Assist In A Miracle Midwifery

09/06/2024

Island families with babies or who are expecting: check out this amazing opportunity!

New Class Offering!

Join me as we meet weekly to discuss important topics such as feeding strategies, safe sleep practices, and developmental milestones. Breastfeeding support will also be available. Visit www.sojournfamilycare.com/classes to sign up today!

You're welcome to join us for a single drop-in session at $25 or the entire 8-week series at a discounted rate of $180. I understand that life, especially with a newborn, can be unpredictable, so feel free to participate in whichever way works best for you—whether that’s committing to the full series or attending sessions as your schedule allows.

05/03/2024

WARM's Spring Conference registration closes May 16th! In-Person, or online, 5 ACNM CE's applied for happening May 22nd in Newcastle, WA.

https://warmmidwives.com/events/

05/01/2024

Washington (Kirkland area) and California (Sacramento) birth workers, looking for OOH VBAC attending midwife with availability for a 8/28 EDD for a friend. Any resources?

03/20/2024

Class of 2024 residents of Whidbey Island, if you are interested in a Holistic Health career, WIHHA has a scholarship available!

01/27/2023

Whidbey Island La Leche League meetings beginning! Currently in Oak Harbor, stay tuned for Freeland location information too!

01/04/2023

Prenatal or Postpartum yoga workshop. Yes, please! Oak Harbor.

Hey Whidbey!
Who's got two thumbs and is hosting a pre/postnatal yoga workshop in January & February?
THIS GIRL!
Come join me for some yoga and maybe find some new friends/co-horts on the island...I can't wait to see you!

Who's gonna be there???

07/23/2022

Homebirth options on Whidbey Island include:

Crystal Ogle (Assist In A Miracle) and Diana Miller (Island Midwifery)
Contact info in comments

08/07/2021

Recently while attending a hospital birth, I heard the provider tell a client that delayed cord clamping may have negative impacts on baby such as increased jaundice and need for phototherapy. I was shocked and had not read any evidence to back that up. This post I’m sharing has updated evidence on delayed cord clamping. Let’s keep evidence-based care alive!

To clamp the umbilical cord more than 3 minutes after birth is essential for term newborns' health and development. Today, my most elaborate work on cord clamping yet is published, a review written together with Judith Mercer , professor in Midwifery, and the author of many important papers on cord clamping for several decades.
We hope to provide an updated, balanced text on the current "knowns and unknowns" regarding the practice of cord clamping, useful for nonprofessionals as well as midwives, obstetricians and neonatologists alike.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clp.2021.05.002
Graphic courtesy Satyan Lakshminrusimha

07/25/2021

THIS!

Read. Absorb. Reflect.

Here’s the bottom line: If you’re about to go out with someone, and my friend dated them for a year, and they were physically abusive to my friend, you can bet your bottom dollar that I am going to tell you that.

I’m not going to remain silent.

I’m not going to wait for you to figure it out.

I’m not going to see if you know the right questions to ask to ascertain this information for yourself.

I am not going to wait until it happens to you.

I’m going to give you the information you need and then you can make your own decision.

And I would certainly do that for your children and I hope you would do it for mine.

It is the same fundamental ethical driver that requires doulas to be honest with birthing women and people about whether a provider is truly supportive of VBAC, are abusive, etc.

If you are a doula, and you know there is a provider in your community who says they are supportive of VBAC but somehow all their patients end up with a repeat cesarean, this is something your prospective client, who has hired this doctor, needs to know.

If you know that a physician requires people to lay on their back for delivery, and your client wants to have freedom of movement, it is your obligation to share this information with them so they can make an informed decision about who attends the birth.

To remain silent, is to be complicit.

We have to speak the truth.

If we don’t look out for each other, who will?

