Perfect Love Doula Services

12/05/2025

A first for me: baby boy came on his due date!! Mama did amazing and I'm so proud of this amazing couple. Congratulations and happy birthday, baby boy L!!

11/19/2025

So many of my clients have a deep dread of C-section, even if there is nothing in their history or current pregnancy to suggest C-section might be necessary, and rightfully so. C-section rates in the US are at an all-time high, with many studies revealing that neonatal and maternal outcomes are decreasing in this country despite (because of?) all the available modern medicine and procedures.

What is often left out in the labor and delivery room discussions are the many potential complications of C-section. Besides the obvious risks, such as infection, there are some less obvious, such as those listed in the article here.

Women who have C-section (whether they were emergency or scheduled, planned or unplanned) often face significant challenges in health, fertility and future pregnancies. While there are times when C-section are truly life saving, each medical decision, including the decision to cut, should be made with full informed consent. That's why I encourage my clients to take an in depth birth education course, familiarize themselves with common interventions, arrive as far into the labor process as possible, and have a well thought out birth plan.

The standard method for closing the uterus after cesarean delivery, used for over 50 years, may be causing a host of long-term health issues for millions of women.

According to Dr. Emmanuel Bujold and Dr. Roberto Romero, leaders in obstetrics and gynecology, current closure practices—where sutures join the uterine lining with surrounding muscle—fail to restore the uterus’s natural structure, leading to serious complications.

Their exhaustive review reveals the risks: abnormal placenta attachment affects up to 6% of women, uterine rupture up to 3%, and premature births up to 28%. Many suffer pelvic pain (up to 35%), excessive bleeding (up to 33%), and endometriosis or adenomyosis (up to 43%). Such complications are linked directly to the scarring produced by the conventional closure method.

Bujold and Romero propose a nuanced technique: suturing tissues only of the same type, carefully reconstructing the muscle layer while leaving the uterine lining untouched for natural regeneration. Although this new method takes 5–8 minutes—twice as long as the traditional approach—the additional blood loss is minimal and outweighed by better outcomes for future reproductive health.

With cesarean rates rising globally, especially in countries like Canada where 27% of births are by C-section, prioritizing meticulous uterine repair is a critical public health concern. This shift in surgical thinking may help millions experience safer subsequent pregnancies and better long-term well-being.

Follow Science Sphere for regular scientific updates

📄 RESEARCH PAPER

📌 Emmanuel Bujold et al, "Uterine closure after cesarean delivery: surgical principles, biological rationale, and clinical implications", American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (2025)

11/06/2025

This is applicable not just for VBAC mamas, but for all women during labor!!

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

This is when having a doula is so helpful!! People often assume doulas just hold hands and massage backs. We do that, but so. Much. More!! In situations like this, I will bring up the third option, help talk through unstated risks, and help think through thoughtful questions to help the woman make a true informed consent!

Also... Hospital birth class do this same thing. It is SO IMPORTANT to take an independent birth class that focuses on informed consent.

10/16/2025

I hold all of the mamas close today. Your little one is loved and cherished by our Heavenly Father.

10/11/2025

What a week it's been!! Happy birthday again! Little Master G and his mama had a beautiful home birth. I'm so proud of this family for following her heart and the evidence to go through with a midwife attended home birth for her first baby.

This was my THIRD birth this month! All three were a little early but it all worked out so well and no one overlapped. I'm grateful to Labor of Love Doula Margaret Brennan for shadowing two of these births. She's a wonderful new doula that I'm very happy to be able to work with and share backups.

Now I get a tad of a break before my next due date window at the end of November 🥳

10/08/2025

Happy birthday, little boy! You came fast but your mama was so strong and well prepared.

Two down and one to go for me this month!

10/06/2025

Little girl R, your mommy and daddy prayed so long and hard for you. You are so very loved. Happy birthday, sweet girl. 🥳💜

09/30/2025

NEWS ALERT! If you are due February or March 2026 and have considered reaching out to me, now is your chance! My fee will increase on November 1, but if you schedule a consultation with me during the month of October, you lock in the lower rate!

*February and March 2026 due dates only, as I am booked for January and plan to take some family time in April.

Schedule your free phone consultation through this link: https://cal.com/perfectlovedoula/freeconsult

09/26/2025

Happy birthday, sweet baby girl! Your big sister will be so excited to see you in the morning!

08/13/2025

Want to know what I hear at a hospital birth vs. home birth?

"What should I do now?"

I almost never hear that at a home birth. I hear it at nearly every single hospital birth. Why? I have some theories.

At the hospital, we have been conditioned to listen and obey. Women are told where (and usually when) to lie down. When she can and can't go to the bathroom (UGH! REALY??) Not to mention all the IV tubes and monitor wires strapped here and there. Laboring women are given directions in the hospital and the expectation is that they will follow. Yes, my job as a doula is to protect that space, but once words have been said, comments made, I can't magically remove them from a woman's mind. I fight an uphill battle at times...

At home, women move more freely. Midwives don't tell laboring women where they should labor, how to move, when to use the restroom. Women laboring at home have an environment conducive to "listening to their bodies." They naturally rock, sway, walk, moan. They just do it!

The only exception that I have seen so far is when baby needs a little extra help navigating the pelvis, then the birth team gently guides the woman to positions that will facilitate birth. But this happens much more rarely and only after clear signs that baby and mama need more help than usual.

A new client recently asked me if the difference between hospital birth and home birth was really that drastic. I answered a resounding, "A thousand percent YES!!"

08/10/2025

We're about to wrap up another 10 Week Group Birth Class tonight! 💗 Join us for one of our 2 new group birth classes:

⚜️ Monday Night Class, starting 8/11
⚜️ Wed Night Class, starting 9/3

Contact us thru our website today to sign up! (All 1nf0 found in c0mments)