January 11, 2010, 4:35 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized
“You are not a pacifier; you are a Mom. You are the sun, the moon, the earth, you are liquid love, you are warmth, you are security, you are comfort in the very deepest aspect of the meaning of comfort…. but you are not a pacifier!” – Paula Yount
Many moms feel guilty for nursing their baby to sleep. Nursing your baby to sleep is not a bad thing to do! It’s very normal and developmentally appropriate for babies to nurse to sleep and to wake 1-3 times during the night for the first year or so. Some babies don’t do this, but they are the exception, not the rule. Many children, if given the choice, prefer to nurse to sleep through the second year and beyond. Nursing is obviously designed to comfort baby and tohelp baby sleep, and I’ve never seen a convincing reason why mothers shouldn’t use this wonderful “tool” that we’ve been given.
breastfeeding
Am I creating a bad habit by allowing baby to nurse to sleep?
Your baby’s desire to nurse to sleep is very normal and not a bad habit you’ve fostered. Don’t be afraid to nurse your baby to sleep or fear that you are perpetuating a bad habit. Baby often will seek the breast when sleepy or over-stimulated because it’s a comforting and familiar place to him. To associate the breast with wanting to relax enough to go to sleep makes perfect sense. As adults, we also do things to relax ourselves so we can go to sleep: we read, watch TV, get something warm to drink or a snack, deep breathe, get all snug under the covers, etc. Nursing does the same thing for your baby.
December 21, 2009, 6:41 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized
Surrendering to Birth
Childbirth is a normal, physiological process – a natural function of the female human body. Other normal physiological functions include sleeping, eating, taking a crap, breathing, etc.
All those other processes could be considered risky – for example, everytime you eat, you run the risk of choking to death on something, or falling ill from the food. But for the majority of the time, for the majority of us, we are able to eat without falling sick nor choking.
Take eating… We don’t take any preventive “just in case” measures everytime we eat. We simply eat without thinking about it, assuming that we will be fine.
So, why do we have problems trusting in the birth process, and that everything will be fine? Its different for each person, and to work through it, you need to know your own “why’s” and “becauses”.
Trust in birth. There is only one thing vital to the birthing process and that is a mother giving birth. Everything else is just decoration.
The true journey and progress is made within each individual mother and with each of her unique pregnancies and births. This is something only the woman giving birth can do, not anyone else and it would be arrogant to think that a birthing woman can’t do what she is already instinctively doing without support or assistance.
There is nothing to fear in birth. One should not be fearing complications, pain, inability to birth, intervention, unwanted presences, etc yet a lot of women have something to fear and that hinders the birthing process.
Women who freely choose to have a freebirth, often have worked out their issues beforehand and are left with a deep trust in birth and themselves.
Trust in it like you would in your ability to eat and your body’s ability to eat and process the food.
To give birth is to complete the cycle of creating a life, and it should be as sacred as the act of creating it.
Purebirth Australia – Unassisted pregnancy & unassisted childbirth resources. Information on obtaining birth certificates, maternity payments, lotus birth, solo freebirth, handling bleeding at home & other childbirth complications. Australian UC birth stories, photos & forums available as well!
When birth is as natural as possible, when the mother is allowed to labor freely without interference from anyone, her labor will go more quickly and safely.
When human beings intervene in the birth process, they introduce elements which the body does not know how to deal with. Drugs and medical procedures are obstacles to safe birth because they introduce variables into the birthing equation which are not part of your genetically encoded birth instructions. Your body responds pathologically to drugs in your system, or being confined to a bed and not being allowed to eat or drink. When your body is sending you signals and you ignore them, or you can’t feel them because you have been given drugs or are too afraid to understand what your body is telling you, complications and further intervention are almost inevitable.
Any drug given to you during labor will reach the baby within a few minutes of administration. Keep in mind that even though the dosage may be right for you, because the baby shares your blood system, the baby receives the same dosage as you do. I’m sure you have looked at children’s pain relief or cold medications. On the package they always tell you how much to administer according to the child’s age and body weight. When pain medication is administered to you, the mother, the dosage is administered according to your needs, not the baby’s. They have to give you enough to numb the pain; you are getting an adult dosage which is much too much for a baby. If that baby was out of the womb, and a doctor administered that dosage of pain medication directly to your baby, he would be cited for malpractice. Because your baby is smaller than you, and the amount of medication in his system is too much, it takes longer for it to leave his system than it does you. Babies of epidural mothers have more respiratory distress than other babies. After the baby is born, if will often sleep more than normal and be lethargic. Often these babies have no interest in breastfeeding for quite some time after birth. They do not experience the calm, alert state that naturally born babies experience. This quiet alert state is important to maximize postpartum bonding of mother and infant.
When your labor is induced or augmented with Pitocin, your contractions speed up and seem to occur back to back without a resting period in between. This can cause the uterus to become exhausted and unable to contract effectively. You may get dilated to a certain point and then make no further progress. At that point a cesarean section becomes necessary. Pitocin also increases the risk of uterine rupture because the contractions are much more intense. Women often start out with Pitocin and the contractions become so painful that they cannot cope without pain medication. So there are two drugs in your system instead of one.
Most hospitals require continuous electronic fetal monitoring. This procedure includes strapping an ultrasound device to your belly to monitor the contractions, your heart rate, and the baby’s heart rate. When you have this device attached, you must stay in bed. When you have epidural anesthesia you must also stay in bed. Lying in bed increases the length of labor, increases the pain of contractions, and reduces your ability to cope with contractions. You MUST be able to change positions as your body tells you to.
Lying in bed often produces changes in the fetal heart beat. Sometimes these changes represent true fetal distress, and sometimes they are interpreted as such when no danger exists. Either way, if the mother was allowed to get out of bed and move around, these heartbeat irregularities often return to normal. Sometimes the irregularities are simply the result of the normal birth process and are not distressful at all. Onlookers have no idea which is the case, so they always intervene. Studies of electronic fetal monitoring have found that results are not always interpreted correctly, and that although the results may actually indicate fetal distress, other tests performed on mother and infant do not always concur that distress exists. Where electronic fetal monitoring is used, there is always a rise in forceps deliveries and cesarean sections. Electronic fetal monitoring has not been shown to significantly improve the outcome for mother and baby, but it does increase the amount of intervention.
In the hospital, you are often given a diagnosis of “failure to progress” if you do not dilate at least one centimeter per hour. This diagnosis is based upon research done many years ago by a doctor named Friedman. He kept records of many, many births, and averaged the length and progress of these labors. He came up with what is now called “Friedman’s Curve.” The average progression is one centimeter per hour. If you don’t progress at least this fast, you will probably be given Pitocin. If you still aren’t progressing with Pitocin, you will be “offered” a cesarean section. Offered is a funny way to put it, since you will be told there is no other option.
How would you feel if you were told that the average woman is 5’4″ and that because you were 5’7″ you were abnormal? That is essentially what is being said to those who don’t progress at least one centimeter per hour. No one seems to realize that Friedman’s one centimeter per hour is an AVERAGE. Averages are made up of highs, middles, and lows added together. Some women progress in a steady manner, but many if not most labors progress in spurts. You may make steady progress for a while, then have a resting period, and then pick up again. Your labor is also affected by your emotional state, which is why distractions in the labor room must be avoided at all costs. Many times, a change in the emotional climate is all that is needed to jumpstart labor again.
Your body knows exactly how to give birth. All you must do is remove the obstacles so that your body can do what it knows how to do. Allowing the woman to control her own birth insures that things are going just they way they are supposed to go. Your body will not do something to sabotage your birth, unless obstacles make it impossible. Focus on learning how to remove every obstacle possible.
How to do? Sit with legs outstretched. Bend the right leg and place the right foot as far up on the left thigh as possible. Place the right hand on top of the bent right knee.
Hold the toes of the right foot with the left hand. While breathing in, gently move the right knee up towards the chest. Breathing out, gently push the knee down and try to touch the floor. The trunk should not move. Movement of leg should be achieved by the exertion of the right arm. Repeat with left leg. Slowly practice about 10 up and down movements with each leg. DO NOT STRAIN.
Benefits
It is an excellent practice for loosening of hip and knee joints, which shall enable faster delivery.
2. Poorna Titali Asan (Full Butterfly)
How to do? Sit with legs outstretched. Bend the knees and bring the soles of the feet together, keeping the heels as close to the body as possible. Fully relax the inner thighs. Clasp the feet with both hands.
Gently bounce the knees up and down, using the elbows as levers to press the legs down. Do not use any force. Repeat up to 20-30 times. Straighten the legs and relax.
Benefits
Tension from inner thigh muscles is relieved. Removes tiredness from legs.
How to do? Lie in the back. Interlock fingers of both hands and place hands beneath the head. Bend knees, keeping the soles of feet on the floor.
While breathing out lower the legs towards the right, trying to touch the knees on the floor. At the same time move the head towards the left, giving uniform twisting stretch to the entire spine. Repeat on the other side by bending legs towards left, and head towards right.
Benefits
Removes constipation, improves digestion. Relieves stiffness and strain of spine caused by prolonged sitting.
4. Chakki Chalan Asan (Churning the Mill Pose)
How to do?
Sit with legs stretched out in front of the body about one foot apart. Interlock fingers of both hands and hold the arms out straight in front of the chest.
Make large circular movements over both feet, trying to take the hands over the toes on the forward swing and coming as far back as possible on the backward swing. Practice 10 times in each direction.
Benefits
Excellent asan for toning the nerves and organs of pelvis and abdomen preparing them for pregnancy. Useful in regulating menstrual cycle. Also an excellent post natal exercise.
5. Kashta Takshan Asan (Chopping Wood Pose)
How to do? Sit in squatting pose with feet flat on the ground and one and a half feet apart. Clasp fingers of hand and place them on the floor between the feet. Straighten the arms and keep them straight throughout the practice. Elbows should be inside the knees. Imagine the action of chopping wood. Raise arms as high as possible, behind the head, stretching the spine upward. Look up towards the hands.
Make a downward stroke. Expel the breath making an “Ha” sound and removing all air from the lungs. Hands should return towards the feet. This is one round. Practice 5-10 rounds.
Benefits
It loosens the pelvic girdle and tones the pelvic muscles.
6. Marjari Asan (Cat Stretch Pose)
How to do?
Sit with buttocks on the heels (Vajrasan). Raise the buttocks and stand on the knees. Lean forward and place the hands flat on the floor. This is the starting position. Inhale while raising the head and depressing the spine so that the back becomes concave. Exhale, while lowering the head and stretching the spine upward.
At the end of the exhalation contract the abdomen and pull in the buttocks. Head will be now between the arms, facing the thighs. This is one round. It may be done for 5-10 times .Be careful not to strain yourself.
Benefits
This asan improves flexibility of the neck, shoulders and spine. Tones female reproductive system. Can be safely practiced during first 6 months of pregnancy.
7. Kati Chakrasan (Waist Rotating Pose)
How to do? Stand with the feet about half a meter apart and the arms by the sides. Inhale while raising the arms to shoulder level. Exhale and twist body to left. Bring right hand to left shoulder and wrap left arm around the back. Look over left shoulder. Hold breath for 2 seconds, inhale and return to starting position. Keep feet firmly on ground while twisting. Repeat on other side. Do twisting smoothly without any jerks. Do about 5-10 rounds.
Benefits
Tones waist, back and hips . Induces a feeling of lightness and used to relieve physical and mental tension.
8. Tadasan (Palm Tree Pose)
How to do? Stand with feet together and arms on the side. Raise arms over the head, interlock fingers and then turn the palms upward. Place hands over the head. Inhale and stretch the arms, shoulders and chest upwards. Raise heels to come up on the toes. Stretch whole body from top to bottom. Lower heels while exhaling and bring hands on top of the head. Relax for few seconds and repeat whole round 5-10 times.
Benefits
Helps develop physical and mental balance. Entire spine is stretched and loosened, helping to clear congestion of the spinal nerves. Also stretches rectos abdominal muscles keeping them nerves toned.
9. Utthanasan (Squat and Rise Pose)
How to do? Stand erect on feet about a meter apart, with toes turned out. Interlock fingers of both hands and let them hang loosely in front of the body. Slowly bend knees and lower buttocks. Straighten knees and return to upright position.
Benefits
Strengthens muscles of middle back, uterus, thighs and ankles.
10. Kandharasan (Shoulder Pose)
How to do? Lie flat on back. Bend knees, place soles of feet flat on the floor with the heels touching the buttocks. Feet and knees may be hip width apart. Grasp ankles with hands. Raise buttocks and arch back backward.
Try to raise the chest and navel as high as possible, without moving feet or shoulders. In final position, the body is supported by the head, neck, shoulders, arms and feet. Hold pose as long as it is comfortable. Release ankles and relax.
Benefits
Realigns the spine and relieves backache. It massages and stretches the colon and abdominal organs, improving digestion. Tones female reproductive organs and especially recommended for women who tend to miscarry. Should not be done in advanced stages of pregnancy.* Under expert guidance, it has been successfully used to turn the baby when it is a breech presentation.
Saves Lives. Currently there are 9 million infant deaths a year. Breastfeeding saves an estimated 6 million additional deaths from infectious disease alone.
Provides Initial Immunization. Breastmilk, especially the first milk (colostrum), contains anti-bacterial and anti-viral agents that protect the infant against disease, especially diarrhoea. These are not present in animal milk or formula. Breastmilk also aids the development of the infant’s own immune system.
Prevents Diarrhoea / Diarrhea. Diarrhoea is the leading cause of death among infants in developing countries. Infants under two months of age who are not breastfed are 25 times as likely to die of diarrhea than infants exclusively breastfed. Continued breastfeeding during diarrhea reduces dehydration, severity, duration, and negative nutritional consequences of diarrhea.
Provides Complete and Perfect Nutrition. Breastmilk is a perfect food that cannot be duplicated. It is more easily digested than any substitute, and it actually alters in composition to meet the changing nutritional needs of the growing infant. It provides all the nutrients and water needed by a healthy infant during the first 6 months of life. Formula or cow’s milk may be too dilute (which reduces its nutritional value) or too concentrated (so that it does not provide enough water), and the proportions of different nutrients are not ideal.
Maximizes a Child’s Physical and Intellectual Potential. Malnutrition among infants up to six months of age can be virtually eradicated by the practice of exclusive breastfeeding. For young children beyond six months, breastmilk serves as the nutritional foundation to promote continued healthful growth. Premature infants fed breastmilk show higher developmental scores as toddlers and higher IQs as children than those not fed breastmilk.
Promotes the Recovery of the Sick Child. Breastfeeding provides a nutritious, easily digestible food when a sick child loses appetite for other foods. When a child is ill or has diarrhea, breastfeeding helps prevent dehydration. Frequent breastfeeding also diminishes the risk of malnutrition and fosters catch-up growth following illness.
Supports Food Security. Breastmilk provides total food security for an infant’s first six months. It maximizes food resources, both because it is naturally renewing, and because food that would otherwise be fed to an infant can be given to others. A mother’s milk supply adjusts to demand; only extremely malnourished mothers have a reduced capacity to breastfeed.
Bonds Mother and Child. Breastfeeding immediately after delivery encourages the “bonding” of the mother to her infant, which has important emotional benefits for both and helps to secure the child’s place within the family. Breastfeeding provides physiological and psychological benefits for both mother and child. It creates emotional bonds, and has been known to reduce rates of infant abandonment.
Helps Birth Spacing. In developing countries, exclusive breastfeeding reduces total potential fertility as much as all other modern contraceptive methods combined. Mothers who breastfeed usually have a longer period of infertility after giving birth than do mothers who do not breastfeed.
Benefits Maternal Health. Breastfeeding reduces the mother’s risk of fatal postpartum hemorrhage, the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and of anemia. By spacing births, breastfeeding allows the mother to recuperate before she conceives again.
Saves Money. Breastfeeding is among the most cost-effective of child survival interventions. Households save money; and institutions economize by reducing the need for bottles and formulas. By shortening mothers’ hospital stay, nations save foreign exchange. There are none of the expenses associated with feeding breastmilk substitutes (e.g. the costs of fuel, utensils, and special formulas, and of the mother’s time in formula preparation).
Is Environment-friendly. Breastfeeding does not waste scarce resources or create pollution. Breastmilk is a naturally-renewable resource that requires no packaging, shipping, or disposal.
Breastfeeding is Clean. It does not require the use of bottles, nipples, water and formula which are easily contaminated with bacteria that can cause diarrhoea.
Milk intolerance is very rare in infants who take only breastmilk.
Oxytocin is more than just the hormone responsible for uterine contractions. When it is injected into the brain of a mammal, even a male or virgin rat, it induces maternal behavior, i.e., the need to take care of pups. One of the greatest peaks of oxytocin a woman can have in her life is just after childbirth, if the birth has occurred without any intervention. It is also necessary for the “milk ejection reflex.” In fact, oxytocin is involved in any episode of sexual life, and both partners release oxytocin during intercourse. It is even involved in any aspect of love and friendship: when we share a meal with companions, we increase our levels of oxytocin.Morphine-like hormones, commonly called endorphins, also play important roles in the birth process. Up to the birth of the baby, both mother and fetus release their own endorphins, so that during the hour following birth they are still impregnated with opiates. It is well known that opiates induce a state of dependency. When mother and baby haven’t yet eliminated their endorphins and are close to each other, the beginning of a deep bond is created. In fact, when sexual partners are close to each other and impregnated with opiates, another kind of bonding may result that follows exactly the same model as the bonding between mother and baby.
It is not only the mother who is releasing hormones during labor and delivery. During the last contractions, the fetus is also releasing a high level of hormones of the adrenaline family. One of the effects of this is that the baby is alert at birth, with eyes wide open and pupils dilated. Mothers are fascinated by the gaze of their newborn babies. It seems that this eye-to-eye contact is an important feature of the beginning of the mother-baby relationship, which probably helps the release of the love hormone, oxytocin. Both mother and baby are in a complex hormonal balance that will not last long and will never happen again. Physiologists today can interpret what ethologists have known for half a century by studying the behavior of animals: where the development of the capacity to love is concerned, there is a critical, sensitive period just after the birth.
More than 50 percent of moms-to-be complain of back pain in the last half of pregnancy. Back muscles get a triple whammy during pregnancy: your ligaments, which are relaxing to allow for easier passage of the baby through the pelvis, are looser all over, putting more strain on your muscles, especially those supporting your spine; your overstretched abdominal muscles force you to rely more on your back to support your weight; and the change in your posture and the curvature of your spine as you compensate for your front-heavy body creates still more work for the back muscles. In the third trimester especially, these overworked muscles and back ligaments will protest in pain.
6 Simple Strategies to Prevent Backache:
1. Perform simple low-impact aerobic exercises such as swimming and biking to strengthen abdominal and lower back muscles.
2. Wear sensible shoes. Both high heels and totally flat shoes can strain back muscles. Try shoes with wide, medium-height heels (no higher than two inches) for dress, and walking shoes for casual wear.
3. Avoid jogging on hard surfaces, such as concrete or asphalt, which can be jarring to the spine. Instead of jogging try fast walking, and on natural surfaces like grass, earth or sand, which are easier on the muscles and joints than pounding a hard surface.
4. Don’t twist your spine. When you stand or sleep be sure your shoulders and hips are aligned. Avoid awkward reaches, such as getting a heavy box down from the top of a closet or lifting a sleeping toddler from a car seat. If you must under undertake activities that call for awkward lifting, see if you can rethink the job. Consider unbuckling a toddler’s car seat, for example, and turning the seat toward you before you lift your child out.
5. Avoid sitting or standing for long periods of time. When you do sit, use a footstool to raise your knees a bit higher than your hips and take pressure off your lower back. If you must stand in one position for a while, put one foot forward and place most of your weight on it for a few minutes, then switch your weight to the other foot. Better yet, prop the forward foot up on a stool, telephone book, drawer, or cabinet ledge.
6. Sleep on your side, and frequently shift sleeping positions.
4 Safe Ways to Treat Backache:
1. Rest. Usually, simply resting strained muscles will ease the pain.
2. Soak in warm water. Try soaking in warm water or standing in the shower with a jet of warm water focused on the painful area.
3. Pack the back. Many mothers swear by a hot or cold pack (or alternating both) on the painful area. If baby pressing against your spine seems to be the cause of pain, as is common during the final month, try the knee-chest position for a while.
4. Massage it. Ask your mate to give you a back massage. Practice these back massages now so he can later become a useful masseur to help ease the pain of back labor.
The placenta is a beautiful organ. It is the only organ that develops and grows within another organ. It is responsible for growing a healthy baby. It is the bridge between a mother and her baby in the womb. In some cultures, it is called the called bucha-co-satthi, meaning baby’s friend.(1) Others see the placenta as the baby’s protective older sibling.(2) For these reasons alone, it is unique, amazing and beautiful.
The baby and the placenta are made from the same cells, which are formed through combination of the egg and the sperm. Once implantation occurs on about day six after fertilization, the gestation period begins and the fertilized egg and the placenta begin to develop separately, still connected. The placenta stays attached to the uterine wall while the fetus has the ability to move around the uterus.
The placenta is the fetus’s only source of food, blood, oxygen, vitamins and nutrients. All of these vital resources are carried from placenta to fetus via the cord. These resources come from the mother’s bloodstream, which is why a healthy nutritious balance of whole foods is so important during pregnancy. Iron is especially important because iron increases the hemoglobin level in the blood; hemoglobin carries oxygen in the body. Once the baby is born and the cord stops pulsing, that baby is no longer getting its oxygen from the placenta. When baby takes a first breath, the lungs begin to work and baby begins breathing on his or her own. In order for the baby to receive all the blood and oxygen required, the cord must stop pulsing before being cut.
The placenta is an incredibly important and spiritual piece of life. It has many uses, both spiritual and medicinal. It can provide whatever is needed and should not be wasted. We are responsible for treating the placenta with respect for everything that it has done.
Kelly Graff is a student at Birthwise Midwifery School.
Come to me, My Child
Secret longing of my inner heart
Breath of spirit
Wandering the cosmos
Choosing your next lifepath
Seeking sanctuary in my wonb
Visions of you stir my dreams
Your gentle essence drifting inward
Merging into matter
Coming into consciousness
Birthing into being
Your tender wisdom speaks
The ancient knowledge of a mother’s power
Our bodies grow together
Two as one
Turning round, in birthing dance
You lead me
Opening the circle corridor
Descending into unhindered ecstasy
Into my arms
The laboring woman can make the most of these positions by combining them with movement, chanting, natural breathing, visualization and massage. However, she should be able to rest whenever she feels like it, particularly in early labor. Encourage her to follow her inner urges. Her instinct and intuition will guide her when she allows her body’s wisdom to take over.
Standing and Walking – Stimulates contractions. The downward force of gravity assists the baby’s head to descend which in turn helps to dilate the cervix. Will also help to increase the efficiency of contractions and lessens discomfort, particularly when she leans forward with each contraction.
Helpful in early labor when the baby is in a good position – sometimes used for most of the labor.
Sitting upright and leaning forward on a firm chair, stool or toilet seat. Can be very comfortable. Her body is well supported while upright; good downward force. A nice position for being massaged because the back is so accessible.
To relax and to be in control with minimum effort.
Kneeling – An instinctive position particular in active labor when contractions are strong. Gives a sense of being literally on top of the contractions.A way of increasing privacy and concentration.Helps to feel centered. Easy to relax forward over a pile of cushions, a beanbag or a chair; makes it easy to change into different positions like standing, half kneeling – half squatting, squatting and all fours.
Helpful when labor starts in the night or when the woman is tired, needs privacy or seeks comfort.
Induces a feeling of control and release.Can be helpful for internals.
Particularly useful for active labor or for helping a posterior baby rotate.
All fours – lessens the force of gravity, thus reducing the speed of descent while providing the baby with enough space to move on; lessens the intensity of the contractions; allows for a wide range of movement, facilitates the ability to produce low noises and helps to feel centered; helpful in rotating a posterior baby.
Induces a feeling of control, makes breathing easy and gives privacy. Good when suffering from vulval or varicose veins.
Knee – Chest – Takes pressure off the back. Slows down a violent or extremely fast birth, thus helps to cope. Helps to create a time-out when needed.Extremely valuable in helping a baby to turn to a better birth position and to heal a swelling on the cervix (4).
Least pressure. Good for focusing and privacy or to take some time out. Can relieve pressure on the baby. Best position for an anterior lip to go down.
Lying on Side – If labour is progressing well she may choose this position for comfort and a slow, gentle birth. Good resting position for a long birth. Take care that she rolls fully to the left side into the recovery position with cushions to prop up her head, right leg and under her right arm; use a small cushion as a wedge under her left hip.
Make her comfortable with big cushions in her back, to rest her arm on. Keeping her left leg long while the right leg is bent and flops right over to the left as in the recovery position, put a small wedge under her left hip.
Two facts regarding posterior position have been authoritatively confirmed by published prospective studies.
The first fact is that worrying pregnant women about the position of their baby in the womb is useless. A large Australian randomized controlled trial involving 2547 pregnant women has eloquently demonstrated that hands and knees exercise with pelvic rocking from 37 weeks’ gestation until the onset of labor does not reduce the incidence of persistent occiput posterior position at birth.
