Howell’s Doula Services

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas my sweet friends. I hope you all enjoy your week celebrating the COOLEST natural birth ever. 🎄✝️❤️

Sharing my favorite birth story of all, because it never gets old. 🫶 ✨FLESH✨ Jesus’ birth was no Insta-perfect manger scene with glowing orbs.😇 The most iconic birth in history took place in lowly, un-sanitized manger among farm animals.

Oh, what a birth story! The King of the universe came to Earth and put on FLESH to live among us.👑

“The Word became FLESH and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” -John 1:14

I wonder, did Mary experience pain? Did she get scared and ask how long it would take? I don’t know, but, like most home births, it was probably messy, bloody, vulnerable and intense.🩸

Our modern society doesn’t like dirty and unfiltered. In fact, we CENSOR birth and death. It’s too uncomfortable for our virgin eyes, perhaps.🙈

We like to clean up birth, numb the intense feelings with drugs and make it pretty, shiny and sterile. 🧼 Even in postpartum, we tell mom to “cover up.”🤱

We censor manger scenes and we censor modern motherhood.

Yet, birth is anything but clean and dignified!
✨Birth is the breaking of waters,
✨The gushing of fluids,
✨Moans too deep for words,
✨Expulsion of a placenta,
✨Blood running down the leg,
✨Skin-to-bloody-vernix-coated-skin.

🐂Among stalls intended for animals, the King of kings was born to a 16 year old girl.

His flesh felt cold air, his belly felt hunger and his body felt pain. He was comforted by the gentle touch of his mother and fed by the nourishment of her breastmilk.

In life and death, He demonstrated what pure love looks like, vulnerable and unashamed.❤️

Jesus left this world the same way he came into it: naked and exposed.

Flesh makes us human. It is not a curse. It is the greatest privilege of our existence and one the angels look down upon with envy.

🎄This Christmas, may you experience the outrageous, unconditional love of Jesus.

🤰May you embrace motherhood, like Mary did, it all its undignified, sacrificial, messy glory.

“We love because he first loved us.” - John 4:19
Words: “Flesh” by (2020)
Image: The Creation of Man (2017) by

12/23/2025

12/08/2025

Peep all the different supplies/equipment in the background of the birth. Midwives do not only come with a well of wisdom and knowledge but also “just in case” things!

12/08/2025

Do you notice your little one is wanting to nurse more frequently or for a longer amount of time? The holiday busy-ness can be to blame! Disrupted routines, extra distractions, and a busy, overstimulating environment can all lead your baby to seek more comfort and connection through nursing. Keep your baby close and nursing frequently and you'll likely see the return of your normal nursing pattern soon.

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12/08/2025

11/21/2025

09/11/2025

Your baby’s tummy is small, but your body knows exactly how to meet their needs.

From those first tiny sips to bigger feeds in the weeks ahead—your milk is designed to be enough every step of the way.

Save this for encouragement & share it with a new mama who needs this reminder.

08/21/2025

Grown woman talk: the original cortisol cure!

When women connect in safe, supportive spaces, something remarkable happens: our oxytocin rises, our cortisol falls.

Psychologist Shelley Taylor calls it tend and befriend—a stress response as real and i mportant as “fight or flight.”

I’m so passionate about this that I devoted a chapter to it in both The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution and Hormone Intelligence.

Why? Because cortisol on overdrive - as it is for so many of us- impacts everything from our menstrual cycles and fertility to our thyroid, metabolism, and even how we sleep and age.

When cortisol stays high, it can disrupt ovulation, worsen PMS, fuel weight gain around the middle, spike blood sugar, and contribute to anxiety, depression, and burnout. Think inflammaging and an extra dose of symptoms, too!

Lowering it is powerful medicine that doesn’t come from or the Pill. It’s an inside job.

✨ A few ways to bring cortisol down:
• Make regular time for connection with friends. Don’t worry about sharing your honest challenges - both giver and receiver actually benefit (within limits of that friend who is always venting!)
• Spend time in nature.
• Practice slow, deep breathing or meditation especially if you wake up at night!
• Prioritize restorative sleep.

💬 Who is your anytime, anything person who makes you feel safer and lighter? Tag her in the comments so she knows!

📚 Learn more about cortisol in The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution and Hormone Intelligence—both have an entire chapter on this truly life-changing science.