Bellies, Birth and Babies by Kari

02/06/2024

🍼 Help with My School Project on Out-of-Hospital Births! 🏡

Hi everyone! I'm conducting a survey for a class project to better understand perceptions of out-of-hospital births. Your honest answers will be super valuable for my research. Both men and women are welcome to participate, as your insights can provide a comprehensive view.

This survey is purely for research purposes and will only take a few minutes of your time. Please click the link below to participate. Thank you so much for your help!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6HMSJLZ

Learn how SurveyMonkey helps you create free online surveys and forms with ease, so you can get powerful insights that drive growth in your organization.

03/04/2023

30/07/2022

I recently had a mother share that she had needed suturing with all four of her previous vaginal births and they found it surprising that she did not need sutures after her 5th baby born at home.

Food for thought from the Midwife Thinking website:
"Care providers often consider themselves to be ‘perineal protectors’ tasked with preventing women from tearing. There is currently a lot of effort and money being put into trying to reduce significant tearing. And of course the approach taken to ‘protect the perineum’ reflects the birth culture in general ie. that women’s bodies are dangerous, and risk management involves carrying out interventions to minimise that risk. I think the truth is the other way around. What we do is usually the risk, and risk management should be about supporting physiology and instinct. Only intervening when there is a deviation from physiology."

At home, we usually do not have our hands inside birthing people's vaginas trying to help "stretch tissue" like you very often see in the hospital setting. Generally, when giving birth at home, birthing people chose to push while on hands and knees, kneeling, or lying on their side, which are the most conducive positions to intact perineums, rather than variations of laying on their back as most hospital providers require. (There are always exceptions to these statements, of course, both in home and at hospital.)

There has always been the debate of whether hands-on or hands-off is the best way to help keep a perineum intact. The current research suggests hands-off is the preferred way.

21/06/2020

1138 signatures are still needed! Dear Governors & CDC: Doulas are Essential Personnel, protect their hospital access!

18/05/2020

Whether there will be a baby-boom due to the coronavirus pandemic or not, one thing is clear: many countries stand out for their lack of access to midwives. Here is why it matters - and not just during COVID-19.

11/12/2019

This is incredible!!

Creating a new life is the greatest miracle, proof that love is the strongest power in the universe. A child is the biggest joy in life, the reason to overcome all obstacles, be brave to fight, and enjoy every single moment of the day. However, when parents are not blessed to conceive in a normal [....

23/11/2019

I love this photo and everything it represents. This was just minutes after birth and I love looking at how peaceful the room was, everyone smiling and admiring our new addition. We were left to take in the moment ourselves, with quiet, dim lights and everyone holding our space. No monitors, loud conversations, bright lights or a rush to get anything done. This is our amazing birth team, plus photographer who is the one taking this awesome shot and my mom who was watching our 3 other children. This birth would not have been possible without all of them and I am forever grateful ❤❤

02/10/2019

My hearts and prayers go out to all the families who have experienced loss. ❤🙏

03/09/2019

This is a picture of the Moro, or startle, reflex. It’s understood that this reflex originates from primitive primate cousins, and is triggered by a sensation of falling or surprise.

You can see babies hands and arms will go wide with fingers splayed. This is part one of the reflex. It’s typically followed by an immediate flexion or coming together of babies arms and hands to hold on. You can picture that this baby is preparing his body to grab onto a large swath of his mother’s body for protection and love.

The problem is there’s nothing for him to hold onto. This baby is literally lost in space.

This reflex is supposed to be integrated by six months of age, but many children nowadays have not integrated it, and it affects all areas of development.

reflexes are integrated by practice. Obviously we are not going to purposely startle our babies so they can practice it over and over again. They do it enough on their own. The problem is they never complete the reflex because there’s usually nothing for them to hold onto. They are flying out in space.

however, when baby is being worn by you, being held by you, or on their tummy on the floor there’s something in front of them that will support them, that they can hold onto, that can give them that feeling of safety.

This is one of the ways the tummy time creates the environment for your baby to develop comprehensively, fully, with confidence.

These aren’t secrets, however the information typically doesn’t get out to the general public. I am on a mission to empower all of you with this information. When you click the link above, it will take you directly to the Happy Tummy Timers course. It is the best beginning you can give your baby.

02/08/2019

Hi! I'm Kari, wife to an amazing man and momma to 3, almost 4 littles, and I'm a birth and postpartum doula!Pregnancy, birth and babies have always been a huge interest of mine and after I began having my own, I realized there was a passion inside for these amazing journeys in life. I began feeling a huge desire to learn more and become educated on the subjects as well as simply be there for other women going through the same things. I believe it is so important and incredible for a woman to feel empowered, heard, understood and supported through her entire pregnancy journey and for families to feel that way during their birthing process.
I am beyond excited to officially begin my practice as a doula and begin the next step in this journey of mine. It was a long, crazy path for me to get here, but finally Bellies, Birth and Babies was born and I'm incredibly thankful to be here and serve families in these precious moments of life!
I'm taking clients now until early October, and then I'll be on maternity leave and will pick up my practice again in the new year. Website is being worked on and will launch soon! Until then, call me, dm me, etc! I would love to talk to you about your pregnancy, birth and postpartum desires and wishes and help to contribute to making those a reality. 🤰🤱❤🧡💛💚💜