Stephanie Penner Doula

Michelle and I are hosting a doula family gathering at the end of August for all of our past families who want to come and say hi! We also have a Facebook group for all of our postpartum families that we've started if any of my previous families would like to join the conversation there! We really value the community you can all bring to each other and it warms our hearts to see our families interacting, connecting and helping each other. Details about the gathering are in the group, or shoot me a message!

We’ve noticed that as we start to speak more openly, honestly and critically towards our maternity care system, that we get some strong feelings in return. We want to make it very clear that our criticism is of the system, not of anyone who chooses to be a part of it. There is no judgment for the choices that you make for your family. At the foundation of what we do is informed choice and consent, and we truly believe that everyone will make the right decisions for themselves, and that nobody else can make the right decisions for anyone else. So when we say that we love home birth, it doesn’t mean we will judge you for choosing to birth in hospital. When we say our c-section rates are too high, it doesn’t mean we are judging you for having a cesarean birth. What we do as doulas is provide you with the most up-to-date, evidence based information so that you can make the decisions that feel right for you and align that with your values. What we want is for you to feel confident in your decisions because you know all of your options. We want you to feel strong and empowered to birth where and how it feels right for you. No judgment. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Candice Tizzard Doula at Stages Doula and Photography has created a beautiful keepsake planner for birthing families. She has put so much thought into this, making it a place to put reminders for appointments, as well as record memories and milestones along the way. It's undated so you can start using it any time. She's also broken it down into 24 hour increments for postpartum so you can record feeding, sleeping and baby's pees/poops (the glamorous life of a new parent, I know!) This would make a beautiful and thoughtful gift for any new parents in your life, or a beautiful gift for yourself!

It’s here! The “Parent Like a Boss” keepsake planner is now available!

This is the gift for every new parent and expectant parent in your life.

It’s a place to keep all your appointments, memories and milestones organized for you to cherish for years to come!

It’s also full of affirmations and empowering messages, written by me for YOU!

Now available on my website.

SHOP ➡️ https://stagesdoula.ca/shop

Decolonizing Indigenous birth work and reproductive health CGSHE Spotlight Series presents Miranda Kelly: Decolonizing Indigenous birth work and reproductive health

What would change if birth was normalized for children?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What if we taught children about their bodies? What would happen if we taught all children and teens about menstrual cycles, conception, loss, and birth? What if instead of that scary 70s birth video we all saw in school, they showed a home birth video? What would change? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Would more people trust their bodies and birth? Would more people choose to birth at home? What would happen to our induction and c-section rates? How much more would we value midwifery care? What would happen to epidural rates?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What do you think would change? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Thank you to this beautiful family for allowing us to share this photo from their amazing, powerful, family centred home birth, with big sister present. What a gift you have given her (even if there were some big feelings in the moment!)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Doulas!!! This one is for you! Such a generous offering from an amazing and wise doula!

Our December Wildflowers gave us the always valuable reminder that guess dates are just that; a guess! 2020's Winter Wildflowers most definitely have their own minds.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Did you know that both of the WF doulas are December babies? No birthday buddies for us this year though.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

My very last solo baby came in November! Feeling very grateful to all of the families I have worked with here!

Welcoming our November wildflowers 🌻⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A few took their time, a few came early, and two came together (twins!) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
How cool are these names though?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

You deserve more than just safe. Safe is the floor, what we should ALWAYS be aiming for is the ceiling in birth. Respectful, empowering, supportive, loving care.

Uterine massage involves placing a hand on the birthing person’s lower abdomen and stimulating the uterus to contract by rubbing and squeezing. (Massage is really a misnomer, since the forceful rubbing can be quite painful!)

Two large randomized trials have compared blood loss between people assigned to synthetic oxytocin alone or in combination with uterine massage. The uterine massage in addition to synthetic oxytocin did not reduce blood loss compared to synthetic oxytocin alone. In one of the trials, 378 (32.3%) of people reported pain when receiving uterine massage and 16 (1.4%) people asked to stop the massage because of pain. So, not only was the procedure unnecessary—it was often painful!

