Healing Midwifery

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED

2009-06-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Thsi blog has moved to my Doula and Childbirth Education site, Full Moon's Daughter:

http://fullmoonsdaughter.com/blog/

If you RSS to this site, please change locations.

Thanks so much for all your support!

http://fullmoonsdaughter.com/

MotherBaby

2009-06-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

Always a good reminder for all involved with birth: Healthy babies do not need to cry at birth. Crying is a sign of disress and not a necessary part of birth. And, under normal circumstances, it should not be forced.

I sometimes loose sight of that as I am with a family and a newborn at a hospital. I can always feel the room’s sigh of relief once the baby cries, usually after bulb-syringing babies’ nasal passages.

As a Doula and aspiring midwife it is my responsibility to educate, as much as mom is willing to be open, about what to expect after birth and try to shift her expectations from a technical birth to one where motherbaby are respected as a single, solid unit of love and respect for each other.

Ultrasound - What Every Mom Needs to Know

2009-06-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

~ Conclusive scientific evidence that routine (and by routine I mean scanning to see baby's position at every prenatal in the last weeks of pregnancy, or 3-D ultrasounds to "meet your baby" in the womb) use of ultrasounds are safe does not exist. Its use is very familiar to the use of X-rays. 50 years went by assuming that X-rays were safe for pregnant women before hard lessons were learned. A textbook on prenatal care published in 1937 has this to say about X-rays: "It has been frequently asked whether there is any danger to the life of the child by the passage of X-rays through it; it can be said at once there is none if the examination is carried out by a competent radiologist or radiographer".

In 1978 that same textbook, after seeing the dangers of X-raying babies, revised its stance: "It is now known that the unrestricted use of X-rays through the fetus caused childhood cancer".
This mimics the current textbook view on ultrasounds: "One of the great virtues of diagnostic ultrasound has been its apparent safety. At present energy levels, diagnostic ultrasound appears to be without injurious effect ... all the available evidence suggests that it is a very safe modality".

~ Lancet, A current British medical journal, has this to say about Ultrasounds: "There have been no randomized controlled trials of adequate size to assess whether there are adverse effects on growth and development of children exposed in utero to ultrasound. Indeed, the necessary studies to ascertain safety may never be done, because of lack of interest in such research".

~ The output of ultrasound plays a huge part in the affects on baby, however there are no controls in place as to what is a safe amount even though low outputs have been shown to be just as effective as high outputs.

~The skill of the technician performing the ultrasounds matters tremendously, yet there is no licensing or certification process for operators of the machines.

~Training midwives and doctors in the skills of palpation - using their own hands to feel baby's position is just as effective as a machine. Not only is this low-tech and inexpensive, it also helps care giver and mom physically connect.

As an aside: I had a friend tell me of someone she knows who has gone through 2 pregnancies and the first time a care giver ever even touched her belly was well into the 2 pregnancy! I haven't heard anything sadder since then in awhile.

Ask Ask Ask your caregiver why they are requesting an ultrasound. Ask what are the risks of an ultrasound. Ask what research their answer is based on. And then ask what are the risks of not getting an ultrasound. You may be surprised at the answers.

Induction - Not so Hot

2009-06-03T06:09:00.000-07:00

I'm excited by this article! I’ve placed it in my Resource Notebook and plan to give to Doula clients whose doctors are talking induction. Gail Hart is one of my favorite midwife authors and I love reading anything by her. This article really gave me more foundation for what I have already been telling moms about induction. In addition, she provides ways women can help themselves prevent pre-term labor by cultivating a healthy vaginal floriculture. I think everyone should read this article:

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/timely.asp

Maya Massage

2009-06-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Ann Hirsch writes about her experiences with Maya Massage in Midwifery Today and provides client and personal examples of how it has worked remarkably well for pregnant moms. If you've not heard of this ancient, powerful massage for women, read on.

I have had numerous treatments and performed self-care with Maya Massage for several months and did not see any change in the dysmenorrhea I was trying to eliminate. Though I certainly enjoyed the massage and did feel adhesion breaking up, it just didn’t help with my specific issue at that specific time. I intuitively know that this is powerful stuff, it just wasn't all I needed at the time.

When it is applied to pregnant moms, I think it can make a difference very fast because of the open and receiving state that moms are in emotionally, not to mention the hormones that cause ligaments to relax later on in pregnancy.

I fully agree with Ann when she says that this technique allows a midwife to practice an alternative form of gynecological care for women. No longer do you have to tell moms, “Keep up the Kegels” when you visit them on that last postpartum visit. Maya Massage allows a midwife and mom to have physical contact, and the best part is that teaching a mom how to practice self-care is easy. Now mom has her own tools to help her uterus.

I would love to know more about the technical aspects of Maya Massage, so I’ll be checking out: www.arvigomassage.com to find out more info. This article has also inspired me to look into being trained myself, so I can offer yet another healing modality to my clients.

Stages of Labor Mirror Pregnancy and Motherhood

2009-06-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

Verena Schmid, an Italian Midwife, believes that pregnancy patterns have the same rhythm as stages of labor. That doesn’t mean if a mother’s first trimester was difficult, then the first stage of labor will be the same way. Instead, Verena speaks about the instinctual rhythms of women, pregnancy and birth.

