The Enchanted Doula

01/28/2026

Good informative post about Uterine Ruptures and why they can happen.

A uterine rupture is when the wall of the uterus tears open, usually during labor.

This can cause the baby, the placenta, or both to move into the parents belly, which is can be dangerous for both the birthing person and the baby.

It’s most likely to happen if someone has a scar on their uterus, like from a previous C-section.

But can happen to an unscarred uterus.

It’s rare, especially if labor is watched carefully, but when it happens, it’s an emergency that usually requires a quick C-section.

Reasons why a rupture can occur⬇️

📌Previous Uterine Surgery
➖Cesarean birth scar
➖Previous uterine surgeries like myomectomy (fibroid removal) or surgeries that enter the uterine cavity.

📌Overstimulation of the Uterus
➖Excessive or inappropriate use of Pitocin or prostaglandins (like Cytotec or Cervidil)
➖Augmentation of labor "speeding it up"
➖Very frequent or strong contractions can stress the uterine wall.

📌Trauma
➖Car accidents, falls, or physical trauma to the abdomen.
➖External cephalic version (ECV) in rare cases, especially if done forcefully or when contraindicated.

📌Obstructed Labor or Malposition
➖Labor that is prolonged or obstructed, such as with a malpositioned baby or cephalopelvic disproportion, increases pressure on the uterine wall.

📌Multiple Gestation or Polyhydramnios
➖Twins/triplets or too much amniotic fluid can overstretch the uterus, increasing rupture risk.

📌Grand Multiparity
➖Having 5 or more births can thin or weaken the uterus over time.

📌Manual Removal of the Placenta
➖Aggressive or improper manual removal can cause uterine trauma, especially in a previously scarred uterus.

📌Congenital Uterine Abnormalities
➖Rare, but structural abnormalities can make the uterus more vulnerable.

-Love,
Flor Cruz
Badassmotherbirther

01/28/2026

😮 wow! I didn’t know this when I was birthing my babies over 20 years ago. I had unmedicated births and I’m so glad I did!!

Most people are never told what’s actually in an epidural.

Epidurals don’t usually contain just a local anesthetic.

They often include an opioid, most commonly fentanyl, added to enhance pain relief and allow lower doses of anesthetic.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid.

It’s extremely potent.

It’s about 50 times stronger than he**in and 100 times stronger than morphine.

That doesn’t automatically mean “dangerous” in every context, but potency matters when we’re talking about pregnancy, labor, and a developing baby.

Fentanyl also crosses the placenta.

This isn’t controversial or speculative.

It’s pharmacology.

Anything circulating in the mother or birthing parents bloodstream has the potential to reach the fetus, and fentanyl does.

Because of this transfer, newborns can test positive for fentanyl in their urine after birth when an epidural containing fentanyl was used.

This has caused real confusion and harm in some cases, including unnecessary CPS involvement, because families aren’t told ahead of time that this can happen from standard medical care.

𝐎𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠:
📌Changes in fetal heart rate patterns
📌Slower or more irregular breathing immediately after birth
📌Increased drowsiness or difficulty staying alert
📌Reduced muscle tone in the early hours
📌Lower rates of early breastfeeding initiation and effectiveness

Again, this doesn’t mean every baby will have these effects.

But risk is not the same as guarantee, and parents deserve to understand the range of possible outcomes before consenting.

One of the most overlooked impacts is on feeding and early bonding.

Opioids can make babies sleepier and less organized in their feeding cues. A baby who is drowsy, floppy, or less responsive may struggle to latch or sustain feeding, especially in those crucial first hours when breastfeeding is being established.

When that struggle happens, parents are often told they “don’t have enough milk” or that the baby “needs formula,” without acknowledging the role medication may have played.

None of this is about shaming epidurals or telling people what they “should” choose.

Pain relief is valid.

But informed consent means more than “this will help with pain.”

𝐈𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠:
✅ what drugs are used
✅ how they work
✅ what crosses the placenta
✅ how they can affect both birthing parent and baby

You can want pain relief and want transparency.

You can choose an epidural and still deserve the full picture.

Education isn’t anti-epidural.

Education is pro-autonomy.

And parents should never have to find this out after the fact.

For someone with a history of substance use, this information isn’t just “nice to know”.