The second fact is that fetal position changes are common during labor, with the final position established close to birth. This is the conclusion of a prospective study of 1562 women to evaluate changes in fetal position during labor by using serial ultrasound examination. Among babies who were posterior late in labor, only 20.7% appeared to be posterior at birth. Finally, when the mother had no epidural, the overall rate of posterior position at birth was only 3.3%, although this study was conducted in conventional departments of obstetrics, where the basic needs of birthing women could not easily be met. The rate was 12.9% in the epidural group.
When taking into account these two well-documented facts, focusing on the right question becomes easy: what factors can influence the rotation process during labor?
The answer is simple: The factors that can facilitate the rotation process are those that make a typical fetus ejection reflex possible.The passage toward the fetus ejection reflex is inhibited by any interference with the state of privacy. The ejection reflex does not occur in the presence of a birth attendant who behaves like a “coach,” an observer, a helper, a guide or a “support person.”
The fetus ejection reflex can be inhibited by a vaginal exam, by an eye-to-eye contact or by the imposition of a change of environment. It does not occur if the intellect of the laboring woman is stimulated by rational language (e.g., “Now you are at complete dilation; you must push”). It does not occur if the room is not warm enough or if the lights are bright. The best situation I know for a typical fetus ejection reflex is when no one is around but an experienced, low profile, silent, motherly midwife sitting in a corner and knitting.
The image of the “knitting midwife” should not be understood in a literal sense. Instead, it symbolizes the authentic midwife as a protective mother figure whose own level of adrenaline is maintained as low as possible. Noticeably, when the conditions for an ejection reflex are met, most birthing women find spontaneously complex and asymmetrical bending-forward postures that probably play an important part in facilitating the rotation of the baby’s head.
Persistent posterior position at birth will become exceptionally rare on the day when the meaning of privacy is understood and authentic midwifery has been rediscovered.
- Michel Odent, MD, excerpted from “Occiput Posterior Position Should Be Exceptionally Rare at Birth”
Midwives try to convey these simple truths: Birth is not a clinical exercise. It is not a medical procedure. In nearly every instance, it should not be major surgery. Nor should it even routinely include minor surgery. Rather than being a time of weakness with beds, shots, fasting, IVs and wheelchairs, it is a time of energy and strength. Raw power. Mightiness. Courage. Sometimes our victories are great: a beautiful home VBAC after doctors had convinced the woman her body was defective. Sometimes the victories are small: a routine hospital birth, yet no drugs were taken to dull the senses. Still, considering the tales of woe amassed in Nancy’s book, we see we have work to do, a long way to go. Birth abuse continues to take place. In fact, how many hospital birth horror stories have you heard? And yet, how many times have you been asked, “Just what, exactly, does a midwife do?” or “Mid-what?” Considering that only a small percentage of women choose to birth at home, we recognize that many women don’t even know what this choice could mean for them.
How to provide a prenatal environment that nurtures your growing baby.
By Thomas R. Verny with Pamela Weintraub
Where do we first experience the nascent emotions of love, rejection, anxiety, and joy? In the first school we ever attend—in our mother’s womb. Naturally, the student brings into this situation certain genetic endowments: intelligence, talents, and preferences. However, the teacher’s personality exerts a powerful influence on the result. Is she interested, patient, and knowledgeable? Does she spend time with the student? Does she like him, love him? Does she enjoy teaching? Is she happy, sad, or distracted? Is the classroom quiet or noisy, too hot or too cold, a place of calm and tranquility or a cauldron of stress?
Numerous lines of evidence and hundreds of research studies have convinced me that it makes a difference whether we are conceived in love or in hate, anxiety or violence. It makes a difference whether the mother desires to be pregnant and wants to have a child or whether that child is unwanted. It makes a difference whether or not the mother feels supported by family and friends, is free of addictions, lives in a stable, stress-free environment, and receives good prenatal care.
All these things matter enormously, not so much by themselves but as part of the ongoing education of the unborn child.
Nurturers and Managers
Having a baby is, for most people, an act of faith. It represents a belief in a better tomorrow, not just for themselves but for the world. But unless we actively improve our understanding and treatment of the unborn baby and the young child, that faith will go unrewarded because we may blindly pass on to our children the neurotic parenting we ourselves may have received. One key to parenting is flexibility. Those who can adapt to their baby’s wants and needs will be nurturing and responsive. Those who cannot change their lives to accommodate the child—who expect the baby to adapt to them instead of the other way around—may be too rigid and uninvolved to parent well.
These days that task is harder than ever, given the frequent necessity for both parents in a family to work. As parents who work, we delegate responsibilities—including the care of our children and our homes. To keep our lives afloat, to juggle all the elements, we tend to become as managerial in our private lives as we are in our jobs.
It is during pregnancy that parents—those who work as well as those who don’t—must create a balance for living. I urge both partners to examine their commitments and to create a plan for increasing their time away from work so they can spend more time at home with the baby.P
Anxiety over milk supply
Breast milk is made on demand. The more often a baby feeds, the more milk will be produced. If breast-feeding sessions are frequent and long enough, the milk supply will rarely be inadequate. Parents can be reassured that their infants are receiving enough milk if they have six or more wet diapers a day while exclusively breast-feeding. If a parent still feels anxious about the adequacy of the nourishment provided by breast-feeding alone, weekly weighing may allay fears. A weight gain of 0.38 pound (190 grams) per week is evidence of sufficient nourishment and growth.
Some low-birth-weight infants will require intensive care and ventilation in the hospital. Mothers of these infants often have difficulty continuing to produce breast milk. These mothers must rely on expressing breast milk manually because their babies cannot effectively breast-feed. Pumping milk is much less efficient than breast-feeding. Due to the inadequacy of pumping milk, milk production can decline. In low-birth-weight infants in an intensive care setting, skin-to-skin holding over a four-week period postpartum has increased a mother’s milk supply.88
In contrast, women who did not participate in skin-to-skin holding of their low-birth-weight infants did not experience an increase in milk production. These findings may have implications for all mothers experiencing a diminishing milk supply. In addition, some doctors will prescribe a day of rest to busy mothers whose milk supply seems to be lessening.89 Spending a day in close and relaxed contact with one’s newborn, with its associated increase in frequency of feedings, can effectively increasing milk supply.
Stress and fatigue can greatly inhibit the let-down reflex, lessening the production of milk. In a clinical trial involving mothers of premature infants, mothers who listened to an audiocassette tape based on relaxation and imagery techniques increased milk production by more than 60%, compared with mothers not listening to the tape.90 Whether relaxation techniques would increase milk supply in the mothers of full-term infants is not known.
Martin Spielman Writes about Alex, Brandon and Grace Spielman’s Births
Our first son, Alexander, was born at a hospital and it was a horror story that fortunately my wife cannot remember a lot of to this day, which is better, since I can. It involved a disinterested staff and a doctor who had better things to do
We were sent home twice for not progressing and when Cherie finally started to progress the tiniest fraction hospital policy decreed that all and food and drink were to be withheld. It had been a long 2 days and we had had enough and so we signed ourselves out. Finally we returned and Cherie was progressing slowly, but after several hours the staff decided there was a problem being reported to them by the fetal monitor
We were told that since the baby’s heart rate was not climbing enough during contractions that an internal monitor was necessary. When we protested the doctor said, “You don’t want your baby to die do you?” So the doctor broke Cherie’s amniotic sac, attached the fetal monitor and put Cherie on Pitocin. Within 10 minutes (2 contractions) Cherie had gone from 3 cm to 10 not, I believe, because of the Pitocin but more along the lines of what her family history had going for her (Cherie was born on the way to the hospital.) The staff was shocked but said it was OK to go ahead and push, they were not prepared for the result.
Within 5 minutes of starting to push Alex’s head started to crown. The staff rushed Cherie to the delivery room, demanding she not push (as if.) I tried to take some pictures of Alex being born, but the nurses starting yelling at me for being at, The “Wrong” end of the table. The doctor was busy fiddling and did not notice Alexander emerging, and ended up lunging and catching him with one hand. As soon as Alex was born the doctor panicked and called for the pediatrician “Stat,” because Alex was not “Responding properly.” The less panic oriented pediatrician gave Alex the once over and declared, “He’s sleeping.” Obviously Doctor Dopey, had not considered that Cherie was not the only one having endured the 60 hour labor.
Our second son, Brandon, was born at the Familyborn birth center and we were very pleased. I even got to catch the baby. Cool, a must for all real fathers. I was shocked by the lack of poking and prodding this time around. The best part of Brandon Michael’s birth was when Cherie’s water broke. Cherie had not yet broken her amniotic sac by the time she was ready to push so she had to do it while pushing which was very uncomfortable for her, and a great relief once it did happen.
Cherie was in the middle of a full blown pushing contraction when her water was ready to break, and it was quite a show! The amniotic fluid sprayed 6 feet, past the end of the bed and on to the floor. Actually it looked like we were at the bottom of a log flume when the spray erupted. 10 minutes later Brandon was born with the most beautiful blond hair.
As we approached the midway point of our third pregnancy the center told us that they were closing down their on-site birth facilities and that we were out of luck. And so we decided on a home birth. Cherie’s labor actually started almost a full week before Grace was born. Cherie called me to come home at 8:30 am Saturday, 39.5 weeks into her pregnancy.
We were sure this baby was going to be special because she had stayed in so long, both her brothers had been born at 37 weeks and were 6lb 10oz and 7lb 1oz. Cherie had false labor twice before, so we were so worn down that we did not get our hopes up. By Sunday Cherie was still going steady, but not too strong so her midwife came by for a check/cheer up and found her to be 1 cm and 50% effaced. So we unfortunately prepared for the long haul since both of Cherie’s previous labor’s had lasted 60 hours. Sunday night and Monday passed without much fanfare, although Cherie’s labor began to take its toll on her sleep, so that by Tuesday, during her weekly appointment, Midwife Louise and trainee Martha were concerned, and we created a plan of action.
By Wednesday stress had taken its toll and the midwives rushed up to check on Cherie’s now stronger contractions early in the morning. After setting up and determining that Cherie was now 3cm 60% they stayed expecting a prompt arrival, they were to be disappointed. Cherie continued to putter along the rest of the day, but since she had progressed Louise and Martha thought it best to let nature take its course. The midwives agreed that since Cherie was tiring, an understatement, that unless something happened that, in accordance with our plan of action Friday morning she would take castor oil to stabilize and stimulate her labor. On Friday at 9:30 am Cherie took the castor oil “Milkshake” as prescribed, and boy did it ever work.
By 12:30 Cherie was into a strong, stable contraction pattern. Cherie became restless and it was nice to be able to waddle her around our own block. By 4:30pm Cherie’s water finally succumbed and things became intense. With the first push I could tell this baby was bigger than we had imagined just by how high Cherie’s belly rose. Louise and Martha gave a constant stream of direction and suggestion, including having Cherie change positions twice. Shortly before Grace was born Louise brought in Alex who sat by his mom’s head and was the official baby hat holder and coach. As the baby’s head started to crown I warned Martha and Louise to watch out in case I lost my balance since Cherie had a tendency to “blast” babies out.
Alex had to be caught with one hand by the doctor as he turned to get something and Brandon had gone from crowning directly to being exposed up to his elbows with one mighty push. I knew this had to be a big baby when it ended up taking Cherie two entire pushes to expel the head and another one to get out Grace’s body, which I happily caught without incident. Grace arrived at 5:19 pm and weighed in at 9lb 4 oz.
“After having four children in the hospital my wife wanted to try a homebirth. She talked me into it and this was our experience. We had three more at home after this experience.”
Push baby’s bottom into your body with the side (the side of your baby finger) of your forearm
This will bring him towards your breast with the nipple pointing to the roof of his mouth
Mother’s hand under the baby’s face, palm up
Head supported but NOT pushed in against breast
Head tilted back slightly
Baby’s body and legs wrapped in around mother
Use your whole arm to bring the baby onto the breast, when mouth wide
Chin and lower jaw touch breast first
WATCH LOWER LIP, aim it as far from base of nipple as possible, so tongue draws lots of breast into mouth
Move baby’s body and head together – keep baby uncurled
Once latched, top lip will be close to nipple, areola shows above lip. Keep chin close against breast
Mother’s View While Latching Baby
Need mouth wide before baby moved onto breast. Teach baby to open wide/gape :
Move baby toward breast, touch top lip against nipple
Move mouth away SLIGHTLY
Touch top lip against nipple again, move away again
Repeat until baby opens wide and has tongue forward
Or, better yet, run nipple along the baby’s upper lip, from one corner to the other, lightly, until baby opens wide
Mother’s View While Latching Baby
Move baby, not breast!
Mother’s View of Nursing Baby
Recommendations for the Mother
Mother’s posture
Sit with straight, well-supported back
Trunk facing forwards, lap flat
Support breast and firm inner breast tissue by raising breast slightly with fingers placed flat on chest wall and thumb pointing up (if helpful, also use sling of tensor bandage around breast)
Baby’s position before feed begins
On pillow can be helpful
Nipple points to the baby’s upper lip or nostril
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Baby’s body placed not quite tummy to tummy, but so that baby comes up to breast from below and baby’s upper eye makes eye contact with mother’s.
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Entice baby to gape
Baby’s head and shoulders supported so head extends slightly as baby moved to breast
Touch baby’s top lip to nipple and move baby away slightly and repeat until baby opens wide with tongue forward
Move baby quickly on to breast
Head tilted back slightly, pushing in across shoulders so chin and lower jaw make first contact (not nose) while mouth still wide open
Keep baby uncurled (means tongue nearer breast)
Lower lip is aimed as far from nipple as possible so baby’s tongue draws in maximum amount of breast tissue
Cautions
Mother needs to avoid
Pushing her breast across her body
Chasing the baby with her breast
Flapping the breast up and down
Holding breast with scissor grip
Not supporting breast
Twisting her body towards the baby instead of slightly away
Aiming nipple to center of baby’s mouth
Pulling baby’s chin down to open mouth
Flexing baby’s head as is brought to breast
Moving breast into baby’s mouth instead of bringing baby to breast
Moving baby onto breast without a proper gape
Not moving baby onto breast quickly enough at height of gape
Having baby’s nose touch breast first and not the chin
Holding breast away for baby’s nose (not necessary if the baby is well latched on, as the nose will be away from the breast anyway)
There are a lot of ways to use Maca Root for better health. One way that is often overlooked is its effects our body during pregnancy.
Is Maca Root Safe to Use While Pregnant? Maca Root can be consumed safely throughout your whole pregnancy. Maca Root is actually not technically an herb. It is a whole food. It is actually part of a daily diet consumed by the people of Peru. It works very well to balance hormones and keep progesterone levels high while you are pregnant. This can be especially beneficial during the first trimester. There are no hormones in the Maca itself, so there is no need to worry about over doing it in anyway. It works by stimulating and healing the pituitary gland so that it can function at a higher efficiency. There is no way to overdose on Maca Root; there is no toxicity from it. Worrying about overdosing on Maca is the same as worrying about overdosing on potatoes. It is a food, not a drug.
Maca Root Supports a Healthy Pregnancy There are vast amounts of nutrients found in Maca Root. It can almost be a pre-natal vitamin in itself due to the large amounts of vitamins, minerals and amino acids contained within. Maca Root helps to ensure that your unborn baby is getting the nutrients that he or she needs.
Choosing the Right Maca Root There are a lot of different brands of Maca Root out there. I have successfully only used one kind of Maca Root throughout two of my pregnancies. This is because the extracts and gelatinized versions do not contain the whole food, therefore they will not provide the same benefits. I highly recommend Organic Raw Maca Powder.
How to Eat Maca Root Maca Root tastes like it sounds, like a root. The taste can easily be compared to that of a potato, but slightly more bitter. This is why it is best to disguise the taste in food.
Beautiful Natural Home Birth of Hudson James attended by a midwife. Katie’s son was asynclitic and needed assistance coming through the birth canal
Midwifery Today published the article by Valerie a while ago that presents very clear instructions on how to turn the baby’s head. IT WORKS. She has taught me the difference between intervention and intercession. We also use visualization, relaxation, talking-to-the-baby, pulsatilla ( for assisting the turn) and gelsemium ( for lips and rings). At a hospital labor support birth this past week, when the doctor announced that it was time for the pit and epidural, to see if we could “get things rolling” – I spoke to my couple. I told them that they had hired me to assist them with a natural birth, and that I was absolutely convinced that they could do this – as long as the baby’s head was lined up well. I told them that in other cultures there is no pitocin or epidurals – women do not have these as options – and yet they have their babies!! I told them that we are mammals – and that mammals have their babies. I told them that I had unwavering faith in a woman’s body’s ability to give birth. We adjusted the baby’s head ( in private) and the baby was born soon after.
At a labor support birth this past week, the midwife who came on call had heard me speak at an MT conference in Oregon a few years ago. She was very warm and friendly, and told me that I could “do this birth” ( by the way, I do not “do” births – I attend them, or assist at them, or help to “receive” the baby with the parent’s permission). I told her that it seemed necessary to adjust the head – she said “By all means please try! I have never done that!” Within a few minutes of the adjustment, the woman began to push and birthed her baby. It had been fifteen years since she had had a baby – the last birth had been a horror show with a “stuck” baby and a resulting forceps delivery – and she was 43 years old.
One last note. One of the women whom I attended had been at 7 centimeters for about four hours when I was called to her birth. Her cervix was swollen and not very giving. She had been told to pant and blow – not to push as it would further swell her cervix. The baby’s head was asynclitic. I adjusted the head, and told her to push – much to the dismay of those around me. This did not come from new-midwife uppity-ness or arrogance – but from my intuition – ” Just push, Kate – just push and lets see what happens.” Within a few moments, she was fully dilated. In some situations, a cervix that has been at 7 for that long probably wants to “go” just as much as the mom wants it too! It just needed the baby’s head more well applied to assist it in its final act of “disappearance”!
Cephalopelvic Disproportion is rare yet is vastly overdiagnosed. Here are the stories of a few women who were told their babies were too big for their pelvises by one care provider, but fortunately sought a second opinion and subsequently birthed an even BIGGER baby through that same “small” pelvis.
VBAC = vaginal birth after cesarean
HBAC = homebirth after cesarean
HBA3C = homebirth after 3 cesareans
UBA2C = unassisted birth after 2 cesarean
Cephalopelvic Disproportion (CPD)
by Kelly Milotay
What Is CPD?
Cephalopelvic Disproportion (CPD) is the medical diagnosis used when an infant’s head is declared too big to fit through the mother’s pelvis. Often, this diagnosis is made after the woman has labored for some time, but other times, it is entered into a woman’s medical record before she even labors. A misdiagnosis of CPD accounts for many of the unnecessary cesareans performed in North America and around the world annually. This diagnosis does not have to impact a woman’s future birthing decisions. Many actions can be taken by the expectant mother to increase her chances of birthing vaginally.
Understanding the Mechanics of Birth
A woman’s pelvis is flexible and is made to open during birth. When there is interference with the birth process (induction before baby is ready, mother’s movement is restricted, etc.), the pelvis is not able to open to its maximum. The baby’s head molds (changes shape) during labor and delivery in order to fit through the pelvis. Neither the pelvis nor the baby’s head are fixed in one position; both expand and shift as labor progresses. A birthing woman’s pelvis is most likely to expand freely and accommodate the baby when the following conditions are present:
The birth takes place when the baby is ready and when natural birth hormones are present.The laboring woman moves freely to her comfort level.Adequate time is allowed for the molding of the baby’s head.
Choose a moment in which you and your child are relaxed and calm. A half hour after the baby has eaten is recommended.
Be sure that the room temperature is warm (78 degrees Fahrenheit). Undress the baby completely, if the weather is cold or humid cover the areas of the baby’s body that are not being massaged.
Put the baby on a soft surface so your baby will feel comfortable and secure. Keep some little pillows handy.
It is a good idea to put some cream on your hands and rub them together so they will be soft and warm.
Basically the massage flows from the head to the toes. With soft and gentle touches you will work on the head, face, shoulders, arms, chest, stomach and legs.
While you massage your baby look tenderly at him/her. Doing this you stimulate all the senses of the baby and establish a more intense visual and tactile communication. Feel free to speak to your baby, do not inhibit yourself.
Remember that your touches should be tender do not make mechanic motions. Try to be flexible by not keeping a rigid routine.
If the baby wants to change position let them do so. Do not force your baby to keep a position, you can go back to these areas later on.
Technique
Pressure to use:
Close your eyes and press your eyelids. The pressure you should use is the same as pressing your eyelids without any discomfort.
In the small areas use your fingertips. In bigger areas use the palm of your hand. “Little strokes” mean to touch your baby’s skin gently and “massage” is to softly move the muscles under the skin.
Step by Step Description
The head:
Touch the forehead, temples and the base of the cranium
Eyebrows and eyelids
Nose
Cheeks
The area around the mouth
Ears and surrounding area
Jaws:
The frontal part of the neck
(Remember doing this very gently)
Make small strokes and massage the posterior part of the neck with slow movements down to the shoulders.
Softly put both hands on his/her shoulders. Caress the baby from the neck to the shoulders in the direction of his chest.
Shoulders and arms: Form a ring with your fingers and thumb around your child’s arm. Begin to caress around the armpit and then go down along the arm. Be very careful when you arrive at the elbow, it is a very sensitive region. In the wrist you can gently practice turning motions using. Remember to take great care with all these motions.
Stomach:
Massage the stomach in a circular way (the genitalia area is excluded from the massage). Caress the abdomen moving your hands clockwise beginning below the ribs.
Legs:
Caress each leg with your whole hand, press gently on the thighs. Slightly flex the legs and knees pressing the thighs gently against the body.
Heels and feet:
A foot massage is very relaxing. Begin by putting a soft pressure on each toe, then the foot and return to the toes again. Sometimes a foot massage can help reduce stomach pain. Caress gently all the toes. Apply circular movements at the heels.
Back:
Turn your baby around.
Begin with large and slow movements that include head, neck, back and legs always in one direction.
Give your baby soft strokes on the shoulders and back and massaging with your fingertips with circular movements. Do not massage the spinal cord, only put your hands over it and let the baby feel the warm sensation. You can even make small circular movements on your baby’s back.
Put your hands at the top of the legs and begin gently caressing while working your way down towards the foot.
When you arrive to the feet start again from the top. With soft and slow movements finish the massage starting once again at the head and back to the toes.
REMEMBER:
Repeat these exercises when you want to have a few special moments with your baby.
Do them when you have adequate time for you and your child.
Do not feel impatient if the baby does not cooperate…simply try again later.
Finally: There are many ways to express your love, this is ONLY ONE of them…
for the love of our child we chose a NATURAL water birth.
moments after the “Certified Health Nut’s” baby was born in water at home the midwifes test him for health. he is very calm, no crying and very healthy.
we used 5W (last 5 weeks) herbs as it came highly recomended for not tearing the vagina……..it worked……..also a lot of Tradicional Medicinals pregnancy tea, the midwifes said it was a very healthy placenta.
for the mom it was very important to rebalance the endocrine system/hormones so we used a lot of Sumacazon
hormones play a critical role in post partum depression and other complications so we wanted the best for restoration and rejuvenation. [Birthowl: See also Placenta- the Gift of Life by Cornelia Enning. The Placenta used medicinally prevents naturally postpartum depression and restores and rejuvenates.]
zero screaming for mommy, to induce labor we walked around the block. when she was ready she got in the tub and 16 minutes later this guy came out.
the maori shaman/midwives i work with talk about many of the imbalances of the world today stemming from our treatment of children at birth. when drugs,
forceps, scalpels are NOT used, and instead babies are welcomed into the world by the hands of their parents, we are imprinting them with love NOT fear.
there are infinite ways that a loving and gentle birth
experience effects the life of that child and all whom they come into contact with.
many are scientifically documented (see ‘primal health research institute’s data base) but science aside, there are the benefits that one can determine
with common sense.
birth is our first impression, and when our first
impression of life, or anything or anyone for that matter, is one of love, peace, welcoming and grace, we tend to continue our life and our relationships with that as our foundation.
it is not always possible to do everything for our childrens’ well being that we may wish to, once they are in the world, but it is within our power to offer them the gift of birthing consciously with the intention of welcoming them with love!
5 months later we see all the natural tools paid off as the baby and mom are energetic, strong and healthy!
Herbal Allies for Pregnancy Problems
By Susun Weed
Wise women believe that most of the problems of pregnancy can be prevented by attention to nutrition. Morning sickness and mood swings are connected to low blood sugar; backaches and severe labor pains often result from insufficient calcium; varicose veins, hemorrhoids, constipation, skin discoloration and anemia are evidence of lack of specific nutrients; preeclampsia, the most severe problem of pregnancy, is a form of acute malnutrition. Excellent nutrition includes pure water, controlled breath, abundant light, loving and respectful relationships, beauty and harmony in daily life, joyous thoughts and vital foodstuffs.
During pregnancy nutrients are required to create the cells needed to form two extra pounds of uterine muscle, the nerves, bones, organs, muscles, glands and skin of the fetus, several pounds of amniotic fluid, a placenta and a 50 percent increase in blood volume. In addition, extra kidney and liver cells are needed to process the waste of’ two beings instead of one.
Wild foods and organically grown produce, grains and herbs are the best source of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients needed during pregnancy. All the better if the expectant mother can get out and gather her own herbs: stretching, bending, breathing, moving, touching the earth, taking time to talk with the plants and to open herself to their spiritual world.
by Diane GordonHow important is it for children to be exposed to nature? “Essential,” says Joann Lundgren, a long-time volunteer with the Foundation for Global
Community. “The earlier children connect with the natural world, the better for them and for society as a whole”
A parent, grandparent, former teacher and school principal, Lundgren heads a team from the Foundation which offers a course for parents and
teachers titled “Children and Nature.” Explains Lundgren: “Allowing the young child to experience the natural world is not just a nice thing to do.
