Joyful Journey Birth & Wellness

04/10/2026

Living that on call life! 🤱🏻

03/31/2026

Forced vaginal exam = battery and assault and negligence

There was a significant decision made in the Supreme Court of Victoria last week.

A woman had been forced to have a vaginal exam when presenting at hospital. The hospital midwife had withheld access to her continuity of care midwife, birth suite and pain relief until she complied.

The court found that consent cannot be obtained under coercion and found Bendigo Health liable for battery and assault and negligence. A likely precedent in this space. The health service was ordered to pay $275K + costs.

Far too often, strong-arm tactics are used to get women to comply to vaginal exams, including refusing admission to birth suite, to water immersion, or to pain relief. Many women, advocates, lawyers and staff have been saying for a long time that this is not okay; no does in fact mean no, and a yes under coercion /= consent. The court agrees.

Let's address the unfounded rhetoric we have already heard from factions of the maternity space
- women just need to be more educated in the antenatal space. [errrh, no. Yuck. Victim blamey. Just don't digitally pe*****te someone without cosent?!]
- drs need to be more involved in conversations in the antenatal period [errr, for what purpose? No means no, whether it is to a midwife or dr. Women don't need any additional pressure applied to them before they even get to hospital].

I think all staff and services should be on notice. If thousands of women's stories to multiple maternity inquiries across the country hasn't shifted the dial, perhaps it will be the litigation payouts that will.

Thank you to the brave woman that persued this. It was just as much about her own justice as it was for every other woman that has been subjected to forced procedures during maternity "care".

03/21/2026

Check out Lauren and Gerria being interviewed on Pennsylvania radio! Bringing that awareness to the doula profession!

Who is PADC? Check out our leadership and advisory board!

https://padoulacommission.org/board-of-directors

01/22/2026

01/14/2026

It's common practice in the US for people to be told that babies should be "back to birthweight" by 2 weeks...there are some things to know about this:
~ research supports the norm that babies should be on their way back to birthweight within the first week and back to birthweight by 10 days...so if one waits until two weeks, there is already going to be a delay in intervention.
~ If someone has IV fluids in labor, the baby's birthweight will be elevated artificially
~ if a baby isn't already on the upswing with weight gain by day 5, it's a good idea to schedule a consultation with an IBCLC to figure out what is happening with latch and suckle, as well as milk supply
~ too often, when babies need to gain weight, instead of recommending that a parent start pumping to give their milk to a baby (and see a lactation consultant), parents are just told to add in bottles of formula, which doesn't help with milk supply nor support a parent's goal of breastfeeding their baby.

What to know? Go ahead and schedule a feeding consultant with a trusted local IBCLC for day 5, 6, or 7 of baby's life...why not get reassurance or get earlier intervention when needed? If all is going very well, delay the visit a few days and reassess.

Did you see an IBCLC and get help within the first week of your baby's life Earthside?

12/31/2025

Coming soon in 2026! Joyful Journey’s Doulacation program! Approved CEUs for Doulas and Birth Professionals!

11/15/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ck1HsmDw4/?mibextid=wwXIfr

11/04/2025

Have technical assistance questions about recertification or other processes as a doula provider in PA? Sign up for one of our office hour session slots for support: https://tinyurl.com/u6e6vnbj

10/28/2024

Masters of Maternity Gala! ✨

10/15/2024

❤️🌈

08/29/2024