Onēsan Labor Doula + Birth Photography -By Erica Curtis

15/11/2025

15/11/2025

15/11/2025

AJOG Expert Review: Uterine closure after cesarean delivery: surgical principles, biological rationale, and clinical implications - First hypothesis for the mechanism of uterine scar defect: incomplete approximation of the myometrium
(A) The figure shows a superficial closure of the uterine wall in a single layer, not including the endometrium (darker). Including less tissue (B) may reduce strangulation but could cause incomplete approximation of the myometrium (C). The black star shows where the myometrium has not been appropriately approximated. https://ow.ly/Furt50Xs3Xx

15/11/2025

Doula Tip of the Day:
🧺 Create a “comfort station” for early labor.
Set up one spot at home with a water bottle, snacks, a heating pad, massage tools, cozy blankets, and a place to lean or sway. Having everything within reach helps you conserve energy and stay grounded as labor begins.

14/11/2025

C-section recovery and massages are so important!!!

14/11/2025

Doula Tips of the Day:
🧘 Practice “soft jaw, soft pelvis.”
Relaxing your jaw, mouth, and shoulders can help the pelvic floor release tension. During contractions, gently drop your jaw, unclench your teeth, and exhale with a loose sigh this signals the rest of your body to open and work with the contraction instead of against it.

🌬️ Use “micro‑rest” between contractions.
In early and active labor, close your eyes, drop your shoulders, and take one long, slow exhale immediately after each contraction. These tiny moments of recovery help preserve energy and keep your nervous system steadier for the long haul.

14/11/2025

📢📢📢GREAT NEWS📢📢📢
Labor and delivery at Wittlich has finally approved doula services to be in addition to your spouse’s attendance at delivery! This means we both get to go back and you get MAX SUPPORT! This has been a work in progress since May 2025! I have been working on growing a relationship with the hospital facilities here, and the next facility I hope to announce is Trier. Until then, Bitburg and Wittlich are the two in the area that allow my services!

12/11/2025

Doula Tip of the Day:
🕯️ Set the mood birth is hormonal, not mechanical.
Dim lights, lower voices, and minimize interruptions during labor. Oxytocin, the “love hormone” that drives contractions flows best when you feel safe, private, and unobserved. Protecting that atmosphere can help labor progress smoothly and naturally.

12/11/2025

For some, pumping can feel stressful. Placing baby socks over your collection containers is a simple trick that can shift your focus away from how much or how quickly milk is being expressed, helping you to relax more deeply.

Have you tried this 'hack'? Did it make a difference for you? Share your thoughts with us!

[Image Description] Photo of someone using a standard breast pump set up. Flanges are visible with collection containers covered by white baby socks. Text reads, " Using baby socks on your collection containers can help reduce stress and increase the amount of milk expressed." The La Leche League USA logo sits to the left of the text.

12/11/2025

❤️❤️❤️

THE PURPLE LINE OF LABOR

As mama breathes, rocks and moves her body with the dance of labor a surprising mark may begin to emerge. The mark of progress, success, evidence that she is further in the journey towards bringing her baby earth side. Left in an oxytocin bubble, dim lights, surrounded by love, the process uninterrupted, her support team need only take notice of this and other signs, rather than break her rhythm with physical touch. It is the mark of the mother, the maiden exiting…

For some women, an amazing phenomenon happens during labor – a purple line starts as a subtle dot just above the a**s and slowly lengthens in correlation with dilation up mamas bum as labor progresses. At 10cm the line is just above the intergluteal cleft, the top of the bum crack.

While the line may vary with skin color, varying from brown to silver in women of color, according to studies it appears in 75.3% of women during the active phase of labor and has a 96.5% positive predictive value in the first stage of labor and an 85.32% positive predictive value overall.

So why does this happen?

According to Byren DL & Edmonds DK, authors of the original study, the cause of the line is vasocongestion at the base of the sacrum due to intrapelvic pressure as the head descends, which accounts for the correlation between station and the length of the line.

The World Health Organization recommends limiting vaginal exams during labor. While they can be very helpful and often necessary at times, they also come with risks such as infection, rupture of membranes and disruption of progress. That and they are incredibly uncomfortable! As such, the purple line can act as a gentle, non-intrusive way to measure progress. If anything else it’s pretty amazing when you have the honor to witness it!!

Look in the comments for actual photos 🙂

💜 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4329935/

💜https://www.scienceandsensibility.org/blog/the-red/purple-line-an-alternate-method-for-assessing-cervical-dilation-using-visual-cues