I Love What I Doula, LLC

11/17/2025

Elective induction around a holiday is for convenience, but not yours.

With Thanksgiving & Christmas coming up, loads of unnecessary inductions and c-sections are about to happen.

Every year there is a HUGE decrease in births on (and around)...

🔆 Christmas
🔆 New Year’s Eve/Day
🔆 Easter (changes yearly - first Sunday after the full moon in April)
🔆 Memorial Day (changes yearly - last Monday in May in the US)
🔆 Independence Day (4th of July in the US)
🔆 Thanksgiving (changes yearly - last Thursday in November)

And it’s not just the United States - it's everywhere.

How could it be that all of these holidays have lower birth rates year after year?

It’s not a coincidence - it’s about convenience.

And not YOUR convenience. The convenience of providers.

No one wants to work on holidays, and hospital birth providers have a way to make sure (for the most part) that they don’t have to.

Inductions & c-sections are rarely scheduled ON holidays, but they ARE frequently scheduled in the days leading up to, or just after, a holiday.

If you are due around a holiday, and your provider suggests an induction or c-section, it’s a good idea to question why (remember that you always have the right to decline). If there is NOT a legitimate medical reason, they may be more concerned with being home in time for a holiday dinner than your well being.

For more info and references on this topic, check out my FREE holiday births handout on my website (birthuprising.com/resources).

11/12/2025

Deep gratitude to Bold Journey for the opportunity to share my journey in birth work. It was an honor to reflect on the path that led me here and the work that continues to anchor me. Birth work is personal, powerful, and full of heart. We hope you enjoy reading and connect with it too. Let us know your thoughts ♥️

We recently connected with Michelle Mark and have shared our conversation below. Michelle , thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to

11/06/2025

An excellent article today from . Note the lack of evidence supporting the use of continuous fetal monitoring, the clear influence of business and economics, and the money grab from AI companies who claim studies support their product - when in fact they don’t - resulting in remote monitoring hubs.

I especially love that placenta accreta is described early in the article so the public can see that cesareans carry risk. As a result, we need to ensure that they occur only when needed or wanted.

Note that the photo for this article is of a remote monitoring hub. One such hub is up to 60 miles away from the hospital in which the woman is laboring.

“Nearly every woman who gives birth in an American hospital is strapped with a belt of sensors to track the baby’s heartbeat. If the pattern is deemed abnormal — too slow, for example — doctors often call for an emergency C-section.

But this round-the-clock monitoring, the most common obstetric procedure in the country, rarely helps baby or mother. Decades of research have shown that the tool does not reliably predict fetal distress. In fact, experts say, it leads to many unnecessary surgeries as doctors overreact to its ever-changing readouts.

The obstetrics field has long ignored these problems. Now, it’s putting more trust than ever on the flawed technology, often prioritizing business and legal concerns ahead of what’s best for patients, The New York Times found.

This fall, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its guidelines on continuous monitoring, sanctioning it even as some other wealthy countries have cautioned against its routine use…

All three remote hubs, along with 400 other hospitals around the country, use A.I. software to help analyze the heart data. The software’s maker, PeriGen, has claimed on its website that 50 studies backed up its products.

But none of the studies found that the technology improved birth outcomes. PeriGen removed the list of studies after an inquiry from The Times. The company’s chief executive, Matthew Sappern, acknowledged that no clinical trials had shown benefits.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/health/electronic-fetal-monitoring-c-sections.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zE8.145f.FPhFANzFoVZp&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

11/05/2025

Let's talk about eating and drinking during labor! I think it can be very important to hydrate and nourish during labor.

Offering liquids can be a great way to give dad something to do to feel useful during this time.

Here's a link to a homemade electrolyte for labor

https://www.ohbabynutrition.com/blog/labor-aid-an-energizing-electrolyte-drink

11/03/2025

Wrap yourself in warmth, stories, and sisterhood. 🕊️
Birth Story Circle welcomes you 🫶🏽

10/29/2025

People rarely mention what the weeks after birth feel like for fathers.

You watch the woman you love go through pain and exhaustion,
and you carry the helpless ache of not being able to fix it.
You try — over and over — to do enough, even when it feels impossible.

Your life shifts too.
You’re finding your footing in this new role,
figuring out what it means to be the steady one,
to stay strong for her, for your baby, for the family that just began.

You rock the baby so she can sleep.
You bring her meals when she forgets to eat.
You hold her together when she’s unraveling and rebuilding at the same time.

Fathers feel the postpartum storm too —
it just shows up differently.
In quiet moments. In silent weight.
In the daily effort to hold everyone together while learning how to belong in this new world too.

10/29/2025

✨ 6 years of Love ✨

I Love What I Doula, LLC is a dream turned reality born from an innate call to serve women. Over the years, I’ve had the immense privilege of holding some of the strongest women as they’ve navigated fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and loss.

I can’t lie- sometimes it’s really heavy… like really heavy. But the love and support from every direction is what keeps me here. It’s what keeps us here.

This past year has been nothing short of incredible. My doula partner, Rita, keeps me grounded. She’s my anchor when I’m taking on too much and my listening ear when I need it most. She’s truly one of a kind, the missing piece that completes me both in work and in heart.

To all of our past and current clients: thank you for entrusting us to be part of your journeys in such sacred moments.
To our mentors and fellow birth workers: your wisdom and encouragement mean the world to us.
And to our community partners: thank you for your continued support.

With all our love,
Michelle & Rita
I Love What I Doula, LLC