HerStory Doula Services

12/05/2021

If you have taken my 3-part transracial adoption course, you'll remember a section where I teach about racial norms in America by helping us understand the ways that whiteness is always the status quo. I ask questions like: Has anyone ever seen an anatomy mannequin with brown skin? Or does your doctor's office purchase band-aids that are multi-skin tones? Well...here's a new image for me to add! It's so normalized to see images like this featuring white people. What a breath of fresh air to see this.

12/01/2021

As a midwife x over 35 years now and a mom of 4 kiddos ages 27 to 36, and a grandma of two littles, this post shares one of the truest truths I know: we do not make or break our children. They come with their own stories and journeys and our job is to be there with wisdom, love, understanding, and resilience to support them on that journey for a lifetime.

So yes - all the things- home birth, extended breastfeeding, deeply connected parenting, co-sleeping, homeschooling- whatever of it you choose- do it because it’s right for you and your child, because you love it, and because it works for you- not to cultivate a perfect person or to overcompensate for trauma you may have had. Pay attention to what each child needs because that’s different for each, too. I promise I’ve worked with families who did all the things and no there’s no perfect recipe for the ever happy ever healthy child or adult. Life is more complex than that.

And if your kids do have health challenges, need that antibiotic you worked so hard to avoid to help them have a healthy gut, breastfeeding doesn’t go as planned and you need to use a bottle and formula, you need to have a cesarean- it’s all okay. It’s life’s journey. It’s not your failing and littles are so resilient.

I’ve midwifed so many mamas going crazy trying to get it so right, trying to avoid recreating traumas or protecting our kids from so much of modern living. Yes let’s nourish snd protect our littles and our teens and our adult children of course. But also find the inner peace that you are doing your best and it not only doesn’t have to be perfect- it won’t be.

Allowing ourselves this grace makes the journey easier, more joyous, and allows us to see our children for who they are and what they need rather than just as products of what we do. It allows us to parent more authentically and vulnerably and be more in the intuitive moment.

And it allows us to truly see our children in their fullness and gives the@ permission also, not to be perfect, but instead to be self-loving, resilient humans who understand that we are all humans doing our best and not perfect beings.

Be easier on yourself, mama. Every single day.

11/17/2021

08/13/2021

Grateful for Physicians like Dr Chavira who understand collaborative care and Informed Choice. Repost from
•
OBGYN, maternal-fetal medicine specialist, and informed choice advocate Dr. Emiliano Chavira breaks down the methods, outcomes, conclusions, flaws, and practical applications of the 2018 “ARRIVE” trial and the resulting push to induce routinely at 39 weeks. Tune in now, link in bio.

04/12/2021

Why??

04/03/2021

COVID has caused many hospitals to ban doulas through either outright bans, or obscure policies that force them into vendor status which does not benefit the patient (the person that actually contracted them) in any way. Doulas improve outcomes. There is no research that supports efforts to block access to doula care.

02/26/2021

Is it safe to raise a baby vegan?

02/08/2021

Internal documents from major baby food manufacturers show they tested and used ingredients with high levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury in the baby food they sold to parents, according to a congressional investigation.

02/02/2021

Kindred Space LA is part of an effort to reverse decades of health disparities for women of color at their new community funded birthing center.

12/14/2020

It's a great book!

It was a really great weekend spent mentoring a curious and courageous group of expectant parents as they ready themselves for birth and new parenthood. Thank you to all the parents there (on Zoom) together and to Mandy Moore for sharing about her experience. It is a profound honor to do this work. Thank you for the opportunity to share my work which feels more like a true life’s calling. 💙💚🧡

・・・
As soon as I found I was pregnant, so many friends and loved ones started recommending books, podcasts, classes, etc... and was at the top of every single one of those lists.
I read her book early on in pregnancy and was equal parts deeply moved and educated by everything contained in those pages. She made me feel better armed, mentally and emotionally, for the journey of birth on my own terms.
This weekend, and I had the incredible fortune of attending her virtual childbirth workshop/class and boy oh boy am I ever grateful. As my husband eloquently put it, we both felt so cracked wide open. Britta’s a remarkable leader and teacher but also the opportunity to be in community and conversation with other birthing parents and partners (all of whom were so generous and vulnerable and engaged) during this very isolating time was such a gift. I have a newfound appreciation for Greek mythology, labyrinths and ice. Thank you for giving us the chance to slow dance while crying and laughing, all while tasked with the impossible of imagining what lies ahead for our new family.
If you are pregnant or have a pregnant person in your life, I couldn’t recommend her book or this experience any more. We will never forget it!!

