MOV Birth

06/01/2026

Where does your BP baseline (outside of pregnancy and postpartum) fall?
While most obstetric guidelines don't include ranges for what is considered "low," we do see nutritional deficiencies when people fall below optimal guidelines.
What's optimal?
Systolic BP (that's the top number)
Above 100
AND
Diastolic BP (the bottom number)
Below 80
When the systolic (top) OR the diastolic (bottom) falls below, or rises above, this optimal range, you're in a state of imbalance.
I really want you to pay attention to these ACOG guidelines for Elevated, S1, and S1 hypertension... many practitioners, midwives included, routinely tell women that their 124/82 BP is "totally normal."
No... no it is not.
There is likely some form of dehydration, nutritional deficiency, or stress (mental or physical) happening and this is an opportunity to dig a little deeper BEFORE we get into the danger ranges.
Another consideration is the classic line of, "oh, well, your BP is suppose to rise at the end of pregnancy."
Ummm... no...
With a healthy mother that doesn't have any imbalance symptoms, her BP will generally drop as her blood volume expands, reaching its lowest point around the beginning of the third trimester. IF this happens, THEN the blood pressure will begin to increase only reaching back to baseline (pre-conception) levels and NOT rising higher than the optimal range OR above her pre-conception baseline.
Yes, there are normal fluctuations that happen with activity throughout the day, but these are not drastic, and still should remain within optimal levels.

05/29/2026

There's this fun thing that some practitioners, especially midwives, like to do in pregnancy:
They check your blood pressure and then in order to make everyone feel normal about everything that is happening in their body, they'll tell you a little white lie that your 120/80+ BP is "normal."
…or, maybe they don’t even know that 120/80+ is not within the ideal BP range...
…or, maybe they weren’t taught anything about how to address it until it gets to 140/90 and someone needs medical intervention.
Is it alarming? No.
Is it an emergency? No.
Is it high? No.
Is it pre-eclampsia? No.
Is it healthy? Honestly? No.
So that's the thing... we gather information to try to help us decide what is happening… and then some people ignore it. It’s one piece of the puzzle. The cool thing about an elevated-not-high BP is we can normally make lifestyle changes, revamp the supplements, and bring it back down to optimal before it actually becomes high... or before the malnutrition leads to Pre-E or PIH or GD… or late-in-life heart failure.
Remember, blood pressure is only a symptom, not a cause.
There are actually more nuances to the blood pressure ranges that you can learn about with a quick internet search. ACOG even has a whole section detailing these ranges on their website when discussing Pre-E and PIH. But, if we can remember that 120/80 or above is not optimal... not healthy... we can start to get to the root cause a lot easier, and a lot faster, than if the only number we're watching for is the dreaded 140/90 value... (as a correction, its 140 on the top OR 90 on the bottom... it does NOT have to be BOTH at the same time).
Support healthy blood pressure:
Hydrate... and this includes the hydrating foods you're eating full of moisture and electrolytes as well.
Eat dark leafy greens... a lot... bitter ones, too.
Balance protein & healthy carbs & all the colors of the rainbow in veggies, fruits, and healthy fats.
Optimize magnesium & b-vitamins especially.
Get rid of the coffee and black tea (yes, even decaffeinated).
Reduce busyness.
Get movement in sunshine every day.
Go to sleep with the sunset and rise with the sunrise.

05/27/2026

Oh, the ways we attempt to sleep as midwives...

05/20/2026

Look, you don’t want to just w***y nilly pull on a cord… not even to manage a hemorrhage (leave that to someone that can think through this situation a little… and likely have other tools than pulling on cords). Pulling on a cord to an ATTACHED placenta may cause tearing of the placenta leaving pieces behind that can cause more bleeding OR uterine prolapse… NOT COOL! BUT… when the placenta is DETACHED… grab it, give it a gentle tug and FEEL the tautness and how it moves and how the cord lengthens.
Do you notice pain in your belly or just pressure in your bottom?
If you’re a support person, midwife…etc., helping out a mom with your placenta birth… TALK TO HER… we’re not trying to rush things along. There are times where it isn’t going to be quick… mom might even need a nap to be emotionally ready for this part. But if you’re helping and there are clear indications that it is time for the placenta to come, ask her what she’s feeling and go slow and gentle. We’re just trying to teach moms to listen to their body’s communication rather than just suffering through a bunch of strong after pains thinking that’s just what it’s supposed to feel like when really if she’d just get the placenta birthed her after birth contractions would lighten up a little. Yea, you might need to change positions, sit on the toilet. You might even need to push your bladder out of the way if your pelvic floor is a little out of whack. You might need to change positions AND pull on the cord.
But it’s all about logically thinking through this part of birth and working with your body. It’s not just about pulling straight down either. This is a big hunk of meat that has to squish through a canal that’s already squished back to quite a small size. It might take some breathing, relaxation, position changes, and a little wiggling front, back, and then some.