A woman’s first trimester and first stage of labor are very similar because at both times mom is learning to create inner space for her baby. Second trimester and second stage are both about learning to open up; opening in pregnancy as the baby is growing inside or opening during birth as baby moves to open the cervix. The third trimester and third stage of labor are about learning to let baby go and let her be born.

Verena continues with this theory, stating that once a baby is born the stages begin again. The baby adapts to mom and to life outside the womb, while mom adapts to baby and motherhood. Months 3 - 6 are often a time for mom and baby to live peacefully together with very little stresses. Finally, 6 - 9 months after baby is born, she starts to be more explorative and mom learns to let go.

I never looked at birth from this perspective and find it quite fascinating. Reading this short interview has definitely changed the way I look at birth and mothering.

The actual interview that Midwifery Today publisded in 2002 with forward-thinking Verena Schmid can be found here if you are interested in reading more than the summary above:

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/verena.asp

The Active Management of Labor

2009-06-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.birthinternational.com/articles/wagner01.html

The above link takes you to an excellent article written by Marsden Wagner. He started out as a neonatologist and is now a consultant for WHO. He fully supports natural birth, midwives and midwifery and you may have seen him in birth movies - he's the over-educated elfin guy who is fun to listen to.

I've jotted some highlights from the article and added my own thoughts on it.

From my own personal experience, I agree that most health care providers no longer know what a non-medicalized birth is. Their training rarely covers natural hospital births and almost never brings the medical student into a free-standing birth center or home to observe birth.

As a result of lack of exposure to natural birth, hospital staff often believe that labor is something that happens to women rather than something women do that can be empowering and a rite of passage. Because labor is involuntary and unpredictable, many doctors and nurses interpret that as birth being out of control.

It’s sad to read the example of a hospital considering birth normal even if it includes an amniotomy, induction, augmentation, epidural or episiotomy. I feel that the list can go on to include continuous fetal monitoring, IV, withholding of food, drink and privacy, numerous cervical checks and disregard to birth preferences. What is even sadder is that most women today have accepted those same standards and also believe that birth with serious intervention is normal.

I found it interesting to read how the clock has quickened. Marsden states that the definition of the normal upper limit to labor has been reduced from 36 hours in the 1950s to 24 hours in the 60s and now holds steady at 12 hours since 1972, when active management was introduced. He also mentions that these random times were based on clinical concerns and not scientific evidence. With this scenario on hand, women adjust to the hospital and not the other way around.

My head was shaking when Marsden compared active management to inventing cars that can be driven too fast and then when the speed causes accidents, rather than change the cars, we invent speed bumps and as a result of the speed bumps people hit their heads on the car ceiling and we give them pain medication.

I think a better comparison would be the creation of entire task forces whose job is to monitor speeders and catch them in the act so they can then ticket them and make money from their speeding. That feels similar to hospitals making money from highly medicalized births.

Marsden concludes that hospital staff can never tell a woman that a certain procedure is safe because that person is not taking chances. A safety determination can only be made by the one accepting the procedure and that is the woman taking the chance.

Patience

2009-05-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

I read this somewhere about midwives patience when attending birth:

Midwives have skilled hands and know how to sit on them.

Natural is Natural

2009-05-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

Many Western doctors hold the belief that we can improve everything, even natural childbirth in a healthy woman. This philosophy is the philosophy of people who think it deplorable that they were not consulted at the creation of Eve, because they would have done a better job. (Kloosterman 1994).

Rediscovering Midwifery

2009-05-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

“Unfortunately, the role of obstetrics has never been to help women give birth. There is a big difference between the medical discipline we call “obstetrics” and something completely different, the art of midwifery. If we want to find safe alternatives to obstetrics, we must rediscover midwifery. To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women. And imagine the future if surgical teams were at the service of the midwives and the women instead of controlling them.”

-Michael Odent, MD

Ram Dass Quote

2009-05-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

Ram Dass has this to say about a garden and life and I'd like to tack Midwifery onto that quote: “Just as in a garden we do not ‘grow’ flowers, rather we create the conditions in which flowers can grow.”

Midwife Whales

2009-05-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

Midwife whales are female whales that accompany a pregnant whale throughout her pregnancy, birth and three months postpartum. The midwife whale is present with the mom in a way that is nurturing, allowing mom to do exactly what she needs to do to have her baby in peace. The midwife whale looks on protectively and only intervenes when necessary.

they invite us in - Birth Poetry

2009-05-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

they invite us in

women

who trust us

inviting us in

to share their secret passage

we count their moons with them

waiting for a pause

and in that suspension

we wait with them

fingers granted privileged entry

into innermost recesses

secrets shared

stories heard

lessons learned

they invite us in

to help their babies out

we dance with them

slowly

as they grow and wait

each day a little larger

new life jostling their ribs

until its stretching

threatens to burst

her fleshen bubble

and

at last

she is ready

taking your hand

she flows in and out of

the deepest shadow places

love and terror

the waves grip her

and

release

until she is ready

also

to release

you sing to her

breathe, my dear

hold her close

relax now, it's over

help her see

she will not die

not today

at last

fire

then

water

and

for the first time ever

air

into tiny pink balloons

their love made

earth

elements

into a body

your hands felt it first

still one with her body

as it grew

ripened

and fell out

into

your waiting palms

you love this moment

this woman

this baby

then you entrust her back

into the arms of her mate

hoping he's learned

even more

how grand she is

this bearer of life

-Judy Edmunds (1997)

Early Pregnancy Class - June 27 - 28

2009-05-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

Angi Gunther, LCCE and Courtney Jarecki (that's me), Doula and Health Advocate, are presenting an Early Pregnancy Class to help couples navigate the maze of options surrounding pregnancy, birth and postpartum so that parents may choose the care and products that make the most sense for their lifestyle and pocketbook!

