All The Birthy Things

Dear Reader, When I was planning my first home birth, I didn't know much about the variability *within* midwifery care. I just knew that the idea of having a baby at home rather than a hospital immediately resonated with me as exactly what I wanted to do. I also knew that I'd want to feel comfortable with the midwife as a person. Beyond that, I didn't have any sophisticated vetting processes or lists of questions to ask. No one was there to coach me through the things to consider about a...

Hey, Reader, I'm not sure how much longer the Sister Birth Shop will be around, but I was recently gently prodded to restock these popular stickers sheets, so here they are! two options! The birth servant sticker sheets sold out, but I have them back in inventory now. And the home birth mama sticker sheets are still here (not a lot). I personally have these all over my laptop, water bottles, and travel mug. They hold up brilliantly. They're strong enough to withstand being on a car, too, but...

Dear Reader, Labor. The great unknown. You don't know when it will start and even when it does, you cannot predict the course that it will take. Will it slowly and gently unfold over the course of many hours and feature a slow, controlled pushing stage? Will it rush through you like a freight train and culminate in a sudden expulsion of a baby? Will it require lots of creative thinking and effort to overcome hangups physically or mentally? Or will it be super straight-forward? You don't get...

Dear Reader, I don't hang out on social media these days. I don't scroll through the 283 IG accounts, podcasts, and blogs I used to follow about birth and birth work anymore. That's made me feel a little out of touch with what's currently "trending" out there in natural birth land. I no longer get to observe an uptick in posts about a labor prep product, a revolutionary birth position or labor technique, a scandal amongst free birthers, or opinions on prenatal vitamins. I'm not able to jump...

Dear Reader, Imagine this scene: You've been in labor for a while and established that it's the real thing. You're ready for some support and so you call your midwife to come on over. Upon arrival, she unobtrusively enters your space and puts down her bags, greets you quietly, perhaps asking a few questions and checking your vital signs or baby's heart tones... and then she finds a quiet place in your house to lay down... and goes to sleep. She continues sleeping -- sometimes even snoring a...

Dear Reader, It's so nice to be writing to you today! Just a heads up that further down in this edition of the newsletter lies a feature I've never included before: a painting and article written by a member of our community! I'm excited for you to read what Emmalyn has to share, so please don't miss it. In keeping with the topic of that painting -- which is titled Five Days on the Bed-- I'm going to share some things about postpartum today, too. Postpartum is truly the final frontier of the...

Dear Reader, I used to write this newsletter every week! That's funny to think about, given how impossible it is to imagine that regularity at this point in my life. If you're new here, you're coming into a phase in Sister Birth when the communication and content creation has come to a slow crawl. You can expect the "normal" will be 1 or 2 newsletters per month. If you've been around a minute, did you notice the decrease in communication? I'm sorry for doing that without announcing intentions...

Dear Reader, I went digging through old posts/writings to find the main content for this edition of All The Birthy Things. I wrote this in Jan 2022 and I still stand by it (perhaps with a few additions). Do you ever think about what kind of an elder woman you want to be? Do you have a vision of how you’ll carry yourself and what you’ll carry within you when you are old? Do you recognize that your elder self could be the wise woman the young maidens and mothers around you need? Will you be...

Dear Reader, I'm writing to you fresh out of the birth vortex and subsequent recovery period. I had the immense privilege of walking with a couple as they labored to bring forth their firstborn son. 32 hours of support that looked like walks in the woods, prayer, worship, hip squeezes and back rubs, words of encouragement, facing fears, nourishing snacks and beverages, transitioning on a blanket in the backyard under glorious, sunny skies then completing the process indoors while tornado...

Do you feel it, Reader?! Or is it just me?? It seems like the collective unconscious is engaging in choreographed movement away from the virtual world. 🔅[Print] magazines are making a comeback, and subscription letter services are gaining traction. 🔅I've noticed friends putting old VHS/TV combos in their kitchens. 🔅There are a myriad devices on the market designed to help lock us out of our devices so we can focus on the tangible world. 🔅Book sales keep rising. 🔅Sales on purely vitual, online...