Pelvic Dynamics in Transition and Second Stage

Brittany Sharpe McCollum, CCE(BWI), CD(DONA), is owner of Blossoming Bellies Wholistic Birth Services, a Philadelphia based business providing evidence based information, tools, and resources to expectant parents and birth professionals since 2006.  Brittany graduated cum laude from Temple University with a degree in Liberal Arts in 2005 and began her work in childbirth related studies soon after. She is a certified childbirth educator with Birth Works International, a birth doula certified with DONA with additional training from Birth Arts International, and is a certified breastfeeding counselor with Nursing Mothers Alliance. Brittany’s work in the childbirth field combines research based information with movement and hands-on practice to create workshops and trainings that are dynamic, energizing, and full of usable tools and techniques for supporting the physiologic birth process.  Her workshops for expectant parents have been rated Top Childbirth Class in Philly by CBS Philly and Best Birth Class several years in a row by Philadelphia Family Magazine.  She furthers her impact through providing doula support for expectant families in the greater Philadelphia area. Since 2012, the focus of Brittany’s work has ​centered greatly around pelvic biomechanics, fetal descent, rotation, and positioning, and its many variations, and the integration of pelvic dynamics into an efficient labor process.  Brittany developed the “Creating Space” training sessions for clinical and non-clinical providers, which she facilitates workshops ranging from one to seven hours for midwives, nurses obstetricians, doulas, childbirth educators, massage therapists, and chiropractors.  She has taught the sessions privately for obstetrical and midwifery practices and L&D nurses and student midwives as well as at conferences and in groups open to the general birth community.  She has facilitated trainings for Einstein Healthcare Network, Virtua Health System, Cherry Hill OB/GYN and Midwifery, Lifecycle Woman Care, The Birth Center in DE, University of Pennsylvania’s Nurse-Midwifery Program, and the midwives of the Lehigh Valley Health Network.  She is a yearly guest facilitator on anatomy, pelvic dynamics, and labor progress for the Maternity Care Coalition Community Doula Training and is the creator and facilitator of the reproductive health and pelvic anatomy training of the International Childbirth Education Association’s training for birth professionals.  Brittany is also the co-creator of a Prenatal Yoga Teaching Training with East Eagle Yoga. In addition to her work within her own clinical and non-clinical birth support community, Brittany has also presented at international conferences.  She has facilitated workshops on pelvic dynamics and fetal positioning at the Birth Works International Conference in 2016, the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association Summit in 2018, and the Evidence Based Birth Conference in 2019 in Kentucky.

She is a frequent contributor to panel discussions and events for the larger community.  Brittany has sat alongside obstetricians, midwives, and nurses at the Birth Works “Ask the Experts” event.  She was also a panelist at the screening of “Miriam: Home Delivery” and at the National Liberty Museum’s forum on “Labor and Birth Rights in Modern Medicine,” where she discussed reproductive justice and options for care alongside a certified nurse midwife and a certified professional midwife. Brittany also is a frequent organizer of local birth related events open to the greater community.  In addition to film screenings and birth worker gatherings, she has worked to bring events to the Philadelphia area that are led by perinatal professionals from other cities, including “Trauma-Informed Care: How To Support Survivors in the Perinatal Period” with Boston based organization, Resilient Birth and a workshop, book signing, and community brunch with Ina May Gaskin.