TwoStones Midwifery / The Traveling Midwife

12/14/2025

Researchers have found that babies who sleep close to a parent receive, on average, 13,000 additional hours of comforting touch by the age of three. Far from creating “bad habits,” this extra physical contact plays a powerful role in regulating a baby’s nervous system. Touch helps stabilize heart rate, calm stress responses, and support more consistent sleep patterns. In these early years, a baby’s brain is wiring itself through experience, and close contact provides a steady stream of signals that the world is safe.

This sense of safety boosts immunity, strengthens emotional resilience, and supports healthier brain development. When a baby feels protected, cortisol levels drop and neural circuits responsible for learning, memory, and emotional balance strengthen. Over time, this consistent closeness builds what psychologists call secure attachment, a foundation linked to better confidence, social skills, stress management, and relationship stability well into adulthood.

Sleeping close isn’t about dependency. It is about connection. Babies rely on cues from a caregiver’s warmth, heartbeat, breath, and presence to regulate their own still developing systems. These early moments of touch create deep biological benefits that last long after childhood. What looks simple — holding, soothing, keeping a child nearby is actually shaping the architecture of the growing brain and giving a child the emotional tools needed for a healthier, more secure life.

11/23/2025

While a small percentage of women do not feel pain from contractions the vast majority of women will feel pain, ‘If you’re not prepared for pain, you are not prepared for labor’ FULL STOP !

10/23/2025

This episode!!!

10/03/2025

Baby girl decided to ‘AWAKEN THE DAWN’

09/08/2025

Treasure Valley mamas, there is a family soon to be in need.
DM me or Family Tree Midwifery, Inc. if you have milk to donate.

06/19/2025

05/31/2025

05/23/2025

Midwives are leaving. Not because the work is too hard. But because the boundaries are too soft.

We aren’t burned out from birth.
We’re burned out from everything around it.

From the student who says she wants to learn but never takes a note, never shows up early, never stays late—and posts selfies instead of questions. The one who isn’t ready, but insists she’s “called.” The one who confuses proximity with preparation.

From the client who ghosted the intake form for six weeks, paid in $40 chunks while shopping for photographers, then got upset when you didn’t jump to respond at 10 p.m.

From the woman who knew you just had a baby—but still asked, “Will you be back by October? I just really want you.”

From the chronic boundary testers. The ones who don’t mean harm—but still text too much, ask too little, book late, pay slow, and expect your availability to remain sacred while they treat it casually.

And you, the midwife, are trying to hold it all with grace.
Trying not to sound harsh.
Trying to be understanding.
Trying to be “accessible.”

But let’s be clear:

> The perception of midwifery has been diluted by this lack of clarity.

You’re not seen as a professional.
You’re seen as the help.
Flexible. Affordable. Personal. Bendable.
And quietly replaceable.

And when you finally crack—when you raise your fee, set your phone to silent, or say “this apprenticeship isn’t working”—you’re the villain.
Cold. Unavailable. Gatekeeping.

But the truth is, you should have said no months ago.

No to the student who isn’t ready.
No to the client who wouldn’t commit.
No to the emotional leakage that slowly turned your schedule into chaos.

Because when we don’t say no, midwifery gets cheapened.
When we let people treat our sacred work like casual service, it affects how every other midwife is perceived.

And it’s not sustainable.

This is why the turnover rate is so high.
This is why midwives disappear.
Not because of birth itself—but because we’re slowly extracted by people who say “I love your care” but don’t actually honor it.

Midwives—listen:

You are not selfish for protecting your time.
You are not rude for releasing a client.
You are not harsh for ending an apprenticeship that drains your spirit.
You are not “money hungry” for charging what this work costs you to hold.

You are the gatekeeper.
And when you forget that, everything spills out.
Not just your time, but your joy.

So tighten the gate.
Say it early.
Say it clearly.
Say it without shame.

Because your calling wasn’t meant to be handed over to indecision, performance, or passive abuse.

It was meant to be guarded.

And if no one else will say it—here’s your reminder:

You can be kind and still be closed.
You can be generous and still charge your full rate.
You can be called and still say:

> “You’re not mine. And I won’t carry what wasn’t assigned to me.”

That’s not unloving.
That’s holy.

04/15/2025

😲

When a pregnant woman had her blood sampled back in 1972, doctors discovered it was mysteriously missing a surface molecule found on all other known red blood cells at the time.