As the mom of five beautiful children, all born under different maternal-care circumstances, I have developed an intense passion for pregnancy, birth, lactation, postpartum, and everything in between. I believe that these tender life stages were well designed by God, and that while extenuating circumstances can occur, most of the time all mothers, babies, and families need is love and support as they navigate through each of these stages. Through my own experiences, I have become increasingly aware of a maternal-infant care crisis in the United States that prevents families from fully accessing the immense power and sacred nature of birth, and this has real impacts on families, evidenced by the country's infant and maternal mortality rates*. A time that should be full of peace and joy is often overshadowed by the misalignment and poor integration of the system.

From the over-medicalization of birth**, to the disenfranchisement of the midwifery-led model of care***,  to the societal attack on motherhood as a whole****, mothers and babies are struggling with insufficient and short-sighted care. This is a complex issue, with multiple factors, including history, culture, accessibility, education, costs, etc., but I believe that change is possible. This change can't wait to take effect via laws and regulations (although hopefully those come, too), but it must start with each individual maternal-infant care provider.

We can change the status quo by unapologetically advocating for and providing evidence-based care that prioritizes shared decision-making, fully-informed consent, medical choice, and patient autonomy.  Women and babies deserve to experience birth without fear, without coercion, and without violation. This should be non-controversial. These are the factors that have pulled me in to birth work. I realized that I could sit through each of my own pregnancies being upset over the present maternal-infant care systems, or I could do something about them. So I chose to do something about them.

As a full spectrum doula, childbirth educator, student midwife, and maternal-infant advocate, I am dedicated to advocating for and providing access to S.A.F.E. birth - so moms and babies can focus on the peace and joy that should accompany the pregnancy, birth, lactation, and postpartum stages of life with their families.

The other major challenge facing moms, babies, and families, is that support after baby is born feels really limited. Mom usually gets one postpartum visit at 4-6 weeks postpartum, baby maybe have a 1-3 appointments in the same time frame, nobody may even check in on dad, and it can be really hard to be honest and vulnerable in a 5-10 minute appointment with you or your baby's provider.

Families often feel so much pressure from outside sources regarding newborn care - where is baby sleeping, how is baby's weight gain, are you breastfeeding or bottle feeding, formula or breastmilk, mom may be preparing to return to work...

My goal in offering postpartum doula services to to help bridge the gap between the support the system offers, and the plentiful and various needs the family has. Not every family has anyone to turn to with their questions and needs, and so often what a family needs most is just support - verbal encouragement, a shoulder to cry on, someone to hug and celebrate the small wins with, someone to listen to "all the things", someone to brainstorm with, someone to research topics and present you with the needed information, someone to do the dishes, someone to sit with kids so mom can shower or nap, etc.... the list is truly never ending.

Every family deserves to have the kind of S.U.P.P.O.R.T. that makes them feel safe, respected, and not alone.

What does postpartum S.U.P.P.O.R.T. look like?

Information, Sources, and Citations

*the US has the highest infant and maternal mortality rate of all high-income countries: Munira Z. Gunja, Evan D. Gumas, and Reginald D. Williams II, U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating Spending, Worsening Outcomes (Commonwealth Fund, Jan. 2023). https://doi.org/10.26099/8ejy-yc74 

**the US has one of the lowest spontaneous labor rates, the highest pre-labor cesarean section rate, one of the highest epidural rates, and one of the highest overall cesarean section rates of 12 high-income countries: Seijmonsbergen-Schermers AE, van den Akker T, Rydahl E, Beeckman K, Bogaerts A, Binfa L, Frith L, Gross MM, Misselwitz B, Hálfdánsdóttir B, Daly D, Corcoran P, Calleja-Agius J, Calleja N, Gatt M, Vika Nilsen AB, Declercq E, Gissler M, Heino A, Lindgren H, de Jonge A. Variations in use of childbirth interventions in 13 high-income countries: A multinational cross-sectional study. PLoS Med. 2020 May 22;17(5):e1003103. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003103. PMID: 32442207; PMCID: PMC7244098. 

***in addition to an insufficient number of maternal-neonate care providers overall, with the second lowest ratio of providers to births among 10 developed countries, the United States also has the lowest ratio of midwives to obstetric physicians of all 10 developed countries, despite evidence in support of midwifery-led maternal care reducing intervention rate, maintaining or improving outcomes, and reducing costs: Roosa Tikkanen et al., Maternal Mortality and Maternity Care in the United States Compared to 10 Other Developed Countries (Commonwealth Fund, Nov. 2020). https://doi.org/10.26099/411v-9255