Bronwyn Holmes -Childbirth Educator & Doula

25/08/2026

We learn about this in my classes! How fascinating. Let baby signal when he is ready for labour.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BoVQQAiUo/?mibextid=wwXIfr

25/08/2026

In the Daily Maverick today!
The doula putting education at the centre of birth https://share.google/6f7Vcohttey8YZ09e

Irene never ceases so amaze me!
Life long devotion to midwifery and Doula service.
Excited to share her new book, included in my course.
As she says, Education, Education, Education!

Irene Bourquin has spent decades arguing that better education, respectful care and informed choice should put women at the centre of pregnancy and birth.…

23/08/2026

My babies meeting up for a picnic today.

18/08/2026

Another wonderful group of parents to be ready to welcome their babies with confidence!

09/08/2026

Everyday we should celebrate our remarkable ability as Women. To we share our gratitude for those in our lives. 🩷

09/08/2026

We need to talk about this. We do in my classes. Join me, learn how to empower yourself to have these discussions.

Let's talk about the unnecessary C-section. I know this conversation makes people uncomfortable. We're going to have it anyway.

Because we cannot prevent something we refuse to talk about.

Nearly one in three American women now gives birth via major abdominal surgery. That number is not a reflection of women's bodies suddenly forgetting how to birth. It is a reflection of a system that intervenes first and asks questions later.

Here's the story I hear again and again.

An induction is scheduled. Maybe for a "big baby." Maybe for going a few days past a due date. Maybe just because it's convenient, and the cervix isn't remotely ready.

Pitocin begins. The body isn't primed, so labor is long, artificial, and grueling. Hours pass. The cervix, forced before it was ready, is slow to change.

"Failure to progress."

Except it wasn't failure. It was a process that was rushed before it ever had a chance to work.

More interventions stack up. An epidural. More Pitocin. Baby starts to show distress from contractions they were never designed to withstand. And then, the words: "We need to do a C-section. It's an emergency."

And a surgeon rescues everyone from an emergency that the cascade created in the first place.

Afterward, she is told her body failed.

That her baby was "too big." That her pelvis was "too small." That it's a good thing she was already at the hospital.

She believes it. She carries it into her next pregnancy and the one after that. And a system that manufactured the emergency gets to look like the hero.

I know this is uncomfortable to read. Especially if it's your story. And please hear me clearly: if you had a C-section, you did nothing wrong. You made the best decision you could with the information you were given in the moment. Your birth is not less. You are not less. C-sections are sometimes genuinely necessary and genuinely life-saving, and I am grateful they exist.

But we have to be honest about how many are not necessary. Because comfort has never once prevented a single unnecessary surgery.

Prevention starts before labor even begins.

It starts with choosing a provider who believes in your body. Who doesn't reach for induction without a real medical reason. Who understands that a cervix opens on its own timeline, not the hospital's. Who trusts the process God designed and only intervenes when there is a true, genuine need.

Your body was designed to birth your baby. Not perfectly, not always easily, and not in every single case without help. But far, far more often than our C-section rate would ever suggest.

We can't fix what we won't discuss. So let's discuss it.

06/08/2026

Twilight as sleep

Have you heard of twilight birth? Did your grandparents, great grandparents, experience this?

Once upon a time, THIS was normal. Intially, preferred by some women because the ability to birth without pain is appealing. However, the reality wasn't actually birthing without pain, it was birthing without memory.

What was once celebrated as an advancement, shifted to a fight for autonomy in birth.

For those with positive experiences, they simply had no memory of the birth. For others, they woke with marks on their wrists from being restrained. Restraining garments like the one pictured were used to keep women from harming themselves and staff.

Twilight birth wasn't a calm pain free birth. Twilight birth was being restrained because women were blacked out while still moving, having no way to consciously find ways to cope with labor.

Twilight birth meant restraint. It meant no support people. It meant no personal comfort, support or autonomy. Forceps, episiotomies, etc., became necessary and impacted obstetrical practices long after twilight birth ended.

Morphine and scopolamine were used to induce a state of semiconscious, amnesic labor as late as the 1960s.

What does this mean for birthing people today? It's a reminder that it is not just okay but important to ask questions. It's okay to not accept policy or status quo. It is about asking for EVIDENCE-BASED care and practices.

Autonomy in birth matters.

04/08/2026

I supported a successful VBAC last week. With the right team it is possible. This deserves discussion and shared decision making, not routine repeat CS.

27/07/2026

Interesting…

11/07/2026

Look at those little toes, newborn perfection. 💙