mother and father embracing this moment is a vital and scared space that should not be broached.

Several years ago, I attended to a family whose little one came rather quick in the wee hours of the night. It was just me and the parents in a small bathroom. The baby slid out, calm and peaceful while his mother leaned over the tub breathing heavy to recover from her hard work. I place the baby on towels right under her now empty womb and sat back to watch. The baby was calm, pink and drawing his little arms up. The mother was steady and calm as the moments passed, taking her time to return to the room with us. Several minutes left us in stillness and then the mother opened her eyes to take in the room. Looking down, she reached for her baby for the first time, touching his face with the tips of her fingers and holding his hand. She leaned back sighing, then whispered "My son" as she brought him to her chest and rocked him back and forth. I don't cry often at births, but as her husband joined her and they all held each other in celebration and awe, my eyes welled up and I could feel the power of the Almighty all around. I don't know why this birth stands out so colorful in my mind, there are many others, but this birth pause was such a lovely moment in my career and one I will cherish all my life.

A doula and expectant mother’s view of birth is forever changed when she sees a midwife simply place a newly born child below her mother at the moment of birth.

04/03/2025

The Midwife is taking a long winters nap!

I am fully booked for 2025 and will be taking off until FEBRUARY from BIRTHS to rest, recover, train, and refocus. My family, my body, and my mental health need this time to fully recharge in order to keep serving with a whole heart and mind.

The reminder of the year will be focused on education, caring for beloved families and preparing for 2026. Stay tuned for classes, meet ups and more! Thank you for supporting this work and my rest. I love you all!

01/24/2025

Love these ladies!

Our ETMA meeting was so informative and empowering as Program Manager Laura Young from UT Tyler Pchychiatry and Behavioral Medicine spoke to our group.

ETMA has joined forces with their program to better our clients access to mental health care providers, social workers, and support groups through out their journey in pregnancy and the beginning of motherhood.

Laura acknowledged in her presentation the incredible benefits women have in being cared for by a midwife and offered tools to ensure our assessments improve and resources increase to safe guard our beloved clients.

We are thrilled to be a part of this growing program and know this will be an incredible blessing to many families across East Texas.

Edited to add:
Thank YOU, Moxie Midwifery Tyler for hosting this months meeting!

12/27/2024

2 0 2 4 R E C A P

This year was thrilling, terrifying, humbling, joyful, confirming and joy filled. From the closing of A Sacred Nest to opening a new practice, I have seen the Lord’s kindness and provision over and over. I am awe struck by His goodness and mercy.

In the last several months, I have explored new depths of this work as a midwife. Through Light and Darkness, The Good Shepherd was always there, standing in the waiting room of labor, birth, life and death. I was never alone. In times of need, I was encircled by many wise women offering their guidance, discipline, love, and nurturing care. I was knitted into their fabric of service; fed, prayed for, trusted, supported. It was a lifeline to a weary soul.

In the wee hours of the night, when sleep tempted my eyes and doubt crowded my mind, I could hear the prayers of the Saints whispered in the corners of my spirit. No other place in the world is as powerful, beautiful, or near to heaven as the birth room. I have touched the veil, witnessed the hovering over the waters and ushered breaths of life in little lungs. I have placed healing hands over bleeding wombs and fragile newborn heads, and passed the cup to the lips of the longing (Sometimes with a bomb ass bendy straw). My ears have heard powerful prayers of the faithful, the ancient Word recited, hymns of sorrow, songs of praise. I have reached for the edge of His cloak when healing was out of reach and pleaded for mercy when loss heaved its crushing weight down.
“Oh Jesus, be near.”

The stories are ultimately not my own; I am honored to know them, and I hope to steward them well. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the very beginnings of your growing family. No matter how long the pregnancy; every child is a divine gift of the Father, worthy of life, dignity, protection and honor. Those of you who have experienced loss this year, so many of you precious mothers, I pray you are held and healed. I see you.

As this new year approaches, may the Lord provide for you and your family and fill you to the brim with His mercy and love.

Here’s to another year of growth and peace.

Coffee cheers,
Coll The Midwife

P.S. if you feel led, share your baby pics below!!