MOV Birth

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Providing preventative maternity care and home birth support promoting self-awareness and responsibility, confidence, and instinctual birth.

Disciple of Yeshua/Jesus - Functional Midwifery
Home Birth & Wellness Care in the Reproductive Years
Mid-Ohio Valley & Beyond
Private-Health Ministry Association 508(c)1(a) I believe life begins at conception, that you and your baby were - created - to make this birth journey together and breastfeeding completes birth preparing your baby for life on earth, while the whole childbearing year gets you ready to care for this child through spiritual growth. I offer the preconception and perinatal education, support, and care that you request and require throughout this adventure. Midwifery, Doula, & Lactation Care - www.MOVbirth.com
Perinatal Education - www.EsaliBirth.com

11/04/2026

Even though you are a first time mom...
You began your labor with your membranes rupturing and feeling surges.. albeit minor and irregular.
Still... I would much rather come your way since it feels like bed time so that I can sleep on your sofa rather than try to sleep at my home and get woken up in 2 hours having to rush to you when your labor inevitably progresses much quicker than you anticipate.
And an hour later it was decided that maybe my advice would be beneficial to take... "early" presence feels comforting.
And I did go.
And I did attempt to sleep on the sofa.
And I did not succeed in sleeping on the sofa.
The labor did progress and was beginning to intensify just as I was arriving... ctx 2-3 min ramping up to 75 seconds in the hour after.
And just 4 hours later, we met a new baby girl.
It can be challenging to wrap your mind around a quickly progressing labor, but no one quite understands this more than a primip who experiences a labor that progresses faster than average with ruptured membranes which can make this even more pronounced without the cushion of the bag and fluid.
But to feel that power of the Holy Spirit and to be so mentally present in that progression is... woah... life changing...
An OB asks (jokingly and fully respecting the decision to birth at home) when a 3° tear repair is needed... "you wanted to birth at home and still decided to come see us here, huh... how was that for you?"
Mom replies with a glowing smile, "OH... it was the BEST!!!" 🙌

10/29/2026

Breastfeeding is not supposed to hurt.
No, not the first time.
No, not in the first week.
No, not because you didn't "toughen up your ni***es" in pregnancy.
No, not because it is a new sensation.
No, not because it has always hurt.
No, not because you need to bottle feed until your milk expands.
No, not because of whatever reason anyone has ever told you... even in a book... even from an LC/IBCLC/lactation "professional."
Breastfeeding should not be painful.
Yes, it is common for breastfeeding to be uncomfortable or painful in the first weeks when you and your baby are learning.
Yes, most moms don't get adequate guidance with their first baby and they keep repeated bad habits from bad advice.
Yes, it might take a while, and a lot of work, to get the discomfort figured out.
Yes, it may be due to structural development in your baby's body from poor nutrition and folic acid in everything for many generations now.
Yes, there isn't a guarantee that bodywork or suck training or tie revisions are going to fix the problem.
Yes, most moms and babys that have adequate help are breastfeeding comfortably and efficiently by six weeks postpartum, and many well before then when they are not only shown how to efficiently hold their baby, but also listen to the advice and rest and get help and don't do too much too soon.
If you experience ANY discomfort with breastfeeding ask for help and keep asking for help.
Your body is communicating with you if it is painful.....communicating there is something that could very well likely be addressed with some simple position changes for you and baby (for most moms and babies) or bodywork that can be done at home or with a practitioner or something more.

10/26/2026

The year prior to conception and after breastfeeding builds nourishment for the next pregnancy.
Your hemoglobin strength. Your (and your baby’s) iron stores. Your inflammation response. Your thyroid and hormone imbalance. Your ability to detox through breath, movement/sweat, and sleep. You can’t start this in pregnancy because your baby’s genetics have already been created, and your body instantly starts using your stores. You may be able to maintain your body’s balance… but you’re more likely to become depleted towards the end of pregnancy and in postpartum if you were insufficiently nourished at conception.
This means that simply waiting two years after a birth to conceive isn’t enough. Until you haven’t been breastfeeding or gestating or birthing for at least a year, your body can’t rebuild to replenish the nutrients and organs. Your body needs more nutrients to make breastmilk than it does to gestate a baby. While, of course, you can breastfeed during a pregnancy, it’s going to be really difficult to maintain, let alone gain, health without a year of being able to simply focus on adequate sleep for many months in a row, nutrients that are rebuilding your organs and stores, and rejuvenation of adrenals and stress levels once your baby is no longer regularly waking at night.
It is an absolute blessing to have many children, and this can be one of millions of ways to glorify the Lord. So we remember Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:5, “Even the barren gives birth to seven, But she who has many children languishes.”
There is no right or wrong way to space your babies. Other than the simple logic that you may experience more complications in your pregnancies or births or postpartums if you don’t have time to nourish yourself well between pregnancies, you may need to embrace the modern high-quality supplements, diet checklists, exercise programs, and support paraphernalia… and potentially more parallel care with medical practitioners… to help you through when you have many babies that are spaced closer than 3-5 years apart. This is also a main reason why holistic midwifery care throughout the childbearing year improves outcomes.

