Delco Doula Birth Services

03/14/2021

Wondering why it seems like are skyrocketing in hospitals still restricting ?🤨

Having a is a way to decrease intervention and ✅

➡️ Any hospital still restricting this ( ) is violating a client’s right to care in ⬅️

Bring this up at your with your or every. single. time.

🌟 Consumers drive change.

01/19/2021

🌻Mama: on IG🌻

“Two weeks ago, 48 hours after being discharged from Labor & Delivery, and the day before my birthday, I was readmitted into the hospital for postpartum hemorrhaging. The doctors performed a quick procedure to remove the blood from my uterus, but unfortunately soon after my condition quickly declined.

On my birthday, the morning of Dec 30th, after having to advocate for myself relentlessly to my OBGYN, I was finally transferred to the ICU where they discovered that they had not stopped the source of the bleeding in my uterus. All they knew was that I was losing a lot of blood, really fast. I ended up having to undergo countless procedures, receive 8 liters of blood through a blood transfusion, get intubated, breathe through an oxygen tube and the list goes on & on. I even remember waking up from sedation to hear a nurse say “I really hope she pulls through & makes it.”

This was by far the most traumatizing thing I’ve ever had to endure. I remember waking up a few times before, during & after procedures & getting glimpses of what was happening. All I kept praying and saying was “Lord, please don’t let me die. Please just let me raise my kids. They’re just babies, I can’t leave them motherless.” Although my body was extremely weak & I felt like I was knocking on deaths door, I kept praying. I kept trying to remind myself that my faith doesn’t just serve me when things are going good, I have to rely on God even when things look dark & unpromising because He’s always faithful. And faithful He was!

A few days ago, I walked out of the very hospital I almost died in. Although I’m still recovering, I can’t help but praise God for never leaving my side. He is so good & faithful.

I also want to take this moment to remind black people, and especially black women, to never stop advocating for yourselves in hospitals. The sad truth is, racism extends far beyond our judicial system. Listen to your body, and SPEAK UP! Lord knows where I would be right now if both Dre & I hadn’t.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who reached out and/or prayed for me during this trying time. It didn’t go unnoticed, it was felt & it means the world to me and my family.”

10/06/2020

✨
How beautiful she becomes when she sheds her skin and becomes a birthing goddess.
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In all her glory, like a beautiful painting.
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I ask myself if she will ever know how gorgeous she looks in this moment.
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My darling, when you are brought to the edge of it all, I see your perfection.
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You are stunningly beautiful.
✨

PhotoCred: Regard de zèbre

09/06/2020

How many others have adopted this as their mantra? ☀️

Here’s another reason to get comfortable using your voice:
Doulas are still restricted in hospitals in Philadelphia despite the PA Dept of Health’s recommendation that they be allowed in addition to one support person.
Some hospitals/hospital staff (the specifics on this are still unclear) have interpreted this as a ban on doulas, meaning EVEN IF doulas are the SOLE support during labor and birth, they are restricted.

Expecting parents, birth workers, and those interested in supporting a person’s rights, please take a moment to keep reading ➡️

If you feel that a person has the right to the support that they need to feeling safe and cared for (we are not saying let everyone and their brother in, simply saying people deserve to choose their support person and deserve access to evidence based non-clinical support), please take a moment to send a note 📝 to Governor Wolf asking him to make a stronger statement of support.

Link to his contact is https://www.governor.pa.gov/contact/ AND a quick note you can copy and paste is below.

By no means is this all that could be said but hopefully it is concise enough to be effective.

“Hospitals in Philadelphia are continuing to limit support people in childbirth to one person despite the PA Dept of Health’s recommendation to not restrict doula support. In addition, some Philadelphia hospitals are banning doula support all together, even in situations where the doula is the sole support person. I ask that you make a stronger statement - as Murphy and Cuomo have in PA’s neighboring states - requiring doulas be recognized as essential support to the mental and emotional well-being of laboring people as well as instrumental in lowering maternal mortality and morbidity rates, as recognized by research.” ⭐️

07/17/2020

Over the past 13 years of facilitating , I’ve learned the importance of answering the question of WHY and doing so in a way that is simple, useful, and relevant ⬅️

I’ve also focused a lot of my work on the importance of movement in in ALL labors, with or without pain medication.🤰🏾👶🏻🥰

1️⃣COMFORT 🤰🏼- the body responds to increases in pressure by finding positions that help alleviate discomfort and that leads to...
2️⃣PROGRESS 💃🏻 - every movement, no matter how subtle or dramatic, no matter whether it’s done in an unmedicated or with an epidural, shifts the available space in the pelvis and gives the an opportunity to descend and rotate with greater ease. And as the baby moves, this increases their...
3️⃣OXYGENATION 🌳 - helps keep the umbilical cord moving freely which decreases the chance of compression, allowing for maximum blood flow to the baby.🟢🟣🟢

One of the best things you can do for a is remember to move! It’s a key part of all experiences and about so much more than just “natural” birth. 💫🌈💫

05/03/2020

04/05/2020

Help make out of hospital birth midwifery care accessible to all by making licensure available to practicing midwives whose services could then be covered by insurance. So many pregnant people want to avoid going into the hospital right now putting themselves, their support person, and newborn at higher risk for contracting covid 19. Yet many feel forced to because midwives (CPM’s), who are trained specifically in home births, are not licensed in PA and therefore insurance companies won’t cover their services. Let’s change that and provide an equal opportunity for all. We have amazing CPMs in PA who want to provide care for women of all income levels.

Immediate licensure for Pennsylvania CPMs in response to Covid-19! Asasiya Muhammad 39 Comments 262 SignaturesGoal: 10,000 We are writing to request emergency action to increase Pennsylvania families’ accessibility to and insurance coverage for maternity care from a Certified Professional Midwife ...

02/13/2020

"One of the darkest moments in US history was the systematic eradication of the African American midwife from her community, resulting in a legacy of birth injustices."

There are coalitions of black midwives all throughout the US working to address the Black Maternal Health Crisis and there’s ways to support them in the article.

We also have a few amazing Black Midwives in our area. Inner Circle Midwifery & Women's Healing Center

We see it and read about it in the news a lot these days -- Black parents are dying around the time of birth three to four times more than white parents, and Black babies are dying at twice the rate as white babies. This is not a new crisis; but the urgency, the attention, and the collective acti...