It is vital. Children have a basic need to establish a deep emotional connection to the natural world. Until our society recognizes and finds a way
to honor this need, the future of our culture-and indeed, the future of all life-is endangered. Children who are denied the opportunity to bond with
the Earth are also denied the opportunity to develop a moral compass.
“It is this kind of profound bonding, first with the family and then with the Earth, that ensures that the child by age fourteen will have established a
foundation for compassionate intelligence-an intelligence that has the well-being of all life as its guiding principle. It is our job as adults to ensure
that our children develop that bond.”
One of Lundgren’s inspirations to create the course came from the writings of The Magical Child. The word
“matrix” is the Latin word for womb or origins and is defined as “that within which something originates, forms, or develops.” In Pearce’s model
each matrix provides a safe secure environment, a source of learning. The first transition from the womb and into a new matrix happens at birth,
which is where the Children and Nature course begins.
What are some of the scientifically recognized benefits of breastfeeding?
1. Breastmilk has biological specificity. No two mothers make the same milk. Your milk is custom designed for your baby. The specific need for human babies is for brain growth. God designed human milk to contain nutrients that promote brain growth. Breastfed infants score an average of 8.3 points higher on IQ tests administered at age seven to 8.5; the studies show that the more human breastmilk they received, the higher the IQ.
2. Human breastmilk is designed so that the baby’s body can totally utilize it – little is wasted. Contrast the bowel movements of breastfed and formula-fed infants. Formula- fed infants expel more smelly, solid waste. Their bodies are not able to fully utilize all the ingredients of the formula.
3. Protection against disease. Breastmilk contains white blood cells which destroy harmful bacteria in the baby’s intestines, and antibodies which kill germs and increase the baby’s immunity. Colostrum, the first milk your baby receives, contains the highest levels of these protectants.
4. Colostrum protects the baby’s immature digestive tract. When a baby is born, his digestive tract is sterile. It contains no bacteria at all, and the walls of the intestines let virtually anything through into the bloodstream. This condition sets the child up for potential allergies, because foreign substances which pass into the bloodstream get targeted by the immune system, and the infant’s body begins to manufacture antibodies against that substance. In other words, many of the ingredients in infant formula which are not present in breastmilk pass directly into the baby’s blood stream and cause him to produce antibodies. Whenever those substances are introduced into his body again, he will develop an allergic reaction based upon the antibodies in his blood. Colostrum coats the lining of the intestines, which helps prevent foreign substances from passing through the intestinal walls into the blood stream.
5. Women who breastfeed have a lower incidence of breast cancer.
6. Breastfeeding helps Mom get back in shape after pregnancy. Part of the fat layer which pregnant women put on is specifically for the purpose of supporting lactation after pregnancy. If you don’t breastfeed, that fat doesn’t come off as easily.
7. Breastfeeding releases the hormone prolactin into the mother’s system, which is a natural relaxant.
8. Breastmilk contains epidermal growth factors (EGF) which enhance the growth of these cells in the lining of the intestinal tract.
9. Breastfed babies are well-disciplined. According to Dr. William Sears (1993), Pediatrician and attachment parenting expert, “A baby who is on the receiving end of nature’s best nurturing learns trust, and the right feeling that goes with it. The mutual sensitivity that both members of the breastfeeding pair have for each other helps both behave better.”
10. Breastfeeding encourages proper facial and dental development.
11. Mother’s milk contains beta-lactose, which favors the growth of acidophilus and bifidus bacteria, break down carbohydrates, inhibit growth of yeast, help form natural antibiotics and anti-carcinogins, and produce some of the B vitamins. Cow’s milk (and cow’s milk formulas), contain alpha-lactose, which does not promote these beneficial effects.
12. Because breastmilk is so easily digested, breastfed babies wake up more frequently at night. This frequent night waking is extremely beneficial for both health reasons and developmental reasons. Babies wake up because they are easily aroused from light sleep. This light sleep state makes it easier to communicate their survival needs. When baby needs to eat, needs warmth, or needs you to remove breathing obstructions, he will be able to easily wake up and let you know something is wrong. Also, babies’ brains grow rapidly during the first year of life. During light sleep states, babies’ higher brain functions remain “turned on” whereas during deep sleep they are switched off and only the lower brain functions remain in operation. The more time a baby spends in light sleep, the better the brain development of higher brain functions should be. When babies spend more time in light sleep, or REM, they are also more likely to awaken frequently. When babies are formula-fed, this alters their sleep behavior so that they do not spend as much time in light sleep.
13. Breastfeeding is easier than bottle-feeding: no water to boil, no bottles to sterilize, no formula to buy, no warming before baby can drink it, no refrigeration required, no need to listen to baby cry while bottle is prepared, no chance that it will be too hot.
There is no human formula that will ever be made that is as healthy as breastmilk. There is no way of feeding a baby which promotes attachment as well.
Many people cannot understand this statement. They say, “I don’t know why you say that bottle-feeding isn’t as good as breastfeeding. The baby doesn’t know the difference. He only knows he was hungry, and now he’s full. Even though he doesn’t know the difference between formula and breastmilk, he knows that Mom met his needs. That’s all that matters. He’s still being held, still being touched, still looking into the eyes of the person who’s feeding him. The bottle doesn’t really make that much difference.”
I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with any of the above statements. First of all, babies definitely know the difference between breastmilk and formula. They smell differently, taste differently, and babies feel differently after drinking them. Babies who are formula-fed have more digestive upsets, more constipation, and more ear infections and allergies. Breastfed babies definitely have more of a feeling of well-being simply because they don’t have these digestive upsets.
Secondly, there is a whole sensory experience that goes along with breastfeeding which is lacking in the bottle-feeding experience. Babies who breastfeed are skin-to-skin with their mothers, and there are many benefits of skin-to-skin contact and which are desperately needed. It is a fact that breastfed babies spend more time in mothers’ arms. How often have I seen babies lying in cribs or infant carriers with bottles propped up on pillows so Mom could do something else while baby eats. Because breastfed babies are held more, they get more eye contact. When a mother breastfeeds, this is a deeply intimate experience. She drinks in her baby with her eyes as the baby drinks in her milk. There is a connection there, as if they are one. There is a distance between the bottle-fed baby and the mother, one that can’t be avoided. When I have shown pictures of nursing mothers and bottle-feeding mothers to people and asked them which mother “looks” more nurturing, the majority identify the nursing mother. When asked why, they say things like, “She’s caressing her child while she feeds it,” “She is cradling the child in a caring way,” “The child seems to be part of her,” and “There is a contentment on both their faces.” Bottle-feeding mothers hold their babies differently. The baby lies on the mother’s lap with more space between them and in a more open position. Baby is able to flail his arms and legs around more in space, and the experience is one of separateness from the one feeding him. The breastfed baby is often held in such a way that his body is wrapped around his mother’s body, and pressed tightly or firmly against it. His experience is one of closeness, of being part of a whole. It is often difficult for adults to understand how these subtle differences can be important. To the infant, every physical experience has an emotional experience attached to it. Though these experiences may seem insignificant to us, they hold deep meaning for the infant, and if repeated frequently, constitute a kind of conditioning which form the infant’s beliefs about himself and those who care for him.
Sometimes mothers will say to me, “Well, I’m going to bottle-feed my baby, but I’m going to do all the things that breastfeeding mothers do. I’m going to hold the baby close, look into his eyes, caress him, and then it will be the same.” If you’re going to do all that, why not just breastfeed? Why this resistance to the actual act of doing it? Why try to camouflage bottle-feeding and dress it up to look like breastfeeding? Why not just do the real thing?
Just because there are other options today does not mean that they are best. I hope that you will consider the benefits of breastfeeding and make the choice to give your child the very best.
Labor is important, because during labor, both the mother’s and the baby’s body is prepared for birth. The levels of certain hormones rise and ebb during labor. For instance, the mother’s oxytocin levels rise markedly just before the baby is pushed out of her body. This protects her against postpartum hemorrhage. High oxytocin levels in the mother (which are accompanied by higher levels in the baby, too) prepare the nervous systems of both to be attuned to each other. This creates a special “sensitive” period during which these special hormones remain at high levels in undisturbed birth, and this period is best spent by mother and baby in skin-to-skin contact with each other as the baby begins to nuzzle and nick the mother’s breast or the two just look into each other’s eyes and adore each other. The euphoria that follows an unmedicated labor is a very special time for anyone who is privileged to witness it. It’s even better for those who get to experience it.
When the mother experiences labor, she also has higher levels than usual of beta endorphin. This hormone then triggers another hormone, prolactin, which prompts her body to get ready for milk production at the same time that it prepares the baby’s lungs for more efficient breathing.
Labor also gives the baby’s torso a good squeeze, which helps to dry out the lungs and make them ready for breathing air in the outside world. Cesarean-born babies typically have wetter lungs, which can mean a higher rate of needing breathing assistance at birth.
Q. When does a baby’s brain develop, and do we have to wait for this development before trying to communicate with our baby?
Around the third week after conception, a folding maneuver creates the neural tube from which the brain and spinal cord develop. If all goes well, a rapid, richly choreographed set of movements will put all the basic parts of the brain in place by eight weeks. These will not be replaced. From this foundation, brain parts will send out branches and establish billions of connections necessary for the perfect coordination of the entire nervous system. This process will continue for years after birth. Amazingly, the brain, like the heart, remains active during its own construction. Various experiences the brain has during this period including encounters with food, drink, medicine, games, accidents, and nicotine–will actually determine its final size and organization. Therefore, it is best to assume the brain is already working and to love your baby and communicate with it without any waiting period.
Q. Can our baby feel pain or become emotionally upset in the womb?
Medical specialists and psychologists never thought this would be possible even for a newborn baby, but research now confirms that even babies born very prematurely express a gamut of emotions, and, without doubt, can experience excruciating pain. Ultrasound observations of behavior in utero, especially among twins, reveal a spectrum of emotions including anger, fear, and affection. Babies appear to react to needles that intrude into the womb with a mixture of shock, withdrawal, and aggression. Studies of pregnant mothers watching upsetting videos suggest that babies can become upset along with their mothers. Several studies have revealed that babies tend to become depressed when their pregnant mothers are depressed, an effect which begins in the womb and has been measured after birth.
Boil large pot of water. Add herbs, and simmer 30 minutes to an hour. Strain. Add sea salt Notes: sea salt– antiseptic. Uva ursi — healing for female organs. Comfrey — soothing and is said to aid healing by causing the edges of wounds to grow together. Shepherd’s purse, — preventing and controlling heavy bleeding.
The sound environment of the womb is very rich. There are various interpretations as to the noise level, ranging between 30 to 96 dB. (decibel being a measure of sound intensity or loudness). A whisper can register 30 dB., a normal conversation is about 60 dB. and rush hour traffic can average about 70 dB. On the other hand, shouted conversations and motorcycles reach about 100 dB. Rock music has been measured as 115 dB. and the pain threshold begins at 125 dB. Yet, recent research with hydrophones have revealed that the womb is a “relatively quiet place” (Deliege & Sloboda, 1996), something comparable to what we experience in our environment between 50 and 60 dB.
Uterine sounds form a “sound carpet” over which the mother’s voice in particular appears very distinct and which the prenate gives special attention because it is so different from its own amniotic environment. These sounds are of major importance because they establishes the first patterns of communication and bonding. Some researchers have discovered that newborns become calmer and more self-regulated when exposed to intrauterine sound (Murooka et. al 1976; DeCasper 1983; Rossner 1979).
The soothing sounds of the ocean and water are probably reminiscent of the fluid environment in which we began life. Tomatis suggests that the maternal heart beat, respiration and intestinal gurgling, all form the source for our collective attraction to the sound of surf and may have to do with our inborn sense of rhythm. Prenatal sounds form an important developmental component in prenatal life because they provide a foundation for later learning and behavior. With fetal sound stimulation the brain functions at a higher level of organization.
The ear first appears in the 3rd week of gestation and it becomes functional by the 16th week. The fetus begins active listening by the 24th week. We know from ultrasound observations that the fetus hears and responds to a sound pulse starting about 16 weeks of age (Shahidullah & Hepper, 1992); this is even before the ear construction is complete. The cochlear structures of the ear appear to function by the 20th week and mature synapses have been found between the 24th and 28th weeks (Pujol et al. 1991). For this reason most formal programs of prenatal stimulation are usually designed to begin during the third trimester. The sense of hearing is probably the mostdeveloped of all the senses before birth.
Four-month-old fetuses can respond in very specific ways to sound; if exposed to loud music, and their heart beat will accelerate. A Japanese study of pregnant women living near the Osaka airport had smaller babies and an inflated incidence of prematurity-arguably related to the environment of incessant loud noise. Chronic noise can also be associated with birth defects (Szmeja et al. 1979). I recently received a report from a mother who was in her 7th month of pregnancy when she visited the zoo. In the lion’s enclosure, the animals were in process of being fed. The roar of one lion would set off another lion and the sound was so intense she had to leave the scene as the fetus reacted with a strong kick and left her feeling ill. Many years later, when the child was 7 years of age, it was found that he had a hearing deficiency in the lower-middle range. This child also reacts with fear when viewing TV programs of lions and related animals. There are numerous reports about mothers having to leave war movies and concerts because the auditory stimulus caused the fetus to become hyperactive.
Alfred Tomatis notes that the ear is “the Rome of the body” because almost all cranial nerves lead to it and therefore it is considered our most primary sense organ. Embryonically, according to him, the skin is differentiated ear, and we listen with our whole body.
Christian Spencer Taylor was born at 12:53 a.m. on Tuesday, March 30, 1999. He was born at home with just a few hard pushes and one big pull — a whopping 10 pounds 2 oz!! And no tears. Isn’t God good?
I will write as much as I can while he hangs out here on my shoulder sleeping. (He thinks he has to nurse constantly. I mean hours in a row!)
Ah he is awake again. I’ll try to type anyway; forgive the typos!
I saw the midwife Monday morning and she said I was ready — 100% effaced and 2 cm dilated. She gave the cervix some encouragement, pushing the bag of waters away from the edge all the way around and actually stretching the cervix to 3 or 4 cm. She sent me home and said “It’ll be tonight.” A 7 or 7.5 pounder she though. Boy, did we have her fooled!
Mild contractions started about 2 p.m. My mom and I went out to eat and ran errands. I called the midwife when I got home, and called my husband Derek. Everything was casual for a few hours. I could eat or drink whatever I wanted — a nice change from hospital routine! But I DO NOT recommend Krystals! They taste so bad later…..
At one point I felt really private and just went in the other end of the house and cried. I felt briefly that I couldn’t make it, didn’t want to do this, etc. Then I realized I was shaking and knew it was just a phase of the delivery. Hard contractions started at 10 pm. I stayed vertical in between contractions, and during I assumed whatever position struck me — sometimes squatting, leaning over the bed, on the toilet, hands on knees or just leaning on Derek. MW kept reminding to relax, let the baby press down, not tighten my buttocks.
At about 7 cm, I got in the tub. WOW, what a relief! Any part of my body that was under the water felt great. The only “pain” was in the top of my belly where the water wasn’t deep enough. Derek took a big plastic cup and poured water over my belly so it would feel good, too. The contractions were INTENSE, overpowering, huge, and frightening. But they did not “hurt.” I found that by controlling my breathing and movements, I felt like I was riding on top of them instead of being ridden over. With each contraction I spread my legs wide to welcome it, envisioned the cervix spreading, and breathed “hoo hoo hoo” at first fast and then slower, in rhythm with the contractions, and Derek’s water pouring, and it was all like a strange dance that everyone could feel the beat to.
I know these descriptions sound strange — they always did to me when I read them but now I know what they mean! There is a birth rhythm, something good and strong and intense but it isn’t PAIN unless we perceive it that way. I had to experiment to find what that rythmn was, which sounds made me feel the best, which movements, etc. I was in control and I felt good. It wasn’t long before I was completely dilated. I pushed for just 12 minutes. His head emerged slowly; I felt the “ring of fire” but not as intensely as I had in my previous births. I saw it in the mirror and realized he was HUGE! Suddenly the MW said “Get her out!” Everyone grabbed my arms and pulled me straight up out of the water. I didn’t know why, and was terrified something must be wrong. She said “hands and knees” and when I was on the floor on my hands on knees on some towels, she just pulled him out me, really fast. It felt like my insides were coming out, but it happened so quick, and then he was on the floor between my legs, kicking his feet and screaming. (His shoulders had been stuck, she later explained, and this position rotated him so that she could get him out and
breathing quickly.)
Derek was crying. I was in awe of the whole experience, and couldn’t believe how quickly it was over. The baby was wrapped in towels and I held him against me.
Unfortunately, I retained the placenta and ended up going to the hospital for a D & C. This was unpleasant, but it would have happened no matter where the baby had been born. (In fact, I had the same problem in my last birth, but it was manually retrieved w/o the D & C.)
So here I am with my little fat baby in my arms The homebirth experience was GREAT. It was so nice to eat and drink and be cared for by my husband, my parents and my wonderful midwife & assistant. It was wonderful being in my own home. Every time I go to the bathroom, I see the place where he was born and I am just filled with awe. Above all, I feel really strong and brave and well, a little cocky. A 10 lb baby! I don’t know anyone who has done THAT! Especially without drugs, doctors, C-sections or even an episiotomy! Not even a tear, and I feel great! I told Derek “I feel like a REAL WOMAN.”
As for the water birth question, you will LOVE it — I will never birth on land again! LOL. I always thought it sounded goofy, but it was GREAT. We live in a strange society when something so simple and basic seems “unnatural” to us, but it seems “natural” that women BEG for 2-inch needles in their spine!
My pregnancy was healthy, normal and perfect in every way until I was induced for being “overdue” at only 40 weeks 6 days. The typical hospital interventions began, and eventually I was wheeled off to the OR like so many women today. Now ask yourself, why would a healthy woman with a healthy pregnancy *need* surgery?? The cesarean section rate in the United States is at epidemic porportions. This is unacceptable. Our children deserve better. Women deserve better. If you are pregnant, trying to become pregnant, or know someone who is–Be informed! Know your options! Most pregnancies do not need doctors or hospitals. Your body knows best. A cesarean is not “easy” or “glamorous” like Hollywood makes it out to be. It is ugly, painful and risk-laden surgery. Make well informed decisions. Don’t be another statistic.
Mi embarazo era sano, normal y perfecto de cada manera hasta que me indujeron para ser “atrasado” en solamente 40 semanas 6 días. Los interventions típicos del hospital comenzaron, y apagado me rodaron eventual a O como tan muchas mujeres hoy. ¿Ahora pregúntese que, por qué una mujer sana con un embarazo sano * necesidad * cirugía?? La tarifa de la sección cesariana en los Estados Unidos está en los porportions epidémicos. Esto es inaceptable. Nuestros niños merecen mejor. Las mujeres merecen mejor. ¡Si usted es embarazado, intentando llegar a ser embarazado, o sepa a alguien que es — sea informado! ¡Sepa sus opciones! La mayoría de los embarazos no necesitan doctores u hospitales. Su cuerpo sabe lo más mejor posible. Un cesariano no es “fácil” o “encantador” como Hollywood lo hace hacia fuera para ser. Es cirugía fea, dolorosa y de risk-cargado. Tome las decisiones informadas bien. No sea otra estadística.
Remember that herbs can have powerful effects on you and your unborn child. Just because an herb is “natural” does not mean it is SAFE! Some herbs can be very helpful to you but others should be avoided.
Under no circumstances should the umbilical cord be cut until it has stopped pulsing. Babies whose cords are cut immediately have a tendency to become jaundiced or anemic because they did not receive all the blood from the cord and placenta that they needed.
Some mothers prefer not to cut the umbilical cord at all to separate it from the placenta. After the placenta is expelled, it remains attached until the cord falls off naturally at 5 to 7 days after birth. This is called lotus birth. Mothers who use lotus birth believe that the drying up and falling off of the cord is part of the natural process of birth that they do not want to interfere with. The typical procedure is to rub the placenta with salt and rosemary, store the placenta in some kind of carrier, a small bag of some kind, and it remains attached to the baby until it falls off. The placenta is then disposed of in a variety of ways. Some parents keep the placenta and bury it underneath a young tree planted in honor of the new child. Some parents cook the placenta and eat it as a way of strengthening the new mother physically and symbolically. If you are giving birth in the hospital, you will not be allowed to keep your placenta.
In the hospital, the normal amount of time that is allotted for expulsion of the placenta is 30 minutes. During home births, the time is much more flexible. I have known of women whose placentas were expelled anywhere from one hour after birth to 2 days after birth with no ill effects. There is no reason to necessarily rush the placenta. However, if the placenta is not expelled within the first couple of hours, I would periodically check the mother’s temperature to make sure there is no infection setting in. It would also be a good idea to take 250 mg of vitamin C every hour until the placenta is delivered. This helps to prevent infection.
After the placenta comes out, it will be inspected to make sure all the pieces were expelled. It is a symmetrical piece of material, and all the lobes should match up. If a lobe is missing, a piece of placenta may still be inside the uterus. In the hospital, the doctor will probably administer a shot of pitocin or methergine to cause the uterus to contract and hopefully expel and loose pieces of placenta. If this does not occur, the doctor will go in manually and explore the uterus to find the missing piece of placenta. Home birthers have found that if a piece of placenta is not expelled on the first day, if will often be expelled within the next couple of days as the uterus begins to return to its normals size.
If bleeding continues to be heavy, the herb Shepherd’s Purse is often given in tincture form, and is usually very successful at stopping bleeding. Also, the Homemade Cayenne Tincture, 15 to 20 dropperfuls squirted into the vagina, will stop bleeding in seconds. In the hospital, your uterus will be massaged manually and another shot of pitocin and methergine will be given. However, home birthers have found Shepherd’s Purse to be quite effective. You should also use Positive Belief Suggestions to suggest to yourself that the bleeding should begin to lessen.
If you gave birth in the hospital and you have any tears, they will be repaired surgically. If you had an episiotomy, a surgical procedure to widen the birth canal, this will also be repaired. You would not have had an episiotomy without first having a shot of local anesthesia into the tissues. Or if you had an epidural during your birth, you would not have felt the episiotomy, or the repairs. At home, any minor tears can be repaired with superglue until the tissues grow together. Women with extremely small tears should stay in bed and lie as much as possible with their legs together, and usually any small nicks or tears will heal without any repairs.
Many doctors prefer episiotomy to letting the tissues tear naturally. They feel that a cut heals better than a tear. However, there are no studies or clinical evidence that this is true. In fact, there have been no studies done which show episiotomy to be of benefit at all during birth, yet it is a routine practice. If you are remaining upright during your labor and delivery, you will not need one, and you will probably not tear either.
Judie C. Rall and The Center for Unhindered Living
Immediately after the baby is born, the baby will be tested using the APGAR scoring system if it is born in the hospital. If the baby is born at home, it is a good idea to perform this assessment yourself to see help you evaluate how the baby is doing. The APGAR test is performed at 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth. Ideally, the scores should improve during the four minutes that elapse between the two tests. A score of 10 is considered a perfect score. The infant is tested on five different indicators of the well-being, and receives a score of 0, 1 or 2. The items tested are:
Sign
0
1
2
Heart Rate
Absent
Slow
Over 100
Respiratory Effect
Absent
Slow, Irregular
Good, Strong
Muscle Tone
Limp
Some Flexion of Extremities
Active Motion
Reflex Irritability (response to bulb syringe or lips being touched)
No Response
Grimace
Cough or sneeze (or strong grimace)
Color
Blue, Pale
Body Pink,
Exremeties Blue
Completely Pink
A score of 8-10 is excellent, 4-7 is guarded, 0-3 is critical. This lets you know how the baby is doing and if he/she is going to need extra assistance.
The baby should be offered the breast immediately because the sucking stimulates the uterus to contract, expel the placenta, and clamp down to reduce blood flow. If the infant does not want to nurse right away, there is no rush to do anything else unless there is hemorrhaging taking place.
Under no circumstances should the umbilical cord be cut until it has stopped pulsing. Babies whose cords are cut immediately have a tendency to become jaundiced or anemic because they did not receive all the blood from the cord and placenta that they needed.
Once you are dilated to ten centimeters, and perhaps even before ten centimeters, your body may begin involuntary pushing efforts. Some women never get this urge to push at all. Whether you do or don’t, it is NOT necessary to add your own pushing efforts to that of your body. By staying totally relaxed and upright, the combination of gravity and the contractions of your uterus can birth the baby.
Women who have heart conditions are not allowed to push to birth their babies because of the strain this puts on their hearts. Yet, their bodies still birth their babies without help.
As the baby makes its way down the birth canal, this is a very intense time. Many women find that they have very primal feelings. They feel the need to make vocalizations, and some even report feeling like wild animals trying to get free. At this point, the intensity of the contractions is calling the shots. The intensity dictates your position, your breathing, everything.
As the baby’s head nears the opening of the birth canal, the perineal tissues will start to bulge. If you have remained upright and allowed gravity to bring the baby down and fan the tissues out naturally, there is very little chance you will tear. However, some women prefer to massage the tissues with oil and warm the tissues with warm, wet washcloths. A good way to keep these hand is to have two crock pots – a small potpourri size pot for the oil and a large one for water and washcloths so they can be ready any time needed. Both should be set on low.
