Life Song Doula Care

02/01/2025

01/27/2025

The world is your oyster when it comes to birthing positions! Lying on your back (the lithotomy position) isn’t the only — and certainly not necessarily the “best” — position for giving birth. It became popular for its convenience for doctors, not because it’s ideal for the birthing person.

Evidence shows that upright positions like squatting, standing, or hands-and-knees can reduce the length of labor and increase comfort.

So talk to your care team about the positions you’d like to explore, and lean into how your body is guiding you when the time comes. You’ve got options!

01/21/2025

Hannah at Womb to World has hit it out of the park again! Love her artwork! So excited to start using this with big siblings!

01/20/2025

Ironically, some of those in power who celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy would have opposed his acts of resistance. Despite some revisionist and whitewashed history, we know the truth.

Dr. King was a fierce advocate for justice and stood firmly in the face of white supremacy. He understood how systems of oppression serve each other, whether the military-industrial complex, segregation or capitalism. Dr. King’s ability to foster community and collective action laid the foundation to shift policies and culture.

Today, Reproductive Justice as a movement is rooted in recognizing the interconnectedness of our lives and that our fight for liberation depends on each other. As we continue to fight against white supremacy in all of its forms, we must hold close to the lessons of our ancestors, such as Dr. King.

01/04/2025

Maternal Assisted Cesarean. What a moment captured by .nl and overseen by gynecologist, . 🥹 MAC is HAPPENING around the world, everyone, and we are so excited about it. The Netherlands, Korea, Australia, and yes... even in the U.S.! Have you had a MAC or heard of one happening in your area? Drop a comment below and tell us all about it!

12/25/2024

My great doula Christmas haul!

12/25/2024

Wishing you and yours a gentle holiday.

12/05/2024

11/12/2024

11/11/2024

It’s no surprise that many of us expect labor to start in a certain, checklist-able way — it’s how it’s often shown and taught (and hey, we’re not judging that — we love a good list!). But the truth is, labor rarely follows a neat, linear path.

If you’re in that “waiting for labor” stage, know this: there’s a wide range of what a normal start to labor can look like. No need to throw the list out but focus more on taking care of and listening to your body — and lean on your care team to help you interpret what it’s telling you.

11/09/2024

As the future of reproductive health care continues to get scarier, I have been and continue to be committed to supporting and advocating for all on this journey. I will fight for the rights of all birthing people and walk with anyone who sees my support. Know that I can work with you on pricing for my services if you are not able to pay full price. I already have a discount in place for BIPOC and q***r folks and can reduce more if need be. And, of course, if you are able to pay full price or more, please do so that I can continue to offer this to those who are not able.
We will get through this time together. I still hold out hope that things will get better.

10/31/2024

10/23/2024

Clarity is key. 🔑 There’s no universal right or wrong when it comes to cervical exams — depending on how they’re handled they can be a helpful tool or they can be a hindrance — each situation is personal and depends on individual needs and preferences.

10/01/2024

Black lives matter in every delivery room, and we refuse to stay silent while systemic racism continues to steal parents’ lives. ✊🏾

Black women in the U.S. are 3-4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white birthing folks. This is not a coincidence…this is a crisis.

Implicit bias and institutional racism are at the root of this healthcare failure. Studies show that Black women’s pain is more likely to be dismissed or ignored by medical providers, and Black mothers are twice as likely to receive late or no prenatal care compared to white mothers.

Note: the research was done on women so we have kept the gendered language around these stats, and care has a whole other helping of s**t when birthing folks are gender expansive…

It’s time to confront the harsh reality that racism is killing Black mothers.

We demand better.

We demand accountability.

We demand change.

Our clients deserve to feel safe and heard in every space—including the labor and delivery room.

Let’s fight for justice.

Doulas, tag a doula who’s in this fight protecting birthers of color… also, feel free to tag yourself!

Want to be in these spaces keeping parents and babies safe?! Comment BIRTH and we will send over how to become a doula… we need more practitioners! ✌🏾

👉🏽 Follow for more! 👈🏽

09/10/2024

It's okay to not be okay!
This is why I offer postpartum support. I sit with you in the hard. Pregnant and want to be prepared? Let's schedule! Already had your baby(ies) and need help? Let's schedule!

09/08/2024

Yes!

You may have seen the news that the Surgeon General declared the level of stress parents in this country experience a public health crisis.

My heart aches for mamas! It’s so hard to keep it all going - and there are so many new stressors parents face - school safety, social media, economics. With lack of support, and lack of maternity leave on top.

Many of us parent intensively, but this was meant to happen in a village - and we do not live in village! No shared meals. No extra childcare. No older cousins looking over littles.

And zero govt support to subsidize how much it costs to raise a child alone.

While I loved attachment parenting - it was A LOT of work. I was overextended, overstimulated, and under supported.

But I convinced myself it was the perfect way, so I pushed thru.

Deep learning: There is no recipe for perfect parenting, perfectly happy children, or perfectly healthy adults. Parenting is more complex than that and our kids are more than what we do.

In the process of trying to create the impossible, we burn ourselves out and I see that burn out in so many of the mamas I take care of.

We aren’t meant to do it all, and when we try, it’s a recipe for feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and inadequate. You’re not doing anything wrong, it’s a failure, as a country, to isolate families and a reflection of our deprioritization of the bond between babies and mamas in our culture.

What do we do?

On a societal level:
🔺Paid family and medical leave for both parents - and for caregiver grandparents! Sweden does it!
🔺 Affordable childcare
🔺 Affordable healthcare
🔺 Other govt subsidies that provide families with a safety net!

On a personal level:
💕Release perfect and reset your expectations for yourself
💕Listen to what YOU and YOUR baby need, not what influencers or others preach
💕Practice healthy boundaries for your self care, so they’re non- negotiables
💕Parent adaptively - let go of practices that don’t serve you. No ‘shoulding’ on yourself.
💕Know it‘s exhausting. Be gentle with yourself.

Please share your biggest parenting pain points and say YES or 🙌 if you’d like to talk about mom burnout in an IG live together!

08/19/2024

"The lower levels of intervention and higher levels of positive outcomes associated with midwifery mean that study after study has pointed to the fact that midwives are the key to improving maternal and infant health outcomes. Midwives might be rare in the United States, but they're commonplace in almost every other affluent nation, with European countries leading the pack.
Not to mention that midwifery is more cost efficient - not just for patients, but for providers...
For these reasons, pregnant people may seek out midwifery care instead of going the hospital route. Ultimately, it's a matter of choice, but that choice is being chipped away. It's yet another way of denying people bodily autonomy.
'Your're seeing more and more people, especially women of color, say I want something different. I want someone to explain to me what's happening. I don't want to feel rushed. I don't want a factory birth,' says Skanes. 'It all ties into the fact that people don't believe women deserve choices. If it were about being pro-life or being [pro-birth], then you would be open to women having access to more places to give birth.'"

08/07/2024

We talk about all of this and more in our initial intake form.