When a couple finds out they are expecting, they are faced with a multitude of options regarding prenatal care, birth and the care of their baby. The first decisions that parents must make, and probably the most important, are that of a care provider and place of birth. Birth planning begins when parents choose where and with whom they will birth their baby. The care provider and birthplace should share or at least respect the parent’s philosophies regarding pregnancy, birth and newborn care. OBs, Midwives, Hospital birth, Home birth, and Birth Centers will all be discussed.

In addition, there are many types of prenatal classes and services available to women to help them through pregnancy or to prepare for birth. Couples will learn about prenatal exercise, childbirth education, Doulas and natural health care for pregnancy.

When it comes to baby care, parents are often overwhelmed at the number of products available. The Early Pregnancy Class will cover breastfeeding accessories, baby carriers, and diapering choices. Cloth diapers and glass bottles used to be the only choices, now they are making a comeback. But parents can also choose flushable diapers and BPA free plastic bottles. And what is Elimination Communication anyway?

The Early Pregnancy Class will feature guest speakers who specialize in pregnancy and newborn care, goody bags full of community resources, sling and cloth diapering demonstrations, a raffle, food and more!

When: June 27 - 28 | 5 - 7:30pm

Where: Nurture, a Family Wellness Collective

1614 NE Alberta Street

Cost: $75 per couple

Eats: Catered by din din

Contact: Angi Gunther, LCCE | confidentbirth@gmail.com | 503.890.1361

Courtney Jarecki | courtney@fullmoonsdaughter.com | 503.737.8834

Classes will be held at Nurture, located at 1614 NE Alberta Street, Portland, OR 97211. Nurture is a cooperative of professionals specializing in growing healthy families. For more information on Nurture, or to learn more about Angi and Courtney, please visit http://www.nurturepdx.com

Early Pregnancy Class - June 27 - 28

2009-05-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

Planning for pregnancy, birth or a new baby? This class will help you sort through your options and provide you with a wealth of community resources, coupons & samples. Oh, and we’ll feed you too!

The Early Pregnancy Class is for any woman thinking about starting a family, any couple that thinks they might want to start a family and anyone who already has children and wants more education and information.

The Early Pregnancy Class is organic to what each person wants to learn. In addition to customizing the class to your needs, we will also cover the following topics:

The difference between OB/GYN, Certified Nurse Midwives, Naturopathic Midwives, Direct Entry Midwives
Hospital Birth Centers, Free-standing Birth Centers and Homebirth options
What type of prenatal class best addresses your needs and lifestyle
What are pregnancy, labor and postpartum doulas
Healthcare support while pregnant and postpartum (Acupuncture, Reiki, Chiropractic, Massage)
Nutrition and exercise
Baby and new mom essentials
Breastfeeding resources and accessories
Sleeping options for baby
Diapering options and cloth diaper demo
Baby sling demos
Guest presenters who specialize in pregnancy and newborn care

Grab bags full of community resources, handouts. coupons, tea and much more will also be provided.

Date: June 27 & 28 (Saturday & Sunday)

Time: 5:00 - 7:30pm

Where: Nurture - a Family Wellness Collective (http://www.nurturepdx.com)

1614 NE Alberta St.

Portland, OR 97211

Cost: $75 per couple

Eats: Dinner will be catered by din din. When registering, please notify us of any dietary considerations

Raffle: At the end of the second day a raffle will be held and wonderful, community prizes will be given

Contact: Angi Gunther, LCCE

confidentbirth@gmail.com

503.890.1361

Courtney Jarecki

courtney.jarecki@gmail.com

503.737.8834

Angi Gunther has been supporting new families in Portland since 2002. She is the mother of three children born in 2001, 2004 and 2008. Her children have inspired her work as a Doula, Breastfeeding Advocate & Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator. She believes parents need complete information about their options so they can make truly informed decisions. Angi currently teaches Confident Birthing Childbirth Education classes at Nurture.

Courtney Jarecki is owner of Full Moon’s Daughter, a professional doula and pregnancy education service. She tends to new moms and babies at a birth center and is a midwifery student. Courtney believes that every woman can have the birth that is perfect for her if she is aware of all her options. Courtney’s path in life is to guide woman toward motherhood.

International Day of the Midwife - May 5

2009-05-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

The below info is from the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), which was established in 1982 as a professional organization for all midwives. The group recognizes and honors the diversity of educational backgrounds and practice styles within the profession. MANA's goal is yo unify and strengthen the profession of midwifery, therby improving the quality of health care for women, babies and communities.

Today is International Midwifery Day! Hug your midwife today and enjoy the following read from MANA!!!

Midwife numbers must be expanded to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4, 5 and 6 by 2015 350,000 more midwives are needed!

The UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2008 states: The high risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth continues unabated in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia … little progress has been made in saving mothers’ lives. Over 60% of women in these areas of the world still do not have skilled care during childbirth.

This report notes better progress for all of the MDG goals, apart from MDG5!2 Yet all the goals are linked: until
poverty and hunger are reduced, until diseases such as HIV and malaria are controlled, until there is more
equality between men and women, until every child completes primary education, until all women have access
to reproductive healthcare - then mothers and babies will continue to die.

