. ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ In celebration of my son’s 1st birthday, I’m once again sharing his birth. Millions of people saw his birth and were impacted. Many sat on the edge of their seats, and cried with me when my baby let out his first cry. For some of you, this was hard to see. Lots of you messaged me and told me how watching me stay calm in such intense moments impacted you personally. Plenty of you, told me how at peace you felt about midwifery care handling emergencies outside of a hospital. I’ve had countless providers, doctors, nurses, EMT’s and hospitals share this video with all their staff, leaving them in awe and wondering why their labor and delivery units are failing to implement midwifery skills in emergencies that are critical to the health of the birther and baby(immediate skin to skin, cord in tact, resuscitation on birthers chest, talking to baby etc etc) However my birth impacted you, thank you. -LOVE, FLOR CRUZ @_de_la_flor_ #homebirth #hbac #vbac #shoulderdystocia #midwiferycare #vaginalbirthaftercesarean ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Daddy: @cbass1083 Midwives: @ashleesourapas & @lindseymeehleis Doula: @uvbirthservices Photography: @lightworkportraits Placenta Specialist: @thejoyfultree Assistants: @katrina.n.the.waves & @birthingearthlings

. Every once in a while its a good idea to show my face here 🫶🏽 I'm Flor Cruz, its just little ol me running this platform. I'm a Latina born to 2 immigrants from Nicaragua. My first language was Spanish and started to learn English around the age of 4-5. My husband and our 4 children live out in Menifee, CA. Prior to that we were living in Long Beach, CA for about 10 years. I've had 6 pregnancies in total. 4 live babies, 1 miscarriage and 1 medical abortion. My first birth was a typical, hospital birth with an epidural. My second birth was a cesarean where I was treated like I had 3 heads after walking into a hospital with a frank breech baby, waters ruptured, thick meconium, contractions 6-7 minutes apart, GBS+, gestational diabetes and not having access to anyone with breech skills. 10 months after that I was pregnant again and went on to have a VBAC with an epidural. Lastly, my 3 year old was an HBAC, born at home with a midwife in which my son had a shoulder dystocia, and required resuscitation. I joke around a lot and like to say that my births have been like the Baskin Robbins of births. Lots of flavors. Anywho, thank you for being here with me and always supporting and showing up the way that you do. This platform has been a huge part of my life for years and it will continue to be. And yes, that's a photo of my pussy birthing a human on my wall in my home 🤪 -Love, Flor Cruz @_de_la_flor_ Shirt by: @birthnerds

. ♡ Hey BAMB lovers🤘🏽Flor here 🌹creator of @badassmotherbirther ♡ My breastfeeding journey is behind me. ♡ I've fed 3 children exclusively with 1 titty and was also able to donate my milk. ♡ Looking back now, with everything behind me and things beings clear, I'm so very proud of myself. ♡ And I'm especially thankful that despite being exhausted, I took time to document my breastfeeding journey. ♡ In particular with my last baby, Pablito. ♡ I struggled breastfeeding him the most and I was careful to take more photos and videos as a memoir of how hard we worked to make it to the "easier" parts. ♡ This video that you see here is us after the storm. ♡ From not gaining weight, to 4 oral ties, to tie revisions, to waking him up to do stretches in the middle of the night, to crying, to him refusing to latch to me, to pumping, to syringe feeding him my milk, to paced-bottle feeding, to pacing the formula aisle in Target and saying "fuck no" and leaving, to working on strengthening his mouth, to convincing myself to go just 1 more day, to my husband wiping my tears, to having 1 fully functioning titty, to the dust finally settling and we came out on the other end exclusively breastfeeding. ♡ Cheers to me. To my babies. To the memories that I forced myself to capture on film. ♡ I don't want to romanticize it for you. It was hard as fuck. But I also have zero regrets. And also, look at how he's looking at me 🥹. ♡ -Love, Flor Cruz @_de_la_flor_

. Hola mi gente! Flor here from @badassmotherbirther 💕 wanted to share a students testimonial and birth story! Student testimonial: "I went into early labor around 1:00 am on the 18th of July. I woke up around 5:00 am and texted my partner that I thought I was in early labor and that we needed to finishing the birthing space. By 8:0am my contractions were 5 minutes apart. My partner had set up the birthing space by then and was applying counter pressure during the contractions. By 9:30 am I was in active labor, on my hands and knees planted on the ground. The midwives arrived and our baby was born at 11:32am! I am so thankful for the @yourbadassnaturalbirth class for teaching me and my husband the signs of the different stages of labor, giving us great mantras ( I kept repeating “the pain isn’t stronger than me, it is me), and for educating both of us on birth! While I wasn’t the fastest delivery the midwives had had before I was the fastest first time birthing person." 🦜𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐈𝐍 2️⃣ 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒! 💰𝐀 $𝟕𝟓 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭! 👩‍💻𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐳𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞. 📱𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐰𝐰.𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡.𝐜𝐨𝐦 🔗𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐈𝐎!

