Called By Grace Birth and Body Work

05/04/2026

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This might sting… but “low supply” is usually a support issue, not a body issue.

True low supply does happen, but it’s uncommon and usually tied to specific medical factors.

Most moms weren’t set up for success.
They were handed bad advice, rushed feeds, swaddled babies, untreated ties, and told to track ounces like breastmilk is formula.

You simply CANNOT skip the fundamentals and expect it to work.

Babies are meant to be close.
Feeding often is normal.
Cluster feeding isn’t a problem OR a signal of low supply.
Lower supply near your period is NORMAL and does not need supplementation.

And breastmilk isn’t measured the same way formula is. It changes constantly. That’s the whole point!

If baby is gaining and diapers look good, you’re fine.
Nothing comes out if nothing goes in.

If baby isn’t gaining well, you feel unsure, or it’s painful, you need to see an actual International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (not Joe Shmoe “lactation counselor”).

Your baby’s pediatrician IS NOT a lactation specialist.

Breastfeeding didn’t suddenly become impossible…
The advice just got worse.

Your body isn’t broken.
Your baby isn’t confused.

The support system just kind of sucks.

01/20/2026

I'm preparing a very important package for a sweet postpartum mama. 🩵

• Pregnancy + postpartum tea
• Placenta tincture + capsules

Mamas, you've prepared for the birth of your baby, but it's equally important to make sure you're cared for well in the postpartum time. Let's chat about how we can do that for you.

05/26/2024

A beautiful baby boy was welcomed into his sweet family yesterday, which means I have the honor of processing his mama's placenta today. What a great way for this mama to set herself up well for postpartum 🫶

05/19/2024

I love how body work and birth go hand in hand!

Kristen Hosaka of Well Adjusted Birth joins us to talk all things compound presentations including their impact on the birthing process.

03/12/2023

💛 My little birth assistant + study partner. 💛

02/21/2023

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Dinner...
Loneliness...
Laundry...
Anxiety...
Toddlers...
Dishes...
Pressure...
Sleep...
Carpools...
Work...
Experts...
School...
Bills...
Pain...
Depression...
Appointments...
Nutrition...
Overwhelm...
Before people think I'm just ragging on well-meaning old ladies, I don't fault those who remind us that these moments and seasons are passing. Truly, I get it. I have an 18 year old and they're right. Days long, years short and all.

I think often they are saying that is because they do realize how hard it is in the moment and maybe they themselves regret not soaking it all in more.

But when she's in the thick of it, when she feels like she's drowning, a life preserver is often far more helpful than "isn't the water lovely? You'll miss it during the drought!"

You may very well be right from your view on the dock but it's very hard to appreciate the true beauty and need for water when it feels like she can't breathe because of it. It may even add to the weight that is sinking her. There may be weights in her life and in these times that were never ever part of yours.

So instead of adding to the guilt that may sink her even more, see if there's a way to help her float a bit better. And if there isn't one you can see? Then just pray for her, encourage her, and tell her something you see she is doing really well. She probably really needs to hear it.

🤍🤍🤍

01/26/2023

These sweet moments.

Time slows down + we rest, physically + mentally, soaking in the extra family time. Meals are delivered by friends + many photos are taken as babies change + grow so quickly in this season.

My body changes, from the safe haven she's known for the past 10 months to her warm embrace + nourishment on the outside. My belly, which was so round + dancing with movement just 9 days ago, now settles into it's former place, just a bit fuller. Even though a sweet 3 year old asked why my "belly is still big," I don't wish it away in a hurry to "be back to normal." I give myself the grace + space to heal, recognizing all my body has done in the last 10 months. The beauty in carrying a child.

We ease back into life slowly, settling into this season of grace + flexibility. School books come back out, I venture to the couch in the family room amidst my family after staying in bed for the first week. I don't push myself to "do all the things" as I did before. I let my family take on extra + it's a beautiful thing to see children step up in new ways, actually feeling empowered in their new skills + responsibilities. I remember all that I do on a daily basis + I sit in thankfulness for this beautiful life.

More women need to be given this freedom to rest, heal + bond with their baby. Families need this. We need to take the postpartum time back. Giving parents time to process the birth + postpartum journey, providing physical + emotional support as they may even need to grieve unexpected parts of the journey.

Breathe. Rest. Soak it up mama. You are amazing.

12/19/2022

So beautiful and true ❤️

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I have to wonder...

If the Incarnation were happening today would she be labeled reckless?
Would she be critiqued for traveling so late in her pregnancy?
Would she be told she needed to trust the experts?
She's only a 15 year old girl, after all! What could she know about birth?
And what if something went wrong? What was Joseph thinking allowing this to happen? What crazy sources was HE listening to anyway?