10/24/2026

🤢🤮😭
History teaches humans nothing... if you dont understand what I mean by that... go learn about the licensing and regulation history of medical practitioners and midwives

10/23/2026

The logistics of rural birth make individualized care imperative... some of the prep is usually far beyond the thoughts of people thinking about what usually goes on...
Is the family fearful of anything... what and why?
Do they trust me?
Do I trust them? Or their extended family?
Do we share the same faith... really?
What's the health and history of mom and baby?
How level-headed is the dad?
Does this family like to play the blame game, or do they take responsibility for their choices?
Do we need additional tools or hands?
Where is the closest hospital with Labor & Delivery services (and is the staff respectful with transports)?
What are the alternate routes if it floods?
If there's a severe storm, blizzard, or tornado that makes travel hard, how fast does this mom usually birth? Do they have a basement? Does their home require a creek crossing? 4WD or is AWD OK? Will I need snow spikes? How much clothing/gear if I need to walk? Is this mom and baby healthy enough to stay at home with an impending situation like this?
Where will I p*e if there is only one bathroom? Do I have enough underpads if i need a makeshift place?
Can I pack food that isn't easy to heat up, especially if it's summer and the wood stove isn't always running?
Can I pack food that needs refrigerated?
What kind of food do they keep in their home if I'm there longer than my grab bag allows?
Do they have a sofa manageable to sleep on?
How will they feel if they think they call me too early and I decide to take a nap... or a walk... or go shopping because they need privacy?
Is there anyone living within 5 minutes of the mom that is knowledgeable about postpartum?
Do they have a phone accessible within the home? How far away is it? Do I have cell service?
Is their community going to bombard them with shushing and holding the baby, then leaving mom to manage the overstimulation; or are there wise elders that will tell the mom she needs to be resting?
Does she have good and consistent support?
Does she speak up when she needs something or is someone else speaking for her?
Does her husband "tell on her," and how does she react to this?
What are the interactions with the older kids... and does she have enough help to be able to focus on the care she needs and desires during prenatals?
Does she utilize the knowledge and resources with which she has been provided?
So many things that help us prepare for rural birth... for intimate birth... for individualized birth.

10/22/2026

How you live... and the culture that surrounds you... will shape your birth.
It's that simple.
Birth prep is not restricted to the 3 months prior to labor.
It doesn't require expensive subscriptions to learn about birth, physically prep for birth, or receive support.
{pssst... my Esali Birth classes are available digitally for $10/month... that is an insane amount of information for that price}
A treadmill or a gym membership isn't going to "fix" what you do the other 23 hours of the day.
And it is super important to remember that YOU are shaping your children's birth by the lifestyle you create in your home and the habits that surround your children daily and the food and movement your children ingest during their puberty years.
Our world has always struggled with human problems... but the big difference between the last 50 years is that we're working through those problems while not having to continue to physically work hard or to eat real untoxicated food without thinking about it.
You don't have to spend all your money on functional assessments and supplements or the new trendy way to *reword* how to get a baby to move in labor...
You can eat real, whole, traditional foods and work your body out in the sunshine to obtain them... and that's all the change you need to create a little bit of health.
Even if your children choose differently when they go out on their own - you'll know you've impacted them greatly by being intentional in the formative years - because whatever happens during that time, can't be undone... only overcome.
When our modern elder midwives and the families they were serving, were working to avoid the overmedicalization of birth, they were asking "How do I avoid needing the hospital?"
It all boiled down to nutrient-dense food, movement, and de-stressing through a hard day's work and a good spiritual and emotional support village. They were working against some of the same processed food options that are available today (though, to a lesser degree), and this intention is what kept these mothers at home.

10/21/2026

Protein is a PART of whole food that is necessary for whole-body wellness.
Protein-rich foods are essential for balancing blood sugar, building muscle, regulating hormones.
You need a variety of proteins INCLUDING proteins from plants for nutrient digestion and absorption.
You do NOT need to ADD protein powders to foods that are already high in protein. What on earth are we doing in this technologically "advanced" world?!?!?!
What would Dr. Brewer think about all this, I wonder?..better yet...
What does God think about all these perfectly whole foods He created for us (a large amount of them being dark leafy greens and colorful fibrous plants) and how we keep replacing them with pseudo-foods?
Modern humans are really good at feeling full (nutritionally, physically, emotionally, spiritually) while being depleted of whole-istic nourishment.
It is pretty amazing what the basics can do for us...
Fresh Air
Sunshine
Sleep
Hydration
Varied, seasonal, diets
Communities of like-minded truth-filled people
Protein additives can be used intentionally in ways that are beneficial... but slapping added protein in cheese and processed meats and junk food doesn't make it nutritious or balanced.