Midwives are key healthcare providers in achieving MDG!5: Improving Maternal Health. That is the clear message coming from the WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank: the four UN agencies that have recently united to pledge increased support to countries with the highest maternal mortality rates.

They identified mortality in pregnancy and childbirth as the “highest health inequity in the world with over 99% of
deaths occurring in the developing world”. They committed to work with governments and civil society organizations to address the “urgent need for skilled health workers, particularly midwives”.

Midwives provide skilled newborn care to achieve MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality Every year in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia more than 1 million infants die within their first 24 hours of life due to lack of adequate health services, including midwifery care. The midwives of the world understand that every childbearing woman deserves to give birth within a safe and supported environment for herself and her baby. Skilled midwifery care includes emergency care for both mothers and their newborns.

Midwives are essential to achieve MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases Thousands of pregnant women and hundreds of thousands of newborns die each year due to preventable disease. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa governments have recognized the primary role of midwives inreducing these devastating deaths. As essential frontline workers, midwives provide vaccines to newborns and children; they identify, counsel and treat pregnant women with HIV and AIDS, thus preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV; they also provide anti-malarial drugs and bed nets to vulnerable pregnant women and their children, saving lives and promoting health.

The achievement of MDGs 4, 5 and 6 requires a global commitment to grow a strong, well educated midwifery workforce within functioning health service delivery systems.

The sense of urgency to achieve MDGs 4, 5 and 6 in the next six years is increasing daily. The ICM and the
midwives of the world are committed to working with global partners to achieve these goals. The Confederation
has grown to 91 member associations with 250,000 midwives in over 80 countries and has recently partnered
with the UNFPA to strengthen midwifery education, regulation and associations in 40 low income countries. The ICM has also joined the White Ribbon Alliance (WRA) and Sarah Brown’s Maternal Mortality Campaign to
increase public awareness and apply political pressure on the G8 and G20 to make maternal and newborn
health a global priority. The ICM recognizes that health delivery systems must be strengthened and the
midwifery workforce must be increased to stop the needless deaths of millions of women and their newborns
who will die in the next six years if immediate action is not taken now.

The world needs midwives now more than ever!

For more information contact ICM President Bridget Lynch or ICM Secretary General Agneta Bridges at +31 70
3060520 or e-mail a.bridges@internationalmidwives.org.
1. The World Health Report: Make every mother and child count. World Health Organization, 2005.
2. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008. New York, USA: UN, 2008
3. MDG 5 Target: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio. UN, 2000.
4. Accelerating efforts to save the lives of women and newborns. WHO/UNFPA/UNICEF/World Bank. Joint statement: Sept. 2008.
5. MDG 4 Target: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate. UN.

Flower Essences

2009-05-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to realize that a lot of my day-to-day living is actually studying to become a Midwife. I also just realized that the college career I spent learning about plants and botanicals is finally starting to pay off.

I spent the day making a flower essences kit that I can use during birth and everyday healing. The Latin names are familiar to me and I can almost evoke a picture of each plant I am working with. Where my education is paying off is allowing me to be comfortable with plants and confident in my abilities to work with these spirits.

Where Am I

2009-05-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

I've been distant from this blog. A lot of it has to do with me being busy as a Postpartum Doula - spending nights with a new family in their home. Missing sleep for me requires days of recovery. And by recovery I mean doing as little as possible.

I've also not been posting very often because I'm hoping to have an official Full Moon's Daughter website up. Though I am not even close to even finalizing a design, I feel like I don't want to blog too often until that is a reality.

Full Moon's Daughter, by the way, is that name of my Doula practice, which will transition into my Midwifery practice. The name is powerful to me for a lot of reasons, two of them being that I am, for the first time in my life, identifying myself as a daughter and claiming who my mother is.

Life Path

2009-04-22T09:55:00.001-07:00

Education is a journey, not a destination.

Looking for Childbirth Education Classes?

2009-04-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

Choosing Confident Birth means you are choosing to trust your body and your baby during your labor and birth. And this leads to confident parenting!

Nurture is offering a 5-week series of Confident Birthing classes beginning May 2 through June 6 (no class held on May 16) from 10 - 12 on Saturdays. Cost is $125 per couple and snacks are provided.

What will you learn at Confident Birth classes?

Pregnancy education
Labor and Birth preparation
Partner's role in birth
Coping techniques
Medical interventions
Postpartum care
Breastfeeding education

Why should you take Confident Birth classes?

Those interested in learning how to use their intuition during pregnancy, labor and parenting
Women interested in relaying on their own body's signals during the childbearing year
Families wanting to understand the technology and science used in the labor and delivery rooms of hospitals
Women seeking confidence in their ability to birth and raise a healthy baby

If you have questions or are interested in attending, please contact confidentbirth@gmail.com or call Angela Gunther at 503.890.1361.

Why Birth Matters

2009-04-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

How we birth matters!

What our babies experience shape who they are.

What a mother experiences at the very transition

from maiden to mother changes her.

Gentle, natural birth unlocks something primal at our very core

and makes mothering easier and families stronger.

If parents would only realize that every single decision they make

from conception onward influences the outcome of their birth,

they would reclaim what they didn't even know was lost.