The perineal area is the area below the vaginal opening and above the anus. As this tissue starts to bulge, the birth partner can, at the request of the woman, support the tissue with firm pressure from a hand covered with a warm washcloth. The warmth usually feels very comforting. Pressure against those tissues as the head is emerging can often prevent tearing and can guide the head gently out. However, if you have remained upright, and are giving birth in an upright position, you will probably not have a need for support and there is little chance you will tear. Birthing in the squatting position gives the baby the maximum amount of room available. The position also maximizes the pressure of the diaphragm on the top of the uterus so that the baby is literally propelled down the birth canal without extra pushing. The position pulls the tailbone out of the way so that there is no obstruction of the birth canal. The position normally provides 2 to 3 extra centimeters, which is more than enough room to birth any baby. A standing supported squat also will allow the baby’s head to fan out the birthing tissues so that there is no tearing.
As the head emerges, the perineal tissues will be stretched around the largest diameter of the baby’s head. At this point, some women experience a burning sensation that has been termed the “Ring of Fire.” This burning sensation is only momentary and passes as soon as the baby’s head moves past this point and the vaginal opening closes around the baby’s neck. Once the head is out, the body should be born within the next couple of contractions.
Once the head is out, the baby’s body must rotate so that the shoulder is released from under the pubic bone. Once the shoulder is released, the whole body is immediately born.
I encourage the birthing woman to be the one to catch her own baby. Once the head is out, the woman can reach down and guide the baby out as the body is release from the birth canal. If she does not feel able, the birth partner can be the one to “catch” the baby. As soon as the baby is out, he/she should be handed directly to the mother. If the baby does not take a breath immediately, the mother should stroke the baby, rub his/her back, speak softly and gently to him/her, and soon the baby should begin to breath and his/her color should pink up.
Babies born to mothers who have remained upright throughout their labors rarely need to have nose or mouth suctioned because the fact that they have been head down the whole time means mucous has been draining from the nose and mouth throughout the entire delivery. As the baby descends through the birth canal, his chest and lungs are tightly squeezed so that any fluid or mucous is naturally expelled.
“Having been raped at 17, I knew that I needed my birth experience to NOT resemble rape in anyway. And to me Rape is being in a vulnerable position with a man that you do not trust or know, touching you in places you would rather not be touched telling you what to do, against your better judgement, and feeling like your not in control. For ME that meant staying as far away from the hospital as possible, where all the potential birth rapists convene.
I knew before I even experienced birth that I would be in the most uncontrollable, vulnerable situation in my life, and I not only wanted, but I NEEDED it to be a good experience, with the only person in my life I trust implicitly, my husband John. If it was not, or had not been the birth it was, I fear what my mental state would have been afterwards. I feel it would have been like being raped all over again, and being the basket case again, I was for 9 years in silence before I started to even admit to anther human that the rape had happened.
I can’t imagine not having UnaBirthed my daughter, my first child, Anjohli. I knew from long before she was ever conceived that gentle was the way to go, and that only I and John would be able to fully understand the process of MY birth, and what I and the baby needed, emotionally, as we had confidence that the physical just happens without needing to be guided.
Seeing that John and I are so close in our relationship and love for each other we feel each others pain and pleasure without the other one expressing it, I knew that the birth of out child HAD to be a good experience for all three of us. It was OUR inner wisdom that allowed us to have the best birthing attendants available to us for our Unabirth, us alone, sharing an intimate moment, trusting each others actions, without question.
There is something so feminine in giving birth that for me was enhanced tenfold by just being in the moment of the waves of the contractions pushing our baby out into the world, feeling the overwhelming urge to push and following my husbands directions without questioning his authority or knowledge.
Birthing his child into his hands, I, at that very moment trusted him so implicitly. I was probably the most vulnerable I have ever been in our relationship, and I didn’t shy away from it. I accepted it and embraced it, for the first time in my life, I just wholly trusted another human being. The first time since I was a small, innocent, newborn infant myself, before I had lost the automatic trust in my care givers. Before they had given me just cause to not ever trust another human being, which was reinforced at 17 years old.
Trusting completely was amazing. It was healing. Birthing my daughter was primal. I was woman, he was man, we were doing without words what women for thousands of years before me had done, yet it felt so much like I was the first woman to ever birth. There were no worries about shaved legs, or looking decent or worried about how I looked in the moments of strong contractions or worrying about my woman’s rights in our male society. There was no worry about what kind of sign it sent to my husband and the world that I was giving in to my husband’s directions and commands. No thoughts about the fight for power or to be leader in our relationship that happens on occasion. No fight over whose job was what. We were just doing.
We were two, and in love, with complete trust, we became three.”
By Ril G.
Birth Story:Raiden Gregory was born at home on September 11, 2006
“Raiden Gregory was born at home on September 11, 2006.
It was the day before the 5-year anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. I was only one day past my due date but very uncomfortable with the summer heat. I was lying in bed getting very emotional watching all the TV movies of the attacks. I started feeling uncomfortable and kinda crampy and realized that I was probably going to have a Sept. 11Th baby. I made myself see it as though I was bringing new life in on day when it needed it most.
Sure enough I went into labor at about 4am, just as i had done with my daughter 3 years before. I spent my entire labor with my daughter in the tub but with this one I waited til much labor. That is the nice thing about the tub. It is there whenever you decide to get it and ready and warm. My labor had stalled out for a while due to stress and my midwife asked everyone to leave. within the hour my contractions picked back up again and I told my husband to call the midwife. He looked at me with such calmness and said we could handle it for a while longer. He was so calm. He was so intuitive. He knew when my contractions were coming even when I was too zoned out to pick up on the signs. he would pull me into a standing position and we would just rock back and forth. He added some nice counter pressure on my lower back as the contraction built. He was so great.
Finally they got close enough together that I knew it was time to call her. She came right over and checked me and I was 7cm. I got in the tub, and just as I had done with my daughter, I went from 7cm to 10cm and pushing within minutes. Not that we had checked again, but my contractions turned into pushing without me even trying to. I had straddled over my husband in the tub and he continued to push on my back as I pushed out our baby boy. He was hoping to catch this time as well, but reducing his wife’s pain was more important. our midwife gentle caught our baby and handed him to my husband underwater and let my husband bring him to surface. We soaked in that tub for nearly 20 minutes comfortably before we cut the cord and moved to the bed. How nice to be at home in your own family bed only minutes after giving birth.
-Heidi, mother of: Raiden Gregory Born at home 9/11/2006 Gig Harbor, WA, USA
Many women who give birth in hospitals or with doctors and midwives in attendance rely upon the information obtained from technology, or from the experience of these so-called “experts” to guide them in how to safely give birth. No machine, such as an electronic fetal monitor, and no person other than the birthing woman can really know what is right for that woman.
Only by looking within herself and consulting her inner wisdom through intuitive insight can the woman know what is right to do in her particular situation. Sometimes, she may sit down, close her eyes, and actually seek this insight in order to solve a perceived problem in the birth. But most likely, as the following birth story will depict, that which must be done is instictively or intuitively made clear to the mother at a time of emergency, without her actively seeking such information.
The reason that hospital birth, or any birth attended by a doctor or midwife is inherently dangerous, is that it causes the woman to not trust or listen to what her body is telling her to do, and it causes her to listen to others and accept their assessment of her situation when there is no possible way they could know what is best. By doing this, many complications often occur. The medical establishment tries to convince us that only through medical tests or the experience of professionals can a mother really have a safe birth….but it is reliance upon those very experiences which can actually cause complications.
Your body knows what to do….if you will trust this process, and not try to second guess what your body is telling you, just trust it, you will avoid complications the majority of the time. When someone suggests a procedure to you, or a particular course of action, and it doesn’t feel right to you, makes you afraid or causes you to feel unsettled, your intuitive wisdom is telling you it’s not right…..
Listening to your body can help you deal with situations in a home birth which are considered “complications” by the medical establishment. We just call them “variations of normal.” Your body can deal with these spontaneous occurrences very well if you let it.
1. Cervix softens and ripens.
2. Light contractions cause the cervix to open up and thin out.
3. Baby’s head exerts pressure on cervix, speeding up dilation.
4. When cervix is fully dilated, there may be a resting period.
5. When contractions begin again, baby starts down the birth canal.
6. Baby rotates as it navigates through the bony structure of the pelvis.
7. With each contraction, the baby will advance down the birth canal, and slide back up a little after the end of the contraction.
8. The head crowns. As it emerges, the vaginal opening will be stretched around the largest diameter of the baby’s head. This sensation has been called by some the “ring of fire.”
9. After the head is born, the shoulders must rotate and slip from underneath the pelvic bone. After this occurs, the rest of the body is born immediately.
10. The baby should be then handed to Mom and allowed to nurse if he or she desires. Nursing helps the uterus to clamp down and stop bleeding, and expels the placenta
11. The umbilical cord should not be cut until it stops pulsating, as the baby needs all the extra blood he or she can get. There is no need to cut the cord all until the placenta arrives.
12. The baby should stay in skin-to-skin contact with Mom to help regulate his or her body temperature. This works better than putting them in a warmer.
How important is the baby’s position at birth?Women who have had surgical deliveries due to “poor” fetal positioning will tell you it is critically important to having the birth you want. Women who have birthed bottom-first, face-first, face-up, hand first or ear first babies without assistance or tearing will tell you position doesn’t really matter that much. Who can you believe?
The fact is, both perspectives are valid. Poor fetal position is blamed for many surgical births today. Presenting with a breech during labor is an automatic c-section for many practitioners. Most of the gentlebirth-minded folks will agree that surgical deliveries for breeches are probably the safest choice for a hospital birth. Breech deliveries require patience and hospitals tend to be short on patience (not patients… ha…).What is the one thing that separates the women who birth “malpositioned” babies in empowering ways (can you imagine the kind of awe you must feel when you realize you delivered an 11 pound breech baby? from the women whose children are “rescued” from her womb by a surgeon? OK, there are two things…
1) She trusts in birth.
and 2) She accepts the fact that her baby might die.
If you can’t do both of these things completely, you will need to become clear on just what conditions you require in order to feel safe.
Birth is normal, until it is interFEARed with. Normal means babies sometimes die, mamas have been known to die, it’s normal.Hospitals do not guarantee your baby will live. They will interFEAR with your birth in hopes of increasing your child’s chance of surviving birth but their track record (at least in the USA) is deplorable. Study after study shows that homebirth with a midwife is safer than hospital birth but many midwives won’t handle breech births either.
Why? Because they can’t accept condition #2 above. Too risky.So how do you, as a pregnant woman assess the risks to your body and your baby for this particular birth?This is as good a time as any to think about the bond between the mother and her unborn child. When we look to doctors and midwives to tell us how the baby will handle labor we often forget that the baby knows and the baby will tell us, if we listen.Build bonds of trust with your unborn child during pregnancy. Ask hir to kick you, once for yes, twice for no. How do they want their birth to unfold? Who do they want to catch them?
Visualize a good birthing position and inform the baby that this position will help make birth easier on both of you. It’s not hocus-pocus, it’s sharing information on the only level you can with an entity that isn’t 100% bound to the physical world yet.Ask for your baby’s input, affirm the birth you want to yourself, your child, your support network and the universe, then accept whatever comes with love.If you trust your baby to tell you if anything’s wrong and listen only for/to that, you are listening to the person who cares the most about the outcome.
That’s always a good strategy, go direct to the source.Breech births are “best handled” with a hands and knees delivery or a supported squat and no pulling unless you feel the baby lead you to pull.Posterior labors (back labor) can sometimes be resolved through position changes (hands and knees, bottom in the air and “two stairs at a time” lunges have been credited with opening the pelvis and letting tiny twisted heads straighten themselves out) but sometimes babies just like coming out “sunny side up”.Transverse babies scare professionals but most of them DO TURN during labor.
It’s especially important to connect with transverse babies and see if they are genuinely confused about where the door is and how best to get through it or if they are actively trying to impede labor. Some transverse babies are sending clear “it’s not safe out there yet” messages to their mothers.Trust birth, listen to your baby, trust birth some more. The less you fear, the more you rely on yourself and your baby to get through this together, the better your chances of having a safe, healthy birth for both of you.Birth is as safe as life gets.
P.S. If you feel your baby is crying for help, get help. Being empowered isn’t about doing it yourself, it’s about making the best choices we can with the information we have.
Contrary to popular belief hospitals are not the safest place for babies to be born. The mortality rate of babies born at home is half that of hospital born babies.
95% of births can be done outside the hospital, intervention does cause problems. Society is bombarded with scare tactics making these mom’s believe that hospitals are safe. Actually these hospitals and their interventions may cause the problems in the first place.
Baby will not be born before he is ready, baby knows when it is time to come into this world.
Birth is safe and shouldn’t be treated as a medical procedure.
Hospitals carry many germs that your home does not.
Hospitals and technology have been known to slow a laboring women down, which in turn may cause medication to be administered to quicken the process.
You will push when you feel the urge, not when told.
The placenta will not be pushed out of you, when you feel the sensation you will do so on your own.
You will be able to experiment through labor with different positions in order to make yourself more comfortable. most women find that lying on your back is the worst, as in most hospitals)
You will also be able to birth your baby in any position you feel is comfortable.
You are in control.
Your baby will not be separated from you at any time, you will have the chance to bond without interference.
Your baby will be born in an environment filled with love, sensitivity. There will be no scrubbing, poking, probing, suctioning, drops in the eyes or any other types of violations.
Baby will feel secure.
This is our birth, the event will have profound effects upon us, we will be able to enjoy this in peace!
The ability to birth is a primal one, innate in every single woman on Earth. All that a woman needs to give birth is herself. Everything else is just decoration/icing on a cake.
This ability to birth has a lot to do with the intuitive and instinctive nature of women. While not every woman might consciously know what to do, or even be inexperienced in birth being a first time mother, her body KNOWS. Her instinctual self KNOWS.
And because her body/instinctual self knows how to birth, she too will know when the time comes.
Being free to follow their own instincts and knowing that the natural flow of their labours won’t be interfered or hindered with by well-meaning care providers is one of the very basic reasons that freebirthers are drawn to unassisted childbirth.
The Obvious Instinct
Sometimes instinct can be as obvious and attention-grabbing as a loud, urgent alarm going off when confronted with something dangerous or risky.
It makes you stand up and fight, or it makes you flee for your life. This is the fight or flight response, and when it is activated, blood flow to non-essential organs is dramatically lessened. The blood flow increases to your vital fight/flee organs – your lungs, your arms, your legs.
When the uterus goes white and is drained of its blood in response to the stress hormones of fight/flight, it has nothing to provide energy to its muscles. Contractions become painful, sporadic or stop altogether.
The Subtle Instinct
Other times, the voice of instinct is very subtle and can be easily overlooked or ignored. The results are the same however, if instinct warns against going to hospital by a woman’s reluctance to get into the car while in labour, or by her reluctance to get out of the shower, or leave the home and she ignores it, things start going wrong with the natural flow of her labour.
Mothers – Real Birth Experts Due to Instinct
Childbirth is a very intuitive and primal process that the mother and baby undergo.
No one else has the information that the mother and baby do because it is not happening to them. This makes the mother the only true EXPERT AUTHORITY present at her birth. She has access to information that the care provider will never have access to.
That information may not be able to be communicated in logical, reasonable words and sentences. Maybe the mother’s body is pushing her baby out because it is TIME and she knows it and her baby knows it, but the care provider decides it can’t be time yet because she is only 9cms dilated, and that she must stop pushing..
The woman may not be able to explain that it is not her that is pushing, it is her body and that her body is doing so to further dilate the cervix and move the baby down into the birthing canal. She may not be able to explain that it is right and okay for her to do what she is doing and that to fight it would be to cause problems with birthing.
Because it is not easy to explain the reasons why a woman is doing what she is doing instinctively, because she herself may not consciously KNOW those reasons – it is easy for caregivers to exert authority over birthing women, and for women to submit to it.
Fear of Not Being An Instinctive Woman
Some women are afraid that they are not very connected to themselves, their pregnancy or their babies, and fear that they won’t have the guide of their instinct or intuitive nature during childbirth.
That fear is unfounded.
Birthing women, if left to their own devices will simply do what feels right to them – if they find themselves tired and needing a break from labour, they flop around til they find a position they can relax enough in to grab snatches of sleep.
This is instinctive – something that may not happen in institutional birth if the woman has sympathetic caregivers hovering around her offering her an escape in the form of drugs or assisted delivery when she is at her most vulnerable.
Happens to the best of them, even the most strong natural childbirth advocates.
The Whole Point!
The whole point is, a woman will find herself doing without conscious thought, things that aid and benefit labour and childbirth.
She does not NEED to have a reason, or be able to explain what she is doing. She doesn’t need to consciously know what she is doing and why she is doing it. She just needs to be able to do it because she is doing it or her body wants to do it.
In that thread, many childbirth problems are often avoided because the natural flow of that particular birth is being followed and honored.
In that same thread, should a variation or blip in the birthing process occur, the woman will do what is necessary to deal with it – like the woman who feels the urge to birth standing up with a foot propped on her bathtub…. and births a breech baby with no further complication or previous knowledge that her baby was breech and that the best birthing positions for breech are upright positions.
Most mothers will not instinctively reach to check for an umbilical cord unless the cord appears to be hindering descent of the baby. Mothers may consciously think to check for a cord because of the childbirth conditioning that once the head is born, the neck should be checked for a cord and “something” should be done to assist.
Touching the cord when it is wrapped around the neck is something most care providers can’t manage to stop themselves from doing – and in fiddling with the cord, they inadvertly interfere with the transition from cord dependance to lung dependance, or interfere with the stability of the placenta and start off a bleed that would never have occured if the cord had been left alone.
Childbirth is instinctive.
Birthing women have birthing instinct.
It is a physiological mechanism that protects and helps to bring babies Earthside safely and peacefully. It is also a mechanism that protects and safeguards mothers.
When I became pregnant with my first child at the age of 19, I knew I wanted to have a natural birth. Nothing else made sense to me. Birth is such a sacred, holy event, with the coming in of a new soul, I couldn’t imagine exposing myself or my baby to the medical, very public birth experience found in the hospitals at the time. Because of this, our choice to have a waterbirth was easy to make and came solely from the determination to create a birth experience that was as gentle and easy as possible.
When we first heard about water labor and delivery, one week before our first baby was due, we were enchanted by the prospect of such a gentle birth for the baby, and I was entranced by the idea of a natural birth with less pain. Home birth always made sense; waterbirth just became a positive extension of that ideal and after that first birth, I knew I would never do it any other way. Now, eleven years later, all five of our children have been born in water. Whenever I say that, I always have to pause for a moment to recognize how very, very fortunate we have been. It is amazing in itself to have five children, but to have been able to give birth to them all in a way that was empowering, peaceful, and infinitely kind, makes the miracle greater, still. All five of their births are memories I treasure as some of the most joyous, wonderful, and fulfilling experiences of my life.
The reduction of pain I felt during the contractions while in water cannot be stressed enough. There is no comparison between a contraction felt out of the water and one felt in it. Relaxation, which is a wonderful ideal when you are lying on a bed, trying not to hurt, becomes a natural reaction when you are floating weightlessly in a warm tub of water. I believe that’s a big part of the reason why the length of labor can be reduced. A relaxed body functions better in all situations. With the pushing stage, and the consequent stretching of the perineum, the warmth and moisture of the water allows the tissues to expand much more easily. With babies weighing 8 lbs 14 oz, 9 lbs, 8 lbs 4 oz, 8l bs 11 oz, and another 8 lbs 11 oz, I had two small tears. One with the first baby from pushing both his shoulders out at once and one with the fifth baby, due to one shoulder getting briefly stuck on her way out. The tears were small enough not to require stitching and have healed nicely without residual discomfort.
And, of course, there’s the benefit felt by the babies, all five of whom were born into warmth and familiarity, gentleness and kindness, surrounded by love and welcomed sweetly into the world. What greater beginning to life could be imagined than this? In 1998 the midwife who attended my first four births moved away. When I became pregnant again with baby #5, I was faced with the task of finding someone new. I soon discovered no one in my area would attend a home birth. But, even in this, I was fortunate. There was a birth center in a town 45 miles away, run by midwives, who had birthing tubs and fully supported water labor and waterbirth. It seemed I was to have a new experience of waterbirth – a birth center waterbirth rather than a home waterbirth.
There’s a difference between birthing at home and birthing in a center. After giving birth four times at home, I found it really difficult to relax in a place that was not my own home. I spent an entire night there, just settling in before my labor began to really do anything. Once it did get going, though, and the tub was filled, I felt the familiarity of it. I relaxed completely and our atest little one arrived only a few hours later, after only five minutes of pushing. Once I relaxed, this birth was exactly the same as if we had been home. The midwives were wonderful and supportive during labor and, after the baby was born, they allowed us as much time as we liked, both in the tub and out, to rest, relax, and to get to know our baby. We came home a couple of hours later and our baby has been happy and peaceful ever since.
I’m not sure every woman would choose to have a waterbirth, given the option, but many would, knowing that choice is there; and it is a beautiful choice.
Best to you all,
Lakshmi Bertrand
Author of CHOOSING WATERBIRTH: RECLAIMING THE SACRED POWER OF BIRTH
from Hampton Roads Publishing Co., Inc.
There are a number of routine newborn procedures that will be offered or recommended at the time of your baby’s birth. It is helpful to learn about these procedures beforehand so that you can gather as much information as you need to make educated choices for your baby. Remember that in your home you have the freedom to create your birth like you want it.
In the hospital, your midwife or obstetrician almost certainly will not provide care for your newborn baby; care will be provided by hospital staff according to the standard protocols of the hospital unless you request otherwise. In some very rare cases, your pediatrician may be present to provide this care. In most cases, there will be an attempt to obtain “informed consent”, but busy hospital staff may simply announce that they are about to perform a procedure and take your silence as consent.
If you choose to decline some of these procedures, you may be asked to sign waivers to satisfy a state requirement. In most cases, you do not have to give a reason for declining any particular treatment. However, in California, you will be asked to sign a religious waiver if you choose not to have a heelstick done on your baby for the newborn screen (aka PKU) within six days after the birth.
This handout contains some introductory information; be sure to ask your pediatrician if you have any questions about these procedures.
Cutting the Umbilical Cord
Premature cutting of the umbilical cord deprives your baby of about 30% of your baby’s blood volume that nature intended to flow from the placenta and cord after birth. Although this “extra” blood usually isn’t necessary for survival, the iron in this blood is meant to help meet the baby’s iron needs during the first six months, since breastmilk is low in iron. In the days immediately after birth, your baby’s body breaks down this surplus blood and stores the iron in the liver. One of the byproducts of the breaking down of the surplus blood is bilirubin, which may cause a mild case of benign jaundice. Because many parents and health care professionals do not understand that this jaundice is normal and harmless, practices have evolved to cut the umbilical cord as soon as possible after the birth to prevent your baby from receiving the normal amount of blood and potentially experiencing jaundice, even though normal.
There is also some thinking that allowing your baby’s blood to flow back from the placenta reduces the size of the placenta, facilitates quicker and easier placental delivery and reduces postpartum hemorrhage.
In addition, cutting the umbilical cord before your baby’s breathing is well established may deprive your baby of life-sustaining oxygen that continues to flow from the placenta for several minutes after birth. Some people suggest waiting until after the umbilical cord has stopped pulsing before cutting the cord. In fact, this may still be too early. As part of the normal adaptation to breathing outside the womb, your baby’s body stops sending blood back to the placenta (which is what causes the pulse) some minutes before it stops receiving oxygenated blood from the placenta and umbilical cord, which doesn’t pulse.
Unfortunately, many institutions do not have personnel trained in resuscitating your baby while still receiving oxygen through the umbilical cord – their training is limited to working at the baby warming station across the room. This means that babies that most need to continue receiving oxygen through the umbilical cord (because they’re having trouble breathing or are in some other kind of distress) are the babies who are most likely to have their oxygen source – the placenta and umbilical cord – disconnected prematurely so they can be moved to the baby warming station.
Because this procedure is usually carried out without receiving parental permission, it is wise to discuss this with your care provider if the issue is important to you.
About cord blood collection – “Cord blood” is blood that would flow into your baby’s body if the cord weren’t cut to collect it. If you wouldn’t allow your baby’s blood to be drawn and 30% of the baby’s blood volume removed, then you probably don’t want to allow “cord blood collection”.
Suctioning the Baby’s Stomach
Many hospitals routinely suction or “pump” the baby’s stomach after birth, even if there was no evidence of meconium at birth. This procedure has no benefits – it can cause a sudden drop in the heart rate and can cause throat irritation that will interfere with breathing and breastfeeding.
Eye Antibiotics
The purpose of routine administration of antibiotic medication (erythromycin ointment) to your baby’s eyes about an hour after birth is to prevent infection from any germs that your baby may have been exposed to in passing through the birth canal. Some people object to this procedure on principle because of their objections to the routine use of antibiotics without proven benefit. Discomfort to the baby is minimal, and there is little disruption of the bonding procedure if the procedure is delayed until after the baby has fallen into the post-birth stupor. However, the benefits of routine administration are also minimal; if the baby does develop an eye infection, it will be very obvious to observant parents, and then there is plenty of time to administer antibiotics to prevent serious consequences.
