Primal Roots Midwifery

✨ Exciting news! My favorite pediatric care provider has written a book!

Rescuing Ourselves: A Story of Love, Healing, and Resilience through Integrative Medicine, is now available for pre-order! 🎉

Have you ever felt torn between your career and your passion? Rescuing Ourselves is a story of merging traditional medicine with integrative practices to find healing and purpose. Discover Lara’s journey from a conventional pediatric practice to embracing holistic care. Pre-order your copy today! 📚💚 link in bio

A child’s perspective on homebirth. ❤️❤️❤️

“That’s my mom, holding the baby, with a warm blanket and a sheet on her lap. That’s me, thats you holding the iPad charting. That’s your assistant, holding the stethoscope. That’s my dad with my brothers.”

A new study has reinforced our knowledge that, in real world settings, healthy women are more likely to end up having a caesarean if they have induction of labour than if they go into labour on their own.
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The study will be published in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology.
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The authors conclude that, “Awaiting the natural onset of labor, if there are no maternal or fetal reasons to intervene, may yield no worse a perinatal outcome than an earlier induction of labor. The consequences of a cesarean delivery are known to be associated with immediate and longer-term maternal morbidity, and this may be potentially avoided, if elective inductions of labor can be minimized.” (Levine et al 2021).
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This result, which echoes that of a number of similar studies, is in contrast to the findings of the often cited ARRIVE trial.
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So why is that?
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One reason is that the participants in the ARRIVE trial were not representative of all women. Another is that women in the ARRIVE trial had very medicalised care. And, as Levine et al (2021) note, there’s a difference between what happens in the setting of a trial, and in the real world. I’ve written lots on this, so here are some resources if you’d like to know more.
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You can read Levine et al’s study at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301211521002463
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If you’re wondering whether induction is right for you or wanting to read more about the evidence, check out the resources on my website or my book, “Inducing Labour: making informed decisions.” www.sarawickham.com/iol
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And if you’re a midwife or birth worker and you’d like to better understand the issues and develop your confidence with research, we’re looking at a number of aspects of induction in Gathering in the Knowledge 2021. See https://app.ruzuku.com/courses/66197/about
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Primal Roots Midwifery is super excited to formally introduce Lauríel Keys to our practice and the homebirth community.

Lauríel has spent the past 7 years studying and practicing as a full spectrum doula and midwife obtaining her education from Birthwise Midwifery School. In her last year attending Birthwise, Lauríel apprenticed with two naturopathic doctors / midwives, allowing her to cultivate a wide range of skills from breech birth, VBAC’s, prolonged labor, pregnancy loss, intrauterine insemination, prolonged labor, phlebotomy, homeopathic and herbal remedies and so much more. Lauríel’s goal is to provide culturally competent and inclusive care for all birthing people. One of her missions is to help shift the poor birthing outcomes for black and brown birthing people by providing quality care from a deeper space of understanding. Another passion of hers is providing care for all fellow members of the LQBTQIA community. Lauríel's care embodies spirituality, holistic health & nutrition, and education. Lauríel deeply believes it is a necessity for people to learn how to reconnect with the spiritual and physical aspects of themselves in order to provide and sustain life on Earth. Lauríel lives in North Central Connecticut with her partner and their dog Pooka.

Lauríel is Connecticut's first Black homebirth midwife. We are looking forward to the enriched care that the Black and brown families of Connecticut will obtain with a practitioner whose hands and experiences match theirs.

We hope you'll join us in extending Lauríel a warm welcome!