Rhiannon Carmichael, IBCLC, Birth and Postnatal Doula

Something important is happening right now in the UK 👇🏼

And our voices are needed.

In case you haven’t heard already:
For the first time in a long time, there is a national investigation gathering real experiences of maternity and neonatal care 🗣️

Not statistics, not policy language, but the lived truth of women and families.

All of it…
The positive moments.
The neglect.
The level of care received.
The traumas.

The moments of deep support…
and the moments where something went terribly wrong 💔

👉🏼 Our maternity system is in desperate need of change 👈🏼

Too many women have left birth feeling dismissed.
Too many families have left carrying trauma.
Too many stories have been minimised, buried, or quietly endured.

And meaningful change cannot happen until those stories are heard 🕊

Baroness Amos is leading the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, and a public Call for Evidence is now open for women and families across the UK.

This is an opportunity for the truth of maternity care to be spoken collectively 🔥

Not as isolated experiences.
But as a pattern that cannot be ignored.

Two surveys are available:

•⁠ ⁠One for women and people who have been pregnant to share their experiences of maternity and neonatal services.

•⁠ ⁠One for partners, fathers, family members, friends or support people who supported someone through pregnancy and birth.

If you feel able to share your story, your voice, your experience matters.

And your words may help shape the recommendations that guide the future of maternity care in this country.

But please only share if it feels safe and supportive for you to do so 🤍
Your wellbeing comes first.

If you do feel the call to speak…

this is a moment where your voice may ripple far beyond your own story.

🕊 The Call for Evidence is open until 17 March 2026

You can find the link to participate in our stories

The future of maternity care must include the voices of the women and families who lived it.



Photography: .birthphotography

Festive calendars don’t get to dictate physiology 🎄✋🏼 Because birth will not (and should not) be rushed. Not for calendars. Not for rotas. Not for convenience. What we’re witnessing here is the opposite of urgency. A body paused. A baby taking their time. A room that understands the difference between waiting and danger 🫧 In a maternity culture shaped by fear-based headlines, staffing pressures, and a system stretched beyond capacity, we’ve been sold the illusion that speed equals safety 🙃 That surgery is protection. That intervention is reassurance. That disruption is preventative. But physiology tells a different story 🌀 Birth unfolds through a precise, intelligent sequence of hormones 🫧 Oxytocin, endorphins, adrenaline 🫧 Each arriving exactly when the body and baby need them ✨ Disturb that rhythm, and risk increases. Protect it, and birth often softens 🌸 This pause matters. It is not indecision. It is coordination. A moment where the body gathers itself before completion 🤲🏼 Especially during the festive season, when women are subtly, or overtly, encouraged to hurry things along 🎅🏼🙄 this is your reminder: Waiting is not negligence ✋🏼 Patience is not risk ✋🏼 And trusting your body is not naïve ✋🏼 If you’re holding space for your baby right now, let this be permission: 🎄to revel in slowing down 🎄 to enjoy the magic of tuning in 🎄and to honour the mystery of your baby’s timing this season Because birth doesn’t respond to pressure; it responds to safety, privacy, and trust 🕊️ And when those are protected… this is what becomes possible 🤍 Mother: @friabarnmorskor Via: @positivebirthaustralia #Physiologicalbirth #trustbirth #homeborthmagic #birthwithoutfear #christmasbaby

Long before Christianity, people awaited the Sun Child, born through the Goddess, who waxed toward a fullness of light after the darkest day of winter. ~ Rebekah Myers

“Since the coming of Christianity, the mid-winter holiday has been dedicated to the birth of a child-god to a mortal woman, yet the images and songs of Christmas-time belie the official reason for the season. Rarely do we see more tender images of motherhood than at this time. For without Mary, there would have been no miraculous birth to celebrate. Thus the ancient power of the Divine Feminine sustains itself in our hearts. No matter that the official story focuses on a male child. Our human need for balance asserts itself, and this becomes a grand festival of the Holy Mother. This is every bit as much Mary’s holiday as it is Her child’s.”

