Doula Destiny -of mid Kansas

09/11/2026

09/11/2026

The expansion of maternity care deserts in Kansas is creating a pool of untapped talent. We are creating a place for underutilized OB nurses to go, should labor and delivery call. Learn more and apply here: https://rphospital.bamboohr.com/careers/127

*Alternatively, call us at 785-527-2254 to speak with our HR director.

08/25/2026

Hello Northeast Kansas and surrounding communities.

We are This Little Light, and we are so grateful to finally introduce our non-profit.

This Little Light was created from a strong belief that no family should have to walk through pregnancy or infant loss feeling alone, unsupported, or unsure of where to turn.

We are a group of women who have come together with a shared heart for families experiencing miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss. Our goal is to help bridge the gap between the medical care a family receives and the compassionate, tangible support they need before, during, and after one of the hardest experiences of their lives.

Our primary work includes bereavement photography and remembrance services at this time, but our mission is much bigger than photographs. We want to provide families with meaningful keepsakes, practical resources, connections to additional support, and compassionate people who are willing to step into a space that can feel incredibly lonely. We also hope to work alongside hospitals, birth workers, funeral homes, and other community organizations.

Every baby matters. Every story matters. Whether a baby lived for months, minutes, or was carried and never held, their life deserves to be acknowledged and remembered.

This Little Light is just beginning, and there is so much we hope to build. In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more about who we are, the services we’re working to provide, ways families can reach us, and ways our community can get involved.

For now, we simply want to say hello.

We are This Little Light.

And when a family’s world feels impossibly dark, we hope to help tend the hearth.🕯️

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If you are currently experiencing a loss, an unexpected outcome, or are unsure what support or documentation options are available to you, you don’t have to navigate that alone.

You are welcome to text us directly at 785-253-0555 at any time. We are happy to answer questions, talk through possibilities, or simply help you understand what options exist.

08/25/2026

✨Magazine Feature✨ Birth | World Photography Day | August 2026 ✨

Featured Photograp[her] 📷: It's Destiny

To buy Print + free digital (& preview full issue) : https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/3389465

Magcloud sale code: 25AUGUST2026 Ends Aug.25th

08/22/2026

Have you been labeled in birth with failure to progress? Yes? Read on until the end!

I just got done listening to Evidence Based Birth Podcast episode 224, and it was all about “failure to progress.” Link here is you want to listen- https://evidencebasedbirth.com/friedmans-curve-and-failure-to-progress-a-leading-cause-of-unplanned-c-sections/

Failure to progress is the number one reason for a C-section in the U.S. About 1 in 3 women will be labeled as having failure to progress during labor and end up going back for a C-section.

But what really caught my attention was learning more about Friedman’s Curve. So if you don’t know, this is like a studied run in 1955 that measures how quickly the average cervix should go from 0 cm to 10. Today this study is still used a lot to give providers an idea about how quickly labor is “supposed” to progress came from.

What’s the problem with that?

Friedman’s research was done in 1955 on only about 500 births.

And do you know what else was happening during this study in 1955?

TWILIGHT SLEEP!!!

If you’ve never heard of twilight sleep, women were given drugs that could heavily sedate them, sometimes even to the point of sleeping. This cause them to forget the experience. But!!!! No it didn’t block the sensations of contractions.

Think about how different that is from birth today.

Oxytocin is what helps contractions become stronger and more effective. When you’re experiencing labor, your body is responding to those sensations and releasing hormones for more contractions. With an epidural today, you may feel very little or nothing at all. That is why labor can sometimes slow down after an epidural. With twilight sleep, women could still experience the physical sensations while also being extremely sedated and relaxed. Equally quicker labors vs. today’s epidural births.

Also the population was different. Women giving birth in 1955 were generally younger, and the population was smaller-bodied than today’s population.

Then, around 2010, researchers started taking another look at how labor actually progresses because they wanted to lower the C-section rate.

They found that active labor actually begins closer to 6 cm, while Friedman’s research considered active labor to begin around 4 cm.

That is a HUGE difference when you’re deciding that somebody’s labor has “stalled.”

The newer guidelines recognize that labor before 6 cm can take longer and that this can still be NORMAL. They also allow more flexibility for things like inductions and epidurals.

And this is where I really started thinking…

If around 1 in 3 women are being labeled with abnormal labor progression, maybe the problem isn’t that 1 in 3 women’s bodies don’t know how to dilate. The problem is using the 1955 freeman’s curve.

They even found that providers were more likely to follow the newer guidelines when the birth happened on a weekday rather than a weekend. And allowing longer labors according to the newer guidelines did not show additional safety problems in the research.

There was also a 2016 study in Italy with around 400 people divided into two groups. One group followed the older Friedman-style labor management, while the other followed the newer 2017 guidelines.

The Friedman group had more restrictions, including lying down and not eating, while the newer-guideline group could move around, eat, and drink.

The result?

The women in Friedman curve group were 2x as likely to have a C-section and experienced more interventions. The group following the newer guidelines had fewer interventions and a 10% C-section rate.

Then there was research looking specifically at medical inductions and failure to progress. Among those who ended up having a C-section for failure to progress 80% …80%! did not meet the newer 2017 guidelines before the C-section was performed.

That was incredibly eye-opening to me.

We hear “failure to progress” and automatically think the woman’s body failed to do something it was supposed to do.

But how often was her body actually given enough time?

And the part that AMAZES me the most is realizing that so much of the thinking about how quickly labor “should” progress traces back to research from 1955 not only on just around 500 births, but births happening during the era of TWILIGHT SLEEP.

Yet we’re still having conversations today about women’s bodies “failing” to progress.

Maybe sometimes it isn’t a failure to progress.

Maybe it’s a failure to wait.

08/11/2026

08/11/2026

08/06/2026

Have you heard of twilight birth? Did your grandparents, great grandparents, experience this?

Once upon a time, THIS was normal. Intially, preferred by some women because the ability to birth without pain is appealing. However, the reality wasn't actually birthing without pain, it was birthing without memory.

What was once celebrated as an advancement, shifted to a fight for autonomy in birth.

For those with positive experiences, they simply had no memory of the birth. For others, they woke with marks on their wrists from being restrained. Restraining garments like the one pictured were used to keep women from harming themselves and staff.

Twilight birth wasn't a calm pain free birth. Twilight birth was being restrained because women were blacked out while still moving, having no way to consciously find ways to cope with labor.

Twilight birth meant restraint. It meant no support people. It meant no personal comfort, support or autonomy. Forceps, episiotomies, etc., became necessary and impacted obstetrical practices long after twilight birth ended.

Morphine and scopolamine were used to induce a state of semiconscious, amnesic labor as late as the 1960s.

What does this mean for birthing people today? It's a reminder that it is not just okay but important to ask questions. It's okay to not accept policy or status quo. It is about asking for EVIDENCE-BASED care and practices.

Autonomy in birth matters.

05/16/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Q9fxDTQMw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

OK, this explains why my daughter was “colic” her head was born but it took some work to get the rest of her out. Cord was wrapped around her and her neck making it tricky to  descend. Definitely a traumatic exit for her.

05/06/2026