Queen City BirthWork

We love this shot a client’s partner took and sent to us!
You can see an incredible moment of peace and rest between contractions.
And you can also see our wonderful giving loving support.
Sometimes doula-ing is incredibly hands on. And sometimes it looks just like this. Sitting by, giving quiet encouragement, making sure your client knows they are so strong and that they are not alone.
Most often, births need both types of support and a great doula knows when to be hands on and when to sit back and let them do their thing, while offering all of the emotional support and encouragement.
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Congratulations to ! ✨ with
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Congratulations to the winner of our 2021 Photo Contest, Sessy Spira of Queen City BirthWork]] .  To see more of Sessy's photograhy, visit: Queen City BirthWork]] or https://www.queencitybirthwork.com/birth-photos

This photo captures the theme of this year's contest "Midwifery in Focus" so wonderfully don't you think? What you can't tell just from looking at it is that this photo has a twist. It is actually featuring two different MCU student midwives. 

The person featured in the photo is an MCU student midwife who is checking fetal heart tones while the client pumps to help stimulate contractions. Beyond just checking for a heart beat, monitoring fetal heart rate is a necessary midwifery skill. MCU has an entire course dedicated to the topic and also offers it as a workshop at Skill Suites Conferences. Midwives dedicate thousands of hours to coursework and skills training to ensure that they are providing safe, high quality care to their clients. 

Additionally, the person taking the photograph, Sessy Spira, is also a student midwife at MCU. Sessy began Queen City Birth Work in 2012 and since that time has served the area surrounding Denver, Colorado as a doula, photographer, prenatal body worker, and certified lactation consultant. Like Sessy, many student midwives come from a background of birth work and continue in these roles while they study midwifery. This is partly by choice (birth workers are passionate about what they do!) and partly out of necessity, as this is the only way most people can support themselves while training to become a midwife. 

This is where the Briana Blackwelder Scholarship comes in. By providing funds to MCU student midwives who are committed to providing culturally competent and ethical care to some of the most vulnerable populations in our country, this scholarship helps lessen the burden of student midwives to prevent burnout and provide them with increased peace of mind. Visit the link in our bio to find out more about this scholarship and how you can donate.

Photo Credit: Sessy Spira - Queen City BirthWork]] - Denver, CO

Congratulations to our amazing leader ! She is incredible. ✨

This beautifully connected couple moved here so that they could both be on their babe’s birth certificate. 💕
They also moved here to birth in a birthing center!
What a beautiful and empowering experience.
Swipe to see the progression of this birth. ✨

October is/was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
Holding space and lighting a candle for all of you who have lost. 🕯
Some of us know the pain intimately and all of us carry special empathy in our hearts and spirits for you. 💛

That sacred moment of connection as you wait for your babe to come earthside.
A bit of the comfort of touch in an anxious moment; and a bit of remembering what all has brought you to this moment together meeting the emotions of what all is to come.
Sacred. Vulnerable. Beautiful.
And then the moment you meet your babe. ✨
📸: One of our doula photographers, Justice