Amy Beckmann, Nurse Midwife Hill Country, Fredericksburg

Balance & alignment so important in pregnancy.
https://www.spinningbabies.com/pregnancy-birth/the-three-principles-in-pregnancy/?fbclid=IwAR10yVzXyHT6WIu3Dd_hWBQoBQQ295kpxzV-eYfXxCHUsx4pri2uUN5uJOk_aem_AUELB1RKIOvd0X4lfydqi1UAsZI6GlSIMPdjyMQvPi5Qv5TINxpCAIMdPIBxjK1dem4

3 Principles of Spinning Babies - Prepare for Easier Birth - Spinning Babies Spinning Babies Three Principles for pregnancy to prepare for a smooth labor and easier birth. Grow into a healthy pregnancy and birth.

Spinning Babies is so amazing.

The Abdominal Lift and Tuck is one of the most effective early labor techniques for engaging the baby in the pelvis. This technique is to help the baby into the pelvis and through the pelvic brim (the baby may be -3 or -2 station).

The Abdominal Lift was introduced by Janie McCoy King, a Texas Engineer who wrote Back Labor No More. Gail Tully learned it from Penny Simkin and added the posterior pelvic tilt to open the top of the pelvis and make room for baby to turn and enter the pelvis.

Note: The Abdominal Lift and Tuck must be done during a contraction. You will want to move into position as soon as—but not before—the contraction starts. If you start too late it will be uncomfortable, so just wait to start with the following contraction.

1.) As a contraction begins, link your fingers and lift your belly about two inches and hold it closer to your spine (each body will need a different amount of angling the belly).
2.) At the same time, tuck in your tailbone. This will flatten your lower back. Bending the knees, just a little, to do a Posterior Pelvic Tilt best.
3.) Hold your belly up and in through the entire contraction. Sway or rock a little on your legs during the contraction, but hold your belly in one place to avoid being uncomfortable.
4.) When the contraction ends, lean forward slightly and slowly let go of your abdomen. Move your legs to encourage circulation.

Repeat the Abdominal Lift for ten contractions in a row, resting in between and circling your wrists and ankles for circulation.

Want to learn more? https://www.spinningbabies.com/pregnancy-birth/techniques/abdominal-lift-tuck/

Well written 💕

What does it mean to walk as a Midwife?
Well first my love, you better grow thick skin. The purposeful propaganda that started centuries ago is still strong today. Walk in a room and say you are a home birth midwife and watch what happens. Projections, reflections, traumas, and ignorance. You will become a mirror. Remember to reflect back love and grace for you represent the thin veil between life and death. You will grow to know it well.
Being a midwife means gentle hands and whispered tones even when your heart is beating loudly in your ears and you haven't turned off your vigilance for hours/days. It's a full bladder, dehydrated mouth, and growling stomach that gets pushed aside because your presence means something.
Midwifery is stopping a hemorrhage that people don't even know is happening because youre smiling and cooing at the baby to keep up the oxytocin.It is sitting on a living room floor helping a baby cry while telling everyone, "Oh my goodness look how cute she is! Her color is getting so pink! Her heart is so strong." It is sometimes being the voice in the room that says, "I think you would benefit from an epidural." Then at the next birth you are nodding along as a woman cries she can't do it as you guide her to the tub because you know her baby is arriving soon. It is jumping for joy at that first latch and each ounce of baby weight gained.
It is knowing that these truths will be seen as sacrilegious to some and not "true" Midwifery. Then on the other side, you will have people shocked that you know how to take a blood pressure and amazed that you understand how to manage emergencies. You will not win over them all. You have to accept this.
It is knowing you are not God and you humbly submit to the understanding that you will never predict or control it all.
It is missing date nights and apologizing that you have to keep getting up to answer the phone. Saying no to activities you so desperately want to do but there is no cell service and a baby is arriving soon.
But mostly, its hearing the voice in your head saying after each moment with a mother, "If that is all I ever did, it is more than enough. This is what it means to work for the Divine"

That's probably how it looks inside your belly while pregnant.....

Uuuuh the struggle is real..... Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder.

Night wakings for babies (and toddlers) are tiring, and normal!

In the study conducted by which observed the sleep patterns of over 700 babies aged 6-12 months it showed just how normal night waking is, with only 20% of babies in this age group sleeping through the night.

Interestingly, it also showed that this wasn’t impacted by the type of milk consumed (formula vs breast), or the amount of solid food given during the day.

So if you are feeling worried about your wakeful baby, know that it is actually normal baby behaviour to wake during the night (you’re in the majority!). And that changing the type of milk consumed by your baby, or increasing the amount of solid foods may not actually impact your baby’s sleep patterns at all.

Having the expectation that it is normal for babies to wake during the night may help take the pressure off parents who feel they should be ‘doing something’ to help their baby sleep.

Sometimes parents need support through this (often exhausting) stage of life, and this can include advice and education around routines and sleep, which is completely valid! Getting to know your baby and finding out what works for your family is all part of becoming a parent. However, this should always be done with transparency and realistic expectations.
Birthing Energy

"During pregnancy, a woman's brain shrinks by 5%.
At the same time, other parts of her brain are 'wired' which prime her to be alert and connect with the baby.
Pregnancy is extremely energy-dependent and can take nutrients from other parts of the mother's body. A growing baby then takes all that it requires from the mother.

You can often see the signs of depletion in the teeth of the mother..

…Being tired and overwhelmed is considered part and parcel of becoming a mother. Yet it seems, in today's busy society, tiredness and that sense of being overwhelmed have been normalized to the point where women are no longer cared for in the way they need to be after the birth and well beyond.
Baby brain is real."
🤯♥️

Had to share - written by
Image by
Gem Douglas

What is a midwife

A midwife is a chameleon, a leopard with ever changing spots.
A reflection of all those we have cared for
Of who we’re with in the moment
We dress ourselves to match the room, to match you in whatever ways we need
We’re patched together in a quilt of mismatched remnants and wonky threads
A quilt we’re forever picking at, loose threads tied, unpicked, re patched, ironed, scrunched
Some bits destined for the bin, other bits tucked in corners folded just so.
A life long project that is never really finished
I’ve remade myself again and again and I will again

Midwives are a work of art, a work of heart
A strange mix of science, biology.
A vast amount of abstract knowledge that we don’t know we know, yet somehow we do.
We exist in the moment before that first breath
We look you in the eyes, for a moment it’s just us two.
‘Just one more,’ part of me in awe as you pull it from the depths
Then we’re suspended in that brief all consuming hitch of your breath, that seems to last forever
Before we all breathe again when cries ring out like church bells on wedding days.
Towels fall around you like celebratory confetti, wiping away the old as we welcome the new.

And when silence stretches fourth, we will wrap you up tight, stop the world as you prepare to say goodbye.
Drape you in kindness, smallest touch, our words feeling hollow.
A Lilly white blanket that should have seen you home
Nothing feels like it can ever be enough

We’re the hand in your photos, the touch you’ve forgotten
We’re the photographers, the faceless voice, that face you can’t quite place
That person in Tescos that looks familiar, but you’re not sure from where
We’re your advocates, your voice, the rudder in the storm

We’re the rushing feet, the jangling keys
We’re the laughers, the cryers, the jokers.
The back rub that hits just right
The chirpy cheerleader in the middle of the night
Seeing you at your best and worst
Eventually becoming a blue blurry smudge on the periphery of your memories as time passes

But just so you know, just so you’re aware
A midwife is made up of all of you

Copyright: Midwifosaurus
Photo credit: ‘yes, you did it.’ Kate Kennedy Birth Photgraphy (See comments)