. Birth is also a place of begging to "get him out". A place where guttural screams emerge from us like a call to our ancestors. A place where the intensity starts to cross us over into an unrecognizable realm. A place where the body is fully in control and it's taking you for a wild ass ride. A place where the baby's out, your legs shake and quiver and you're barely on this planet with hormones dancing and ripping through you. This, is also birth. -Love, Flor Cruz @_de_la_flor_ 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭! @notanothercierra

. Normal, physiological birth is not an immensely profitable business structure. But what IS profitable is convincing us that our bodies are broken and we need fixing. -Love, Flor Cruz @_de_la_flor_ 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭! @hellerimages

. Mammalian birth is sophisticated in its simplicity. Don't complicate it. -Love, Flor Cruz @_de_la_flor_ 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭! @brunapontual

. ♢ Hola mi gente bellos! Flor here 🌷 creator of @badassmotherbirther 🤘🏽 ♢ It's not enough to just hire someone based on their credentials. ♢ Most folks who hire a midwife are looking for someone who is an expert in physiological birth, little to no intervention, respects bodily autonomy, understands variations of normal, trusts the process of birth, sees intuition as a tool, has patience, individualized care, etc etc ♢ But non of that is a guarantee by just hiring a midwife. ♢ You don't get to skip out on doing the work, interviewing your midwives, advocating for yourself, making birth preferences and navigating any possible interventions. ♢ There are different types of midwives, and some that work within the systems policies and protocols. ♢ And if you're birthing outside of the hospital with a licensed independent midwife, they are regulated by the state and have their own sets of "rules". ♢ Come to class so you can ask all the right questions so you can get a realistic picture of how your provider, whether midwife or OB, practices and cares for their clients. ♢ Any provider who's worth their salt will encourage you to ask questions and interview them. ♢ 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘! ♢ 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝟔! ♢ 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐍𝐀𝐆 𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 $𝟕𝟓 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐆𝐎 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐅𝐄𝐄! ♢ 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄! ♢ 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐖𝐖.𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐁𝐀𝐃𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇.𝐂𝐎𝐌 ♢ 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐈𝐎! ♢

. 🍑𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐇 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘🍑 "My water broke in the evening around 8pm. No painful contractions yet. They felt light and crampy an hour or so later. They got stronger, but still fairly mild at 11pm. Later in that hour I told Ruben we should go to my office to get some things before it got serious. Around 11:45pm I’m still happily listening to fetal heart tones through contractions. (He sounded great!) while we casually gathered some supplies.  Right before midnight, I went to the toilet. I got a STRONG contraction.  REALLY STRONG.  It took me by surprise.  Out of curiosity I yelled for Ruben to get a glove.  I quickly tried checking myself.  I could barely tap something high.  I wasn’t sure if it was his bottom or my cervix. I just knew there was nothing descending quite yet.  Ruben helped me get a clean diaper on and I stood up.   I started to walk out of the restroom when another STRONG contraction came.   I dropped to my knees…..  and said, “The baby is coming!” (12:03am) I felt my body begin to heave. The fetal ejection reflex had kicked in. I recognized what was happening and knew then  that I wasn’t going to make it out of that bathroom." (Part 2 in comments) 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭! @ohiomidwife @emilyeilene @breechwithoutborders

. 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐀 𝐕𝐁𝐀𝐂 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐌𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄. -𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓕𝓵𝓸𝓻 𝓒𝓻𝓾𝔃 @_de_la_flor_ 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭! @marihartphoto

. ✺ Our bodies work extraordinarily well. ✺ They work so well in fact, that the body can slow/stop the labor completely in an effort to protect the fetus from outside harm. ✺ This is not a flaw. ✺ It's not the time to step in and intervene for "failure to progress". ✺ In fact, it's the time to step away and leave the mammal to birth. -Love, Flor Cruz @_de_la_flor_ ✺ 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭! @renaceralparto

. Hey everyone! Flor here 🤗 creator of @badassmotherbirther 🤘🏽 🐦Early bird price for class ends in 9 days! 💰Don't miss out on saving some coins! 💵A $75 deposit locks in your discount and goes towards your class fee! 👶🏽Join me for a 4 week online childbirth education series! 👩🏽‍🏫 Class is live via zoom with myself and another childbirth educator. 🎥 Recordings available if you can't attend live. 📚Student center with reading materials. 📧 Continued access to ask more questions. 💻Access to private Facebook group. 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝟏: Pain and pain management, anatomy, birth locations, how to choose a provider, what to pack, birthing Partner tips, meditation, and interventions & advocacy 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝟐: Stages and phases of labor, what to expect during a prenatal visit, timing contractions, when to leave for the birth location, meditation and interventions & more advocacy. 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝟑: How to build a birth plan, Labor preferences, common routine interventions, variations and complications of labor, a hard core birth video and even more advocacy. 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝟒: Fear Release, comfort measures, how to find the right doula for you, a soft peaceful birth video, more meditation, and of course - interventions & advocacy. 👨‍💻Visit www.yourbadassnaturalbirth.com to book your seat and discount! 🔗LINK IN BIO! 🫶🏽Please DM for a BIPOC discount!