12/11/2020

It's that time of year again - when holiday schedules lead to greater numbers of coerced inductions and preventable cesareans. Out of hospital births occur fairly evenly spaced throughout the day and night. In the hospital, the greatest number of cesareans happen at 8am, and the overnight shift sees the lowest number of births in general.



"For example, the hour with the most births per week, 8 to 9 A.M. on Mondays, is mostly driven by C-sections. C-sections are up by 3.7 times average whereas natural births are just above average and inductions actually slightly less common than average during that hour. In total, births are up by 1.9 times compared with average.

In the early afternoons, from 2 to 3 P.M. on weekdays, the overall rate is up to 1.4 times the average rate. During this hour all types of deliveries are elevated: C-sections are 1.4 times the average; induction is twice average; and birth without intervention is 1.2 times the average. All three delivery methods are also less common at night than during the day, although the difference is biggest for inductions and C-sections." https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198183

11/17/2020

You don't say?!
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/health-equity/ama-racism-threat-public-health

The House of Delegates says racism, in all its forms, harms patients. The AMA will identify best practices to help mitigate its effects.

09/15/2020

Anyone else experience this?

08/05/2020

LA area hospitals, let doulas in to support families! Doulas are not the equivalent of friends or family. We are trained support professionals. Parents need us and want us. Listen to women, birthing parents, and families. We are hearing what birth looks like in LA hospitals right now and it’s not good. Enough!

・・・
Are you in the Los Angeles area and thinking of getting pregnant or are currently pregnant? Do you have any friends, colleagues, family members who are pregnant? Do you like to have options? Then keep reading:

Without going into any ranting about the importance of doula support, I wanted to share current information about the status of Los Angeles hospitals: who is accepting doulas as an essential part of the care team and who is not.

Hospitals Accepting doulas:
Little Company of Mary
MLK Hospital
Providence St. Joe's

Hospitals not accepting doulas:
UCLA Santa Monica OR Westwood
Providence St. Johns
Cedar Sinai
Kaiser Permanente Group
Good Samaritan
California Hospital Medical Center
etc.

THIS NEXT PART IS VERY IMPORTANT:

If you want doula support at your birth, you can have it.

You can choose to not give birth at a hospital that will not allow doula support AND you can find a good care provider at a hospital that has your well-being at the forefront and knows the importance of having a doula as a part of your team.

MLK hospital's L&D floor is midwife led. If you are currently with the UCLA Midwives and you want midwifery care AND your doula, maybe consider switching to the midwives who work at MLK hospital.

shared a list of Little Company of Mary providers who she recommends. Also good to know, they have a doula on staff who participates in administrative decisions for the hospital.

PMI Group: Dr. Ishimaru, Dr. Sanders, etc.
Dr. Richey
Dr. Carilyn Sparks
Dr. Richard Frieder
Dr. Jamie Liepeles (but not for a vBac)

And I need to gather info on St. Joes.

You are not stuck. You do not need to switch to a homebirth if that is not your jam. You can have a hospital birth AND a doula, you just need to choose a hospital that supports this choice. Please share far and wide. Get the message out.