None of the randomized trials compared expectant management with and without uterine massage, so all of this research is on active management. In other words, we do not have evidence to guide the use of uterine massage with people who do not receive Pitocin® in the third stage of labor.

Uterine massage is distinct from the postpartum assessment of fundal tone, which is recommended to identify uterine atony. Uterine atony is loss of muscle tone in the uterine muscle, which means the uterus is not able to contract as well to stop bleeding after birth. It is the most common cause of postpartum hemorrhage. To assess fundal tone, the care provider places their hand lightly on top of the uterus to feel whether or not it’s contracting regularly.

For more info visit evidencebasedbirth.com/thirdstage
References
1) Hofmeyr, G. J., Abdel-Aleem, H. and Abdel-Aleem, M.
A. (2013). Uterine massage for preventing postpartum haemorrhage. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD006431.
2) Chen, M., Chang, Q., Duan, T., et al. (2013). Uterine massage to reduce blood loss after vaginal delivery: a randomized controlled trial. Obstet Gynecol. 122(2 Pt 1), 290–295.

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This little cutie made her appearance on Labour Day. The irony was not lost on us 😋
Welcome to the world baby Skye!

This is a great article highlighting the difference between science and technology, and how the use of technology in pregnancy can actually lead to more harm than good.
“...most decision-making when it comes to medical issues involving a pregnant woman or baby are not well informed and not based on rational thinking. We’re all very interested in having healthy babies and it is pretty easy to make the kind of cognitive errors that people make, and attribute to technology benefits that don’t exist.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/the-most-scientific-birth-is-often-the-least-technological-birth/254420/

Happy 7th birthday to the kid who made me a mama 🧡
And thank you for the beautiful photos.

Hey, Steph here 👋🏼
I live on a farm in the Fraser Valley with my husband, son and our two crazy dogs. I have always been drawn to everything pregnancy birth and babies: I was a doula before I even knew what a doula was 11 years ago when I was invited to be a part of my nephew’s birth. Since then, I have given birth to two babies of my own (one that I raise, and one that I remember), finished my B.A. in Psychology from UBC, trained as a birth and postpartum doula and had the amazing opportunity to mentor with one of the most highly respected doulas in the Lower Mainland (I love you by the way, I wouldn’t be here in this moment without your support and encouragement!)
I believe the way that we treat pregnant people and their families in their parenthood journey not only impacts them as individuals, but has implications for the well-being of our society. I am passionate about empowering families and educating them about all of their options in pregnancy, birth and postpartum so they can make decisions that feel right for THEM. I have a deep trust in womxns’ bodies and their ability to birth intuitively.
I love birth work as I get to be a forever student and learner and it is such an honour to join families in their pregnancy and birth journeys!

Stephanie Penner Doula updated their website address.

Meet the wildflower duo behind this collective! We met a year ago when we were introduced by our colleague Candice Tizzard Doula. It was apparent from the get-go that our weirdness was well matched (and our husbands would say, creepily so.) As time went on, we realized that, in addition to our awkward sense of humour, we share the same values as people, parents and birth keepers! JACKPOT! And that is how our tiny girl gang was born.
Together, we make up one big fat super doula brain. Steph is the evidence-regurgitating left side of our brain, and then Michelle (aka the right brain) jumps in and asks how that evidence makes you FEEEEEEL. We started forming this collective way back in February and we are so excited to be able to finally start making change in the birth world together. Our model of care is collaborative and comprehensive with the end goal being that we deeply impact each birther and their family’s experience in a way that will not soon be forgotten. We look forward to sharing our journey with you here as our utopian birth dreams unfold!

Hey everyone! I am SO thrilled to announce that after months of gestation, Michelle and I have FINALLY launched our new business
Please head on over and give us a follow! 🌼

Let’s keep normalizing breastfeeding, shall we?

So feel free to nurse that baby to sleep if that feels right for you!

It may not feel like they ever will, but they will!

These women at the VBAC Link are an amazing resource for not only anyone who desires a VBAC, but for first-time birthers wishing to avoid having an unnecessary cesarean. There is NO reason our c-section rates should be this high.

This conversation was so amazing! Anyone who wants to watch it, head over to the Transforming Birth group!