-Kim Wildner, Mother's Intention

Rapid-Rise Gluten Free French Bread

2009-04-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

Crusty on the outside and super soft on the inside, this Gluten Free bread is sure to please any pregnant mom's craving. And it's fast and easy - takes about an hour.

2 c white rice flour

1 c tapioca flour

3 t xantham gum

1 1/2 t salt

Squeeze of honey

1 1/2 c lukewarm water

2 T rapid-rise yeast

2 T butter, melted

3 egg whites, beaten slightly

1 t vinegar

In mixer, place flours through salt and blend on low.

Dissolve honey in water and add yeast, waiting until it foams a bit, then blend into dry ingredients.

Add butter, egg whites and vinegar into dry ingredients and beat on high for 3 minutes.

To form loaves, spoon dough onto greased and cornmeal-dusted cookie sheets in 2 long French-loaf shapes. Slash diagonally a few times.

Cover loaves and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 25 minutes.

Bake for 40 - 25 minutes at 400.

Pain During Childbirth

2009-03-31T06:44:00.000-07:00

There are native cultures in the world that don't associate pain with childbirth and therefore these women don't feel pain during childbirth. What amount and degree of pain is our society responsible for?

Does birth have to hurt? Sometimes women need to experience that deep and unique connection to their bodies in order to give birth. Would women feel short changed somehow if they didn't experience the deepening of their bodies during labor?

I know that when I ran my first marathon I was expecting lots of pain. Through that pain I wanted to discover a new part of myself and grow from it. When the 26.2 miles was finished and it was easy for me, it took me weeks to recover from my disappointment of not having felt that edge. Are some women looking for that during birth?

Was There a Midwife in the Manager?

2009-03-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

Over breakfast with my husband this morning he made a comment about the birth of Jesus and I wondered why Mary would want all those men, the Magi, coming to see her after her labor. It seems odd that back then men would come to greet her and she would be the only woman. Labor was a woman's place and men rarely gathered after a birth to spend time with mom.

Then I thought that Mary's birth was the most famous unassisted birth around, but was it really unassisted? Does it make sense that, even though they were poor, there wouldn't have been a midwife around to help her? It seems odd to me.

And what if the story did include a midwife? How would that have changed the fate of midwives if one helped deliver Jesus? Would the church have still hunted and burned these women if they were responsible for his birth? Would we have lost ancient healing knowledge about women and children if the bible had penciled in a midwife?

Did the original story have a midwife, but was it edited out by the church to erase any 'guilt' they might have felt during their killing spree?

Experience with Bipolar Moms?

2009-03-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

I have a Labor Doula client who is bipolar and having a hospital birth for the first time. She and her husband are amazing people and I feel so honored to be working with them.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience working with a bipolar mom during labor and postpartum that they would like to share with me. Anything you share that is confidential will not be published on this site. If you know of any good resources I can access about how hormones affect bipolarity, things I should be aware of, etc would be awesome.

Thanks so much.

Cortade - For Your Full Moon Belly Thirst

2009-03-27T13:04:00.001-07:00

During childbirth women are often encouraged to drink a sports drink of some kind to replenish their electrolytes that are lost. This loss happens not only because of sweating, but also diarrhea, dehydration and vomiting.

The most well-known electrolyte replacer is Gatorade, which contains chemicals and is high in sugar. If you're looking for something a little more natural there is Recharge. This is a more natural blend of juices and salt that still has high amounts of sugar.

If you're like a lot of pregnant women you are probably watching the amount of sugar you ingest and so I present to you Cortade (named after me). This is a great recipe you can make pre-labor to have ready when you need it. This is also a great drink if you're sick or it's super hot out.

Amounts aren't important, just add ingredients to taste. In a glass mason jar, combine the following:

Fresh squeezed organic lemon juice

Organic honey

Sea salt

Fresh Water

Stir it all up with a spoon and drink up. This will replenish your electrolyte balance and leave you feeling refreshed.

Enjoy

The Differences Between Technocratic and Holistic Models of Care

2009-03-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

Robbie Davis-Floyd is a medical and cultural anthropologist who has written extensively on the differences between the hospital (technocratic) model vs. the holistic (midwifery) model of care for childbearing women.

Below is a table Robbie put together, that Anne Frye published in Volume 1 of Holistic Midwifery, that I'd like to share with you. It simply lays out the differences, as she sees them, between the technocratic (T) and holistic (H) models for women seeking care during their childbearing year.

I'm taking the time to post this because I have yet to find such an extensive, starkly honest and accurate listing. When I first read this I was both shocked and relieved to see it all on paper in one place. Of course, this list doesn't fit every doctor or midwife, but it feels fairly accurate to me. I hope you enjoy.