06/29/2020

This is some VERY important information to take note of...this is a lot deeper than just a fun chart showing which days of the year are the most common to have a baby. The lighter the color, the less births take place. As we approach the 4th of July, take note of the almost nonexistent births that take place on this day while the days before & after are when babies are born in some of the highest numbers of the year! Also take note of your provider’s wording in regards to your upcoming birth if you are due soon. Is there something that suddenly popped up that “requires” an induction or cesarean? Is there something fear-based being instilled in you in order to push you into certain decisions? Or is your provider straight up admitting they will be out of town & they want you to have your baby before their 4th of July trip? Take a look at Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day...all the holidays. It is not by accident that births occur heavily before & after holidays, but not on them. Your body, your baby, & your birth are NOT to be used for convenience. Medical induction is not a “no big deal” process. You have every right to refuse an induction for convenience. Know your rights mamas! ✊🏻

06/29/2020

Please read, act, and share. https://www.birthritesdoula.com/get-doulas-back-in-hopsitals

If you believe doula support is vital during childbirth, please help us advocate for return to hospitals in Los Angeles and throughout California.

06/25/2020

One must wonder if it’s still just COVID-19 preventing doulas from returning to hospitals.

06/22/2020

This painting hanging in the state capital of take a long look at it. - who perfected his surgical techniques by operating Without anesthesia on enslaved because he believed black women Didn’t Feel Pain. he described the experimental surgeries on his enslaved subjects as “So painful, that none but a woman could have borne them. After perfecting the techniques on black enslaved woman with out anesthesia in America, Sims went on to offer the procedure in Europe to wealthy white women who were sedated. This man is arguably the most famous American surgeon of the 19th century. I see him no different than Josef Megele both pure monsters.I hope everyone who goes to the gynecologist will close their eyes for a moment and honor these enslaved black women. I cannot, Cannot fathom the pain these black women endured under this man’s hands. And that painting.... who should be honored? The irony is also in their clothes. Some people, society look at people’s status, respect even on how one is dressed. The one who should be honered and respected is the one who owns no shoes 😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤 👸🏽

06/15/2020

Breastfeeding mothers do not seem to be passing on the new coronavirus to their infants, and based on current evidence the benefits outweigh any potential risks of transmission, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

06/14/2020

One last effort to save MLK! Gavin Newsom votes on Monday. Send him a tweet!

“Save MLK Hospital! This is EXACTLY what the People’s Budget is about. Divert spending from the police toward other services like healthcare. The last thing that Black women need right now is for their neighborhood L&D to be shut down.”

06/07/2020

BIPOC are far more likely to experience these outcomes because of racism.

White privilege decreases the incidence of these outcomes among non-BIPOC.

Non-BIPOC people certainly experience the above but not to the same extent.

Racism is the cause of racial disparities. White people created white supremacy. It’s up to white people to dismantle it.

Please join us. You can start by reading the voices of BIPOC which I have exclusively highlighted the last few days. Just listen to their stories. Hear their experiences. ❤️

5 minute video on white privilege: https://www.facebook.com/950830688278125/posts/3482998895061279/?vh=e

“If you really want to understand watch every single second.” - Debbie Allen, Tribe Midwifery https://www.instagram.com/tv/CBEjCjPg6Vq/?igshid=1fzg8c1ouyzd8

Defining BIPOC: “The term BIPOC stands for ‘Black, Indigenous, People of Color,’ it is meant to unite all people of color in the work for liberation while intentionally acknowledging that not all people of color face the same levels of injustice. By specifically naming Black and Indigenous people we are recognizing that Black and Indigenous people face the worst consequences of systemic white supremacy, classism and settler colonialism.” https://www.sunrisemovement.org/bipoc-gnd-crash-course

06/01/2020

Please support this effort to establish a birth center in South LA. The owners of Kindred Space LA_Birth,Lactation,Education already contribute greatly to this city's birth community, and it would be amazing for them to be able to host births.

It is Time! Join us in our fundraising efforts to bring forth a South Los… Kimberly Durdin needs your support for In Honor of Mothers: KSLA Birth Center Fund

05/10/2020

Like many holidays, Mother’s Day can be loaded and triggering. We honor all, in the joys, love and also in the tears and sorrow. All feelings are valid on this Mothers Day.

05/09/2020

The following is a brief roundup of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

05/07/2020

Tummy time for babies can strengthen muscles and help them learn to crawl. Here are some tips to make that more pleasant for everyone.