Your Journey Doula Services

25/08/2025

19/08/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Wj1UNmSNT/

The process of labor is divided into three distinct stages, each with specific physiological changes and events.

Stage 1 begins with the onset of regular, strong uterine contractions and involves the dilation and effacement (thinning) of the cervix. In early labor, the cervix gradually opens from 0 to about 4 centimeters with mild contractions. This progresses into active labor, where contractions become more intense and frequent, and the cervix dilates more rapidly, from 4 to 10 centimeters. This stage ends once full dilation is achieved, allowing the baby to move into the birth canal.

Stage 2 starts once the cervix is completely dilated. The mother begins actively pushing with each contraction to help the baby descend through the birth canal. Uterine contractions are strong and coordinated, and the baby’s head gradually emerges, followed by the shoulders and the rest of the body. This stage ends with the complete delivery of the baby.

Stage 3 occurs after the baby is born and focuses on the delivery of the placenta. The uterus continues to contract, which helps detach the placenta from the uterine wall and push it out through the birth canal. This typically happens within 5–30 minutes after delivery. Proper management of this stage is essential to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, as the uterus must contract firmly to close blood vessels where the placenta was attached.

15/08/2025

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21/06/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/16e1rwShCY/

“This just happens.” is something stillbirth parents hear pretty often from their providers.

"This just happens" is not an explanation for why a baby dies.
⁣
When a parent asks why their baby died, they deserve more than a shrug. More than vague language. More than a pat on the shoulder and silence.⁣
⁣
🖤 They deserve answers.
🖤 They deserve honesty.
🖤 They deserve providers willing to say, “We don’t always know but we’ll help you understand everything we do know.”⁣
⁣
There is a reason, but sometimes we don’t (or can’t) know what it is.

That distinction matters.

❤️A baby doesn’t die for no reason.
❤️But sometimes, even with every test available, we’re left with no clear explanation, so the death is labeled “unexplained” but that doesn’t mean it was random, meaningless, or that there wasn’t a reason.

It just means:
🧪 Medicine hasn’t found it yet.
🔍 Or, we didn’t have the tools, timing, or evidence to see it.

Other times we do know.

Sometimes it’s preventable.
Sometimes there were red flags.
Sometimes someone didn’t listen.
⁣
And when we brush it off as a mystery, when we avoid the hard conversations, we rob families of closure, accountability, and healing.⁣
⁣
Every loss matters. Every baby matters. Every parent deserves the truth even when it’s hard.⁣

Saying “the reason is unknown” instead of “there is no reason” honors the reality and complexity of stillbirth.

-Love,
Flor Cruz
Badassmotherbirther

11/06/2025

https://www.my-c-section.com/your-c-section-baby/does-c-section-affect-my-baby-immunity?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=trafic&utm_campaign=hiver-2024&utm_term=120216193606500127&utm_content=120216193606530127&utm_id=120215557074320127&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMABhZGlkAasgL510DG8BHh7Emk7W3KTKFZeLQLc_wiguh9ErtN1hw1z8N1imqW7AlkWGGatsFNZAUPoj_aem__MmYuN3GFtz1LeBykruOIg&sfnsn=scwspwa

Learn about how birth methods impact immunity, the role of gut health, and ways to support your baby post-C-section.

02/06/2025

🤔 Interesting. Leave babies cord until it is really white in colour! A Lotus Birth! 😁❤️

02/06/2025

Did you hear the news? Researchers found one more way breastfeeding reduces risk of child obesity. According to this 2025 study, the fats (lipids) unique to human milk promote—possibly for a lifetime—both a healthy weight and metabolic health. Read about it here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900725000577?via%3Dihub

02/06/2025

https://www.sarawickham.com/articles-2/induction-for-big-baby/

Being offered induction for big baby? Dr Sara Wickham shares the evidence and the things you might want to consider.

26/04/2025

Our bodies are extremely amazing! 😉🙌

Did you know that your milk contains painkilling and anti-inflammatory properties? I didn't. And I worried and felt stressed during the times when my son suddenly seemed to want nothing but b**b for days.

