Fox Valley Midwifery

is just compliance without informed refusal

Natural never meant easy. Birth and breastfeeding are natural, beautiful, and often hard!

It’s Newborn Screening Awareness Month, so let’s talk about the newborn metabolic screen - the heel poke done the first few days after birth. This is a screening that I think is really important to understand.

This newborn screen looks for a long list of rare metabolic, endocrine, and hormonal disorders. These conditions are RARE, but also incredibly serious. Babies can look completely healthy at birth while something is happening that we can’t see yet, so finding out early can mean starting treatment before a baby becomes sick or before permanent damage occurs.

I’ve seen both sides of this screening over the years. I’ve had many families choose to decline it, for many different reasons. I’ve also known several families whose babies were diagnosed because of newborn screening and were able to get the care they needed early. One of those babies belongs to a very close friend of mine- her sweet boy was diagnosed with classic PKU. That experience makes this screening feel less hypothetical to me.

It’s also an imperfect screening. A positive screen does NOT mean your baby has the condition. Statistically, false positives happen more often than true positives. They can lead to repeat blood draws, more testing, appointments, waiting, and a whole lot of stress while figuring out whether something is actually wrong.

I don’t think informed choice means only talking about the benefits of something - or only talking about the risks. I want you to understand both, but I’ll respect whatever you choose to do.

These disorders are RARE. False positives happen. Most babies will have a completely normal screen. But for the small number of babies who truly have one of these conditions, finding out early is life changing- often lifesaving.

Birth has a way of reminding us how much we can know - and how much we still have to surrender to.

This sweet boys mama knows birth. She’s a birth doula, and this was her fourth baby. She knows positioning and movement, how to make space in the pelvis, how to encourage a baby to rotate and come down.

And after days of frustrating (and exhausting!) prodromal labor and false starts, labor finally arrived…. and it was intense. Very different from her other births.

Her baby was very active, trying to figure out the way. And despite all the movement and position changes to give him space, her baby settled into a posterior position. Pushing was long and hard. Just moments before he was born, she hit that place of feeling defeated and even wondered if she was going to need a C-section.

Then she moved one more time. She moved into a kneeling lunge, gave him just a little more space, and out he came - completely posterior, looking right up at her.

This birth was powerful, but it was also hard. She was incredibly strong. And its intensity still left things for her to process afterward.

Knowing birth doesn’t mean you get to control it. You prepare. You make space. You listen. We support. And then, somewhere in there, you surrender to the mystery and power of it all.

Welcome to the world Dexter!

We have some amazing chiropractors in the area to help support your body through pregnancy.

What a wild storm across the Fox Valley yesterday!

It’s been a tough 24 hours for many families. While the storms moved through the area, I was providing doula support for a family during their (successful!) hospital VBAC. Watching the winds whip outside the large hospital windows was incredible… and terrifying.

My own kids were at home taking shelter in the basement. We were very close to where the tornado came through, but thankfully only had minimal damage and everyone is safe. I know many others weren’t as fortunate.

If you’re dealing with damage, power outages, or just feeling overwhelmed, I hope you’re finding the support you need.

If you’re one of my clients and the storms have affected your home, your plans, or your ability to make it to an appointment, please reach out. We’ll figure it out together. And if there’s another way I can help or connect you with resources, don’t hesitate to ask.

Thinking of our Fox Valley community today. I hope everyone is safe.

(Picture from a news article- not taken by me. I got no pictures because I was messaging my kids to take cover. 😅)

So excited to be part of this! Come join us at this event and find your village. 💛