Vitamin K Injection
Routine injection of vitamin K is controversial. It is generally accepted that administering vitamin K will increase clotting factors and reduce the incidence of Newborn Hemorrhagic Disease (NHD), a very rare situation in which a baby bleeds internally. NHD is seen much more commonly in babies who have experienced a traumatic birth, such as by forceps or vacuum extraction, or who are visibly bruised at birth. Although giving vitamin K to increase clotting factors does reduce the incidence of NHD, it also appears to increase the likelihood of death from bacterial meningitis. Nature obviously intended for newborns to have lowered clotting factors at birth, although science does not yet understand why.
Opposition to routine vitamin K administration centers around the injection itself, and many people who oppose the injection will accept an oral administration of the same formulation. (A study conducted at Children’s Hospital, University of Missouri, Columbia, found administration of oral vitamin K to be effective. [Journal of Pediatrics, vol. 127 #2, Aug., 1995, page 301, "Twenty-seven years of experience with oral vitamin K1 therapy in neonates" by Clark and James.] Oral doses of vitamin K should be twice the injected dose, and there are suggestions to repeat the dose at two, four and six weeks of age.
Colostrum contains high levels of vitamin K, and if your baby experiences a gentle birth and nurses readily at birth, your baby will probably receive exactly the dose intended by nature. If you choose to have your baby receive supplementary vitamin K, it might be worth discussing oral administration with your pediatrician in advance. Even if they don’t have a special oral preparation, they can use the preparation meant for injection.
Whether or not your baby receives vitamin K supplementation, it is best to contact your baby’s care provider if you notice that your baby seems to have a lot of bruises or an unusual amount of bleeding from the umbilical cord stump. This is a common precursor to more serious bleeding problems.
Hepatitis B Vaccine Injection
For the last few years, it has been the standard of care to vaccinate all newborns with a Hepatitis B Vaccine before they left the hospital. However, on July 7, 1999, it was reported that the American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending that newborns not be vaccinated because the mercury used as a preservative in the vaccines has been implicated in mercury poisoning occurring in babies. Some hospitals may still be vaccinating newborns as they use up their store of vaccines. If you do not want your baby to receive the Hepatitis B vaccine, it is important that you be very clear about this with the neonatal team, the nursery staff and your pediatrician.
I’m often struck by how much VBAC moms insist on having their older siblings present at the birth, especially the ones born by cesarean. It finally struck me that this is yet another example of a mother’s wonderfully strong instinct about providing the best possible care for her children.
In my studies of the hormones of birth, I’ve learned that the stress of labor causes a woman’s body to release endorphins to ease the pain and to facilitate a primal bonding with her baby. In a natural labor, the levels of these hormones are significant, and they are passed through to the baby also to ease the stress on the baby. As a fun side effect, the endorphins seem to fill the air around the laboring woman so that her birth attendants also get to enjoy them. There’s a reason why birth attendants sometimes call themselves “natural birth junkies”.
Endorphins are the “love hormones” released during childbirth and breastfeeding, and they really are like an aphrodisiac, causing people “under the influence” to fall in love with each other without any rational filtering. I try not to usurp the power of these hormones, and I work hard to keep the family focused on each other in that first hour after birth, because I want them bonding with each other instead of with me.
I have previously understood how these endorphins can have a wonderful healing effect for couples who have had a past traumatic birth, as the mom is under the influence of nature’s finest “narcotic”, and the dad absorbs them from the air around her. But it was this most recent discussion about siblings at VBAC that helped me realize that this also pertains to the older children who were born through a traumatic birth process. If they are present at the VBAC, these older children get to enjoy and absorb the endorphins and bond with their families in a way that they missed completely at their own birth. Nature heals.
Most infant formula sold in the US contains GE ingredients, either soy or milk from cows injected with GE hormones. Some also contain corn syrup. Cereals can contain ingredients like GE soy lecithin.
As globalization spreads, a number of issues arise which have the potential to affect infant nutrition. One such concerns is that of Genetically Engineered (GE) or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and their use in infant formula and infant foods.
The process of genetic engineering is imprecise and random. Inserted genes can disrupt a plant’s natural growth and development or function differently than expected. As a consequence, genetically engineered foods can have unintended effects, with potentially harmful consequences for human health. The end result could be the bio-synthesis of food molecules that are toxic, allergenic, or carcinogenic – hardly the perfect food for babies.
Putting Infants and Children at Risk
The use of GMOs is of particular concern for infants and young children. Many authorities are concerned because GMOs in baby foods are not adequately tested for safety and should not be used in baby foods as artificially fed infants are dependent on formula as their sole source of food for month on end.
Infant formula is already a inferior food for babies, putting them at greater risk for variety of illnesses including ear and upper respiratory infections, asthma, diabetes and cancer. These risks may be increased when infant formula is genetically engineered. GMO ingredients can alter the nutritional value of baby foods, increase exposure to toxins, and elevate the risk of developing allergies and resistance to antibiotics.
According to Vyvyan Howard, a toxilogical pathologist at the Liverpool University Hospital: “Swapping genes between organisms can produce unknown toxic effects and allergies that are most likely to effect children.”
In the United States, foods for infants and young children containing GMO do not require labeling or testing. as a result, concerned parents can’t avoid feeding GE food to their children.
Some of the food safety concerns are:
1. Allergenicity:
Introducing unknown genes can increase food sensitivity that can lead to food allergies later in life. Unlike the contents of breastmilk that vary with the diet of the mother and stage of infancy, the composition of formula remains constant. Since food sensitivities increase with exposure, repeated feedings with the same formula further increases the risk of allergies.
Genetic engineering also has the potential to transfer allergies from one food source to another. For example, a nut gene inserted into soybeans produced soy that caused allergic reactions in people who were allergic to nuts. GE could also introduce new, unpredictable allergens from non-food genes inserted through the process of genetic engineering.
2.Toxicity:
Genetic engineering could increase and/or introduce new food toxins.
3. Nutritional changes:
Genetic engineering could alter or decrease a food’s nutritional value.
4. Antibiotic resistance
Genetic engineering could contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Current transgenic plants may contain antibiotic resistant marker genes (a technique used to show weather gene transfers have been successfully completed).
5. Labelling:
Lax labelling laws in the United States encourage the use of GMOs, allowing companies to include these organisms in formula and other infant foods without the consent of the consumer.The fact that the US government refuses to require mandatory labelling of genetically engineered food makes it impossible to adequately conduct post-marketing, long-term surveillance of the effects of consuming GE foods – and who also refuses to label GE foods – could be compromising the well-being of newborn, babies and children.
The most effective way to voice your concerns about GMOs is to vote with your wallet. To ensure the food safety of you infants and young children:
* Follow the WHO recommendation of EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF LIFE and continued breastfeeding to two years and beyond.
* When introducing solid foods, make your own from organic fruits and vegetables or buy certified organic baby foods.
* If a baby food doesn’t specify weather or not a product is GE-free, use the toll-free number on most product packaging to call the manufacturer. If they don’t know – or won’t tell-you – if their product contains GE ingredients – DON’T BUY IT!
Do Vaccines actually disable the immune systems they have been designed to protect? Read this compelling arguement by Dr Randall Neustaedter who presents evidence that this is so…
Parents watch with proud satisfaction as their infant, just a few months old, begins to reach out into the world–tiny hands grasping at toys and gently twirling locks of their mother’s hair. Just when they have begun to take a lively interest in the world, rolling-over, cooing, and smiling, the first illnesses strike.The baby’s runny nose develops into a fever, fussiness, and night-waking. Her previously placid demeanor suddenly changes to obvious discomfort–crying, clinging, refusing to leave her mother’s arms. The pediatrician sees red eardrums and prescribes antibiotics. That first infection starts a seemingly endless battle against viral and bacterial illnesses that persists despite repeated treatment with a barrage of different antibiotics. Something is dreadfully wrong. Frequent visits to the pediatrician do nothing to prevent the continuous pattern of illness-antibiotic-illness.
Why do these illnesses begin when babies are three or four months old? What event triggers this frustrating scenario? What happens to babies at two to four months that could initiate this relentless course of symptoms? Perhaps maternal antibodies are beginning to wear out, making babies susceptible to these environmental microbes. But why don’t these babies develop their own antibodies in response to the initial viral or bacterial infections? What prevents the immune system from mounting a vigorous response? And why does this pattern of illness with recurrent ear infections occur now, a pattern that seldom occurred prior to thirty years ago? What is weakening the immune function of today’s infants?
The Cause of Chronic Illness
Ear infections have become the most common reason for visits to pediatricians. The incidence of asthma has steadily increased in the modern era. During the period 1980 through 1989 the prevalence rate of self-reported asthma in the United States increased 38 percent, and the death rate for asthma increased 46 percent. In the five years from 1985 through 1990, projected estimates for asthma’s medical costs increased 53 percent. The total estimated cost of asthma rose from $4.5 billion to $6.2 billion, or 1 percent of all US health-care costs. This dramatic increase has been attributed to increased exposure to environmental pollutants, and to the toxic effect of asthma medications themselves. Could vaccines be weakening the immune system of our populations and causing recurrent infections and allergies at unprecedented levels?
The only event that all infants routinely encounter at two months of age is vaccination with at least five different vaccines (Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis-Polio-Haemophilus). They are repeated at four months. Could this simple fact explain the onset of the recurrent illnesses that plague so many infants? If vaccines stimulate antibody production to fight diseases, why would they weaken the immune system? Is there any evidence that vaccines do cause illness and immune system dysfunction?
One answer came in a careful study of illness patterns observed in babies before and after vaccination, published in Clinical Pediatrics in 1988. If vaccines cause a weakened immune system, then we would expect to see a higher incidence of illness following vaccination. In that study conducted in Israel, the incidence of acute illnesses in the 30 day period following DTP vaccine was compared to the incidence in the same children for the 30 day period prior to vaccine. The three-day period immediately following vaccine was excluded because children frequently develop fever as a direct response to vaccine toxins. A total of 82 healthy infants received DTP, and their symptoms were reported by parents and observed by a pediatrician at weekly intervals. Those babies experienced a dramatic increase in fever, diarrhea, and cough in the month following DTP vaccine compared to their health before the shot.
How do researchers investigate immune system reactions to vaccines? First, they can observe the incidence of serious disease onset soon after vaccination. They can also study immune functions following vaccines given to children and adults. Two research models have been used to discover the possible adverse effect of vaccines on the immune system. Laboratory researchers observe whether vaccines have any negative effect on white blood cells, the body’s primary immune defense system. Clinical researchers study illness patterns preceding and following vaccination. All of these investigative channels have reached the same conclusions–vaccines can trigger immune system suppression.
Vaccines are destroying our immune systems.
Amazingly, the medical profession ignores the incriminating evidence against vaccines, and continues to inflict more unnecessary and harmful vaccines on our nation’s infants. A recent study from the New England Journal of Medicine of May 1996 revealed that tetanus vaccine disables the immune system in HIV patients. Tetanus vaccination produced a drop in T cells in 10 of 13 patients, a classic sign of immune deficiency. HIV viral replication increased dramatically in response to tetanus vaccine. Finally, white blood cells from 7 of 10 uninfected individuals became more susceptible to HIV infection following tetanus vaccination. Despite these findings, the authors made no comment about the immune depleting effect of the vaccine.
Why is the public unaware of these findings? Why has the medical profession kept these reports hidden from the public eye? With typical condescension, Dr. Martin Smith, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, explained in the Academy’s News that the inclusion of this type of information in vaccine brochures would confuse many parents and could even needlessly alarm them. An uninformed patient is compliant.
The cover-up of immune system failure following vaccination is reminiscent of the tobacco industry’s continuous denial and misinformation campaign about the dangers of cigarettes. In both instances huge profits are at stake in multibillion-dollar industries. Vaccine manufacturers cannot afford to have their product maligned in a public forum.
Doctors have often stated that broadcasting adverse effects of vaccines to the public would hinder vaccine campaigns. This attitude emerged more than thirty years ago when Dr. Paul Meier testified before a congressional committee concerning the polio vaccine campaign of the 1960s. It is hard to convince the public that something is good. Consequently, the best way to push forward a new program is to decide on what you think the best decision is and not question it thereafter, and further, not to raise questions before the public or expose the public to open discussion of the issues.
The medical profession has been aware of the damaging effects of vaccines on the immune system since their introduction. For example, the ability of pertussis and DTP vaccines to stimulate the onset of paralytic polio was first noted in 1909. In every polio epidemic since then, DTP injections have caused the onset of polio disease. In 1950, two careful studies were conducted in the state of New York to evaluate the reports of an association between the onset of paralytic polio and recent injections. The findings were published in the American Journal of Public Health. Investigators contacted the families of all children who contracted polio during that year, a total of 1,300 cases in New York City and 2,137 cases in the remainder of New York State. A history of vaccinations received in the previous two months was obtained on each child and from a group of matched controls in the same population. Those studies discovered that children with polio were twice as likely to have received a DTP vaccination in the two months preceding the onset of polio than were the control children.
The association of vaccines with the onset of polio continues in the modern age. During a recent polio epidemic in the Arabian peninsula country of Oman, DTP vaccination again caused the onset of paralytic polio. In that epidemic, 70 children 5 to 24 months old contracted paralytic polio during the period 1988-1989. The report in the British medical journal Lancet confirmed that a significantly higher percentage of these children had received a DTP shot within 30 days of the onset of polio compared to a control group of children without polio, 43 percent of polio victims compared to 28 percent of controls. The DTP vaccine suppresses the body’s ability to fight off the polio virus.
The destructive effect of vaccines on the immune system can persist over an extended period of time. One study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases documented a long-term depressive effect on interferon production caused by the measles vaccine. Interferon is a chemical produced by lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) that renders the host resistant to infection. Interferon production is stimulated by infection with a virus to protect the body from superinfection by some other micro-organism. In this study, vaccination of one-year-old infants with measles vaccine caused a precipitous drop in the level of alpha-interferon produced by lymphocytes. This decline persisted for one year following vaccination, at which time the experiment was terminated. Thus, this study showed that measles vaccine produced a significant long-term immune suppression.
Autoimmune Reactions to Vaccines
An 11 year old girl received a routine tetanus booster dose and three days later developed blindness in the right eye and light perception only in the left eye. Her optic discs were swollen on exam. Two days later she had partial paralysis of her legs and loss of bladder control, then more widespread sensory loss including a lack of vibrational and positional senses. Seven weeks later she still had some vision loss and decreased muscle power. Within one year she recovered (Lancet, 1992).A 20 year old woman experienced pain and swelling of her right wrist and fingers 4 days after a hepatitis vaccination. The pain and swelling resolved, but returned again 6 months later with more severe swelling and pain, following a second hepatitis vaccination. Nine years later, X-ray of the hands showed destruction of the bones throughout her wrist joints (Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology, 1995).
A 4 year old girl developed progressive weakness of the legs, pain in the legs and feet, and gradual inability to walk 10 days after Hib vaccination. On the fifth day she had swallowing difficulties, facial weakness, and a monotonous voice. Her symptoms gradually improved, and within 3 weeks she could walk with help (Journal of Pediatrics, 1993).
A 42 year old man received tetanus toxoid on three separate occasions over a period of 13 years. Following each vaccination he developed acute nerve symptoms diagnosed as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease of the nervous system characterized by rapid onset of motor weakness and loss of sensation.. A nerve biopsy revealed destruction of the myelin nerve sheath. Following his last injection he continued to experience multiple recurrences, and continued to show abnormal findings on examination 15 years later (Journal of Neurological Science, 1978).
What is the effect of long-term immune suppression? Some investigators are concerned that vaccines could be disabling our body’s ability to react normally to disease, and creating the climate for autoimmune self-destruction. The many reports of autoimmune phenomena that occur as reactions to vaccination provide incontrovertible proof that tampering with the immune system causes devastating disease.
Federal legislation of 1986 commissioned the Institute of Medicine to establish a Vaccine Safety Committee. The purpose of that committee was to search the medical literature for reports of adverse events associated with the vaccines routinely administered to children, and report their findings. Computer searches revealed 1,800 relevant articles. However, the committee’s rigid criteria for establishing a causal relationship between vaccine and adverse event made it nearly impossible for a disease condition to make their short list. Without a case-controlled study proving a relationship, the hundreds of case reports of immune system destruction following vaccines were relegated to coincidence. Case-controlled studies are expensive. They must include tens or hundreds of thousands of children.
Even the Vaccine Safety Committee acknowledged the onset of several autoimmune diseases as a result of vaccination (Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease that causes muscle weakness and paralysis, following tetanus and polio vaccines; thrombocytopenia, destruction of blood platelets responsible for blood clotting, following MMR; and chronic arthritis following rubella). These types of symptoms have occurred following every vaccine routinely given to children–the suppressed immune system begins to attack the body’s own cells, usually the nerves and joints. Thousands of autoimmune incidents following vaccines have been reported in the medical literature and adverse event reporting systems. These autoimmune responses to vaccines have resulted in permanent, chronic disease conditions–deforming arthritis and muscle wasting and paralysis.
In their attempt to explain the repeated occurrence of autoimmune diseases that attack and destroy the myelin sheaths of nerves as a direct result of vaccines, the committee members explain:
It is biologically plausible that injection of an inactivated virus, bacterium, or live attenuated virus might induce in the susceptible host an autoimmune response by deregulation of the immune response, by nonspecific activation of the T cells directed against myelin proteins, or by autoimmunity triggered by sequence similarities of proteins in the vaccine to host proteins such as those of myelin.
Since the committee’s report, a large ecological study in New Zealand revealed that an epidemic of diabetes followed a massive campaign to vaccinate children against hepatitis B. This report, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal in 1996 revealed that a 60 percent increase in childhood diabetes occurred in the years following the 1989-1991 vaccination program of children aged 6 to 16. The widespread use of the new Haemophilus meningitis vaccine has similarly resulted in diabetes epidemics. Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that has been frequently observed to occur as a consequence of mumps vaccine. Three European studies reported 22 cases of diabetes that began within 30 days of mumps vaccination. The dramatic rise in vaccine-induced diabetes has led researchers to raise a warning flag. Immunologist Bart Classen has said, “We believe the effects of vaccines on diabetes are of tremendous clinical importance and that trials need to be started immediately to address the effect of vaccines on diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.”Vaccines have become a sacred cow of our culture, unassailable to criticism. Now that we know their devastating effects on the immune system, perhaps we need to take a more cautious approach to the vaccine campaigns.
New vaccines for children are being developed in an unprecedented effort to wipe out childhood diseases. In some cases this effort has strictly monetary goals. For example, the most frequently stated purpose of the chickenpox vaccine is not to protect children from this benign childhood illness, but to keep parents at their jobs rather than missing a few days of work to care for their sick child at home. According to Dr. Philip Brunell, a leading chickenpox vaccine researcher, it is clear that we can reduce the cost of chickenpox by routinely immunizing normal children, primarily by reducing the loss of parental income. Vaccination of the entire population would save an estimated $380 million dollars in lost income and wages. Economic interests have spurred the adoption of a chickenpox vaccine, not our concern for the well-being of children.
This callous disregard for the potential damage inflicted by vaccines characterizes the goals of vaccine manufacturers. The pharmaceutical giant Merck invested over $5 million in chickenpox vaccine development, according to The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Samuel Katz, Duke University’s pediatrics chairman and head of a vaccine panel at the National Academy of Sciences, expressed the manufacturer’s concerns: Merck isn’t going to make back its investment in that vaccine by just distributing it to kids with cancer. They’re going to be interested in pushing for use in the normal population.
Profit has always been the goal of vaccine manufacturers. When lawsuits leveled at drug companies began wiping out profits gleaned from the pertussis vaccine, the manufacturers simply stopped production of the vaccine. The United States government stepped in to pay these vaccine-damage claims. Only then did the drug companies agree to resume vaccine production. The formula was simple–no profits, no vaccines.
Now that drug companies are protected from legal action, the race to invent and distribute new vaccines has again switched into high gear. Vaccines for hepatitis, haemophilus, and chickenpox have all been pushed into the recommended schedule for children. This zealous rush to bring new vaccines to market, heedless of the damage inflicted in the name of prevention, could have far-reaching consequences. We may be setting the stage for the unwitting destruction of our population’s health, a result that may continue to remain a hidden cause of widespread immune system failure and autoimmune disease.
About the Author
Dr. Neustaedter has practiced homeopathic medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine for over twenty years. His book, The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Choice (North Atlantic Books, 1996), has become a popular resource for parents. He is a licensed acupuncturist and received his Doctorate in Oriental Medicine in Hong Kong. He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It can be helpful to have these items on hand for birth
Small bottle of almond, olive or other natural massage-type oil. (For lubrication of any body part, if desired)
Underpaddings. Large plastic drop cloths, shower curtains or even trash bags to protect surfaces, covered in old towels, sheets or blankets that can be washed (or thrown away). Some women prefer disposable “chux” pads, they can be purchased in the adult diapering section of your local shop.
A copy of the book Emergency Childbirth: A Manual by Dr.Gregory White
Some people like to have a stethoscope
A camera or video recorder (with film)
A pen and paper to jot down times and anything of interest
Foods, drinks, teas or tonics for the laboring mama and her support team
Videos, toys, art supplies, puzzles, etc. for anxious siblings to discover
An “emergence” kit can be constructed with items that could be grabbed in a hurry or not at all.
A pair of scissors, rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide and gauze swabs (or alcohol prep pads) for cleansing them.
2 industrial strength cord clamps (for emergency use only) and a set of gentler cord ties for normal cord procedures. Umbilical tape or dental tape (not floss, the ribbon-like stuff) works well. Braided embroidery floss is a popular choice too.
Any bleed stopping remedy the mother has chosen. (Mango Mama posted: Shepherd’s Purse and/or Motherwort tinctures and Bayberry Bark, Cayenne, Shepherd’s Purse and Mistletoe herbs for teas as options)
Natural fiber hat for a newborn head (remembering that hir tiny head could be very sore from the molding, those tightly knit “hospital caps” made two of my babies scream in pain). Patterns for creating your own baby hat are here for knitting and crocheting and here for sewing
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the rubber ball suction device as an “emergency item” but I think they are a bad idea for birth, personally. I’d probably stick one in a drawer so no one would think I was negligent for not having it. I can’t imagine ever using it though…
After birth items:
Warm towels, blankets, receiving blankets or robes. Some families put towels in a dryer, on a heater, folded around a warm heating pad or in a barely warm oven during labor so they’ll be cozy after birth.
A large pan, bowl or bucket for catching the placenta (those ice cream buckets work well).
Maxi pads (cloth ones or even towels can work well)
Arnica 30x for bruising or pain (mama and perhaps even baby)
Pain reliever for after-pains (herbal tinctures, teas or commercial)
Eldon card, vaccutainers and syringe for testing baby’s cord blood (once baby is done with it)
Calendula tincture, honey for tears or skid marks
Diapers and baby clothes
A tape measure
A scale (if desired. Some families rig up fish scales with a baby blanket or towel and subtract the towel’s weight, some subtract their weight from the reading on the bathroom scale while they hold their infant)
Celebratory foods, drinks or items for baby’s very first Birth-day party
Changing positions, and moving around during labor and birth, offers several benefits. Some are obvious to the mother in labor: increased comfort / reduced pain, distraction, and an enhanced sense of control: merely having something active to do can relieve the sense of being overwhelmed and out of control.
Beyond these advantages, there are equally important effects on the baby and on the progress of labor. Changing positions during labor can change the shape and size of the pelvis, which can help the baby’s head move to the optimal position during first stage labor, and helps the baby with rotation and descent during the second stage. Swaying motions such as walking, climbing stairs, lunging, and swaying back and forth are especially helpful with this.
Movement and upright positions can help with the frequency, length, and efficiency of contractions. The effects of gravity can help the baby move down more quickly. Changing positions helps to ensure a continuous oxygen supply to the fetus, rather than causing supine hypotension (low maternal blood pressure) by lying on your back or even semi-sitting.
Changing position can reduce the length of labor. Mendez-Bauer and Newton (1986) state: “duration of labor from 3 to 10 cm cervical dilation was about 50% shorter in patients who alternated supine and standing, standing and sitting positions.”
Positions for First Stage Labor
For Resting:
Side-lying. Try placing pillows between your knees for comfort.
Semi-sitting, in bed, on a couch, or leaning against your partner with his arms around you.
Sitting with one foot up. Asymmetrical positions help enlarge the pelvis on one side, and change the shape of the pelvis, which helps the baby find the best position.
Rocking, Rhythmic Motion: In labor, it just feels better when mom rocks and sways in rhythm to her breathing. Partners sway with her, or do massage in rhythm with her breathing, or sing in rhythm.
Rocking Chair
Sway on ball
Slow Dancing
Dance with Belly Lift
Activity: Walking, climbing stairs, lunging. Activity helps baby to descend, helps baby to rotate into position for birth. In early labor, be active occasionally, but don’t exhaust yourself by walking all through early labor. Walking is more effective in active labor and transition when baby has descended far enough to put pressure on mom’s cervix and encourage the cervix to open.
Lunge.
Stair Climbing
Tailor Stretching
Positions for Back Labor (when mom has back pain, irregular contractions, or is progressing slowly)
Leaning Forward: Many women, especially those with back labor, find it most relaxing to lean forward during contractions.
Straddle a chair (or the toilet), and rest your arms and head on the back
Leaning against a wall, or your partner, or leaning over a table. Can sway.
Raise the head of a hospital bed, then kneel on bed with arms resting on top of bed.
