CalmBirth of Raleigh

08/01/2025

M O N G O L I A N S P O T 👶🏽

I remember both of my baby girls had these birth marks.

🔷️

Mongolian spots are harmless birth marks. They commonly appear on the lower back and buttocks, although they can also appear on arms and legs. These spots commonly appear in babies with darker complexions, and they usually fade before adolescence.

🙋🏽‍♀️ Raise your hand if you or your babe had a Mongolian spot?!

📸:

08/01/2025

And today I received the wonderful news that this photo received the highest mark in the Birth Photography Category, contest conducted by
An impressive, poetic picture that says so much about the beauty of childbirth!
The amniotic bag !!
The light, the life, the pulse.

I am very happy with this recognition, very touched... , feel blessed for everything
Thanks to the judges, and this amazing woman who gave birth to two beautiful girls!
♡
⠀

08/01/2025

😂 🤱🏻♥️

Haha love it 😂🤣

08/01/2025

A Father is born...
A Mother is born...
A Baby is born...

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝕆𝕗 𝔸 𝔽𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪.

Daddy catching baby
Stunning image by
Repost@doulaviewllc

07/15/2025

🌿 Why You Should Document Your Breastfeeding Journey 🌿

There is something so raw, beautiful, and sacred about the breastfeeding bond between a mother and her baby. It’s a chapter full of strength, sacrifice, and tenderness — and like all seasons of motherhood, it passes too quickly.

Whether your journey has been long or short, easy or filled with challenges, it deserves to be remembered.

Breastfeeding is not just feeding — it’s comfort, connection, late-night snuggles, and quiet moments that often go unseen. These fleeting moments, the way your baby looks up at you, the way your hands cradle them close… they are powerful and worth documenting.

✨ That’s why I’m offering Breastfeeding Mini Sessions — a space to pause, reflect, and preserve the beauty of this season forever. ✨

💗 These sessions are gentle, relaxed, and focused on the connection between you and your baby.
📸 You’ll receive timeless, emotive images to celebrate your story — however it looks.

If this speaks to your heart, send me a message to reserve your spot — I can’t wait to honor your journey. 🤍

07/15/2025

I became a shell of myself after my c-section. I thought I was prepared for birth in a hospital. I thought that I certainly wouldn’t become a statistic - not me, a holistic doctor who had trusted her body her whole life.

I knew so much, but it was the information I DIDN’T know that made the difference in having the birth I wanted.

I didn’t know what I could say “no” to.

I didn’t know hospital policies and protocols.

I didn’t know that my nurses would switch off every 8 hours, and that their philosophies could be VASTLY different.

I didn’t know about the cascade of interventions.

I didn’t know the repercussions of an unnecessary c-section.

When it came down to it, I defaulted to my providers. I literally said, “you see this more often than I do, so if you think it’s best” when they suggested surgery for the 10th time with no other reason besides things taking too long.

That surgery ruined me for almost two years until I birthed the baby you see in this photo.

Today my freebirth after c-section baby turns 7.

It’s been a full 7 years since he changed my life and brought me back, so I wanted to reflect on that for a moment.

Women are often told that “there’s no trophy” for having an unmedicated birth/having a homebirth/having a VBAC/sticking to their birth plan. Having a healthy baby is all that matters. There’s no reward.

IT’S ALL LIES.

Your self worth is the trophy.

Learning how capable you were all along is the trophy.

Trusting your intuition is the trophy.

Proving the doubters wrong is the trophy.

Salvaging your mental health is the trophy.

Birthing your baby how YOU want is the trophy.

I can personally attest that there IS indeed a trophy for birthing the way you want. The biggest trophy of all.

And it’s not a trophy you can really know about unless you’ve been there.

CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

07/15/2025

“Mom almost made it into the birth tub. “
😂

Mom almost made it into the birth tub. 😂

07/15/2025

🩸 Did you ever wonder why midwives are called criminal in the land of their grandmothers?
Why women are told birth is “too risky” without a license from men who’ve never bled?
Why catching babies in your hands is punishable, while cutting them from the womb is praised?
It’s not just regulation.
It’s not just oversight.
It’s a war on the design.

👁️ They say it’s for safety—but the numbers say otherwise.
They say it’s for the mother—but mothers say they were never heard.
They say it’s for the baby—but the cord is cut early, the breath is forced, the moment is stolen.
This is not protection.
It is control dressed in sterile robes.

📜 “But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.”
Exodus 1:17.
Shiphrah. Puah.
They stood in the face of genocide, not for fame, not for gold—but because they feared God, not Pharaoh.

And today? The decrees still come down from high.
"Do not attend without a permit."
"Report your sisters."
"Say nothing when they are dragged into court."
But we remember.
And we refuse.
🔗 We stand when told to kneel.
🛑 We speak when told to be quiet.
🤲 We catch life even when threatened with cages.

Midwives in Hungary. Shackled.
In South Africa. Charged.
In Pennsylvania. Investigated.
In New York. Erased from history.
In Australia. Jailed for attending what the mother chose.

Licensed or not, the threat is the same—because it’s not about safety.
It’s about sovereignty.

A woman, laboring in power, is dangerous to the powers. A baby born into peace instead of panic threatens the principalities.
And a midwife who says, “I answer to God, not your decree,” is their greatest fear.

Because we do not serve the gods of liability, nor the idols of compliance.
We do not offer incense to the state to be allowed to do what God has already called us to do.

So why do we fight?
Because birth is holy.
Because mothers are not property.
Because babies are not state commodities.
Because legacy matters more than law.
Because we were called for such a time as this.
We fear the Lord.

This is not soft work. This is a Holy war.

07/15/2025

“The way he looks up at her. His body still next to his placenta and also nestled up next to her own. The blood in the water signifies release, transition, ending/beginning. May every baby be welcomed into the world with such quiet tenderness and love.”

The way he looks up at her. His body still next to his placenta and also nestled up next to her own. The blood in the water signifies release, transition, ending/beginning. May every baby be welcomed into the world with such quiet tenderness and love.

06/12/2025

When your birth is SO FAST it takes you a second to realize what the heck just happened (she almost made it to the tub). 😂❤️

06/05/2025

.
🌼𝐹𝐼𝒩𝒟 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅𝒮𝐸𝐿𝐹🌼
⊡
You were not made to stand in shadows of birth politics.
⊡
You were not made to be obedient, to obey or to behave.
⊡
You were made to find your power and stand in it.
⊡
Darling, find yourself in birth.
⊡
And you might find yourself alongside a powerful band of women.
⊡
A band of women who do not fear but conquer.
⊡
Women who ARE the fire.
⊡
How frightening it must be for birth politics when she rises above and she whispers 4 little words that terrify them.
⊡
She whispered “I LOVE GIVING BIRTH”.
⊡
-Love,
Flor Cruz
/

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬
𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭!

06/04/2025

There are moments in birth that feel like time cracks open.

When your body remembers something ancient.
When the veil thins.
When the air gets thick with something holy.

That’s what this photo is, for me.
A sacred moment. In a place we are told cannot hold sacred moments.

This photo is holy magic, reminding us that the sacred is available to us in all moments we choose to be open to it.

That’s the kind of remembering we’re calling in with the Sacred Birth Certificate — a self-paced course for women who know birth is more than biology.

This summer, if you join by June 10, you’ll also be part of a quiet, sacred Telegram circle. Just for the season. Just for us.

Enroll by June 10 to be part of our summertime seasonal circle.

Link is in our bio or DM and I’ll send it to you 💕