Dori Luthy-Harrison has been supporting families in Vancouver area as a birth doula for over 8 years, and teaching prenatal classes for 5 1/2 years as a trained instructor. In that time she has witnessed the importance of spiritual care in this powerful life transformation, leading her to a path dedicated more centrally to the spiritual nature of human experiences. In 2018, Dori began a Masters Degree in Spiritual Care at the Vancouver School of Theology, to become a Chaplain/Spiritual Care Practitioner. The link in her life between these two kinds of work, Spiritual Care and Birth-work, has more than anything revealed the significant gap in spiritual care during the powerful event of Childbirth. Dori is pursuing this topic further both in her birth-work, and in research/writing, and hopes to bring greater awareness and urgency to the protection of the spirituality of childbirth, and the critical role doulas can play in this care.

Join Dori Harrison and I as we explore questions about spiritual care.

🔹️What do we understand about current gaps in care?
🔹️With evidence supporting the positive outcomes doulas offer, how does this kind of research and connection to Spiritual Care potentially help establish doulas as a cohesive and valued role in the birth care team?
🔹️What about the spiritual nature of birth should birthing families be aware of?

See you all on Wednesday July 29 over in Transforming Birth!

Learn how to improve your experience! These are the 4 actions you can take to improve your outcomes and experience of birth.

Bring your questions, your suggestions and your comments to our community tomorrow. Join Transforming Birth to watch live!

In my time as a doula, I have sadly seen some tremendously talented midwives leave the profession because of burnout. Midwives deserve to be paid fairly and shouldn’t have to sacrifice their own health, mental well-being and families to do so. Please consider signing or making a call if you love a midwife, know a midwife, plan to use a midwife, or had a midwife attend your birth(s).

Support BC Midwives Now! On Monday, June 22, we returned to the bargaining table at a time when support and demand for midwifery is at an all-time high. Join us in calling on the BC NDP government to deliver for BC Midwives now!

Happy Father’s Day to all of you amazing dads!

Join the Transforming Birth Community group and check out this live talk coming up on June 3rd all about consent.

🔹️Consent is a hot topic, especially in birth! We are all committed that everyone who goes through birth experiences informed consent and empowered choice every step of the way. In this conversation, we will uncover barriers to informed consent and empowered choice that most of us fail to recognize - and most importantly - what we can do about it.

🔸️Helena Palmqvist De Felice is deeply passionate about people developing their personal sovereignty and capacity to both give and receive love.Some of the ways she empowers with consent is through her work as a full-spectrum birth doula, Certified Wheel of Consent Facilitator, Holistic Peer Counsellor, Initiated Aphrodite Priestess, board member at a women's health clinic, and Provincial Clinic Service Director at Options. Helena lives on the unceded ancestral lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-waututh) Nations and offers co-counselling, coaching, rituals, and trainings internationally. Specifically, she trains people in distinguishing between what the are willing or wanting to do, and develop their capacity to freely ask for and receive what they want, whether it's in birth, intimacy, or s*x. As a doula, Holistic Peer Counsellor, and Priestess, Helena offers grounding as people move through deep, intense, or challenging experiences.

🔹️ To be a part of this session, Join our community of birth workers, healers and childbearing people bit.ly/transformingbirth

This is so true of breastfeeding 🤱

Thank you for letting me be a part of your feeding journey!

“Tyliakos says that when women are forced to look outside of the traditional medical system for security, they can learn to cultivate their own resourcefulness instead.

‘This might seem kind of radical, but if we can look at things like how to check our own cervix, or measure our fundal height, it actually gives us more empowerment so we know what’s going on with our own bodies,’she says.”

How the pandemic has shifted the way women are giving birth | Etcetera COVID-19 has thrown a curveball at everyone, but for many pregnant women, giving birth in a pandemic couldn’t be further from their birth plan.

Any pregnant people in Abbotsford/Chilliwack looking for amazing care in August?

