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Some doula trainings will teach you that you should never speak to a doctor, like you are unworthy or not educated enough to interact with an expert medical provider. Other trainings are fire and brimstone - BURN DOWN THAT FUCKING BROKEN SYSTEM!!!!! While I do in fact believe that the system needs a fucking overhaul, your birth is not my protest. In other words, I love nuance, so I'm neither of those two extremes. I think I use just about every single medical advocacy strateg

It is no secret that inductions can be long and exhausting. If you just found out that you are having an induction, start with article on everything you need to know first - including what to bring with you. You don't want to go into an induction lightly, but sometimes it simply cannot be helped. There are many good reasons to get your baby out sooner rather than later. Here are my top tricks for making the process go as smoothly as possible. Try nudging labor along before yo

I just talked to a queer person who was struggling to find pregnancy resources that didn't make them feel the ick. The cishets have a corner on the pregnancy book market, so finding resources when you are queer and expecting is no small feat. Lucky for you, I have some recommendations! Note: if you are queer and trying to conceive, start here for the first post in this series of book recommendations. Can't Skip the Classics The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians, 1999:

You know what I love most about queer families? They are intentional. Many queer families can't get pregnant without a little help, which means creating and bringing a child into the world is a thoughtful process. And since we don't get to do a lot of things in life without thinking about them, we are usually pretty good at questioning all the norms and assumptions. Children of queer families are so lucky! One of the more fun things that queer families grapple with is what to

Jessica and Sarah, a lesbian couple from Chicago, share the story of dreaming up and creating their beautiful family. Getting Pregnant Jessica: We always wanted kids, it was something we both knew we wanted when we met. We were living in Minnesota at the time, but I have a lot of family here so we moved back in 2023. And later that year, we started looking into it. We have some friends who are also queer who had a baby. So we met with them and just kind of learned about the

Corinne Westing attending a home birth in Chicago A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth. The right place for you is the place where you feel safest. In this article I'm going to share my doula review of Birth Roots Midwifery. Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - reopened Dec 2025 Part 2: Illinois Masonic Part 3: Northwestern Prentice Part 4: Evansto

I am a big fan of anything doulas can do that has absolutely no risk of harm: the gentle ways we can support people that might do good or at the very least might do nothing. Then I attended a birth for a reiki practitioner who said, "You have very healing hands. Your touch is really comforting. You might want to look into reiki." Which is how I found myself at a reiki training. What is Reiki? Reiki is a traditionally Japanese practice in which a practitioner channels energy t

Liang was surprised to find herself pregnant after accepting that she would never have a child of her own. Yet she embraced the opportunity to be a mom and join the “largest secret society in the world,” as she put it. Liang knew from the beginning she wanted an unmedicated birth and was drawn to the Birth Center of Chicago. A few days after her due date, she started having contractions. She labored at home for a day before her water broke, but once she was in active labor, t

A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth. The right place for you is the place where you feel safest. In this article I'm going to share about my doula review of Swedish Hospital in Chicago. Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - reopened December 2025 Part 2: Illinois Masonic Part 3: Northwestern Prentice Part 4: Evanston Hospital Part 5: OMG Midwives

This stock pot is not big enough... Brodo is the Italian word for broth, and it is known for its magical healing powers. My Italian...

There are many ways to feel about surgical birth, none of them right or wrong. When you imagine a low intervention birth, sometimes your...

A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth, and the right place for you is the place where you feel safest. This article is now an archive of experiences with the midwives at Burr Ridge Birth Center. Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - reopened December 2025 Part 2: Illinois Masonic Part 3: Northwestern Prentice Part 4: Evanston Hospital Part 5: OMG Midwi

For Roxanne, it was helpful to think of birth like a labyrinth, a concept she learned from the book Transformed by Birth. This is...

If you are planning to nurse your baby, one of the must-have items that you will see on every list is nipple balm. Read on for why it...

I am sitting in a labor and delivery room waiting for my client to return from her scheduled cesarean. I came in this morning and helped...