"Don't be a hero," would they say?
"There's no medal for craziest birth story, you know."

Not once was she checked.
Not once was she monitored.
Not once were her veins punctured nor the surges of her holy womb measured or timed.
No one questioned her hips, her skill, her sugars, her due date.
No one was telling her how to push or watching the clock for progress.

No one slammed a hat on Him even in a cold stable.
No one forced Him to cry or flicked His feet or clamped off the flow of His Precious Blood.
No one injected Him, weighed Him, or even timed the beat of His Sacred Heart.

She may have had fear.
She may not have even felt safe.
And yet she trusted...her body, her Baby, her God.
The design was His.
Her body was His.
This birth was His.

The fiat uttered nine months before was still on her lips and heart as her womb opened in surrender to the plan - sacred, pure, and free.

It was neither home nor hospital, planned nor surprise, safe nor dangerous, excruciating nor numbed. And it remains the most beautiful and most celebrated birth of all time.

🤍🤍🤍



Image cred: The Nativity Story🎥

10/27/2022

This is so true.
The time passes by so quickly.
The work we're doing as parents is so worth it.
Your children, your family, they're so worth it.

I can’t leave the room without you crying for me. As soon as I’m out of sight, your heart hurts. It worries that I won’t come back. I tell you I’ll only be a minute. I need longer sometimes but I don’t take it. I pick you up and we do it together. It takes longer. It’s harder. But I choose it because it’s easier on my heart.
⠀
I can’t put you down at night without you needing me later. You search for my skin. I wake immediately to the slightest of whispers. Perhaps it’s because we’re still as one. I like to think of it that way. I drag myself out of bed on autopilot, search for my robe, and then for your tiny body. I hold you close, as the tired holds onto me. You rest there and I rest knowing I’m still your safe place.
⠀
I can’t put you down for more than a few minutes without you begging me to carry you. You don’t like feeling like you’re missing out. You want to see things from my level. You want to know that I’m still your legs, arms and priority. It can be hard on me, but it’s easy to forget how much you need me right now. So, I remind myself. I carry you. And we carry on being each other’s first.
⠀
I can’t shower each morning without you wanting to get in with me. I shower you with toys on the bathroom floor, but I’m not close enough. You want in too. You try to open the doors, and plead with me to let you in. I turn off the tap, shampoo still not rinsed out and legs half-shaven. You smile as I pick you up with barely a towel covering me, wet footprints on the carpet left in a trail behind us. All you want is me to shower you with my love, time, and care.
⠀
I can’t do a single thing without you crawling all over me. And I often feel so touched out. So out of touch with myself. Like I’m being suffocated by being needed so intensely. But as we pace the hallway looking at photos of the smaller you, I’m reminded that this intensity won’t last. It’ll fade too quickly. And all we’ll have are frames filled with memories of how I wore you for years, and how you were the only outfit that aged but was timeless.
⠀
I can’t do much without being your everything right now. But that’s ok,
Because being that is everything to me too.

📖From my “Mother On” poetry book. You can check out my books via the link below:

https://www.hangingwiththeheaphys.co.nz/emmaheaphypoetryseries

Words of Emma Heaphy

09/30/2022

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These are questions I sometimes ask clients and can apply to both pregnancy and birth.

If no one was here while you labored what would you be doing right now? If completely uninhibited how would you move, what would you do, how would you naturally manage?

Because any time we invite other people into an intimate space, really any time around other people at all, we change our behavior. They affect our thoughts, movement, words, confidence, and especially emotions. We can feel pressured to perform and make it happen or we can feel inhibited from doing what we would otherwise be doing.

If no one was around *and* you were uninhibited by fear or worry (important) would you dance, sway, squat, continue with your day, have a releasing cry, eat, p**p, take a bath, lay in bed with your husband, go for a walk, cocoon in your room?

Whatever it is, do that.

While a doula can provide helpful advice, techniques, and comfort when needed, I never want to replace a woman’s natural intuition and physiology. Her body knows better than I or any provider does how to get her baby out. Very often my role is to remind her of this and help her feel comfortable doing those things. There’s lots of ways I can make things go faster, but if a woman is doing just fine why do we feel the need to “improve” or rush it?

This same principle can also be applied before birth. If no one was telling me to be worried, would I be? Before that provider brought up a fear, was I completely at peace that all was just fine? If I wasn’t feeling pressure to perform this test or that screen or take that drug, would I choose to?

This isn’t to say suggestions and recommendations don’t sometimes have a place, of course.

It’s simply a reminder that God designed birth, the Spirit speaks to us through prayer and intuition, our bodies and those of our babies are incredibly intelligent, and the vast majority of women could birth their healthy babies with no interference or assistance at all. Lean into that be