Hands and knees / kneeling. Can relieve back pain, help a posterior baby rotate, allows easy access for backrubs / counterpressure massage; makes it possible to sway side to side, rock back and forth, or do pelvic tilts to aid rotation and increase comfort. Having knee pads or kneeling on something soft will help knees. Can rest upper body on pillows, chair, or birth ball.
Hands and knees
By a chair
Over birth ball
Knee-Chest
Positions for Second Stage
For second stage, an ideal position would: open the pelvic outlet as widely as possible, provide a smooth path for the baby to descend through the birth canal, use the advantages of gravity to help the baby move down, and give the mother a sense of being safe and in control of the process.
Try out a position for a few contractions. If it works, stay with it. If not, switch to a new position in between contractions. Depending on the caregiver, they may ask you to move to a specific position just prior to the birth.
“Standard” positions. These can be done by anyone. These are the positions that most OB’s are used to delivering babies in.
Semi-sitting. With pillows underneath knees, arms, and back. During contractions, can wrap hands around knees and pull knees up toward shoulders (as in squatting). Most common in hospital setting. For mom and baby: some help from gravity moving the baby down; mom feels more in control than in lithotomy position. Benefits for caregivers: good view of perineum, easy access to perineum.
**
Lateral / Side-Lying. Back curved, upper leg supported by partner. Gravity neutral, good for fast second stage. May be a comfort position for mom.
Kneeling positions. These work fine if you have no pain medication, or narcotics only. [If you have epidural anesthetic: These may be possible with a light epidural. You can ask your caregiver if it would be possible to try these positions, but you will need help getting into these positions (moving the IV tubing, catheter tube, monitor wires and so on so they’re not tangled around you is a production in and of itself!). Once you are in these positions, you would need to be “spotted” (have one person on each side of you, making sure you stay balanced and stable.)]
Kneeling. Hands on the bed, and knees comfortably apart. Or one knee up. Good for reducing tears and episiotomies. May be restful for mom.
**
Hands and knees. Arch your back occasionally for increased comfort. Great for back labor, big babies, posterior babies. Many find it most comfortable.
Upright positions / Squatting. These will not be possible if you have had an epidural, because with an epidural, you typically can not get up out of bed.
Sitting: On the toilet, on thighs of support person, on birthing stool/chair, on partner’s lap. Opens pelvis, gravity enhancing, natural pushing position.
**
Squatting / Supported Squat. Opens pelvis, gravity enhancing, sense of control for mom. During squatting, the average pelvic outlet is 28% greater than in the supine position. Stand, or sit back to relax in between contractions.
Dangle. Gravity, no external pressure on perineum / pelvis. Feeling of being well-supported. May be difficult for mom to see or touch baby during birth.
Compiled by Janelle Durham. Source: The Labor Progress Handbook by Penny Simkin and Ruth Ancheta. Several other books, classes, etc. ** Starred illustrations by Ancheta. All other illustrations, Janelle Durham.
My journey into the realm of pre-birth communication began when I was pregnant with my first child. I wanted, more than anything, to communicate with the being inside of me. That was almost more for me than for him. Though I became pregnant at age 36, I did not use ultrasound to check on my baby’s progress. I had all the usual fears and fantasies about what could be wrong with my baby. Yet, throughout my pregnancy, I had the strong feeling that all was well with my baby and his growth. How did I know that? Well, I asked him. And he answered.
The idea that a mother could talk to her unborn child and receive a response is at once a startling and yet completely natural idea to a pregnant woman in our mechanistic culture. Startling because it means using senses other than the usual physical senses to which we normally limit ourselves. Natural because almost all pregnant women feel that strong connection to their babies and what that connection could mean.
I have yet to meet a pregnant woman to whom the idea of dialogue with her unborn baby, once introduced, did not feel instinctively right. And I have yet to meet a woman pregnant or trying to conceive who, with practice and coaching, could not participate in this kind of dialogue.
When my wife became pregnant with out first daughter, we did a lot of research into my wife’s family birthing experiences and other cultures. We found that her grandmother gave birth in a Hawaiian sugar plantation by herself.
Two children were born to her in this manner. There was no pain or distress. Labor was a matter of minutes once her waters had broken, she took a day off work, and resumed work the next day with her baby strapped to her back.
To her such an outcome was unremarkable. A later birth in the local hospital was another matter. She reported that as very painful and the labor took 10 hours. She found the whole experience very unpleasant, and demeaning in how she was treated.
We found several cultures where birthing is gentle, quiet, relatively painfree, and labor is measured in minutes once the water bag has broken. (This is not to say that conditions are ideal in many other areas in these cultures. They are not.)
We decided after comparing home birth with hospital birth to have our baby at home. We found a very supportive and kind midwife and ignored the warnings of disaster and threats of prosecution for manslaughter if anything happened to either mother or child!
When her waters broke her contractions were strong and regular and birth seemed imminent. Then as soon as the midwife and two friends arrived everything stopped. My wife was displaying symptoms of fight or flight. So I sent everyone out of the room to make tea, and as flight was impossible I got her very angry and for quite a while she pounded the pillows and mattress and shrieked her rage as loud as she could.
Once she had discharged her rage her contractions restarted and her cervix dilated, and she had a very easy birth. This experience gave me a new perspective on birth and how the birth process can be effected. From then on whenever I was called upon to attend a birth I began to suggest and apply some techniques that I had developed for mitigating or resolving chronic pain.
For a while I was quite puzzled as to why so many birthing mothers went into fight or flight when midwives, Doulas family or friends arrived or they went to a hospital. Particularly as so many these days have undergone extensive preparation for the birth with relaxation classes. Then I realised that the adrenalin rush is a primitive response designed for survival and we have probably underestimated it’s power, and while conscious training will help under some conditions, if a birthing mother unconsciously senses danger, birthing will cease until either the threat has left or the adrenalin has been discharged with violent exercise, and no amount of training will inhibit it.
We are almost certainly the only species that allows relative strangers into the birthing environment. The cultures that appear to have benign births are those where the birthing mother is attended by people who she has known all her life, or she is encouraged to give birth by herself. Even then, if the wise woman or midwife of the tribe senses a family member present who stimulates tension for the birthing mother she is asked to leave. Which brings me to a very important aspect which can have disastrous consequences for the neonate. It is to do with that we are also the only species which allows strangers into the nurturing environment before maturity.
Myth #1 — Hospital births are statistically safer than homebirths.
Safety in childbirth is measured by how many mothers and babies die and how many survive childbirth in less than perfect health.
Studies done comparing hospital and out-of-hospital births indicate fewer deaths, injuries and infections for homebirths supervised by a trained attendant than for hospital births. No such studies indicate that hospitals have better outcomes than homebirths.
Respiratory distress among newborns was 17 times higher in the hospital than in the home.
The U.S. has the highest obstetrical intervention rates as well as a serious problem with malpractice suits.
While maternal death rates have vastly improved since the turn of the century, factors like proper nutrition and cleanliness have played a big part in the change.
Overall neonatal death rates have also improved since the 30s, but homebirths appeared to be safer even then. In 1939, Baylor Hospital Charity Service in Dallas, Texas, published a study that revealed a perinatal mortality rate of 26.6 per 1,000 live births in homes compared to a hospital birth mortality rate of 50.4 per 1,000.[1]
Since the 1970s, research done in northern California, Arizona, England and Tennessee all point to the relative safety of homebirth.[2] The only matched population study, comparing 1,046 homebirths with 1,046 hospital births, was published in 1977 by Dr. Lewis Mehl, a family physician and medical statistician.[3]
While neonatal and perinatal death rates were statistically the same in Mehl’s report, morbidity was higher in the hospital group: 3.7 times as many babies born in the hospital required resuscitation. Infection rates of newborns were four times higher in the hospital, and the incidence of respiratory distress among newborns was 17 times higher in the hospital than in the home.
A six-year study done by the Texas Department of Health for the years 1983-1989 revealed that the infant mortality rate for non-nurse midwives attending homebirths was 1.9 per 1,000 compared with the doctors’ rate of 5.7 per 1,000.[4] Certified nurse midwives’ mortality rate was 1 per 1,000 and “other” attendants accounted for 10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births.[5]
A study of 3,257 out-of-hospital births attended by Arizona licensed midwives between 1978-85 shows a perinatal mortality rate of 2.2 per 1,000 and a neonatal mortality rate of 1.1 per 1,000 live births.
In testimony before the U.S. Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality, Marsden Wagner MD, European Director of the World Health Organization, suggested the need in the U.S. for a “strong independent midwifery profession as a counterbalance to the obstetrical profession in preventing excessive interventions in the normal birth process.”[6]
Wagner states that in Europe midwives far outnumber physicians: “In no European country do obstetricians provide the primary health care for most women with normal pregnancy and birth.” He states that the U.S. has the highest obstetrical intervention rates as well as a serious problem with malpractice suits and concludes that a strong, independent midwifery service in the U.S. would be a most important counterbalance to the present situation.
Focusing on the infant-toddler’s level of well-being and readiness, baby swimming is taken to a higher level beyond that of strictly acquisition of physical skills. Baby swimming has so much to offer when approached in a nurturing, child-paced, “baby friendly” environment: boundless joy, self confidence, personal development, as well as happy, healthy and well adjusted children.
Raising a child will be the most important job a parent will ever have and growing up is never easy. That is why well informed, intelligent “child raising” choices by parents are necessary in order to provide their offspring apositive start in life. We must remember that while we teach the children to respect the water, we must never lose our respect for the children during the learning process, where our foremost concern must be with the well-being of the child. Teaching a baby to swim is a subtle, long term process which requires interpersonal sensitivity, altruistic motivation, insight, skill and joy. Patient parents who are able to enjoy the moment and at the same time “stay the course” will rediscover the virtue of water and it’s ability to nourish their baby’s entire being. For the right people, in the right situation, baby swimming can foster a connectedness to family, community and to the outer world. A cooperative partnership between parent, child and teacher is key to creating the kind of harmonious relationship necessary to gently and playfully guide our young Diaper Dolphins.
Less well known as a pregnancy tonic but deserving a kinder reputation and use, Urtica is one of the finest nourishing tonics known. It is reputed to have more chlorophyll than any other herb. The list of vitamins and minerals in this herb includes nearly every one known to necessary for human health and growth.Vitamins A, C, D and K, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, iron and sulphur are particularly abundant in nettles. The infusion is a dark green color approaching black. The taste is deep and rich. If you are blessed with a nettle patch near you, use the fresh plant as a pot herb in the spring.
Some pregnant women alternate weeks of nettle and raspberry brews; others drink raspberry until the last month and then switch to nettles to insure large amounts of vitamin K in the blood before birth.
The benefits of drinking nettle infusion before and throughout pregnancy include:
~ Aiding the kidneys. Nettle infusions were instrumental in rebuilding the kidneys of a woman who was told she would have to be put on a dialysis machine. Since the kidneys must cleanse 150 percent of the normal blood supply for most of the pregnancy, nettle’s ability to nourish and strengthen them is of major importance. Any accumulation of minerals in the kidneys, such as gravel or stones, is gently loosened, dissolved and eliminated by the consistent use of nettle infusions.
~ Increasing fertility in women and men.
~ Nourishing mother and fetus.
~ Easing leg cramps and other spasms.
~ Diminishing pain during and after birth. The high calcium content, which is readily assimilated, helps diminish muscle pains in the uterus, in the legs and elsewhere.
~ Preventing hemorrhage after birth. Nettle is a superb source of vitamin K, and increases available hemoglobin, both of which decrease the likelihood of postpartum hemorrhage. Fresh Nettle Juice, in teaspoon doses, slows postpartum bleeding.
~ Reducing hemorrhoids. Nettle’s mild astringency and general nourishing action tightens and strengthens blood vessels, helps maintain arterial elasticity and improves venous resilience.
~ Increasing the richness and amount of breast milk.
A: The practice of neonatal umbilical intactness – nonseverance of the umbilical cord – and absence of any
potential portal of navel infection. The birth practice of the early American pioneers who produced some of the
hardiest children known in American history… and valued everything they had. Also called “Umbilical
Nonseverance.” The baby, cord, and placenta are treated as one unit, as they are all originate from the same
cellular source (egg and sperm).
This informed choice practice requests healthcare providers to follow the protocols of “Passive Management” of
Third Stage Labor, and also forego invasive cord clamping. The baby is born and remains attached to its cord
while the placenta is birthed. The baby’s placenta-cord is kept in-situ with the baby, gently wrapped in cloth
or kept in an uncovered bowl near the mother, and the cord is sometimes wrapped in silk ribbon up to the
baby’s belly.
The cord quickly dries and shrinks in diameter, similar to sinew, and detaches often by the 3rd
Postpartum day (but up to a week in certain humid indoor air conditions) leaving a perfect, healed navel.
Interestingly, extended-delayed cord clamping & severing (just waiting more than an hour after the baby’s
birth), results in quicker cord stump healing, with an average of only one week for detachment of the stump,
which makes a big difference for diaper changing!
Lotus-born and sequestered in postpartum home retreat with his mother for the first 40 days, Baby
Elias is shown here at 6 weeks. Defying current medical midwifery & pediatric standards of
‘normal,’ this relaxed and aware child born at 8lbs 4oz. did not experience the typical American
neonatal stresses of injections, circumcision, weight loss, and breastfeeding jaundice. He grows,
glows, and gazes with a uncommon American infant VITALITY that brings total strangers to spontaneous states that can only be described as inspiration, wherever his family goes.
From chapter: Back to the Natural Healing Powers of the Placenta
Throughout the world generations have passed down knowledge of how ingesting placenta helps a mother’s postpartum recovery. Women using placenta remedies after birth feel stronger, are happier and can breastfeed more easily. If edema, elevated blood pressure or traces of protein in the urine signal malfunction of the kidneys during pregnancy, placenta remedies can eliminate these symptoms quickly. The symptoms of toxemia in pregnancy usually go hand-in-hand with a late onset of lactation after birth. Swelling in the fingers and legs may take up to six weeks to disappear again.
Placenta remedies, such as the powder, emulsion or an injection with the extract, can speed up this process considerably. With this treatment toxemic women can breastfeed well within two weeks. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses placenta to strengthen the kidneys. Mood swings resulting from a drop in the blood progesterone level respond well to a treatment with placenta remedies. Many conditions during birth, the postpartum period and nursing would not arise if we returned to the old custom of applying placenta remedies.
From chapter: Recipes for the Medicine Cabinet
Recipe for Placenta Emulsion
1/3 oz emulsifier (10 g)
1 oz distilled water (30 ml)
1/2 tsp of placenta powder (2 g)
Dissolve the emulsifier in distilled water at 120° F (50° C). Add placenta powder as soon as the solution has turned into a paste. Simmer at the same temperature while stirring swiftly, until the powder has dissolved completely. Remove from heat and let soak. Cool at room temperature while beating it well with a whiskExerpt from “Placenta: The Gift of Life” by Aqua-Midwife Cornelia Enning
Herbal Allies for Pregnancy Problems
By Susun Weed
Wise women believe that most of the problems of pregnancy can be prevented by attention to nutrition. Morning sickness and mood swings are connected to low blood sugar; backaches and severe labor pains often result from insufficient calcium; varicose veins, hemorrhoids, constipation, skin discoloration and anemia are evidence of lack of specific nutrients; preeclampsia, the most severe problem of pregnancy, is a form of acute malnutrition. Excellent nutrition includes pure water, controlled breath, abundant light, loving and respectful relationships, beauty and harmony in daily life, joyous thoughts and vital foodstuffs.
During pregnancy nutrients are required to create the cells needed to form two extra pounds of uterine muscle, the nerves, bones, organs, muscles, glands and skin of the fetus, several pounds of amniotic fluid, a placenta and a 50 percent increase in blood volume. In addition, extra kidney and liver cells are needed to process the waste of’ two beings instead of one.
Wild foods and organically grown produce, grains and herbs are the best source of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients needed during pregnancy. All the better if the expectant mother can get out and gather her own herbs: stretching, bending, breathing, moving, touching the earth, taking time to talk with the plants and to open herself to their spiritual world.
A new member of the tribe arrived last night at 9:14pm but not without a fight.
Apparently, Calder liked his mommy’s womb so much, he was hesitant to leave it. Can’t say as I blame him. Karin labored for nearly 40 hours. She did not take any drugs for the pain, which was, at times excruciating. Karin took control at 9pm and taught Calder his first lesson – about who was in charge. She simply insisted he come out and meet his parents. Despite repeated attempts to scurry back up into the safety of the womb, Calder came out with his mouth open, screaming his presence to the world. He does not yet have the power of words, but I’m pretty sure he was saying HERE I AM.
Karin was simply amazing. She is the strongest person I have ever known. You have never in your life seen anyone so calm, so brave, so focused, so dedicated to her child. Karin was a hero last night, to me, to our baby, and truly to anyone who saw her struggle. It was the hardest thing she has ever done, and she stepped into it with power, with grace and with unfathomable courage.
In the last 30 or so years, Motherhood has taken a hit in some quarters, by some feminists, as something less than befitting a strong modern woman. While surely that attitude has resulted from the years of patriarchial oppression of women in modern western society, nothing – nothing- could be further from the truth.
Any woman who ever doubts the nobility, the beauty or the honor of motherhood, should have been in that room with us to witness what I saw – a woman in complete control of her body and her life, fully conscious and capable of ferocious, irrepressible love. And any man who ever doubts a woman’s ability to accomplish anything, anything, in this life has certainly never seen one in her finest moment. I was fortunate enough to bear witness to one such woman, in one such moment, and it was something to see. I plan on telling my son this as soon as he is able to understand the words. And he will understand.
<!–[if gte vml 1]> <![endif]–><!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>He will understand that his mother is a warrior of peace. A warrior of love. Karin suffered pain and mental exhaustion to ensure that her son, my son, our son, would be born into his life fully conscious without any drugs coursing through his veins, and subsequently fully aware of his entry into the world. She fought for his health. She fought for his spirit. She fought for his life. And he appreciated it. Calder took to his mothers breast immediately. He hugged her tight in his first minute of life while the umbilical cord, still attached to his mother, pulsed gently between his skin and hers.
So Calder is born unto this world with a crushing, all encompassing love and respect for the woman in his life. Many men forget this. I will make sure this young man never does.
I have never had more faith in the human race than I do right now. I am joyful and hopeful for this world because of this baby, the woman I married, and the lesson I learned last night about how truly powerful human beings can be.
from “The Secret Life of the Unborn Child”
by Thomas Verny, M.D. with John Kelly
… at one time or another nearly every expectant mother senses that she and her unborn child are reacting to one another’s feelings. …
The fetus can see, hear, experience, taste, and, on a primitive level, even learn in utero (that is, in the uterus — before birth). Most profoundly, he can feel — not with an adult’s sophistication, but feel nonetheless.
A corollary to this discovery is that what a child feels and perceives begins shaping his attitudes and expectations about himself. Whether he ultimately sees himself and, hence, acts as a happy or sad, aggressive or meek, secure or anxiety-ridden person depends, in part, on the messages he gets about himself in the womb.
The chief source of those shaping messages is the child’s mother. This does not mean every fleeting worry, doubt or anxiety a woman has rebounds on her child. What matters are deep persistent patterns of feeling. Chronic anxiety or a wrenching ambivalence about motherhood can leave a deep scar on an unborn child’s personality. On the other hand, such life-enhancing emotions as joy, elation and anticipation can contribute significantly to the emotional development of a healthy child.
New research is also beginning to focus much more on the father’s feelings. Until recently his emotions were disregarded. Our latest studies indicate that this view is dangerously wrong. They show that how a man feels about his wife and unborn child is one of the single most important factors in determining the success of a pregnancy. …
This is the mommy in this birth video. I’m giving background info for viewers understanding. My husband posted this but I’m glad to share this wonderful exp. This was our 2nd birth (1st was Taylor now 5 born at home in tub too after 12 hours of labor). If mom and baby are healthy and you have all the necessary pre-natal care and are fully educated on labor/birth and what to expect and really want a homebirth exp. (no fear) than this is the way to go man! It was the most empowering exp. of my life.
The reason midwife is not here is my husband told her it would be 1 hr. when she called to check on us at 4am. what does he know—he’s just a man and I couldn’t really verbalize that is would be sooner. The call you see in the video (where my husband has the head in his hands)at 5am is midwife again, @ 30 min. away still. Well, she’s gonna be late,huh? My sister, best friend & my mom who is tending to our 22 month (Taylor—now 5) were there. He was crying because its 4:45am, he just woke up & wanted Mommy like all kids do at 5am-he also wanted to get in the pool. He was not traumatized by seeing me give birth. I was having a baby–one of the most nautural things in the world.
“I know of no country, no tribe, no class, where childbirth is attended with so much pain and trouble as in this country.”
Thus replied a traveler who had been many years in foreign lands, upon being interrogated as to the comparative sufferings of savage and civilized women. His occupation and sympathies had brought him into close relationship with all classes of people, and therefore fitted him for an intelligent and discriminating judgment in this matter.
Neither in India, Hindostan, China, Japan, the South Sea Islands, South America, nor indeed in any country do women suffer in both pregnancy and parturition as they do in this. Possibly among the higher classes in Europe there may be equal suffering; but the peasantry everywhere is comparatively exempt.
The usual testimony of missionaries and travelers is that the squaws of our own Indian tribes experience almost no suffering in childbirth, and the function scarcely interferes with the habits, pleasures or duties of life.
Mrs. Armstrong, one of the early missionaries in the Sandwich Islands, says: “With native women the labor was not long nor severe; the mother, instead of remaining in bed, arose, bathed in cold water, walked and ate as usual.”
Dr. Storer says: “There is probably no suffering ever experienced which will compare, in proportion to its extent in time, with the throes of parturition.” Dr. Meigs says: “Men can not suffer the same pain as women. What do you call the pains of parturition? There is no name for them but agony!”
It is too true that women go down to death in giving birth to children. Thousands of women believe that this pain is natural and that for it there can be no alleviation. “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children” is thought to be a curse that applies to all women of all time.
If this pain and travail is a natural accompaniment of physiological functions – if it is a curse upon women, then why are the rich, the enlightened and more favored daughters of earth greater sufferers than the peasantry, the savage, the barbarian, and those who we call heathen? Is it not possible, by research and comparison, to learn the natural and true mode of life, so that motherhood may, among enlightened people, be relieved from this burden of suffering? May it not prove that our traditions and teachings upon this subject have been altogether erroneous?
American women in education and enlightenment, in freedom and progress, are the peers of the best and noblest of their sex. From individual, social and national interests, they ought to be conversant with all that pertains to this subject, so closely allied to the interests of the race.
We find in women of superior education and marked intelligence an exaggerated development of the emotional nature, and a corresponding deterioration of physical powers. Weakness, debility, and suffering is the common lot of most of them. Not one in a hundred has health and strength to pursue any chosen study, or to follow any lucrative occupation, and what is vastly worse, most are unfitted for the duties and perils of maternity.
Dr. Gaillard Thomas says: “Neither appreciation of, nor desire for, physical excellence sufficiently exists among refined women of our day. Our young women are too willing to be delicate, fragile and incapable of endurance. They dread above all things the glow and hue of health, the rotundity and beauty of muscularity, the comely shapes which the great masters gave to the Venus de Medici and Venus de Milo. All these attributes are viewed as coarse and unladylike, and she is regarded as most to be envied whose complexion wears the livery of disease, whose muscular development is beyond the suspicion of embonpoint, and whose waist can almost be spanned by her own hands.
“As a result, how often do we see our matrons dreading the process of child-bearing, as if it were an abnormal and destructive one; fatigued and exhausted by a short, walk, or ordinary household cares; choosing houses with special reference to freedom from one extra flight of stairs, and commonly debarred the one great maternal privilege of nourishing their own offspring. These are they who furnish employment for the gynecologist, and who fill our homes with invalids and sufferers.”
Understanding and following physiological laws, pregnancy ought to be as free from pathological symptoms, and parturition as void of suffering with American women as with any on earth, or even with the lower animals.
Dr. Dewees says: “Pain in childbirth is a morbid symptom; it is a perversion of nature caused by modes of living not consistent with the most healthy condition of the system, and a regimen which would insure a completely healthy condition might be counted on with certainty to do away with such pain.”
The great English scientist, Professor Huxley, says: “We are indeed, fully prepared to believe that the bearing of children may and ought to become as free from danger and long debility to the civilized woman as it is to the savage.”
The following paragraphs from one of the essays in Dr. Montgomery’s classical work on Pregnancy, give practical details of cases in illustration of the belief in painless parturition.
“In a letter to me Dr. Douglas states that he was called about 6 A. M., Sept. 26, 1828, to attend a Mrs. D., residing on Eccles St.
“On his arrival he found the house in the utmost confusion, and was told that the child had been born before the messenger was dispatched for the doctor. From the lady herself he learned that, about half an hour previously, she had been awakened from a natural sleep by the alarm of a daughter about five years old, who slept with her.
“This alarm was occasioned by the little girl feeling the movements, and hearing the cries of an infant in bed. To the mother’s great surprise she had brought forth her child without any consciousness of the fact. “A lady of great respectability, the wife of a peer of the realm, was actually delivered once in her sleep; she immediately awakened her husband, being alarmed to find one more in bed than there was before.
“I have elsewhere mentioned the case of a patient of mine who bore eight children without ever having labor pains. Her deliveries were so sudden and void of sensible effect that in more than one instance they took place under most awkward circumstances, but without any suffering.”
Dr. J. King, in his work on Obstetrics, speaks of attending cases where there was no sensation of pain.
