Every bottle promises a baby, but nobody needs all fourteen. Casey Hartell explains which fertility supplements are worth taking, which to skip, and why testing comes before buying.

Half of fertility struggles are male related, and the sperm you make today won't show up for another four months. Here's what helps, what hurts, and when it's time for a semen analysis.

Fertility is a direct reflection of your overall health. Casey Hartell, DNP, CNM, WHNP breaks down 7 ways to prepare your body for pregnancy, from food to sleep to your phone habits.

Somewhere in the last few months, your partner told you she wants to have this baby at home. And somewhere in your head, a dozen worst-case scenarios started running on a loop — because you love her, and you love this baby, and "what if something goes wrong" isn't paranoia. It's you doing your job.

You have had your labs run. Your hormones came back normal. Your ultrasound looked fine. And yet, something still feels off. Maybe it is the bloating that shows up every afternoon. The constipation you have stopped mentioning at appointments because no one seems to connect it to anything else. The mood swings, the brain fog, the energy crash that coffee no longer fixes. Here is what most providers will not tell you: your gut may be at the center of all of it.

Here's the thing: a well-woman exam shouldn't feel like an assembly line experience. It shouldn't leave you feeling dismissed, uncomfortable, or confused about your own health. And it absolutely shouldn't require waiting years to get questions answered

If you are considering home birth in NC, you may have found conflicting information online about whether it is even legal. The more important question, though, is whether home birth is a safe and appropriate choice for your pregnancy.

Everything you need to know about laboring and delivering in water at home, from a certified nurse-midwife

Choosing a home birth midwife is one of the more personal hiring decisions you'll ever make. Here are the questions worth asking, and what to listen for in the answer.

One of the most common and most important questions expecting parents ask before choosing home birth is whether they're actually a good candidate. It's the right question to ask, and a responsible midwife will ask it too, throughout your entire pregnancy, not just at your first visit. At Wild Moon Midwifery, serving Leland, Wilmington, and throughout Brunswick and New Hanover Counties, NC, candidacy for home birth is based on ongoing risk screening — not a one-time checklist

Short answer: most home birth midwives — including Wild Moon Midwifery, a cash-pay practice serving Leland, Wilmington, and throughout Brunswick and New Hanover Counties, NC — don't bill insurance directly. But that doesn't mean insurance can't help cover the cost. The tool that makes this possible is called a superbill. What is a superbill? A superbill is an itemized receipt your midwife provides after you've paid for care, listing the services provided along with the medica

If most of what you know about home birth comes from a dramatic scene in a movie, it's worth resetting expectations. A home birth with a trained certified nurse midwife — like the care at Wild Moon Midwifery provides throughout Leland, Wilmington, and throughout Brunswick and New Hanover Counties, NC — is a carefully monitored event. It just happens to take place in your own home.

If you’ve started researching home birth in North Carolina — especially around Leland, Wilmington, and the surrounding Brunswick and New Hanover Counties — one question comes up before almost any other: how much does a home birth midwife actually cost? It’s a fair question, and it’s one a lot of practices are surprisingly vague about. Part of the reason is that midwifery care isn’t priced like a single hospital line item — it’s a full package of care that spans your entire 9+