Expert researchers at Oxford Brookes University have brought together research on childbirth, birth setting and the use of water immersion in labour and shared key points, including that:
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Water immersion for healthy women is associated with a number of beneficial maternal outcomes with no known adverse risks to the neonate.
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COVID-19 is not a waterborne virus, therefore, the water environment dilutes respiratory droplet and faecal contamination potential.
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In the Coronavirus context, water immersion presents a lower risk of contamination risk for midwives compared with bed birth because it promotes the use of social distancing without interrupting normal midwifery care. Burns et al (2020)
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The authors also note that:
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"The birthing pool environment presents a natural barrier between the woman and her midwife.
Supporting women in the water reduces droplet, aerosol and faecal contamination, presenting a low-risk transmission activity for the Coronavirus.
Water immersion for healthy women is associated with a number of beneficial maternal outcomes with no known adverse risks to the neonate.
For primiparous women, birthing in midwifery-led settings (AMU/FMU or home) water immersion reduces transfer rate with the greatest benefit seen at FMU.
Water immersion for labour and/or birth should be supported and encouraged as an effective method of analgesia."
💧
Burns E, Feeley C, Venderlaan J et al (2020). Coronavirus COVID-19: Supporting healthy pregnant women to safely give birth. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University. Available at https://www.brookes.ac.uk/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=2147622699

Sending big love today to all of you

Posted • "To the ones who have littles⁣
Or littles that have grown,⁣
To the ones who’ve spent so much time trying,⁣
Who may or may not have lost hope and feel alone.⁣
⁣
To the ones who’ve lost their babies⁣
Or their babies that have lost you,⁣
You’re forever in our hearts⁣
And we will always honour you.⁣
⁣
To the ones who foster and adopt⁣
That love those children as their own,⁣
To the ones who are surrogates⁣
Selflessly carrying the greatest gift known.⁣
⁣
To the ones who’ve lost their mothers⁣
And to the ones that yern to be,⁣
We’re thinking of you always,⁣
But especially today.”⁣
⁣
- Amy Hare (founder of Birth + Babe Apparel)⁣

This morning really filled my cup (in this case, the cup just happened to be my f**kuterus mug). I printed this placenta in honour of the amazing work it did to grow a perfect little human while on a zoom call with some amazing and inspiring women & birth workers. I am so incredibly grateful for this work and for all of the people it connects me to!
**kuterus

Happy International Day of the Midwife! Today I would like to take a moment to thank my beautiful midwives . Thank you, for showing up for you clients with such deep compassion and empathy, for providing individualized care even in the hardest moments and for your continued support postpartum.

Sending love to all of my mamas who are missing their babies today and everyday 🤍
Posted • International Bereaved Mother’s Day is a day to honour and acknowledge Mothers who’s experience of motherhood has been far from easy or free of heartache. Mothers who have no living children, those wishing to become a mother, those who’ve lost a child in pregnancy, infancy, childhood or adulthood and those who were unable to have the child(ren) they dreamed of and therefore feel unrecognised in traditional Mother’s Day celebrations, (even though as mothers they are included).
🌸 🌸
Those who haven’t experienced the loss of a child may wonder how do you Mother a child who’s no longer here, the short answer is you do so in every moment of your life as you live on without them. You do so as you wonder who they might have been. As you ponder how their existence would have shaped your family. As you wistfully imagine what they’d have looked like. You do so as you campaign to have them included, remembered and acknowledged. And you do so as you honour their presence and look for ways to keep their legacy alive. You do so always and forever and today is a day to celebrate this unique version of motherhood 🌸 .
Beautiful illustration

“Systematic improvements should prioritise humanising maternity care and the expansion of birth options which prioritise midwifery-led care for women of all risk.”

Birthing outside the system: the motivation behind the choice to freebirth or have a homebirth with risk factors in Australia Childbirth in Australia occurs predominantly in a biomedical context, with 97% of births occurring in hospital. A small percentage of women choose to birth outside the system – that is, to have a midwife attended homebirth with risk factors, or a freebirth, where the birth at home is intentionally...

The Golden Hour ✨
Today I want to focus on the importance of the golden hour, that hour immediately after birth where mom and baby are left, undisturbed and skin-to-skin.
See link in bio for more info on the benefits of an undisturbed first hour ✨

Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?
Thank you and for inviting me into your lives. And thank you for your beautiful work.