He found that by placing the hand upon the abdomen, the muscular contractions were distinctly felt, and examination proved the progress of labor, while, excepting a suppressed breath, the patient experienced no change from the ordinary condition.
With Dr. Holmes, I believe it will take many years to eradicate diseased conditions which are the heritage of this generation, and thus to produce men and women of physical perfection. Science has proven, however, that any woman possessing sufficient vitality to make procreation possible, can do much, even during pregnancy, to alleviate the sufferings of that period, as well as the final throes of travail. Pain and suffering have so long been the customary attendant upon the maternal functions, that many are slow to believe they can ever be alleviated. Painless childbirth is thought to be an impossibility. The reader is begged to lay aside all previous prejudices, and it is believed that when this volume has been thoroughly studied he will be convinced that women in bearing offspring should furnish no exception to the laws of nature, and that pregnancy and parturition may and ought to be devoid of suffering.
Apart from medical factors, psychological factors also influence the birth process. The more familiar the environment is for the birthing woman, the more complication-free and easy a birth is. Beyond that the water offers a shelter into which the birthing woman can dive into, if she wants to concentrate on the process of labour.
A water birth can take place in the hospital, in the birth center or at home.
Water birth in the hospital
Some hospitals [in Germany] have special bearing tubs in the in the maternity ward, which are equipped with all comfort. A birthing tub is accessible from each side, has handles and footrests build in and is fillable up to the chest with water. The parents do not have to worry about the filling of the tub or the disposal of the waste water. In some gynaecological clinics the cardio activity of the baby and the activity of the labour of the mother can be supervised with waterproof telemetry. Many midwives and physicians trained themselves further for water birth. If you are interested in water birth in a hospital, get information from the hospitals of your region whether this possibility of birthing is offered there.
See also Waterbirth International
Water birth in the birth center
Some birth centers have a birthing tub available. Sometimes parents can bring a birthing tub of their choice. Water basin rental companies offer different, transportable birthing tubs. Many midwives of the birthing centers trained themselves further for water delivery and how to connect it with the midwife assistance for a active birth.
See also water babies (Germany) waterbirthinfo (USA)
Waterbirth at home
With the waterbirth in the own home parents can create their individual birth surroundings. Parents themselves decide which persons are to help with the birth, in which rooms they want to experience it the “celebration of the birth” (Leboyer), which music they want to hear and they determine want they want to eat. They can use the bathing tub or rent a birthing tub with a lot of space. Many parents buy a inflatable children’s pool, which permits a depth of water of 50 cm at least. The liberty to “create your own birth” (see also video: “Kinder kriegen “, Birth center Vienna), requires good planning and birth preparation. Freelance midwives support parents, accompany the house/water birth and lead the following water training in the childbed. From midwives led water baby meetings in the first year of life of the child helps with the transition from the water life in utero to the future land life
See also hebinfo (German), the website of aqua midwife Cornelia Enning from where this translations come
Many psychatrists have stated form time to time not only that man relives the moment of his birth, but also that his mental development will arise from the earliest association with life. If this is true, the happiness radiated by the nursing mother breast-feeding her child must envelop the infant in an aura of blissful associations with its earliest beginnings.
No hot blanket, guardian nurse or weaning bottle can replace the physiological character formation of the breast-fed baby. There is no substitute for mother love. The relationship between those who love and those who are loved is not a sentimental association but reality. There is a mutual transference of a force which elevates both the mind and the body to a higher plane of human development than the implementation of impersonal scientific procedures and synthetic devices
Man cannot feed the baby within the uterus. What justifies his presumption that he is able to improve upon the physiological provision because the child has recently left the uterus? We can fortify and reinforce with certain substances the adequacy of both the placental and the breast nutrition, but the basic natural nourishment supplies something which no concoction can contain.
Although a skilled physician can write prescriptions for mixtures upon which children will thrive, they cannot include the personality factor of successful mothering. They can build bonnie and beautiful babies whose bodies are the pride of their nurses and a profit to the advertisers of patent foos. Without mothering, a nation of gladiators can arise, but if the seeds of mother love had been implanted in early infancy and fostered in youth, should we have seen the tragedies and the indescribable horrors of the last fifteen or twenty years? Breast-feeding has a sociological value far greater than is generally recognised.
From “Childbirth Without Fear” by Grantly Dick-Read
Photo by Brunna Perett
A healthy baby is able to overcome the distance between uterus and motherly chest by its own strength if the conditions of its birth give it the opportunity. The baby itself gives the impulse to the mother to release labour hormones. In the water her body reacts faster and more easily.
In the stage of expulsion the baby repels itself with his little legs at the wall of the uterus while rotating through the birth channel. In the water the pelvic bones of the mother give way better. Born into the water, the newborn child paddles with its little arms in order to arrive at the chest of the mother.
The baby can already take up the first eye contact in the water with its mother. Water babies are born with open eyes. The transition of the fruit water to the bath water is like a restorative stopover on the birth way. The birth under water is one of the gentlest forms for a baby to see the light of the world.
Translated with permission from aqua-midwife Cornelia Enning’s website hebinfo.de
During labour the movements of the woman support the birth procedure. The water permits movements which were to be implemented ashore only with difficulty. In which position the birth of the child is to take place, a woman can decide best herself in the weightlessness of water.
The water lets the birth canals become so eased and flexible that the birthing woman will get along without pain medication. She also does not need artificial hormones because the water will energize the body-own hormones. At the end of the birth she will be able to control how quickly the head of the child is to be born and can thereby avoid tearing.
Interferences by birth attendants are difficult in the water and during a normal birth process unnecessary. Particularly women after a cesaeren section have a opportunity with the waterbirth to bring this child normally in the world.
Translated from aqua-midwife Cornelia Enning’s website hebinfo.de
Excerpts from “The Tree and the Fruit- Routine versus
Selective Strategies in Postmaturity” by Dr. Michel Odent
According to traditional wisdom in rural France, a baby in the womb should be compared to fruit on the tree. Not all the fruit on the same tree is ripe at the same time. A fruit that has been picked before it is ripe will never be fit to eat and will quickly go bad. It is the same with a baby. In other words, we must accept that some babies need a much longer time than others before they are ready to be born. If you have some apple trees in your garden, you will listen to your common sense and choose an individualized and selective approach: you will not pick all the apples on the same day.
An induced labor is more difficult than a labor that has started spontaneously. It usually leads to the need for epidural anesthesia and an oxytocin drip, which more often than not precedes a cascade of interventions, culminating in a vacuum, forceps delivery or an emergency cesarean. The “labor induction epidemic” helps to explain the rising cesarean rates all over the world. In Peace
One drawback of the current prevailing strategy is that many women don’t spend the last days of their pregnancy in peace. If they have not gone into labor spontaneously, they become obsessed with the date they were given for induction. Their emotional state probably tends to delay the onset of labor.
Some try non-medical methods of induction. These women may not realize that any effective method (from acupuncture to nipple stimulation and sexual intercourse) may initiate labor before the baby has signaled its maturity. There is no natural way of inducing labor. Some methods are undoubtedly unpleasant and even dangerous. This is true even of castor oil or blue cohosh.
Already since the beginnings of midwifery, bathing has been used as birth assistance during labour.. Similarly long, women report that they do not want to leave the warm water to give birth to their child on the bed.
Progressive midwives already began before approximately 15-20 years, to search for “alternative” birth methods and birthing positions, moved by the needs of the pregnant women. In due course of time water birth turned out to be the most gentle and popular. Water birth is one of the gentlest birth methods for mother and child: Pain reduction for the mother and stress reduction for the child.
Experience of many years and scientific investigations on the procedures of water birth prove today free of doubts that the water birth is absolutely harmless for mother and child . Everyone can easily understand, which special and intimate relationship the unborn child has to (fruit) the water, which is his home for the first nine month.
In water, births works with the so-called dipping reflex which closes the bronchial tube of the newborn waterproof. A newborn child inhales for the first time only if its (face) skin has no more contact with the water.
Women who gave birth to their child in the water, say in the most cases that they had a beautiful and gentle birth experience. Beyond that the water birth has also “medical” advantages: frequently the birth precedes somewhat faster, fewer pain medication is needed, and the number of episiotomies (dam cuts) and dam injuries (tearing) is smaller. This can be traced back to the relaxation and pain reduction which is experienced in a warm tub bath.
The modern birth assistance permits women to decide how long they want to enjoy their birth bath. Each woman can get the advantages of the water before, during and after birth. A water birth designates the baby’s birth of the under water.
From Aqua-Midwife Cornelia enning’s website hebinfo.de
It is a great pleasure and honor for me to announce my new series of translations from the website of aqua-midwife Cornelia Enning from Germany. Her work is admirable. If you have any questions or are interested in her services, feel free to contact me:
birthowl @ gmail.com
For direct contact with aqua-midwife Cornelia Enning:
Cornelia Enning has been a licensed midwife in Muehlacker, Germany since 1972. She has been doing homebirths/waterbirths since 1975. She received a B.E. in psychology and pedagogy in 1972 from the University of Berlin. She has been doing homebirths and waterbirths since 1975 and is the founder of the German parents association “Wasserbabies.”
Cornelia is editor of the quarterly Wasserbaby-Post and author of several books about waterbirth at home and in hospitals. She directs the German Federation of Aquapaedagogik and instructs parents in water training for newborns. In addition, she has taught waterbirth midwifery to more than 4000 midwives and obstetricians. Cornelia has two adult children and one granddaughter.
“My husband and I had done many test runs with the hot tub to see how long it took to fill and heat back up again, and it was a good 5 hours. Well my labor was going fast and it had maybe been 4 hours since we put the fresh water in. So the temperature was then about 83 degrees. Luckily it was a warm night. But once I got into the water the contractions slowed down a little. So my wonderful husband connected a garden hose to the hot water inside the house and started pumping it in. The water circled around my body like a warm blanket.
The transition stage came on fast. I remember looking up at the stars and letting out a scream that felt animalistic. I moaned and moaned while feeling the head making its way down. My husband was gently rubbing my back. The midwives only took the fetal heart rate a couple of times. When I was ready to push, they asked me to get out of the tub. They said they felt it wasn’t hot enough for the baby. Well I thought it was damn close enough. Nothing was getting me out. It wasn’t 98 yet, maybe only 92, but I wasn’t moving. I said, “Babies have been born in the Baltic sea in Russia, I’m not getting out.” They looked at each other and said “OK.” I knew my baby would be just fine, something deep inside told me. I trusted my instincts.
The pushing went fast. When the head started coming down I gave some really strong pushes. I remembered reading that many women enjoyed reaching up and feeling the head. So I did. Then I grabbed my husband’s hand and had him feel. The baby’s head was covered in hair. That gave me a lot of encouragement to push the head out. At this time we had the hot tub light on low so we could see. When he came out he had his eyes wide open. I looked down and there he was. Staring back at me. I rested then pushed the rest of his beautiful little body out. My husband put his hands underneath him and gently brought him up to the surface.
The cord was kind of short, so I couldn’t nurse him right away, so my husband and I just held him for a few minutes in the water. It was amazing to see this new person emerge into the world. We had in seconds gone from a family of two to a family of three.
We got out of the tub and walked inside. Our family room was quiet and warm, with soft music in the background. Just like a dream. We sat on the couch and got acquainted for a while. After several minutes with the lights very low, my husband said “so what is the sex of our baby???” We hadn’t had any ultrasound tests so we didn’t know ahead of time. I had been so caught up with everything until this point. I felt like I had just run a marathon. My adrenaline was pumping. But with it being so dark outside and dark inside we didn’t see. I said “I feel little balls, I�m pretty sure it�s a boy.” And it was. Logan James had been born. My husband cut the cord. About 25 minutes later, I got on my hands and knees and gave a huge push and out popped the placenta onto my floor. It was big and beautiful and totally intact.
The birth was more wonderful than I could have ever have imagined. It happened so fast. From the time I got into the hot tub to the time he was born was about an hour. With the total labor being about 4 – 5 hours. I know it was because of the water. The birth was wonderful, without interruptions and distractions. Just like I wanted it to be.
I didn’t want a circus of people around me. I love my family very much, but I felt that it was important to have very few people there. I believe we birth naturally like animals when we are left alone. Our bodies naturally take over. I think water is a miracle. It makes birth wonderful and enjoyable. I’d do it again right now and again tomorrow. I look back on the experience and I get excited to do it again real soon.
With this wonderful website out there and with the help of many books, I have come full circle. From years earlier thinking I would have a hospital birth with drugs and maybe not nurse, to a home birth (naturally), and being a proud member of La Leche League. Thank the heavens for the Internet, which brought me to this site. It literally changed my life.
I hope this story inspires someone somewhere like the other ones that inspired me. Having a waterbirth is a beautiful experience. Not to mention the benefits it has on the baby. Logan is stronger and healthier than many of his friends the same age. (The doctor even said so.) Logan also loves the water. He enjoys his baths and likes to be in the hot tub.
I am so thankful for the waterbirth. It has been a dream, not to mention an empowering experience as a woman. It has made me realize that I am strong and capable of anything. Well, almost anything.”
That the milk comes in does usually not occur for 2-5 days after birth. During that time, only small quantities of colostrum are available but are especially useful for the infant and should be fed. Colostrum is also known as “liquid gold”.
The sooner after delivery that breastfeeding is begun, the more colostrum your baby will receive. The sooner you nurse your baby after delivery, the better. Colostrum comes in small quantities and prepares your baby’ digestive tract for receiving the milk that comes later by stimulating the baby’s first bowel movement. Meconium, the black, tarry stuff that passes in the first stool, contains bilubrin, the substance that causes jaundice in newborns.
Colostrum contains white blood cells which are there to prevent infection in the newborn by attacking harmful bacteria. Colostrum is easy to digest with its high protein, low sugar and fat content, so it is an ideal first food.Dr. Robert Jackson, a member of the Professional Advisory Board for La Leche League International, has also pointed out these interesting facts about colostrum:The proportions of the constituents in human milk gradually change; the colostrum of the first day is not the same as the colostrum of the second; with the transitional milk there is a gradual consistent change intimately related to the needs of the baby.
Therefore no matter how much artificial formulas are improved, it’s never going to be possible to manufacture formulas for the first day, the second, the third, and so o, that are as suited to baby’s needs as his mother’s own milk. Don’t worry if your baby looses a little weight before your milk comes in. Nearly every newborn will loose some weight after birth.Your baby is born with enough extra fluid to tide him over until your milk is in. A slight weight loss is normal and usually quickly recovered once your milk supply is well established.
Colostrum is specially important to premature babies because it contains high amounts of amino acidcystine, an important component of protein, which premature babies lack. What to speak of the intimate connection between the nursing mother and the child which the infant needs for a healthy development. Studies show that the mortality rate from one to six month is less for breastfed babies than for artificially fed premature infants.
If you thought a homebirth was radical, prepare yourself for freebirthing – where there’s not even a midwife on hand. Allison Tait investigates the growing trend of pregnant women going solo. Rixa Freeze, 29, a doula from Iowa in the US, endured a 10-hour labour with no medical assistance. She gave birth to daughter Zari on October 31, 2006.
“I was sitting on the edge of the toilet, supporting my baby’s crowning head with one hand, when it occurred to me that my husband, Eric, might like to witness the birth of our first child. Having spent the entire 10 hours of labour almost completely alone, I now wanted to share her arrival.
“Eric came in from our bedroom as I half-squatted on the floor, a pile of towels underneath me. Zari arrived with a swoosh and I gently lowered her onto the nest of towels. Her initial crying subsided as soon as I scooped her up to my chest.
“A few moments later, Eric took a photograph of Zari and me – and when I look at it today I realise what a raw and beautiful moment this was. It was just us – no strangers and no unnecessary noise.
“Two and a half hours later, when the placenta came out, Eric cut me off a small piece to eat; the mild taste was surprising. Later that afternoon, as the three of us relaxed together in our bed, a family for the first time, Eric told me I was right to give birth this way. Initially, he had expressed doubts, out of concern for the baby and me, but now he too realised it was the right choice.
“For me, it was the only decision. When I first heard about freebirthing, or unassisted birth as it’s also known, it was as an academic, in 2003. I was in the first year of a postgraduate degree in American Studies, researching birth-related issues, and a midwife I met mentioned it to me.
At first, I reacted like most people. The idea of giving birth without any medical assistance on hand sounded scary and a bit radical, especially for someone like me who didn’t exactly grow up in a particularly alternative family.
“My curiosity piqued, I read as much as I could on the subject and grew to really respect the women who had chosen this path. I discovered that we have such a culture of fear when it comes to birth. Look at how films portray it – a woman on her back screaming as a doctor comes to save her and deliver the baby. That makes it hard for people to imagine any other way than a medical birth.”
from “The Secret Life of the Unborn Child”
by Thomas Verny, M.D. with John Kelly
Selected Quotes
… at one time or another nearly every expectant mother senses that she and her unborn child are reacting to one another’s feelings. …
* A corollary to this discovery is that what a child feels and perceives begins shaping his attitudes and expectations about himself. Whether he ultimately sees himself and, hence, acts as a happy or sad, aggressive or meek, secure or anxiety-ridden person depends, in part, on the messages he gets about himself in the womb.
* The chief source of those shaping messages is the child’s mother. This does not mean every fleeting worry, doubt or anxiety a woman has rebounds on her child. What matters are deep persistent patterns of feeling. Chronic anxiety or a wrenching ambivalence about motherhood can leave a deep scar on an unborn child’s personality. On the other hand, such life-enhancing emotions as joy, elation and anticipation can contribute significantly to the emotional development of a healthy child.
* New research is also beginning to focus much more on the father’s feelings. Until recently his emotions were disregarded. Our latest studies indicate that this view is dangerously wrong. They show that how a man feels about his wife and unborn child is one of the single most important factors in determining the success of a pregnancy. …
With this new knowledge at their disposal, mothers and fathers have an unparalleled opportunity to help shape the personality of their unborn child. They can actively contribute to his happiness and well-being, and not just in utero, nor in the years immediately following birth, but for the rest of his life. …
Providing the newborn with a warm, reassuring, humane environment does make a difference because the child is very aware of how he is born. He senses gentleness, softness and a caring touch, and he responds in a quite different way to the bright lights, electrical beeps, and cold impersonal atmosphere that are so often associated with a medical birth. …
… he is conscious or aware though his consciousness is not as deep or complex as an adult’s. He is incapable of understanding the shades of meaning an adult can put into a simple word or gesture; but, … he is sensitive to remarkably subtle emotional nuances. He can sense and react not only to large, undifferentiated emotions such as love and hate, but also to more shaded complex feeling states like ambivalence and ambiguity. … something like consciousness exists from the very first moments of conception ….
… the child from the sixth month in utero onward … can already remember, hear, even learn. The unborn child is, in fact, a very quick study, as a group of investigators demonstrated in what has come to be regarded as a classic report.
… Our likes and dislikes, fears and phobias … are in part, also the product of conditioned learning. … the sensation of anxiety … his mother’s smoking … an unborn child grows emotionally agitated (as measured by the quickening of his heartbeat) each time his mother thinks of having a cigarette. She doesn’t even have to put it to her lips or light a match; just her idea of having a cigarette is enough to upset him. … drop in oxygen supply (in the maternal blood passing the placenta) … psychological effects … thrusts him into a chronic state of uncertainty and fear.
In one case, a newborn girl refused to bond with or nurse from her own mother, though she did not refuse other women. The mother, it turned out, had wanted to have an abortion and bore the child grudgingly at the father’s insistence. With such mothers, the “child lacks a feeling person to whom he can attach himself. His mother becomes absorbed in herself and has no resources left for the baby”; nor can he bond with a woman overburdened with anxiety or frustration.
If loving, nurturing mothers bear more self-confident, secure children, it is because the self-aware “I” of each infant is carved out of warmth and love. Similarly, if unhappy, depressed or ambivalent mothers bear a higher rate of neurotic children, it is because their offsprings’ egos were molded in moments of dread and anguish. Not surprisingly, without redirection, such children often grow into suspicious, anxious and emotionally fragile adults.
Widespread recognition of the delicate and intimate connections between parent and child prenatally and in infancy will lead naturally to a more realistic idea of the far-reaching responsibility of parenthood, and new respect for the impact of our inner life on those around us.
Question: My sister and I were discussing childbirth. She is very influenced by her friend, a nurse, to have an intrusive, medicalized birth. What kind of resources can I share with her to show her that a natural childbirth is a wonderful and safe birth choice?
Dr. Michel Odent: You might first explain to your sister and her friend that a natural childbirth is not a choice. This term can only be used in retrospect, when a woman has given birth without any drug and without any intervention. The environment where you give birth is the real choice. You must explain that your main objective is safety and that according to common sense an easy birth is safer than a difficult birth. So your priority is to make the birth as easy as possible thanks to an environment that can satisfy your basic needs when you are in labor.
Your basic needs are easy to explain in the current scientific context. Physiologists, scientists who study the body functions, tell us that adrenaline (the emergency hormone we release in particular when we are scared or when we are cold) makes difficult the release of oxytocin, the hormone necessary for effective uterine contractions. You can explain that you release a lot of adrenaline when you are in an unfamiliar and clinical environment. You can add that, in contrast, you can imagine yourself giving birth in a familiar environment, with – for example – nobody else around than an experienced, motherly, low profile and silent midwife knitting in a corner. It is probable that in such an environment your body will work well.
The second aspect of the safety preoccupation is: what to do if there is something wrong? In the age of the safe c-section and widespread cell-phones, there is usually an easy answer to this question, which should always be the second one.
Many health professionals need to learn to think in terms of ‘ratio of benefits to risks’. Where out of hospital births are concerned, they immediately ask: ‘what will you do if…’ instead of asking first: ‘how to make the birth as easy as possible’.
You are asking what kind of resources you can share. You might share data about the Dutch birth statistics. In Holland, where 82% of the midwives are independent primary care givers, about 31% of the births occur at home, and an autonomous midwife attends many of the hospital births. The rates of c-sections are around 10% for the whole country and more than 90% of the laboring women do not need an epidural anesthesia. The birth outcomes are much better than in the USA (number of babies alive and healthy at birth).
Do not recommend books about ‘natural childbirth’ because they are usually written for the converted. Instead you might suggest updated books focusing on one of the main aspects of industrialized childbirth, such as ‘The Caesarean. Free Association Books 2004′. In order to help your sister and friend to learn to think long term, you might indicate the ‘Primal Health Research Data Base‘ that is specialized in studies exploring the long term consequences of what happened at the beginning of our life. It appears that the way we are born has life long consequences and that, today, in spite of the safe caesarean, we have good reasons to try to rediscover the basic needs of women in labor and of newborn babies.
Michel Odent, M.D.
For several decades Michel Odent has been instrumental in influencing the history of childbirth and health research. As a practitioner he developed the maternity unit at Pithiviers Hospital in France in the 1960s and ’70s. He is familiarly known as the obstetrician who introduced the concept of birthing pools and home-like birthing rooms. His approach has been featured in eminent medical journals such as Lancet, and in TV documentaries such as the BBC film Birth Reborn. With six midwives he was in charge of about one thousand births a year and could achieve ideal statistics with low rates of intervention. After his hospital career he practiced home birth.
As a researcher he founded the Primal Health Research Center in London (UK), which focuses upon the long term consequences of early experiences. An overview of the Primal Health Research Data Bankclearly indicates that health is shaped during the primal period (from conception until the first birthday). It also suggests that the way we are born has long term consequences in terms of sociability, aggressiveness or, otherwise speaking, capacity to love.
“She danced and danced throughout her labor. No noise, no fuss, just intense concentration and dancing. After many hours she looked up at me with a puzzled expression and said: ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ I asked if I could check her, and when she opened her legs, the baby’s head was crowning.
I told her that was why she felt that way, and she began to laugh, and laughing, birthed the baby into my surprised hands. Her partner took pictures: a baby born en caul to a laughing VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) mother. We must witness, talk story, tell the good stories to counteract our culture’s horror of birth. It is possible to birth in peace and joy.”
-Anne Stohrer, M.D. in Compleat Mother magazine, Winter, 2000
“I noticed that whenever Judith would laugh at something, she’d have a very good rush [contraction] right afterward, which would dilate her cervix a bunch more. So we all sat around and had a good time talking with each other, and after a few more rushes I checked Judith again and found that she was fully dilated and ready to push the baby out.”
-From Spiritual Midwifery, by Ina May Gaskin
“Even though I was still on my hands and knees, my hearing suddenly became very acute. I could hear Gordon on the phone in the next room: Glenn? This is Gord. Could you ask Elly to come over. I think the baby’s coming. You think the baby’s coming? I echoed to myself.
And suddenly, I laughed. I could not help it – the man’s hesitation struck me as funny. I laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.Suddenly, I was looking down a tunnel the long way around, as if a telescope inside me – that was somehow outside me – was turned backwards. As I laughed, the baby’s head popped out. I tightened my pelvic floor muscles and, turning my head, noticed Gordon at the doorway.
Imagining how ludicrous I must have looked, reared up on my haunches with a baby’s head sticking out of me, I laughed again. This time, the baby simply fell out into Gordon’s out-stretched hands.”
-From “They Don’t Call it a Peak Experience for Nothing,” by Ruth Claire (Mothering, Fall 1989)
What a great show! Listen to the Leonard Loparte Show with Ina May Gaskin and Naomi Wolf.
