Trimesters: Massage Therapy Education

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

I think back to my first awareness of Gloria Steinem in the 1960s into the '70s. All of a sudden this incredibly smart, beautiful, talented woman began talking about how women should have equal opportunity—how we should aim for the stars, be able to pursue our own dreams.

As a young woman, I knew there were schools that wouldn't accept women, jobs that wouldn't hire women, scholarships that weren't open to women. I lived it. But that lived experience became much more real and applicable to our entire society when Gloria began to point it out.

Over the decades, she became one of the architects of the entire structure of women's equality.

She pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her.

She wasn't going to be an astronaut, but my goodness, she made it possible for Sally Ride to be an astronaut. She wasn't going to play college sports, but she stood behind the women in Congress who passed Title IX and opened up opportunities in sports and academics for girls. And she wasn't on the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was decided, but her voice and her activism was behind that advancement for women's rights.

Gloria Steinem was, at heart, an optimist. Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that's a moral choice she made every day.

Even though we've faced setbacks to women's full participation and equality in America and around the world, I want Gloria's voice to remain in our heads.

It's wonderful to do what you can to further your own future, to get the best education you can, and to pursue your dreams. But it's even better to bring other people along with you.

Don't get discouraged or narrow your world to your own problems. Find ways to reach out and lift up others. When you do, it's going to expand your universe.

Be like Gloria: Embody possibility, and extend it. In us, she will live on.

08/30/2026

I'm a Homebirth midwife, and I don't encourage ingesting your placenta.

I know. Not what you'd expect to hear from a crunchy, holistic, physiologic-birth-loving home birth midwife. But hear me out, because this is rooted in how your body actually works.

Here's the mechanism most people are never told.

Throughout pregnancy, your placenta produces high levels of progesterone. That progesterone is what keeps your mature milk from coming in early. It's a brake pedal.

When your baby is born and your placenta is delivered, that progesterone drops sharply. THAT drop is the signal. It's the green light that tells your body: the baby is here, the placenta is gone, it's time to make milk. That hormonal shift is what brings your milk in around day two or three.

So what happens when you take that placenta, encapsulate it, and put it back into your body?

You may be reintroducing the very hormones your body just worked to clear. The same progesterone that was signaling your breasts to hold off. And for some women, that can cause confusion, a delay in milk coming in, or a drop in supply.

This isn't fear-mongering. It's the same reason retained placental fragments are a known cause of delayed or suppressed milk. Progesterone lingering in the body tells your breasts to wait. Lactation consultants are increasingly reporting supply issues in mothers who encapsulate.

Now, here's where I hold this with an open hand.

Many women swear by placenta encapsulation for postpartum mood and energy. Many of my own clients still choose to encapsulate, and I support them fully. This is not me telling you what to do with your body or your placenta. It is your placenta. Your choice.

But my job is to make sure you have the full picture before you decide.

So here is what I encourage: if the benefits feel worth it to you, consider waiting until your milk supply is well established, typically a few weeks in, before you begin. That way you get the benefits you're hoping for without risking the delicate early days when your supply is still finding its rhythm.

Everything I do comes back to this: real information, and your right to make an informed decision with it.

Your body. Your placenta. Your choice. I just want it to be an informed one. 💚

08/25/2026

How important to know how the U.S. is disrupting reproductive care for women in the U.S.
In their phoney attempts to squash abortion rights, they are increasing the death & morbidity rates of both women & children.

This is NOT about ‘saving lives’. It is about curtailing needed healthcare & in the process killing women & children.

To quote Doug Ford …. Right to Life … my !!!!

The War on Women continues with Convicted Felon Donald Trump’s nomi...

08/24/2026

The Association of Ontario Midwives is calling on the Ministry of Health to implement recommendations made by an independent third-party Mediator to treat midwives comparably to other health professions--or risk losing them.

In her report, the Mediator, Beverly Mathers, recommended that midwives receive similar redress provided to physicians, nurses and other public sector workers to make up for the province's unconstitutional compensation restraint legislation and policies.

The report states that "... there is no mathematical equation that puts Ontario's midwives anywhere but further behind economically" because of the Ministry's compensation restraints.

Read the media release and access the full report:
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/midwives-call-on-the-minister-of-health-to-implement-mediator-s-recommendations-as-midwifery-attrition-reaches-crisis-level-832405322.html

08/11/2026

OAC is going to change the knowledge of fertility by eons!!!!