T: Male-centered

H: Female-centered

T: Women = objects

H: Women = subjects

T: Male body = norm

H: Female body = norm

T: Female = defective male

H: Female is normal on her own terms

T: Classifying, separating approach

H: Holistic, integrating approach

T: Mind is above & separate form body

H: Mind & body are one

T: Body = machine

H: Body = organism

T: Female body = defective machine

H: Female body = healthy organism

T: Female reproductive process dysfunctional

H: Female reproductive process healthy

T: Pregnancy & birth inherently pathological

H: Pregnancy & birth inherently healthy

T: Doctor = technician

H: Midwife = nurturer

T: Hospital = factory

H: Home = nurturing environment

T: Baby = product

H: Mother/baby inseparable unit

T: Baby grows itself through mechanical process

H: Connection between growth of baby and state of mother

T: Fetus is separate from mother

H: Baby & mother are one

T: Safety of fetus pitted against emotional needs of mother

H: Safety of baby and emotional needs of mother are the same

T: Best interested of mother and fetus antagonistic

H: Good for mother = good for baby

T: Supremacy of technology

H: Sufficiency of nature

T: Importance of science, things

H: Importance of people

T: Institution = significant social unit

H: Family = essential social unit

T: Action based on facts, measurements

H: Action based on body knowledge, intuition

T: Only technical knowledge is valid

H: Experiential & emotional knowledge valued as highly as or more than technical knowledge

T: Best prenatal care is objective, scientific

H: Best prenatal care stress subjective empathy, caring

T: Health of baby during pregnancy ensured through drugs, tests, techniques

H: Health of baby ensured through physical & emotional health of mother & her attunement to the baby

T: Labor = a mechanical process

H: Labor = a flow of experience

T: Time is important, adherence to time charts during labor is essential for safety

H: Time is irrelevant, the flow of the woman's experience is important

T: Birth must occur within 24 hours

H: Labors can be short or take several days

T: Once labor begins it should progress steadily; if it doesn't pitocin necessary

H: Labor can stop and start, following it's own rhythms

T: Some intervention is necessary in all births

H: Facilitation (proper food, effective positioning, support) is appropriate, interventions are usually inappropriate

T: Pain is unacceptable

H: Pain is acceptable

T: Analgesia & anesthesia for pain during labor

H: Mind/body integration, labor support for pain

T: Environment is not relevant

H: Environment is the key to safe birth

T: Uterus = involuntary muscle

H: Uterus = responsive part of whole woman

T: Woman is hooked up to machine with frequent exams by staff

H: Woman does what she feels is appropriate

T: Once a surgical birth always a surgical birth for most woman

H: VBAC is normal

T: VBAC = high risk

H: VBAC = low risk

T: Cesarean for breech presentation or twins

H: Squatting or hands and knees for breech, twins often born via the birth canal

T: Birth = a service medicine owns and supplies to society

H: Birth = an activity a woman does that brings new life

T: Obstetrician = supervisor, manager, skilled technician

H: Midwife = skillful guide

T: Doctor is in control

H: The midwife supports, assists

T: Responsibility belongs to the doctor and the system

H: Responsibility is the mother's

Birth Art Submissions

2009-03-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Birth art submitted by Mychelle Moritz of Nurture, a center for growing families in NE Portland, Oregon.

Midwifery Today Conference

2009-03-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Just got back from my only day at the Midwifery Conference in Eugene, Oregon today. There were very bright and precious gems of insight I gained from being there, but I am left wondering where are the critical thinkers? Where are the midwives who are looking at what we are all doing and questioning the directions we are headed and the right steps?

I understand that midwives need to support each other and that, as a community, midwifery needs to insulate itself from the medical model of childbirth. I understand that some of us can be arrested in their state if they have to transport a mother to a hospital. And I understand that we need to celebrate what we do and how we do it. Cheerleading is great - at times.

But I left the conference only hearing one person, Michel Odent (who I am totally in love with), ask such questions. He proposed that men all together, male doctors, husbands and fathers should be banned from the birth room. This stems from the fact that Midwifery is woman's work and men are under pressure in this situation and their stress hormones are contagious to the birthing mom (among other factors).

Interesting point he brings up. I would love to ask him if he could re frame that to try to educate men to understand the birth process and recreate a supportive environment for the mom? But I want to talk more about this later.

What I'm really feeling is this very uncomfortable notion that we, as a midwifery community, are living in a bit of a vacuum and only asking questions that are politically correct. Which is partially hilarious when you think about it considering Midwifery has been pushed to the fringes of all that is acceptable.

Michel Odent is holding a conference next year in the Canary Islands (I think) that is bringing people who normally wouldn't interact with each other (you know, the guy who invented this really great way of doing a C-section and Ina May) to really question each other and talk about the things that no one seems to be talking about. That's my kind of conference.

At any rate, I'm sure I'll have more insights after I'm able to process it a bit more. What I do know is that being there today got me fired up to begin my studies and interview for apprenticeships. It also left me feeling very confident and comfortable about the path I'm choosing to pursue Midwifery...I know now, with out a doubt, that a traditional academic classroom is not for me. I need to be able to more freely challenge what I'm learning and have many different avenues of exploration.

Today also showed me that I have never been as passionate about anything in my life as I am about childbirth and for that I am so grateful.

Banana Beauties - Healthy Cookie Recipe

2009-03-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe online and can't seem to re-find it so I can acknowledge the creator. This is vegan, gluten-free, wheat-free and sugar-free. I named these cookies Banana Beauties and made some minor adjustments to the original recipe. They are absolutely lovely and fast to make.

3 ripe bananas

1 tsp of almond extract

1/4 cup or less of liquid coconut oil

2 cups rolled oats

2/3 cup almond meal

1/3 cup unsweet coconut flakes

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Mash bananas and add almond extract and oil. Mix and set aside.
Whisk oats through baking powder together. Add to liquid.
Drop a tablespoon of dough onto greased cookie sheets and feel free to eat the yummy batter in the process.
Bake 15 minutes at 350, until golden and delicious

Portland Doula Services

2009-03-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

Courtney Jarecki, Doula and Health Advocate

503.737.8834

Support. Compassion. Energy. Birth. Dance. Movement. Ceremony. Freedom. Life. Joy. Love.