05/18/2026

Skills day today with the Birth Story scenarios card game. Sooo fun practicing with area midwives & assistants!
We...
Analyzed "p*e" made with egg whites and honey and turmeric...
Resuscitated newborns with masks and mouth...
Navigated deceling heart rates and panicked husbands...
Administered herbs for placenta and hemorrhage...
Initiated transport for medical needs...
Discussed, troubleshooted, reflected, and revised...

Only 2 full scenarios played today out of thousands of options that lasted through the morning... so many possibilities with this game 🙌

05/18/2026

05/16/2026

It's great that we have didactic ways of teaching these things to match the current culture's needs... but let's not forget why we need to teach it...
Sometimes, we complicate the simple by choosing a life that fulfills temporary desires rather than a life that serves humanity by caring for the creation that God intended humans to cultivate together.

05/14/2026

If you WANT to cut your cord right after your baby is born... that's OK if the baby is breathing really well and the cord is white and flaccid... it's just not the common thought on a mom's mind unless she had it cut quickly in a previous birth, or someone is trying to cut it now. If you're putting the thought in her mind, her logical brain is activated and just like with labor - her "primal" brain gets shut off and this spiritual transformation is interrupted.
Truth be told, understanding the experiences around placenta birth are only beginning to be scientifically understood, and we've all but lost the physiologic understanding of placenta birth and cord function. We're pushing to "wait for white," and that's about it. We're not pushing for "wait until ready."
You can see this more often with first time moms who haven't been imprinted with a previous style of care during a previous birth. They rarely say, "can we cut the cord now?" when they're trying to integrate what just happened. And baby, with their wide eyes, is primed for taking in mom's face and getting colonized by mom's skin... not being messed with by a doctor, nurse, or midwife.
A baby must be breathing very well to no longer need their placenta. Have you heard the stories where midwives have assessed a non-pulsing cord, and the baby later started sputtering and needed a little help breathing, and the pulse came back in the cord? Explain this.
It's not about being scared to move on to the next phase. It's OK to want the cord cut if you need to maneuver around to go to the bathroom. But, we need to be intentional with our interventions, because cutting the cord before the placenta is out is an intervention. Although many times, midwives and families are so scared to use the cord to help with placenta birth that they prolong this phase as well. A little bit of knowledge can be detrimental.
If all is well with mom and baby, let's all take a moment to breathe... to just be still... to just step back and be in this moment.

05/13/2026

Prescribing iron during pregnancy happens way too often, at too high and too frequent doses. The first approach to balanced iron levels is to balance your diet and lifestyle (including stress and gut health) in pre-conception.
Were you ever told your "iron" was low? How was this assessed? How was it treated? What were the results?

Did you know, it is impossible for anything to rust without iron? Iron helps to create the protein, hemoglobin, so it is a very important part of blood volume and oxygen transport. Iron and oxygen are supposed to be in every cell of the body. Iron is a heavy metal. Iron also causes oxidative stress....

05/13/2026

Mitochondrial health and removing toxins has a direct influence on the health of your baby because of the genetics of mom AND dad, and the way your baby's placenta develops and attaches.
No matter what toxins are coming into your body, your nutrients and hydration along with the ability to absorb and utilize these (through gut health, adequate sleep, and low stress) is the only way your body overcomes the toxic load.
Your nutrients create healthy conception, and a healthy mature follicle to enable hormonal balance.
This affects the thickness of the endometrium, the vessels being developed near the placental attachment site, and the health of the blood flowing through this space... not to mention, the health of the liver.
We have to STOP telling families that nutrition isn't a HUGE part of pre-eclampsia... and we have to START telling families that the year prior to conception is the most important time for preventing perinatal complications.
It doesn't have to be May to help people become aware of everything we do know about pre-eclampsia. We know so much... and sometimes, logic has to be the way you put these pieces together.
We are blessed with many things in this generation to fix complications after they happen, and to better understand the root causes of complications. We are blessed with choices. But, within those choices means that, as history tells us if you read the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), humans have a knack for, “doing what is good in their own eyes.” Don’t let a little bit of knowledge and a lot of choice prevent you from keeping life simple.
Eat real food. Eat a lot of low-toxin grown, richly-colored plants and leafy greens, including the wild bitter “weeds.” Eat plenty of fish and a dash of organs. Drink a lot of water. Be at peace, in the sunshine, move your body, and THEN let go of what you can’t control.
We’ll still have elevated blood pressure and pre-eclampsia with this approach… but maybe we’ll see less extreme early versions of it, and we’ll begin to understand it better when we stop separating our lifestyles, choices and environments with our outcomes.