Posted • There! I went ahead and fixed it.
•
Colonizers have a way of twisting words to disguise their atrocities and bu****it.
White women are experts at this technique.
•
Your precious “scope of practice” is really a lengthy (boring) explanation of the ways you’re willing to show up without jeopardizing your own PRIVILEGE.
🛑
It’s an imaginary set of boundaries created from a place of PRIVILEGE.
🛑
It allows you the PRIVILEGE of turning a blind eye on anything and anyone that doesn’t fit your scope. AND the audacity to tell them to advocate for themselves! Lol
🛑
It’s allowed many, many, many of you the PRIVILEGE of saying you’re a doula without ever actually being one.
🛑
Most importantly….it seems to have “absolved” doulas from any responsibility or obligation to stop the killing of Black folx in childbirth for a long time.
🛑🛑🛑
•
I say…f**k your scope of practice.
F**k it for working exactly as designed…
to create a small, weak, obedient breed of PRIVILEGED doula to support the PRIVILEGE of the already PRIVILEGED.
•
But they missed one 😏xoxo

07/07/2021

People ask all the time ... "Do you really take trades"? YES, yes I do! Just the other day, one of my awesome clients delivered firewood. ❤

Client trades are one of the many reasons I decided to drop insurance contracts a few years ago. It gives me all the power and creativity with client billing. Insurance companies don't get in the way of what a client and provider work out. We can do super-low monthly payments for as long as needed, trade goods or services for care, reduce costs for those in need ... if we can dream it up, it can happen.

I still bill insurance as an out-of-network provider so clients who have out-of-network benefits can still utilize them and reduce costs. Many clients feel it's worth the meticulous care they receive and ALL my clients get the same benefits such as vital supplements provided at no additional cost throughout care and many more!

Curious to hear more? Call, text or email to schedule a free meet and greet (425) 971-3731 assistinamiracle@gmail.com

Openings for clients delivering in 2022!

03/03/2021

Best commercial ever, thank you! If you are having trouble with feedings, don’t suffer it out. Please reach out to me ... client of mine, or not! ❤️

It's about time!

01/26/2021

Let's talk about the COVID VACCINE AND PREGNANCY

I’ve had clients come to me recently and ask about getting the COVID vaccine in pregnancy. There isn’t a definite answer, but there are some points that are needing to be considered. The midwifery model of care looks at each client individually and assesses each client’s individual risk. Informed choice and shared decision making are also cornerstones of midwifery care. So, here are some of the considerations those who are pregnant should ponder.

NUMBER ONE: The vaccine has NOT been tested on pregnant people.

In general, pregnant people are excluded from trials for ethical reasons. This is the case for the COVID vaccines currently out, and those that will come to market. When pregnant people report side effects or poor outcomes, the data is collected and reviewed. The data makes determinations such as when exactly something is unsafe: 1st trimester, 2nd trimester, 3rd trimester, anytime in pregnancy? Or, are there effects that impact growth or development for the baby after birth? It takes YEARS to gather this information. Including watching the baby’s development over time. So safety in pregnancy is a long term conclusion and not something we will soon have answers for.

NUMBER TWO: What’s your individual risk?

Take into consideration what your individual risk for contracting COVID in the first place is. Do you work in a high-risk job? If you are in the medical field, in retail, come into contact regularly with the public, you are likely at higher risk of contracting COVID and may consider or make a different decision than someone who doesn’t come into contact as often with the public. Do you or a live-in family member have health risks? Maybe you need or a household member needs extra protection ... because if you came down with COVID, it may be serious or deadly. You may want that extra protection more than someone who doesn’t have health risks.

NUMBER THREE: Conflicting recommendations.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) provides advice regarding pregnancy in the United States. They don’t come out and recommend the vaccine, but they also don’t think pregnant individuals should be excluded from or not allowed to get it. https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-advisory/articles/2020/12/vaccinating-pregnant-and-lactating-patients-against-covid-19 Instead, they suggest pregnant people speak with their maternity care providers regarding the vaccine, but also say the discussion with your healthcare provider does not need to happen before getting the vaccine. However, The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (RCOG) and The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) who provide advice regarding pregnancy in the UK recommend the vaccine in pregnancy ONLY IF the pregnant person has a high-risk medical condition or works in high-risk position/industry.https://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/2021-01-12-covid-19-vaccine-info-sheet.pdf Otherwise, they are not offering the vaccine to pregnant people out of precaution.

Want more information? Speak with your provider! If you are a client of mine, please speak to me off facebook 🙂. For further information on the vaccine in pregnancy you can visit Evidence Based Birth’s COVID-19 resource page (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/covid19/).

Coronavirus COVID-19 | Evidence Based Birth® Resource Page *Sample Informed Consent Form for Refusal to Separate Birthing Parent and Infant* Birthing in the Time of COVID-19: A Free Birth Class on YouTube Find Our Comprehensive Online Childbirth Class A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM DR. REBECCA DEKKER Found...