There is nothing on earth more amazing and humbling than witnessing a mama give birth. I strongly believe in the beauty and power of a woman’s body to birth and am honored to be a part of this experience.

I am trained to provide Doula support during three different times of your childbearing year; antepartum, labor and postpartum. I currently work as a Postpartum Doula at Alma Birth Center and also offer my Pregnancy, Labor and Postpartum services through Nurture, a non-profit center for growing families. My ongoing academic experience includes training at Birthingway College of Midwifery and enrolling with Ancient Art Midwifery Institute where I will be a Midwifery student. Throughout my work and responsibilities, I maintain a flexible schedule to ensure you will never be without Doula support.

Outside of the birthing world, I love spending time with my amazing husband Dave and puppies Satchel and Maji. Dancing, cooking, meeting friends for tea and hiking are favorite activities and, most recently, learning to crochet has occupied much of my time as well.

I look forward to speaking with you about your baby and birth. Please feel free to call or post a comment to ask questions (it won't be published unless you say it's okay).

Antepartum Doula

As an Antepartum Doula, I will support you later in your pregnancy. Antepartum services can be especially helpful if you are a single or teen mom, have multiple children, are on bed rest, have severe morning sickness or have emotional trauma. I will provide informational, emotional, physical and practical support during your pregnancy with pregnancy massage, meal planning, education labor preparation.

Labor Doula

My work as a Labor Doula means I will provide you with continuous physical, emotional and informational support before, during and just after birth. I will be there for you, your partner and baby after delivery to help in whatever way best serves you.

I can assist with birth plans, birth art, pain coping techniques (massage and touch, positioning, breathing, meditation and visualization, vocalization, aromatherapy, hypnobirthing and healing energy techniques), pregnancy and postpartum diet and fitness designed to ease labor and recovery, Reiki healing, and creative expression and relationship / birth coaching. This time is all about you and what works best for your family.

If time allows, we will meet two-to-three times prenatally where we will get to know each other. We can incorporate any modalities that you and your family need.

Postpartum, we will meet once, during which we will share your birth story and discuss all the challenges and joys that lay ahead. You will also receive any needed breastfeeding support during this time.

Postpartum Doula

Postpartum is a special and sometimes trying time for a new family. I can help ease this transition by providing lactation consulting, infant care techniques, meal planning and cooking, gentle yoga and exercise options, natural healing, light housekeeping, dog walking, nanny care and companionship.

Fees

I believe that all families should be able to afford Doula services and all Doulas should be able to pay their mortgages. Therefore I offer my services on a sliding scale, based on what each family can pay. I am happy to discuss pricing options and payment plans with each family and am open to barter and trade.

Antepartum & Postpartum Doula Services: $25 - $35 per hour with a 4 hour minimum.

Labor Doula: During certification process I only ask for reimbursement of transportation and food expenses, usually between $50 - $75.

After certification: $400 - $700. Includes 3 prenatal visits (if time allows), full labor and delivery support, 1 postpartum visit. Additional prenatal visits are available, based on a sliding scale.

Time Bank

2009-03-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

Interested in trading service for service? Wanting a massage or acupuncture treatment? Looking for a babysitter or someone to put together your new crib?

The international, community organization Time Bank believes that each person has a skill that someone else finds valuable. The basic premise is that members offer services (everything from accounting to grocery shopping) and other members pick and choose what they need help with. Money never changes hands at the Time Bank.

For example, let's say you need a garden bed dug. You can post securely online or through a Time Bank Coordinator that you are looking for help or search out other members who list that skill. Once you find someone to dig your garden bed, you pay them one time dollar for every hour worked.

If it took the person 3 hours to dig your garden bed, then you have gone into "time dollar debt" by 3 dollars. There is no time frame for when you have to pay your time dollar debt off, but the premise is that you will then offer your unique services to someone else.

Now let's say that you offer guitar lessons and someone requests 5 hours of lessons from you. After those 5 hours you have paid off your 3 dollar debt and earned yourself 2 time dollars. And so the process continues....services provided and received without the exchange of money.

Check out their site to see if you have one in your community.

Doula with Mom

2009-03-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

I feel this picture captures everything that a Doula does to support a woman through her birth. I scanned this photo from "Birth Reborn" and am in love with the surrendering of both women to the power of childbirth.

My Midwifery Decision

2009-03-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I got wait-listed at Birthingway in January. I was put on the list because of my "short interest in Midwifery compared to other applicants." When I interviewed in October I knew they judged my path as less than ideal, but I brushed it aside and figured my energy and love would see me through. And it has, just not in the way I had expected.

I knew I wasn't accepted at the school when several other applicants already found out their status. I was sitting on the couch, ringing my hands as I talked to my husband about the situation. Then I got called into work at the birth center, where several woman who were on the interview committee worked. That meant I would have to face them before I ever knew the answer. They knew my fate before me.

So I called the school to ask my status. They lady I needed to speak to wasn't there, so I had to go to work and hope to avoid those girls. Before I left Dave asked me to be still and feel with my body what the answer was - I was wait-listed.

Birthingway called me back later in the evening to confirm the news. I was heartbroken. But mostly angry and bitter. I felt enraged. As weeks went on I would volley from not wanting their acceptance (sometimes that was ego and sometimes it was a feeling that the school was not for me) to really wanting to be a part of their community.