10/12/2026

Midwives [should be] trained in physiology and normal variations.
Midwives should know when to sit in a corner quietly knitting.
Midwives should know when to support the variations that surround physiology so that they don't move into a pathology state.
Midwives should know how to be with women and their families without medical training.
Midwifery is NOT medical.
It is OK if midwives know clinical skills and use medical tools as well.... but those are MEDICAL skills and tools NOT midwifery skills and tools.
Listening and watching a woman to recognize her sounds, actions, demeanor...etc., to see she is in a state of physiology is a midwifery skillset.
Taking a blood pressure, doing a vaginal exam, or administering any type of medication is a medical skillset.
Using a rebozo, herbs, hands-on palpation, emotional support...etc., are midwifery skillsets.
Assessing fetal heart tones, reading a CTG monitor, timing contractions...etc., are medical skillsets.
Modern midwives often have a lot of clinical medical skills - and quickly moving into those skills being taught first and glorified. Its OK to have these clinical skillsets - they can be a valuable asset for midwifery, at times.
However... the majority of women thrive from the midwifery skills that have been used throughout history to manage the normal variations of physiology.
Clinical and medical skills as a routine do not improve outcomes... (please, read AS A ROUTINE)... but midwifery skills do improve outcomes as a routine.
Teaching nutrition improves outcomes.
Teaching emotional well-being improves outcomes.
Teaching body balancing improves outcomes.
Teaching physiology, patience, and trust improves outcomes.
Being a quiet presence, attentive to the variations of physiology, improves outcomes.
About 25% of women/babies will also benefit from clinical assessments.
A smaller portion of these 25% will benefit from medical management (forms of medication, induction, cesarean...etc.).
That means 75% of women and babies not only benefit from non-medical midwifery care... but THRIVE in it.

10/10/2026

Physiology is really cool... not only does it just work when all is in balance... it can also work to re-balance.
A mother and baby that were healthy BEFORE/AT conception (which means Dad also has to be healthy) have a lot of flexibility within physiology before we get to the normal variations. They feel sensations in their body that tell them they are becoming imbalanced... like hunger, thirst, overwhelm, and tiredness. But, when they are intentional and responsible and supported enough to be able to listen to this physiological communication, they can take the steps to simply provide the life needs to prevent their body from becoming chronically imbalanced and quickly bring their body back into a state of balance.
Physiology can look like imbalance at first, but you realize a body in a health physiological state doesn't stay imbalanced long and doesn't need intervention (other than the normal survival things like food, water, fresh air, sleep, and rest) to maintain health.
Healthy physiology can handle... actually thrive with... intensity every day. The intensity that comes from physical work that makes you tired enough to want to sleep as the sun goes down but balanced enough to wake as the sun rises. This is nourishing to the whole body and healthy physiology actually needs this kind of "stress," with a day of rest every week for full recovery, to become resilient.
Truly, there aren't a lot of women that live in this kind of physiology... they generally experience the normal variations surrounding this physiology where a bit of wise guidance becomes valuable.... stay tuned for more discussion on normal variations.

10/04/2026

When mom's not ready to get in the pool, but you're getting it half full with hot water so it will be faster when it's time..
well... dad is... dad is hauling all the 5 gallon buckets...
then she decides she'll get in soon before you're even half way full and dad has to take out multiple 5 gallon buckets because the wood-fired hot water is so stinkin' hot that the cold water just isn't enough.
Mom totally agrees that pool management is an excellent Dad task. She absolutely loved that he had something to do. 🙌
Baby number 6, and one of this mom's longest labors at about 8 hours total.
First water birth for her.
First time with me as her midwife (at least the first time I've attended one of her births... she dearly misses her first midwife that moved away 💔)... there really is something special about being the first midwife to walk this transformational journey with a mom... they will forever stay in your heart and head.
Only the 2nd (if i remember correctly) time I've attended a water birth where every drop of mom's placenta separation bleeding stayed within the amniotic sac and didnt gush into the pool... and then I dropped it... I couldn't hold onto the placenta/bag and reach for the bowl at the same time and it spilled 😭🤣😂

Address

10468 Ravenswood Road
Ravenswood, WV
26164

Telephone

+13044824729

Website

http://www.MOVbirth.com/

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