It can be critical to their sobriety, mental health, and informed consent.

Many people in recovery intentionally avoid opioids.

Not because they’re anti-medicine, but because opioid exposure can be triggering, even when it’s medically administered and even when the person doesn’t consciously “feel” high.

Informed consent is not optional in medical spaces.

It’s necessary.

𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐙 / 𝐁𝐀𝐃𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 ©

12/01/2025

09/11/2025

Say yes to ecstatic birthing!! 😉

🌸✨ Birthing Ecstatically ✨🌸

Birth is not only survival. It is not only pain.
It can also be ecstasy.

When the body is undisturbed, when safety and trust wrap around a birthing person like a cocoon, the hormones of labor can open not just the cervix, but the mind, the spirit, and the heart.

🌿 Oxytocin surges like a love-drug.
🌿 Endorphins wash over pain like waves.
🌿 Adrenaline peaks only at the final push.
🌿 And in that moment of release there can be laughter, tears, moans, shaking, ecstasy.

Birthing ecstatically doesn’t mean “without challenge.”
It means fully embodied. It means the same hormones that create or**sm, love, and bonding are also the ones that carry us through labor.

Birth is not just a medical event.
It is a human, primal, sacred, wild experience.

🌀 You are allowed to imagine birth not just as something to survive but as something that can be deeply pleasurable, transformative, and yes… ecstatic.

-Love,
Badassmotherbirther

09/06/2025

Baby growth video- week by week!

Look at quickly that baby grows!!Growing a baby is such a gift that results in little miracles being born.

09/02/2025

This is why cervical checks are not necessary. Plus— they can be discouraging for mommas in labor when they don’t get the number they’re hoping for.

.
💠 THE RHOMBUS OF MICHAELIS 💠
◇
This area of the pelvis is formed by the lower lumbar vertebrae, the sacrum, and a ligament that extends from the skull to the sacrum. It’s often described as taking the shape of a kite.
◇
When the cervix is fully dilated in an undisturbed, physiological birth, the body often shows signs that the baby is moving down:
❤️ Reaching up to hold on.
❤️ The back arching.
❤️ The head tipping back.
❤️ Hands pressing against the back of the pelvis.
◇
These movements happen as the “kite” shifts backward, widening the pelvis and allowing the muscles to open. This adjustment creates crucial extra space for the baby’s shoulders to rotate and descend.
◇
Experienced traditional midwives may not feel compelled to check the cervix at this stage. They recognize these behaviors as natural signs of descent and know birth is close when the mother begins to “open her back.”
◇
Recognizing these instinctive patterns means we can trust the process, protect the mother’s space, and avoid unnecessary interventions.
◇
Sometimes, simply seeing is more powerful than touching. Unwanted hands can interrupt, intrude, and slow the flow of labor.
◇
-Love,
Flor Cruz

08/25/2025

Epidural information ℹ️

08/23/2025

08/20/2025

In birth work, one of the most frustrating truths is this: many of the things labeled “too dangerous” by doctors are not actually unsafe, it's simply outside of their training. What’s dangerous for a provider with no experience or education in a certain birth option is not the same as what’s dangerous for a skilled, trained professional.

💧 Water Birth
Doctors often say, “That’s risky.” But research shows otherwise. Large studies confirm that for low risk pregnancies, water birth is just as safe as land birth. Babies born in water show no increase in neonatal death, and mothers often experience less hemorrhage and smoother recoveries. The real issue? Most OBs have never been trained to support or manage water birth, so it feels unsafe to them.

🏡 Home Birth
In the U.S., planned home births are considered controversial. But the data doesn't agree. For low risk pregnancies attended by licensed midwives, neonatal mortality is about 1.2 per 1,000, compared to 0.6 per 1,000 in hospitals. We also see far fewer interventions, smoother postpartum recoveries, and high maternal satisfaction. Again, this is “dangerous” mostly because OBs don’t train in home birth and rarely collaborate with midwives, making safe hospital transfers harder than they should be.

🏥 Birth Centers
Birth centers bridge the gap between home and hospital. Accredited centers have lower cesarean rates and comparable neonatal outcomes to hospitals. The “danger” is only a perception because most OBs don’t spend time learning how integrated, midwife-led care works.

