Fearless Birthing Doula

🤍 To the Mama considering Home Birth 🤍

Labor begins—the surges are gentle and inconsistent. You silently move through them as you continue throughout your day.

You distract yourself with tasks around the house, playing with older children, and find yourself slowly preparing the space.

The surges become more consistent. They increase and you start to feel them more and more.

One even stops you in your tracks. You breathe deeply as you work through it.

You call your birth team to let them know.

You continue. Having nowhere to be but here. No where to go. No reason to leave. 🩷

Labor intensifies. Your birth team arrives. Nothing is rushed, there is no urgency, questions or check in. They simply arrive and begin to prepare their kits. The surges take over.

You ebb and flow with the contractions. Making decisions along as you go. Some you may not have anticipated, some maybe you even didn’t want. Labor continues.

At the peak of intensity, when you feel like you have nothing left to give and the whole thing feels like too much— you give all you’ve got — and your baby is born.

Tears flow, baby cries, sighs of relief.

Patiently your midwives help you with the placenta, getting your showered and into your own bed. There is calm, gentleness and patience as you go at your own pace.

You crawl into your own bed— sore, achy, but oh so in love. Completely in awe of all that you and your baby just did.

You snuggle up, at home, with your husband beside you.

It all feels surreal, beautiful, and you feel at peace.

Our team is ✨Growing ✨

Over the last few weeks we have vetted, welcomed and on-boarded 3 new doulas to the Fearless Collective!

Over the next few days we are so excited to share their intros as well as some exciting updates with our team!

Make sure to follow to meet the team 🤍

First - wanting an unmedicated birth does not make you a 🦄- in our experience we often hear from first time mamas that they want to “give their body a chance” which we think is incredible!

In the last 4 years of doula work I have learnt a few things and hence wanted to make this list— take what you bag leave what you don’t!

Psst- share this with your husband/ birth partner (they become a huge part later) and follow

Here they are…

1. Get ✨passionate ✨ about birth and educate yourself
📚 knowing what the process looks like, common interventions, how intense it gets and so on is by far the best way to prepare for an unmedicated labor. It sets you up with more realistic expectations and helps you choose things that you are genuinely comfortable trying- keeping the experience with you!
📚 your partner should also be educated— they become your biggest pain relief— from double hip squeezes, to actually helpful and aligned suggestions — they are your biggest cheer leader. (Get them involved)

Now sure where to start? I have a free Partner Support cheat sheet- just comment “Partner” and I’ll send it right to you!

2. Set up birth preferences that are ✨wide and vast✨- include unmedicated things you’re not sure about (like aromatherapy and hydrotherapy) - the more options you have the longer you go before thinking you need more (and the more control you feel like you have!!)

3. Don’t have an epidural as an option in your birth preference. 🫣
Yup I said it. In my experience as a doula if someone wants to go unmedicated they genuinely have to see the epidural as a “in case of emergency break glass” not a “if I don’t think I can then im@ok to get the epidural” — 90-95% of the clients I’ve supported who have seen the epidural as an option have gotten the epidural.

✨ Now this isn’t to hate on epidurals! They can be GREAT tools— but if you WANT deeply an unmedicated labor my advice is not see it as a viable option if you need it.

Unmedicated birth is more than just wanting it—it takes preparation, education, brain work and genuine reflection on why you are bag an unmedicated

As doulas we work to help women’s nervous systems slow down, soften and rest into their labor.

We hold space, hold hands, create peace.

Because birth isn’t an emergency.

It’s a physiological process 🤍

The non-negotiables of positive birth experiences….

First make sure to follow for all things positive birth

1. Prenatal Education
✨ gain an understanding of the physiological process of birth
✨ understand what is normal for a laboring mother (sounds, feelings, thoughts, needs
✨ learn your options and why/when to choose interventions
✨ gain an appreciation for how your body and baby work together in the process of labor

2. Partner specific Education
✨ Partners should know tried and true ways to best support this laboring partner!
✨ gain an understanding of what to say and what not to say to a woman in labor
✨ build out a toolbox of non invasive, supportive ways of easing tension, reducing pain, and providing empowerment
✨ learn how to support birth preferences and pinpoint your own fear and uncertainties so they don’t impact your laboring partner

3. Mental preparation
✨ diving into your fears, uncertainties and questions allows for empowerment
✨ learning how to breath and intentional reduce tension
✨understanding how important it is to be able to reduce tension around contractions and ease into them
✨mindset prep and relaxation practice helps to reduce panic and bring in peace

Positive birth experiences are not based on birth outcomes but instead how you feel coming out of the experience.

If you feel seen, heard, supported and at the center of your experience then hopefully you experience higher satisfaction of your birth experience. Regardless of how your birth experience unfolds! This is super important!

So you got in with an OB or midwife! Yay!

1st follower

But you don’t know anything about them - here are 3 questions we love to ask and why- and what they might be telling your about your care provider…

1. Timeline for talking about induction methods- if you are hoping for an unmedicated birth and you want to trust in your body and baby’s timing then discussing induction around 37 weeks “just in case” you haven’t had baby by 40 weeks isn’t supportive.

😬 discussing induction before it’s really needed (medically indicated or beyond the SOGC (Canada) recommended 41-42 weeks gestation ) can increase anxiety, and not be supportive for spontaneous labor. If your care provider tells you that they bring this topic up at 36-38 weeks it may be worth it to see if that truly aligns with your birth desires!

2. Their opinion on doulas- whether you plan to hire one or not- your care providers thoughts/ opinions on doulas can say a lot about how they view this space. Doulas are non medical professionals, who advocate and essentially are another set of eyes on their actions. If they really don’t like doulas… this may be suggesting they don’t like being challenged or having more understanding eyes- doulas can point out to their clients evidence based information through education that increases the expecting parents advocating skills which can frustrate certain care providers- it’s not our intention to upset them- we just intend to empower our people.

3. Policies around cord clamping - a lot of hospitals now clam to do “delayed cord clamping” which looks like a nurse literally counting down the seconds (60 seconds) and another waiting with the clamp and cord in this hands- this isn’t optimal. And why it can be important to be very specific - “optimal cord clamping minimum 5 minutes” or “wait until the cord is white and not pulsating”

This is all about empowerment and focusing on the fact that this if your baby, your experience and you may only go through this a couple of times in your life- while it’s just another day in their job.

Know the answers to these questions can really help you feel confident in your choice of provider.