~ Patricia Monaghan

Art: Bernadette Carstensen

Your body knows how to birth your breech baby 📣 These powerful moments capture the birth of baby Cleo ❤️ A planned home vaginal breech birth guided by intuition, skill, and deep trust 🌿 After discovering at 36 weeks that her baby was frank breech, this thoughtful mama took her time, gathered information, and chose experienced breech providers who honoured her choice and physiology ✨ One of her midwives @mm_midwifery recounts: “In most settings, she would have been told a cesarean was her only option. But by choosing trained and experienced breech providers, she safely welcomed her baby vaginally - avoiding major abdominal surgery, supporting a smoother recovery, and preserving her options for future births.” At 41+1, she woke at 3:39 am with powerful contractions. By 4:45 am, she was already 7–8 cm. By 6:36 am, she was holding her daughter Born into her father’s hands after a calm, instinctive, *3 hour labour* “Her doula helped her to a more upright position, and she instinctively stood on the bed, allowing gravity to assist as baby’s legs and arms delivered quickly. Dad (in the blue gloves) intuitively supported baby as the head flexed and the mouth became visible - no additional manoeuvres needed.” No panic. No rush. No “emergency.” Just physiology, trust, and reverence for the process ✨ Because breech is *a variation of normal.* Your baby’s position is not pathology. Your body is not malfunctioning. You are capable of birthing your breech baby vaginally, safely, and beautifully with the support of skilled, respectful hands, should you so desire them 🕊️ To the mothers exploring their options, remember: 🌸 You don’t *have to* have a caesarean 🌸 You don’t *have to* accept an ECV 🌸 You *do* have the right to choose a physiological, vaginal breech birth You have the power to *choose* what’s right for you ❤️ Have you witnessed or experienced a breech birth? If you feel called, share your story below. Your words may become the medicine another mother needs today 🕊 Midwife’s account: @mm_midwifery Midwives: @midwife_melissaa @macy.the.midwife + @metroplexmidwifery Doula: @blissoriginsdoula

This October, London will witness a cultural first: the unveiling of a public statue that honours the raw, unfiltered reality of motherhood
https://www.positive.news/society/new-london-statue-celebrates-the-unseen-strength-of-mothers/

Ma. Mama. Mommy. Mom. Mam.

No separation. Even in sleep she is pressed by them, presses them, impresses them, heart and mind filled as body was once filled. Even in sleep, she fills us, knows us, senses us, our needs, our desires, our demands.

Ma. Mama. Mommy. Mom. Mam.

Never alone. Someone always tugging, at sleeve, at heart, at patience. No separation.

Mommy. Mommy. Ma, ma, ma.

She dances, she sings, she is beautiful in her desire. But even in that dance, that song, even that desire, even then she is plural: another, others, always with her, within her, she, never without. And we, never without her.

Ma. Mammy. Mommy. Mom.

Always the need, hurt, demand. Always the fullness. The press, the plurality. Always someone tugging. Never alone.

Ma. Mama. Mommy.

Feeling need as it rises. At a cry, milk comes. At a sob, arms stretch. Like bursting, to hold back. She floods, she reaches, she holds, she touches, she touches, she touches. She becomes us; we become her; no separation. Need answering need answering need.

Mammy. Mommy. Mom.

Matter, mater, material, materialize. Flesh of woman. This our body, this our blood. Never alone. No separation.

Ma. Ma.

The open mouth. The full breast. The surge of connection. The matrix: core of being.

Ma.

~ Patricia Monaghan, Mother, from Seasons of the Witch

Art: Marileen Lewis
Flor do Mar

“They told you about the contractions but did they tell you about the expansion?
Did they tell you how your body would open to make way for the whole universe to pass through?
Did they tell you how your heart would explode with a love bigger than anything you’ve ever known as you pulled your baby to your chest

They told you about the ring of fire but did they tell you about the crown of stars?
Did they mention that there is a moment when your baby enters the world and you leave your body and touch the heavens and become the light of a million galaxies?
Did they tell you how the pain of stretching to receive your child would be more exquisite than any sensation you’ve felt?

They told you you would scream but did they tell you about how you would roar?
Did they tell you about the power that would rise up from your belly as you called your baby forth with your mighty voice?
Did they tell you how you would embody the wild woman within you and breathe fire with your song?

They told you you would bleed but did they tell you how that sacred blood wouldn’t scare you?
How you would feel grateful for that magical liquid of life as it trickled down your leg?
How you would honor its flow and how it would help you heal a lifetime of hating your body’s bleeding cycles?

They told you these stories and taught you to fear birth, to fear your power, to fear yourself.
But you’re stronger and wiser than that mama.
You know that birth is your divine dance, your soul’s song, your moment with God, and you walk fearlessly into her open arms.”

~ Catie Atkinson
on Instagram

Art: Paz Treuquil, “Pulliwen”

https://www.paztreuquil.com/

NOTE: Not all pregnancies and births are the same. Some are fraught with complications, trauma, and heartache. Our hearts go out to these with compassion, support, and love.
💞Rebekah

Do you remember the
sound
of the hips that cracked
to birth you
echoing all the way back
to the First Mother?

The ten thousand secrets
whispered into your blood
by every woman
that came before you.

The blessings of your lineage;
how to know yourself
how to live a life
how to heal.

The burdens;
how to hold your tongue
how to carry your pain
how to pass it on.

You look just like your mother's mother's mother
when the sun hits your face
and her voice slips through your lips
when you stand firm-footed
and say;
I remember.

You look just like your daughter's daughter's
daughter
when the moon reflects in your eyes
and her voice drips from your tongue
when you stand firm-footed
and say;
this ends with me.

Don't you realize
that you can midwife your own birth
as often as you need to?

Listen closely
to the pulse of silence
in the deep velvet of your womb
until you hear a gentle voice
that whispers
"this is the way!

~ Gina Puorro, "Mother"
https://www.facebook.com/gina.puorro
puorro

Art: Amanda Greavette
Amanda Greavette Fine Art