Then his teeth came through. Or it turned out he had a cold. Or nothing and it just passed. And when he hurt himself, cuddles and milk just sorted it out.

It always made sense that he'd want to be close when he was under the weather, but sometimes, I resented it because I found myself wondering if this was in fact normal, or whether I had perhaps made that proverbial rod for my back.

Then one day, when he was 16 months, I learned that my milk was giving him painkillers and anti-inflammatory components.

And it all fell into place.

I was still exhausted, but I didn't resent or worry about his increased feeds during colds or teething etc. I felt proud and amazed.

But also angry that no-one had ever told me about just how incredible my body and my milk was. Angry that the default advice was "Careful, rod for your own back".

So that’s why we're telling you. Because you really are truly incredible and everyone needs to know it.

Claire, HM Founder x

Find references, more info and support on https://human-milk.com/pages/science-of-breastmilk

19/04/2025

This is so shocking! As if there is a fixed rule book on how life should happen! 😟😔
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/167SWwz4G1/

👁️ Did you ever wonder why the baby’s taken across the room? Why the cord is clamped fast, the mother left shaking, the lights so bright it feels like judgment?

Did you ever feel the stillness—the eerie quiet when the father’s hands are empty, the grandmother’s not in the room, and the newborn is nowhere near a breast?

It’s not just medicine.
It’s not just policy.
It’s a ritual.
And it’s not ours.

🧬 They inject pig-derived Pitocin to mimic the hormone God designed to flood a woman’s brain in labor. But it doesn’t reach the brain. It only contracts the body.
The love doesn’t flow.
The imprint doesn’t land.
The bonding doesn’t seal.
Just pressure. Just force.

💉 Synthetic love.
⚡ Counterfeit release.
🧠 Neurological silence.

And while the woman is watched but not touched, while the baby is wiped but not suckled, while the father is praised for being “supportive” but not leading—
they cut the thread.

👶 The mother-baby dyad was made to reflect divine intimacy. To pass down trust, peace, protection.
But when it’s broken—
the body remembers.
The child stores the grief.
The mother learns disconnection.
The father fades from view.

That’s how it starts. But it doesn’t end there.

Then come the bottles.
The cribs.
The high chairs.
The eight-hour separations called school.
The praise of independence that is really just early detachment.
The lie that the nuclear family is enough. That Mom runs the home. That Dad is just for weekends. That children are safest raised by strangers in buildings funded by gods they do not know.

🕳️ We are not looking at broken systems.
We are looking at precision-engineered fragmentation.

And you feel it. You’ve felt it all along.
That something was taken before you could name it.
That someone was missing even while you were being told you had “everything you need.”

But listen: the lie only wins if we let it.
And we won’t.
We are pulling the babies back to the breast.
We are restoring the mother's voice in the birth room.
We are putting grandmothers back at the table.
We are praying over the placenta.
We are keeping them close at night.
We are burning the counterfeit and walking in the design.
This is not soft work.
It is a holy war

27/03/2025

25/03/2025

Boeliegedrag Begin by die Huis

Boeliegedrag is ‘n epidemie wat ons samelewing verskeur, en dit begin dikwels by die voorbeeld wat kinders tuis sien. Ons kan nie langer ons koppe in die sand steek en wonder hoekom kinders ander seermaak nie – hulle leer dit by ons, die volwassenes in hul lewens.

Die hartseer waarheid is dat boeliegedrag nie net in skole voorkom nie. Sosiale media is ‘n duidelike bewys van hoe volwassenes mekaar afbreek. ‘n Onlangse voorval rondom ‘n pragtige sangeres wat gewig verloor het, het 100de mense se aaklige en wrede kommentaar ontlok. Volwasse mans en vroue het haar met hul woorde verneder – hoe kan ons dan verwag dat ons kinders met liefde en deernis sal optree as hulle sien hoe ons is?

