EarthSide Birth Services

09/04/2020

How many of you have sat on a doctor’s exam table, when your doctor asks you to “just scoot down a little for me,” “turn to the side for me,” “take a deep breath ”for me”?How many of you heard something like this during labor - “Okay now just give one good push for me”?⁠
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The ways in which we are infantilized by medical providers is subtle, and this way of talking to women is an institutionalized relic of a time, not too long ago, when medicine was overtly paternalistic. Not only does this type of rhetoric perpetuate a potentially dangerous doctor-patient dynamic in which the doctor maintains authority over your body, but what starts as asking you to do something simple “for me” quickly turns into a set of labs + tests being ordered that you don’t think you need, or a “little snip” being performed without your consent during birth - that you feel obligated to do for the doctor!⁠
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Medical misogyny shows up in the language that is used, the subtle coercions that happen, and the usurping of our power in sometimes small but insidious ways.⁠
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What happens in a medical encounter should be for you. With your confident informed consent. When you hear this type of language, learn to recognize it so you can stay in your power and authority. You never have to do anything with your body for anyone else. You never have to agree to procedures that you do not think are best for you. You are in charge.⁠
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Your body, your rules.⁠
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For more info on how being a "good girl" in the doctor's office can actually be hazardous to your health sometimes, head to the link below:

https://avivaromm.com/good-girl-health-hazard/

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📷: - thank you for sharing these words and important conversations

07/19/2020

We're rushed and rushing through parenthood like there's something more important on the other side.

There isn't right now.

Slow down, do things at your own and your child's pace and allow them to show you how to live in the moment - it's what they're amazing at.

07/12/2020

03/20/2020

If you are an expecting or new parent feeling lost and without options I would like to offer my virtual support. It can be for help, planning, research, or simply an ear/face that is there for you!

01/19/2020

🌸Rachael

01/06/2020

Most of my second time clients express a fear that they will not be able to love their coming child like the first. I smile knowingly despite not having two children EarthSide because I KNOW. I know what that fear is like. Your first child changed your entire world, they made your heart and life expand in ways you never thought or dreamed possible, and then they filled that expansion with every fiber of their being.

How could the second child possibly fit in the crevices that are left? My advice is always the same. Instead of your heart trying to fit two children into the space it has it always doubles in size (figuratively of course). It knows what we don’t quite fit together- that your next baby gets a heart and place all on its own. So, yes mamma, rest easy. There will be so much love for that baby that you’ll find yourself at a loss with how to feel it all at once, just like your first.

01/04/2020

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B63oVMWqjPj/?igshid=1tvdz0ujxjmk2

12/16/2019

In the grand scheme of the world and universe what I do is a small piece. It’s a small portion of the world, but also will end up being a small piece of my clients lives, of their births, and of the families they made. It’s a job that will only be vaguely remembered by those affected, but it’s still an important one. Knowing you were treated justly, lovingly, and heard are no small things, and knowing that you had options for your birth can have such an impactful result that it can ricochet through your birthing experience, your fourth trimester, your entire healing and growth as a family unit. My job is small, yes. My job is also important.

11/08/2019

Ever wonder what the baby is doing during pushing. Here is a nice graphic depicting their journey through the pelvis. From “New Pregnancy and Birth Book” by Dr. Miriam Stoppard

10/23/2019

We all remember a few months ago when Harry and Meghan introduced baby Archie to the world only two days post-partum. One of the only five questions asked to the couple at the time was: “is he sleeping ok? Good baby?”.⁣
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Today, in a contrast to the first interview, a short extract of a documentary by shows Meghan, the new mum and wife, in a completely vulnerable state, like so many of us are after childbirth.⁣
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The question this time was about Meghan’s physical and mental health, rather than the baby’s sleeping habits. This is the one question you SHOULD ask a new mum, but as Meghan herself confirmed, it rarely gets asked.⁣
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“Are YOU ok?”⁣
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“Is there anything I can do for YOU?”⁣
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People often get obsessed about the baby and forget about the mum, the dad.⁣
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The first question is the reason why our society believes:
good babies sleep, bad babies don’t,
good babies comply, bad babies throw tantrums,
good babies smile, bad babies cry,
good babies allow life to carry on as normal, bad babies disrupt your life and turn everything upside-down.
This poor language must change, babies are babies, they are not good or bad.⁣
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Today’s interview with .bradby gives us hope that when the right question is asked, mothers will receive the support they deserve to cope with the struggles of motherhood and continue to care for their babies without the pressures of feeling validated by how well they sleep.