Ina May talks about her experiences and gives great tips on birthing, midwifery and labour! She talks about big babies, dancing in labour, eating during labour, ability of women’s body, how she learned the “Gaskin Maneuver”, due-month vs due-date and much more. Very wonderful. I am overjoyed with this her talk. Don’t miss it!
And Naomi Wolf, author of “misconceptions” talks about her experience giving birth in an American hospital.
The mother from the vdieo shares her thoughts on natural childbirth:
This is the birth of my third child, Sage Darian on Christmas morning (the other two were also homebirths, vids in the way!)
My midwife, Susan Lees, delivered all my babies and her presence during my Christmas Eve labour and Christmas Morning birth was awe-inspiring. Thank you, Sue!!!!
No mother would ever put her unborn child at risk.
As a homebirther of 3 myself, it was imperative to me that my pregnancies were monitored very closely by my midwife and my OB. Only once all physical birthing conditions were right and we were all confident that the births would run smoothly, did we finalise our decisions to homebirth.
Once labour commences, the midwife is called and she in turn calls the OB to put him or her on stand by. Initial communication with the midwife is telephonic until such time that you feel you need to have her there. For some people it’s in the early stages of labour, for some it’s later. That is entirely a personal choice.
Throughout the labour the midwife is doing cervical checks and monitors the heartrate of the baby with a doppler RELIGIOUSLY. If the midwife AT ANY STAGE feels that you are not dilating and that in turn could place stress on the foetus, then she will call the OB and tell him/her that you are on the way to the hospital STILL IN EARLY STAGES OF LABOUR BEFORE THE BABY IS IN DISTRESS. This often ends in a C-section if the mother was not dilating.
Back to homebirths: Once you are 10cm dilated, and the baby is on the way down, there is no turning back. A C-Section (hospital) is no longer an option. The baby is now in the birth canal and it is now you and your primitive instinct that is going to push this baby out. Your body knows EXACTLY what it needs to do (even if your mind doesn’t) and once again the baby’s heart rate is monitored closely.
The birthing position is also one of personal choice. The body adopts a position it feels most comfortable in.
The midwife at hand (all midwive’s are registered nurses and have done many many hours in labour wards)has all the necessary equipment with her should she need to intervene with the birth. Some midwive’s at homebirths also have another midwife to assist them.
All instruments etc are sterilised in the same manner in which they would be in a hospital and NOTHING is left to chance. We choose to birth our children at home, not because we are ANTI-DOCTOR, stubborn and stupid, we choose to birth them at home because it is very important to us that our children arrive onto this planet NATURALLY as intended, into an environment that is calm and overflowing with love.
The labour process is also one that requires TREMENDOUS focus and will power, so you should be in an environment where you feel most comfortable and at ease. For some this is a hospital and for some it is at home, surrounded by one’s loved ones.
“In a sincere effort to catch complications early and produce healthier babies, medical science has changed the atmosphere surrounding birth from one of a circle of loving support around laboring women to one of space age technology in a laboratory setting.
Though technology can save lives in a crisis, the routine use of technology can interfere with the normal birth process”
Hospitals are for people who are very ill, why would you want to birth your precious child into an environment like that if you don’t have to ??
Clamping the umbilical cord immediately following birth is standard procedure in American hospitals. What much of the general population does not know is that there are very sound reasons for NOT clamping the umbilical cord immediately.
Early cord tying/clamping is a recent invention . It is neither natural, normal, evolutionary or historical. The debate on cord clamping dates back at least to 1801, when Erasmus Darwin noted that it would be “very injurious” to tie “the navel-string” too soon and urged that clamping be delayed until the infant has breathed repeatedly and all cord pulsation ceased.
Early cord clamping is an intervention in a natural process. There is NO evidence to support that early cord clamping is beneficial. Humans are the only placental mammals who routinely clamp the cord. Many bite the cord and eat the placenta.George M. Morley, MB., CH. B writes “If cord clamping is delayed to permit normal placental transfusion, the need for newborn transfusion often could be eliminated.
The cord tie is viewed as insurance against blood loss after the vessels have closed. Fear of late clamping persists because physicians have been conditioned to believe that complications such as jaundice, plethora, hyperviscosity, and polycythemia are caused by placental over-transfusion.
Many neonatal morbidities such as the hyperviscosity syndrome, infant respiratory distress syndrome, anemia, and hypovolemia correlate with early clamping. To avoid injury in all deliveries, especially those of neonates at risk, the cord should not be clamped until placental transfusion is complete.
The World Health Organization states (Care in Normal Birth: A Practical Guide) “Late clamping (or not clamping at all) is the physiological way of treating the cord, and early clamping is an intervention that needs justification.”Dr. M. Jeffrey Maisels says “If the cord is not clamped, the placenta gives the infant the equivalent of 20 cc of blood per kilogram of body weight within these first 3 minutes. This placental transfusion in the normal infant is equivalent to the amount of blood given to an infant in profound shock.
When cords are not clamped early, the third stage of labor is one-third shorter and the total mean blood loss after delivery is substantially less than when cords are clamped early. This might be because when cords are not clamped, the placenta is allowed to give up its volume of blood. It thereby contracts and separates more easily from the uterine wall.
It is wise to think of the placenta as one of the baby’s organs. What rational human being would even consider amputating a live organ when waiting just an hour or so will cause it to expire naturally?
What you can do: If you are planning a hospital birth, discuss with your physician your wish of delayed clamping. Most medical practitioners are not educated about the function of the umbilical cord after birth, and you may end up having to do some education in order to see that your baby gets the best care.
Regardless of their rules, you have absolute legal right to say what does and does not happen to your baby. You need to make your wishes clear and if your doctor is unwillingly to assist your needs, you may want to re-evaluate your choice of a physician.
This issue is easier to handle when having a home birth, but be sure to make your wishes clear to your midwife. Do not assume that the cord will not be immediately clamped. And of course if you are having an unassisted birth, you need only do what you choose! [www.gentlebirth.org]
What is Lotus Birth? Lotus birth is the practice of leaving the umbilical cord uncut, so that the baby remains attached to his/her placenta until the cord naturally separates at the umbilicus – exactly as a cut cord does – at 3 to 10 days after birth. This prolonged contact can be seen as a time of transition, allowing the baby to slowly and gently let go of his/her attachment to the mother’s body.
This is a wonderful website I really appreciate. It talks about empowering woman to give birth naturally, to trust in the ability of their female bodies to give birth and to make childbirth a joyous, empowering and healing event.
You can find great information on homebirth and thought-provoking birth-stories from women in different settings. Great assistance for making an informed choice for childbirth.
From the website:
Empowered Childbirth.com was created out of a deep and abiding love for women, men, children and the sacred healing powers of childbirth. Here, we share our experiences with each other in hopes of restoring our faith in our own birthing power and encouraging our sisters to restore theirs.
What is an “Empowered Birth”?
When we speak of a woman being empowered during birth we’re talking about her feeling like she is in control of her environment and the decisions being made about her body and her birth.
Providing solid information about the course of a normal pregnancy and the effects of common interventions on a normal birth is the foundation of Empowered Childbirth.
Keep the room warm immediatley after the birth, and do not give a postpartum woman cold drinks. If a newly postpartum woman has to warm her body after a chill, or if she has to warm up the contents of her stomach, she is wasting vital energy. Her entire course of postpartum recovery can be greatley affected by these two factors. Her energy at this time is precious. Respect and conserve it.
Afterpains
These can be very painful and distracting for the new mother. Strongly brewed Ginger tea brings relief from afterpains. Pour one cup boiling water over three to five slices of fresh ginger and steep five to ten minutes.
Motherwort tincture also eases afterpains-begin dosage at 1/2 dropperful and increase as needed.
Jaundice
Traditional Chinese medicine offers a very effective remedy for newborn jaundice, which parents can obtain from a Chinese apothecary or herbalist. Simmer this root, and swab the liquid inside the baby’s mouth. One or two applications will usually clear the jaundice.
A few teaspoons of crushed Fennel or Caraway seed tea can greatly relief the discomfort of colic. Try light pressure and warm compresses on baby’s belly, or bringing his feet slowly up to his ears several times. Clockwise massage in a sweeping motion above the belly button may also be effective.
Misalignment of the skull or spine may also be implicated in colic. Have the baby see a chiropractor with pediatric expertise (newborn adjustments are more like massage than manipulations).
Some babies find great relief in this simple exercise. With the baby on her back, grasp her tights and lift her feet toward her head, like during a diaper change. Continue to roll upward, and raise the baby until she is hanging upside down. Really! Now wait and watch her move: she will rotate her back this way and that, and when she seems finished, gentky let her down.
First touch her head down, then roll down shoulders, back, butt, and her legs uncurl. Babies partucularly benefit from this exercise when offered daily.
Excerpts from “Herbs and Homeopathy Postpartum” by Shanon Anton, found in “Hearts and Hands” by Elizabeth Davis; Photo by David K
Excerpts from Ina May Gaskin’s “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth”
You may wonder about weather you should eat or drink in labour. Many hospitals place restrictions on eating and drinking once you have been admitted. Some maintain a strict policy of denying anything by mouth. The reasons for this are historical rather than scientific. The fear behind this policy is that if a woman should need a cesarean section under general anaesthesia, she might vomit and inhale some of the food into her lungs while she is unconscious from the anaesthesia. Those who devised this policy hoped that restricting food and drink during labour would guarantee that there would be nothing to vomit in those rare cases when general anaesthesia was used.
However, subsequent research has shown that restricting food and drink after hospital admission does not guarantee an empty stomach. When you are in labour, digestion happens slower than usual, so the food you ate several hours before coming to the hospital is likely to still be in your stomach. In addition, even when your stomach has been “empty” for hours, it will still secrete gastric juices, and these can be vomited and inhaled under anaesthesia. This kind of inhalation can burn the lining of the lungs or cause aspiration pneumonia, a serious disease.
…Be sure to drink a lot while in labour and to pee every hour or so. Drinking a lot will prevent dehydration as you labour. It also prompts the need to pee, which will send you to the toilet. This is good, because you likely have a conditioned response that causes your pelvic muscles to relax when you sit on the toilet. This will increase pressure against your cervix if you are still dilating or help descent of the baby if you are pushing.
…Labour is the only hard work that people do that carries a medical prohibition against eating and drinking. i think that much of the “uterine dysfunction” noted in hospitals can be attributed to low blood-glucose levels caused by fasting for a number of hours.
…In fact, I think that some women require nourishment in labour. I always did. I never had a baby in less than twelve hours, and each time, rather late in labour, I needed a tofu salad sandwich and regular gulps of water in order to feel strong and relatively comfortable. in some births I have attended, I know that a few bites of food gave the mother the strength she needed to push her baby out without forceps or a vacuum extractor.
…Many women never feel hungry in labour, and their labour progresses so quickly that eating would be bothersome for them. If labour is progressing well and the mother does not want to eat, I find it best to honor her wishes. She knows what is best for her. On the other hand, many women, particularly those having her first babies, may be in labour far longer than six hours. My partners and I always provide food for labouring women when they express a desire to eat.
…The strangest request I have encountered was that of a first-time mother who-just before pushing-asked her husband for a jar of peanut butter and proceeded to eat two heaping spoonfuls. She then washed the peanut butter down with nearly a quart of raspberry leaf tea and pushed her baby out. I was impressed.
Human breast milk is so complete in supplying the nutritional needs of human babies that in general we can say that no other food source is needed until the baby is six month of age. Even at six month of age, a well-nourished mother’s milk is an excellent source of vitamins for babies.
Breast milk is the only kind of milk which was designed by nature for human babies. Formula made from cow’s milk must be changed and added to in order to be suitable for human babies. Because formula milks must be packaged and preserved, they contain various additions which breast milk does not have. Such additives include emulsifiers, thickening agents, acid-alkaline adjusters, and antioxidant.
Cow’s milk contains proportionally three times as much as protein as human milk. Unless it is diluted, as formula is, a human baby cannot digest and absorb its nutrients. Even with dilution, the protein in cow,s milk forms curds in the baby’s stomach which are relatively large and hard when compared to the protein curds from breast milk.
The large curds from formula are digested by the baby with only 50 percent efficiency, which means half of the protein must be excreted. The protein in human breast milk, on the other hand, is used by the baby with almost 100 percent efficiency. The formula fed baby, then, must drink a greater volume than the breastfed baby in order to obtain the same nourishment.
Protection against Disease
Human milk and colostrum, the yellowish=white “early milk” which is in the breasts during the latter half of pregnancy and the first couple of days after birth, are both rich in antibodies which protect newborn babies against many diseases. Breastfed babies are less susceptible to respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Breast milk also provides good protection against stab infections babies.
Massaging a newborn is one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling activities you can participate in. As parents, we long to touch our newborns from the moment of their births. We want to go over every finger, every limb, marveling at the wonder “we’ve” created. Massage gives us the opportunity to do this, while being very nice for the baby, as well.
A wonderful massage you can do from the very first day your baby is born is a castor oil massage. A time-honored East Indian tradition reputed to reduce the heat in the baby’s system caused by the friction of birth, it also makes the baby’s skin lovely and soft, even on wrinkly feet. Buy castor oil from a local health food store and try to get ‘cold-pressed’ if you can.
In preparation for the massage, make sure your room is nice and warm. Lay a towel on the bed or the floor and lay a receiving blanket over it to make a nice, soft place for the baby to lie. You may also want to place a sheet of plastic beneath the towel in case the baby pees while you are in the middle of the massage. Have another blanket or two close by to cover the parts of the baby you are not massaging to keep the baby warm. If it is the middle of summer, or you are in a very hot room, this may not be necessary.
Warm your hand by rubbing them together, or running them under hot water. Undress your baby and lay her face up on the towel. Pour about a tablespoon of oil into your palms and rub them them together to warm the oil.
Beginning with the chest area, slowly ang gently rub the oil onto the baby, starting from the center and moving down to the sides. You will notice the oil is very sticky. Rub the oil onto the baby very slowly so you don’t pull the skin, adding more oil to keep your hands well lubricated.
After the chest, move to the abdomen and rub in small circles, clockwise in the direction th large intestines move. If your baby has not had a first bowel movement, expelling the sticky, brownish black meconium that filled the intestines in utero, don’t be surprised if the castor oil massage stimulates this expulsion.
After the abdomen, move to the legs. GEntly massage from the feet toward the hips, which helps to return the blood from the legs to the heart, and then massage the feet themkselves.
Rubbing in little circles in the center of the feet and on the heel for the accupressure points for the colon can also help to stimulate the expulsion of the meconium. From the feet move to the arms and massage from the wrists to the shoulders, and then the hands, gently rubbing the palm to stimulate the colon.
Next carefully roll the baby over and massage the back, stroking from the center out to the sides. Rub up in around the neck and down all over the buttocks. Last, roll the baby back over and massage the face and head. It is fine to get the oil in the baby’s hair and ears, just remember to be careful with the soft spot on the top of the baby,s head where the bones have not yet closed.
After you are done, wrap the baby in a receiving blanket, and another warm blanket and, if it is at all cold, put a hat on the baby’s head. The baby will seem very sticky for about twelve hours until all the castor oil has been absorbed. Then you will noticethat any dry skin is gone, and that everything, including the hair, is soft and silky.
You can give your baby a castor oil bath as often as you like, even every day is not too frequently, as they never seem to outgrow their love of massage.
[From ‘Choosing Waterbirth, reclaiming the sacred power of birth’ - by Lakshmi Bertram; Photo by Valentina Powers]
The hours after birth are extremley important ones; they can deeply affect the future realationship between the child and the parents. Time spent together during those first few hours and days after the birth lay the groundwork for a profound relationship with one another. Becoming deeply bonded is vital for the family and can be wonderful satisfying to all.
And, one might ask, why should it be any other way? Perhaps no aspect of conventional birthing has caused as much distress for new mothers, fathers, and babies as hospital policies that require separation at a time when parents most want and need to be with their babies. There is no good medical reason to separate a heathy newborn baby from his mother.
In 1989 Dr. Mardsen Wagner, an American born pediatrician who is currently a consultant to the Maternal/Child Health division of WHO, lectured “I am convinced the procedure of placing all newborn babies in one room was the biggest mistake of modern medicine.” He further refers to the newborn nursery as “a cradle of germs, separating babies from their mothers at the most sensitive point of their relationship.
Sheila Kitzinger, well presented British childbirth educator and author, noted, “A screaming baby alone in its cot or lined up with rows of other screaming newborns is a neglected baby. He cannot know that help is near, that milk is coming in half an hour, or twenty minutes or even five minutes. He cannot know that loving arms are waiting to hold him. He is to all intents and purposes completley isolated and abandoned.
In a gentle birth the mother is awake and aware, highly conscious, energized by having given birth, and extremley eager to spend time with her child-touching, looking, feeding, resting, or sleeping together. The newborn wants the comforting presence of his mother, her warmth, touch, sound and smells. Exerpts from “Gentle Birth Choices” by Barbara Harper, R.N.
Whether birth is difficult or easy, painful or pain-free, long-drawn-out or brief, it need not be a medical event. It should never be conducted as if it were no more than a tooth extraction.
For childbirth has much deeper significance than the removal of a baby like a decaying molar from a woman’s body. The dawning of consciousness in a human being who is opening eyes for the first time on our world is packed with meaning for the mother and father, and can be also for everyone who shares in this greatest adventure of all.
There are many women who hope for childbirth in which they, not the doctors, are in control. They want to have the information that will enable them to make their own decisions, to prepare themselves for an experience in which they participate fully, and do not wish labour and birth to be taken over by managers.
They know that it is easier to do this on their own ground, in a place to which the doctors and midwives who are their care givers come as guests. They would like to give birth outside a hospital. This may be either in their own home, or in a birth centre in which the rhythms of a labouring woman’s body are honoured and waited on, and where birth is non- interventionist and centered on people instead of on mechanical processes.
Hospitals exist where all members of staff share this attitude, but they are few and far between. You need only one person who is out of tune with such ideas, who believes in the aggressive management of labour, who, instead of being client- oriented, sees a woman as a patient who must obey hospital protocols, one person who is anxious and afraid, and who cannot trust women’s bodies, for the environment in which birth takes place to be poisoned, and completely unsuitable for the focused concentration and inner confidence that is needed for a good birth.
Extract from “Homebirth” by Sheila Kitzinger
A fully revised and updated version of this book became available under the title Birth Your Way in Feb 2002
“Birth: it’s a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies.
The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal.
Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?”
…If birth were just about science, then women would have understood by now that good health generally means strong, healthy birth and that meddling can interfere with the outcome. But birth is human and alive and responsive. The way women think about it comes not only from professionals but from their mothers, the ones who’ve given birth before them.
The stories that mothers tell their daughters about birth have been shaped by nearly a century of experience in hospital birth. Here’s what today’s women said they learned:
“We never talked much about those things in our family.”
“I know my mother was terrified of childbirth…but she never said anything.”
“I think with my brothers she was out completely.”
“My mother never said anything.”
We have silent grandmothers today. Older women without birth stories. Women without life-giving poetry. Themes, rich with pattern and variation of pattern, do not lap from a mother’s experience into her daughter’s imagination.
…It seems as if birth, as an orphan, has been disconnected from its source.
From ‘A Wise Birth’ by Penny Armstrong, CNM and Sheryl Feldman
Diagnostic touch also plays an important part in traditional childbirth. Starting as soon as a woman has missed her first period, the Indian dai palpates the abdomen to feel the live energy (jeevan) in her body, and continues to do this regularly through her postpartum.
The Colombian comadro visits the expectant mother every month to massage her, using oil for lubrication, both to treat backache and in the last six weeks or so to check the baby’s position. She uses external version to reposition the baby if necessary. After doing this she wraps the mother tightly in a binder to maintain an anterior vertex presentation.
…Touch may be both diagnostic and manipulative, and these two functions often overlap. A midwife’s hands are her most important tool for turning the baby into the correct position for birth. Among the Zapotec of Oaxaca in south-west Mexico, midwives use abdominal massageda, soba and pelvic rocking, manteada, to ensure that the baby is in the right position. These skills date back to preColombian times and are effective in turning a baby from posterior to anterior.
A Zapotec partera will massage the woman’s legs to diagnose tension. By becoming aware of tension in her legs she discovers where the baby is pressing against the woman’s spine and causing backache, and this shows how the baby should be repositioned. She starts doing this at thirty-two weeks and massage sessions are arranged every fifteen days. As well as massage of the legs, she palpates the abdomen, kneads it, lightly massages it with the sides of her hands, and ‘lifts’ the baby if the mother has uncomfortable pressure against her bladder and pelvic floor…If the baby does need repositioning she asks the woman to lie on her back on the ground, with her knees drawn up and heels flat. Then she places a long shawl, the rebozo, under her back and pulls it up at either side so that it cradles her hips. She pulls alternately with her hands to rock the woman’s pelvis from side to side in the sling formed by the rebozo. She may also do this in the second stage of labour with the woman in a standing position, leaning back against her, to help her to push the baby out. These complex techniques of massage and rocking are now being reassessed and incorporated into modern midwifery skills in Mexico.
An aboriginal tribe in Japan, the Ainu, also used massage to turn the baby from posterior to anterior. Indeed, evidence from many cultures suggest that this is a midwifery practice that has been largely forgotten today.
In the past in Europe and North America, obstetricians often used to turn a baby from breech to vertex in order to avoid Caesarean sections and difficult vaginal deliveries. But over the last twenty years or so, few have learned how to do it and many now consider it not worth the bother. Yet randomized controlled trials have revealed that two out of three birth can be turned, and will stay head down for birth, if rotation is performed after thirty-seven weeks or early in labour. This halves the Caesarean rate for breech births.
Modern midwives are not taught how to do this. Nor do they know how to rock and massage babies from posterior to anterior so that the head is in a more favorable position to pass through the cervix and birth canal. Only in countries where professional and traditional midwives have an opportunity to share their skills is this still possible.
Brewed as a tea or as an infusion, raspberry is the best known, most widely used, and safest of all uterine and pregnancy tonic herbs. It contains fragrine, an alkaloid which gives tone to the muscles of the pelvic region, including the uterus itself.
Most of the benefits ascribed to regular use of Raspberry tea through pregnancy are traced to the nourishing source of vitamins and minerals found in this plant and to the strengthening power of fragrine – an alkaloid which gives tone to the muscles of the pelvic region, including the uterus itself. Of special note are the rich concentration of vitamin C, the presence of vitamin E and the easily assimilated calcium and iron. Raspberry leaves also contain vitamins A and B complex and many minerals, including phosphorous and potassium.
The benefits of drinking a raspberry leaf brew before and throughout pregnancy include:
~ Increasing fertility in both men and women. Raspberry leaf is an excellent fertility herb when combined with Red Clover.
~ Preventing miscarriage and hemorrhage. Raspberry leaf tones the uterus and helps prevent miscarriage and postpartum hemorrhage from a relaxed or atonic uterus.
~ Easing of morning sickness. Many attest to raspberry leaves’ gentle relief of nausea and stomach distress throughout pregnancy.
~ Reducing pain during labor and after birth. By toning the muscles used during labor and delivery, Raspberry leaf eliminates many of the reasons for a painful delivery and prolonged recovery. It does not, however, counter the pain of pelvic dilation.
~ Assisting in the production of plentiful breast milk. The high mineral content of Raspberry leaf assist in milk production, but its astringency may counter that for some women.
~ Providing a safe and speedy pariuntion. Raspberry leaf works to encourage the uterus to let go and function without tension. It does not strengthen contractions, but does allow the contracting uterus to work more effectively and so may make the birth easier and faster.
~ Herbal Medicine and Spirit Healing the Wise Woman Way ~800+ Pages of Alternative Health Resources for WomenSusun Weed, herbalist and author of womens health books, invites you to rediscover the Wise Woman Tradition, herbal medicine healing, and how to make home remedies.
Stand with the feet about half a meter apart and the arms by the sides. Inhale while raising the arms to shoulder level. Exhale and twist body to left. Bring right hand to left shoulder and wrap left arm around the back. Look over left shoulder. Hold breath for 2 seconds, inhale and return to starting position. Keep feet firmly on ground while twisting. Repeat on other side. Do twisting smoothly without any jerks. Do about 5-10 rounds.
Stand with feet together and arms on the side. Raise arms over the head, interlock fingers and then turn the palms upward. Place hands over the head. Inhale and stretch the arms, shoulders and chest upwards. Raise heels to come up on the toes. Stretch whole body from top to bottom. Lower heels while exhaling and bring hands on top of the head. Relax for few seconds and repeat whole round 5-10 times.
Stand erect on feet about a meter apart, with toes turned out. Interlock fingers of both hands and let them hang loosely in front of the body. Slowly bend knees and lower buttocks. Straighten knees and return to upright position.
Lie flat on back. Bend knees, place soles of feet flat on the floor with the heels touching the buttocks. Feet and knees may be hip width apart. Grasp ankles with hands. Raise buttocks and arch back backward.
Kelly Graff is a student at Birthwise Midwifery School.
The homebirth experience was GREAT. It was so nice to eat and drink and be cared for by my husband, my parents and my wonderful midwife & assistant. It was wonderful being in my own home. Every time I go to the bathroom, I see the place where he was born and I am just filled with awe. Above all, I feel really strong and brave and well, a little cocky. A 10 lb baby! I don’t know anyone who has done THAT! Especially without drugs, doctors, C-sections or even an episiotomy! Not even a tear, and I feel great! I told Derek “I feel like a REAL WOMAN.”
from the women whose children are “rescued” from her womb by a surgeon? OK, there are two things…
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