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Some birth stories will stay with you. This picture was taken right before the “huddle.” It’s when the patient is going into the OR and the Dr. and nurses do a group huddle to make sure we all understand our roles and what’s about to happen. Head nurse checks off a list, Dr. Gives last instructions. My instructions were like this: “we’re in hour 30 of labor. baby isn’t stable, mom is beginning to become unstable and we need the baby out NOW. You have minutes to coach her in pushing or were cutting. We’re doing this in the OR in case it all goes sideways.” Minutes later we begin. Mom has fought so incredibly hard. Hours of labor, waves of pain, unimaginable fear as we watch baby’s heart dip with each contraction. Dr.s and nurses working side by side with us, on our team. Baby’s head is sunny side up, cord tight around the neck. We work together, encourage, support. To see this mother dig deep and find her last remaining energy to birth her baby and bring her child into this world. She succeeds beyond our wildest hopes. Mazel tov, it’s a healthy and beautiful baby boy. 💙 *shared with permission

I want to talk about this a bit more based on many of the comments that came in. As you might remember, I mentioned being on call for the next few weeks as backup for my doula partner. I was in a prenatal meeting with my own client due in a month when I received the phone call that this mama was in labor and I was needed for the birth. I was given the basic details and had a brief conversation with mom (who wasn’t local so heading to her house..not an option) and we made arrangements to meet up as labor escalated. By 2am contractions were augmented and we headed into the hospital where I met her for the first time. Right away I could see an anterior tilt to her pelvis and based on the fact that she was having back labor it was clear baby’s positioning was not exactly optimal. Very often using inversions doulas can correct that and we tried EVERYTHING but: after 3 hours of pushing, baby’s forehead was wedged tight against the pelvic brim and we couldn’t get its head to engage. This beautiful 22 year old was headed for a second section. Had I met this client earlier: I would have encouraged her to work with a PT or PPCES to try and correct some of her obvious issues so as to hopefully avoid a section. Practice pushing and diaphragmatic breathing might have also helped. Ultimately though: while it was NOT how I wanted it to end, Bh the option is there for times like this, we have a healthy mother and child. 🙌🏻

BE STILL NO LONGER! We stand as one nation, one people under one gd. We stand with Israel and we stand united as PROUD JEWS. We will not cower and we will not hide. 🇮🇱 🇮🇱 Shabbat shalom

Congrats! We have a baby. At the 6 week post birth checkup, you’re Dr. Or midwife has cleared you “to resume all physical activities.” Here’s is the thing: massive amounts of healing takes place in weeks 1-9/10. Just by design, that is how the body has been created. We can support that healing process by beginning core/ pelvic floor rehab. Essentially- diaphragmatic breathing and pelvic floor strengthening. Walking and gentle yoga are wonderful ways to help heal and are baby getting out is extremely beneficial for them as well. Waiting around till week 6 has allowed issues that needed to be addressed stay or worsen. However, with no guidance or assessment- simply diving back into routine just because you hit 6 weeks is EXACTLY WHY WE SEE ISSUES! The body is simply not always healed enough and should not be pushed. Learn how to do it in the way you’re body needs it!

We ate nonstop for a week while telling ourselves that as soon as pesach was over we were absolutely starting fresh. Better diet, more exercise, hell, starve if that’s what it takes. Then we can’t. Our bodies are hungry, we’re tired, and so we say it to ourselves again: tomorrow. Then comes shame and guilt because why can’t we just shut our mouths and move our bodies? So we live in that. Wouldn’t it be a good day and a happier world if we saw whatever effort we did put in as a win? Not tomorrow but the very next meal or the very next walk. We encourage our children “to just try their best” so find you’re strength in that and call it winning.

We are at war with diet culture as we knew it. We are at war with the ideas that women’s bodies carry no scars from...just living. We are at war with the idea that another generation will go through food addiction, body shaming and the never ending hell of insecurity. We are NOT at war with finding deeper health. We are NOT at war with learning to live in the body you have in the way that helps it run most efficiently. I am NOT here to discourage fitness or food plans. I AM here to encourage you not to put any one idea into your life as your saving grace. Don’t research until your frozen in fear about how, when and till when you can eat, sleep and live. Take your cues and clues from YOUR BODY. Otherwise we cycle through failures that shame us into thinking we can never have more.

Hospitals today look so different then they did. It’s a new normal that we are all realizing is here to stay a while. It’s a more intense atmosphere with less room for us and more rules and regulations to factor in. I have found tremendous appreciation for those Dr.s and hospitals that support the laboring couples. I have seen husbands need to act incredibly hands on and really stand up and support their women in ways we have never seen before. Choosing their women’s comfort and feelings of security over their own time and again. As Doulas we do not replace the value of a partners participation. In fact, in our training we are taught the incredible ability that only a husband has, to assist in the actual shift of a woman’s hormones when it is him who is assisting. Sometimes our job is simply to make sure he can assist. As Doulas we are there for both partners who are experiencing the birth of their child. picture by Eva birth photographs

To know my father in law was to know you were in the presence of true greatness. His every action was in the service of gd. He was the patriarch of our family, a leader who alongside my mother in law - may she live long, guided our family in the ways of Torah and chassidus. May his holy Neshama standing next to all those righteous in heaven see our pain and help hasten the coming of Moshiach. Good Shabbos.

It is often assumed that by hiring a Doula one has committed to a drug free and completely non medicated birth. For many , this is exactly why they choose a birth supporter. However, a birth Doula is not there to manage YOUR BIRTH. A Doula is not there to push her opinion or her choices on the labouring mother. A Doula is there to ensure that the mother is advocated for. That the mother is heard and that her decisions are honoured. Many go into the birth with a Doula hoping to avoid Dr. Interference and we are wonderful at assisting in that. Above all remember: your body, your baby, your birth experience. We never forget that.