Kinders wat aanhoudend blootgestel word aan negatiewe en aggressiewe gedrag tuis, het ‘n groter kans om boelies op skool te word. Kinders wat emosioneel of verbaal mishandel word, het later ‘n hoër geneigdheid tot aggressiewe gedrag teenoor ander. Dit beteken dat die manier waarop ons oor ander mense praat, selfs in privaat geselskap, ‘n direkte invloed op ons kinders se sosiale ontwikkeling het.

Boeliegedrag het ‘n vernietigende impak op kinders. Een uit elke drie kinders wêreldwyd word geboelie. Nog erger, kinders so jonk as 10 jaar oud neem hul eie lewens weens die trauma van aanhoudende boeliegedrag. In Suid-Afrika is meer as 35% van kinders tussen 10 en 17 jaar slagoffers van boeliegedrag.

Ek sien hoe ‘n ma ʼn video deel waarin sy vertel hoe haar kind geboelie word. Sy het dit by die skool aangemeld, maar niks is gedoen nie. Sy het self gesien hoe die ander kind haar seun slaan en stamp, maar die skool se verskoning? Die boelie "gaan deur iets moeiliks". Waar trek ons die lyn tussen empatie en aanspreeklikheid?

Boeliegedrag is nie net fisies nie – dit kom voor in subtiele, daaglikse opmerkings en sosiale uitsluiting. ʼn Goeie voorbeeld is my eie kind. ‘n Kind wat gesonde kos skool toe kry. Sy is name genoem omdat haar kos anders lyk as dié van haar klasmaats. Sy is selfs uitgesluit van speletjies omdat haar kosblik glo "gross" is omdat sy nie lekkergoed in het nie. Hierdie gedrag is aangeleer. Kinders herhaal wat hulle by die huis sien – as hulle ouers ander mense afmaak omdat hulle anders lyk, anders eet, of ander keuses maak, sal hulle dieselfde doen.

Ons sien dit elke dag op ons eie mamma groepies. Dit is hartseer hoe dikwels ma’s, wat net opsoek is na ondersteuning en advies, afgekraak en veroordeel word. Ek verstaan dat dit soms gebeur omdat die advies wat gegee word gevaarlik of verkeerd kan wees. Daarom moet ons versigtig wees oor watter raad ons ook gee en seker maak dat dit nie bevooroordeeld (survivor’s bias) of skadelik is nie.
Maar ma’s, ek erken dat ek self al hieraan skuldig was. Ek het myself al so kwaad gemaak oor sekere kommentare of advies dat ek nie eers die persoon se ervaring of bedoeling oorweeg het nie. Ons kan mekaar reghelp sonder om mekaar af te breek. Dit kos niks om respekvol op te tree nie.

Dit is tyd dat ons as ouers en volwassenes verantwoordelikheid neem vir die waardes wat ons kinders leer. Ons moet onsself vra: Wat leer my kind as ek lelike kommentaar op sosiale media los? Wat sien my kind as ek iemand in die supermark beoordeel oor hul voorkoms of kleredrag?

Ons kinders leer respek, deernis en verdraagsaamheid by ons. As ons wil hê ons kinders moet bedagdaam en liefdevol wees, moet ons vir hulle wys hoe. Dit begin by ons.
🤍Praat met respek oor ander mense, ongeag hoe hulle lyk of wat hulle doen.
•🤍Leer jou kind om ander te respekteer, selfs al is hulle anders.
🤍Tree in wanneer jy boeliegedrag opmerk – nie net by kinders nie, maar ook by volwassenes.
🤍Monitor wat jou kind aanlyn sien en deel, en leer hulle die impak van woorde.

Boeliegedrag is ‘n weerspieëling van wat ons as die samelewing toelaat. Dit is tyd dat ons ‘n ander boodskap aan ons kinders stuur – ‘n boodskap van respek, liefde en omgee. Laat ons die generasie wees wat die siklus van seermaak en afbreek stop.

Want as ons dit nie doen nie, wie sal?

Deel hierdie post as jy, jou kind of iemand wat jy ken al geboelie was.