🤰 VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean)
VBAC is another area where outdated fear dominates. Success rates are 60–80%, and the risk of uterine rupture is less than 1% with a low-transverse scar. Yet, many doctors still refuse to attend them. Why? Because they haven’t been trained in managing VBAC safely. A successful VBAC carries less risk than multiple repeat cesareans, but without proper training, OBs label it “too dangerous.”

🌙 Breech Birth
Most hospitals mandate cesareans for breech babies. Yet, studies show that when providers are trained, about 70% of planned vaginal breech births succeed safely. The difference comes down to skill. Unfortunately, breech training has all but disappeared from OB education in the U.S., making vaginal breech birth rare, not because it’s always unsafe, but because the skill has been lost.

What’s “dangerous” for a doctor with no experience may be completely safe with a skilled provider.

When OBs label certain births as unsafe, they’re often revealing gaps in their own training, not the reality of the evidence.
Midwives and providers who continue to study water birth, breech, VBAC, and home birth techniques know that with proper screening, skill, and safety protocols, families can have safe and empowering experiences.

Don't settle for a provider based in fear tactics. Find one who will support you, who is up to date on today's birth education, and won't fear monger you into a cesarean.

08/19/2025

The food you eat and the water you drink do not magically go directly to your breast milk. What you eat and drink goes first to your stomach to be broken down and then into your intestines to be absorbed and processed. Your digestive system breaks nutrients into parts small enough for your body to absorb and use for energy, growth, and cell repair. The muscles of the small intestine mix food with digestive juices from the pancreas, liver, and intestine. Special cells in the walls of the small intestine absorb water and the digested nutrients into your bloodstream. Your blood carries molecule-sized components such as simple sugars (carbohydrates), amino acids, white blood cells, enzymes, water, fat, and proteins throughout your body. As blood passes by the breasts, milk glands pull out these nutrients for milk production and pass some of them to your baby. Not all molecules are small enough to pass through into milk. (That’s why some medications are safe to take while breastfeeding and some are not. Molecules that are too big can’t get into the milk while really small molecules can.)

Nuts, seeds, beans, and grains all have plant based proteins. Meat and dairy are animal based proteins. Both plant and animal proteins carried in your blood can make it into your milk. Sometimes these proteins can affect baby’s digestive system, causing symptoms like reflux, gas, colic, and blood or mucus in the poops from iritations to baby’s intestinal lining. Diary proteins are the most common cause of upset in the stomach, however research suggests that the proportion of exclusively breastfed infants who are actually allergic to something in their mother’s milk is very small. (https://bit.ly/3rFHotE). Fussiness and gas alone are not enough to diagnose a cow milk protein allergy.

In general, there are NO foods that need to be avoided because you’re breastfeeding. Every baby is different in the foods they are sensitive to. IF your baby always seems to have a reaction when you eat a certain food or a large amount of a certain type of food, cutting back on it or cutting it out temporarily may be helpful.

08/13/2025

This!

At Call The Doula, we work for you. Not for your provider. Not for your insurance company. You.
That’s why we aren’t jumping on the insurance bandwagon.

The second we take insurance, we answer to someone else’s rules. Rules written by a board, a company, or a provider who has never sat with you at 3 a.m., rubbed your back through a contraction, or held your hand when doubt crept in. Regulations don’t care about your fears, your birth vision, or your voice. We do.

We offer a free consultation because we know how important it is to choose the right person to stand beside you. You have options, and you deserve to know them.

Instead of bending to insurance, we created an affordable option for families who truly want a doula who is all-in for them, someone who will educate you, prepare you, and back you up without hesitation. And because we believe doula care should be accessible , we also offer payment plans so you can invest in the birth support you deserve without financial strain.

We don’t show up just to be another warm body in the room. We show up to know you, to understand your fears and your hopes, to work with you and your partner until you both feel confident and ready. We create a plan together, one that reflects your choices, not someone else’s checklist.

And when the birth is over, we don’t disappear. When your baby is six months old and the nurses are gone, the doctors are gone, the visitors are gone, we are still here.

Accepting insurance means stripping away the heart of birthwork. It means trading personalization for paperwork. It means letting someone else tell us what your care should look like.

We refuse.

Because your birth is not a policy number.
It’s your story.
And we’re here to protect it.