Hoosier Doula

04/26/2025

Come and join us today from 11am-3pm at the Dean and Barbara White Convention Center for the Prenatal Well Woman's Health Fair. Lots of great vendors...super nice giveaways...and general fun! We would love to see you there.

09/18/2024

Today's the day! Link in the comments

09/17/2024

✨Sneak peek! ✨I am thrilled to announce that I was the guest on this week's episode of Speaking of the Village podcast with the amazing Dawn Thompson and Nicole Harlot! 🎙️We discussed the importance of being a smart consumer of maternity care, what questions to ask, how to advocate for yourself, and why finding the right support matters more than you might realize.💡 Can't wait for you to hear it full episode out this Wednesday! ...Don't miss it! 🔔

05/17/2024

To all the pregnant mamas out there "patiently" waiting, we understand. Just remember: there is a light at the end of this tunnel and it is so much closer than it seems.

05/01/2024

"If you know, you know. But for a long time, I didn’t. As an obstetrician, I didn’t initially understand what the doula could do that the doctors and nurses couldn’t. It wasn’t until after medical school that I even met one.

I completed my residency at a major medical center with state-of-the-art resources…think 24/7 on-call staff and a helipad on the roof. I was trained to act when things go wrong but had significantly less training in how to help things go right. Doulas are uniquely skilled at empowering pregnant people through the awesome acts of growing a baby, giving birth, and caring for an infant. The more I had the opportunity to work with doulas, the more my limitations as a doctor became apparent."

Dr. Neel Shah

02/24/2024

Just a little peek at what Hoosier Doula has been up to lately. We just sponsored a Spinning Babies training at Northwest Health. We had a full house of midwives, nurses, and, of course, all of our Hoosier Doulas. It was very fun and informative. Special thanks to Tammy Ryan for all of her wisdom and insights. We are always striving to improve so that we can serve you better.

01/03/2024

Our friends at Sacred Dunes are MOVING...check this out...

12/16/2023

Come out and join us for a Community Baby Shower open house event from 3-5pm on January 20.

Hoosier Doula, together with other area professionals, will be there to welcome you and we look forward to seeing you there.

11/17/2023

Want natural childbirth? Well, if so, it is best to set yourself up for success. Many people prepare for their wedding, train for a marathon, or set themselves on course with a business plan...but how many actually do these things in preparation for birth? Here are some practical ways to navigate pregnancy and labor and set yourself on course to achieve the birth you want!

About 73% of U.S. women who give birth use an epidural for pain relief. However, natural birth – choosing vaginal delivery without pain medications or other routine interventions – is becoming more common. Learn more about natural birth.

11/16/2023

What would happen if those who deliver babies in hospitals trusted the process more and "managed" less?

If you work in a hospital as a midwife or obstetrician, you may be expected to ‘get the baby out’ within 60 seconds of the birth of the head. There can be an expectation that the baby be born within the space of one contraction.

I have personally been mentored by private midwives and have only watched physiological births at home to learn how to sit with birth, so for a long time I assumed that everyone just waited for the second contraction for the shoulders to be born… turns out, many midwives and obstetricians will put their hands on the babies head to try and put traction/pressure on the babies head to bring the shoulders out within the same contraction.

One of the concerns is that if the shoulders aren’t born soon after the head, that they must be stuck and that the baby is experiencing a shoulder dystocia…but that can’t be true, because most of the births I attend follow a two-step method where we just wait for the second contraction for the shoulders and all those babies didn’t have a shoulder dystocia

There is research on this (of course) and Zhang et al in 2017 did a randomised controlled clinical trial to compare a one-step method with a two-step method.

The control group had the one-step method where the clinician used their hands to speed up the birth of the shoulders, the study group had a two-step approach where the clinician just allowed the baby to be born over 2 contractions

The two-step group had ZERO incidence of shoulder dystocia and no increase in neonatal asphyxia compared to the one-step group. The one step group had 4 shoulder dystocia incidents.

The two-step approach allows physiological birth to unfold, acknowledges the cardinal movements of the baby through the pelvis and allows the time for the shoulders to get into position before they are born to allow for a less complicated birth.

By speeding up and trying to manually manipulate the baby out if it’s mother we interrupt the babies manoeuvres through the pelvis and potentially create incidences of shoulder dystocia.

11/10/2023

Next week:
11/15 Virtual Basics of Breastfeeding Class at 6pm CST

This class is free! Register below to receive the meeting link. Please complete the brief intake form to help us prioritize answering your questions!

https://hoosierbf.intakeq.com/booking?serviceId=2718e667-c6d8-4220-9b61-c66dc5f8fa66

11/17 Peer Support Group - Michigan City office at 10am CST

Join us for a free peer support group! Come meet other moms and connect with people who can relate!

No registration required. Drop in at 1026 N Karwick Rd, Michigan City, IN.

10/10/2023

Taking a few moments out of our day today to welcome our two newest doulas to our agency: Kate DeVries and Sarah Boer. We are so excited to work with them. Head over to our website to check out the bios of these two talented additions to our team.