Sister Birth Blog

Dear mama-to-be, Take inventory of all that you are, that which you care about, andthe ways that you move through the world. These are parts of who you are,The way you have been divinely created.And it is good And soon, as you labor to bring your baby out into the light (And as you mother […]

4 of the most common hesitations for hiring a birth photographer

(This post is a sequel to my last post called What Is A Birthkeeper?) I’ve written before about what this new-ish and confusedly thrown-about term means in a general sense. And my conclusion was that you really must have a conversation with the person calling herself a birth keeper in order to really know what […]

Birth Keeper is a newer and maybe even “trendy” title, and as such, it lacks a widely agreed-upon definition. In this poist, I endeavor to tell you what it means to ME, both ideologically and practically. From the best of my ability to track down its origins, the term Birth Keeper was coined by Jeannine […]

Exploring what it means to be called into midwifery.

For her first birth, Dana (Dana is a conglomerate of actual women I’ve walked with; not a real person) planned a home birth with a nurse-midwife. Her birth plan was to try to have a natural birth (meaning, no pain medications, and no cesarean). She trusted her midwife to guide her through the process as it was […]

Giving birth at home has the potential to be an incredible experience, but it’s not for everyone. Let’s explore some perfectly good reasons NOT to choose home birth.You’re too afraid of what other people think or don’t want to stir things up. You WILL get backlash and criticism and “I’m just warning you because I […]

This phrase gets used a lot, and its definition seems to vary depending on who is using it and in what context. What is natural birth? I’m going to back up and first explore the word “natural” in a more general sense. Here’s what the American Heritage Dictionary says… Simple enough. As a believer, I […]

All about incorporating a cord burning ceremony into your home birth.

Jessica is a rooted, matter-of-fact, courageous woman whom I have admired since the day I met her. I met her while she was in labor with her late-“diagnosed” twins! She had just switched midwives so that she could still have an out-of-hospital birth she KNEW she was capable of, even as a first-time mom. That […]