Throughout my discovery process of becoming a midwife I have always said 2 things: If the school does not accept me, then that means I am not meant to go there and I need to find another way. Number two is that midwifery is not an end point for me. I'm meant to do something beyond midwifery and this is the path I must follow to get there.

I started to realize that paying $40K plus for yet another degree didn't make sense. There were other ways of becoming a midwife and I started to explore them. I looked into self-study, something I was already doing, but felt I wanted a bit more structure handed to me. I could do it on my own, but I craved guidance.

Even though I was fairly confident at this point that if the school offered me their acceptance I wouldn't take it, there were some days when all I wanted was to be in with them. I would suffer around the school's decision - back and forth with feeling that perhaps that school truly wasn't able to hold my space.

I wish there was someway that every applicant to the school was wait-listed. This was a time of tremendous growth for me. If every woman was able to go through this process, they would then feel they really owned their decision, something that midwives try to offer to birthing moms.

After tea with a friend who did get accepted, I realized that it's okay to struggle. Just because I was having to work hard at this didn't mean it wasn't the right path for me. In the back of my mind I believed in the rhetoric that if you have to struggle than it's not meant to be. And that's just shit.

Our grandparents generation took it too far, thinking that if they didn't struggle then something was wrong and our generation has snapped in the opposite direction, thinking that if it's the right decision then everything will flow easily.

I found the middle space.

On February 9th I began looking into Ancient Art Midwifery Institute (AAMI), an online program. Figuring that if I considered self-study, than why not distance learning? I had long conversations with the director, spoke with Birthingway graduates who has Ancient Art apprentices, Birthingway midwives, talked to enrolled students, students who dropped out, students considering the path and AAMI graduates.

But what I didn't do is talk with myself. I busied with reading forums and looking for dirt on the school. I talked with friends and asked their opinion. I wanted to know what other people would think of me if I enrolled in an online school.

I realized that what is motivating me is intensely personal and spiritual. No one else is qualified to judge that. I let go of my biases of attending an online school. I released the judgement I was afraid of receiving from others. I started to blatantly tell people about my decision without following up with some stat about the school's success rate or all the research I did.

I just let it go. And then I made my decision to enroll. Along with that I also made my decision to actively seek a midwifery apprenticeship. And along with that I made my decision to wait to enroll into AAMI until my spirit says YES.

I am enjoying all the birth work I'm doing. Working at Alma Birth Center, Attending births, writing, art, Nurture.....I'm going to stay in this space awhile, not hurrying (very un-me) and feeling confident in my decision. Occasionally I'll wake up and want to enroll so I could get started learning - I'm so thirsty for this knowledge, but then I take a few breaths and look at my life today. I know I'm going to get busier soon, there is no need to rush it.

Everything feels right.

Big Bird's Banana Bread

2009-02-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

I subscribed to Sesame Street's magazine when I was 4 and fell in love with Big Bird's Banana Bread recipe. Mr. Hooper (remember Mr. Hooper??? Big Bird had trouble saying his name so he called him Mr. Looper) is the grownup in charge of turning on the oven and melting the butter (this was before microwaves).

This recipe was made for kid's who want to lick the bowl (no eggs) and can be made gluten-free with a basic GF flour mix.

Here is what you'll need:

3 peeled ripe bananas

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup melted butter or vegan substitute such as Earth Balance

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour or GF flour

Mash nanners up

Add melted butter, baking soda, flour and honey

Stir everything and pour in oiled bread pan

Bake at 350 for 1 hour

Don't forget to ask a grown-up helper to take the bread out of the oven and share it with your neighbors.

Quiet Work

2009-02-25T09:07:00.000-08:00

I am so fortunate to have found work that I love doing. It's quiet work that allows me to be present for hours, supporting a mom. I kneel on the ground for hours stroking her arm or sit behind her holding her lower back, all the while being filled with love and compassion and allowing the rest of the world to fade away.

When you are in labor with a mom, you have come together for one purpose, and that is to allow her to have the birth that is perfect for her. And that's my job! It is work that leaves me still and humbled the next day.

I left a fast-paced world of project management to follow my passion, and every day I am rewarded for that decision.

Birth as Instinct

2009-02-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

My belief that birth is instinctual for mom as well as health care providers and support women was on display in all it's glory last night. When we are given space and time to surrender to the natural flow of birth and accept its rhythms and pulses, a baby can be born in a way that is best for her and mom.

The majority of moms-to-be that I know fill their time up with childbirth classes and as many books as they can possibly read before labor. But when a woman chooses not to follow that path, to allow birth to unfold without any preconceived notions of what should happen, she is able to look deep inside herself and create the birth experience that feels perfect for the state she is in at that moment.

It was a blessing to witness such a rite of passage. A mom that, without ever trying out positions or massage or reading birth stories, fell into her own rhythm. She found her own inner voice and allowed the Universal flow of energy to sweep her up and deliver a baby.

Sistah Midwifery International

2009-02-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

Shafia M. Monroe, Certified Midwife since 1982 is holding a small gathering at The Horn of Africa to discuss how the Spirit calls women to Midwifery.

When

Thursday February 26, 2009, at 6:00pm - 8pm over a full course Ethiopian dinner.

Where

The Horn of Africa’s Special Meeting Room, 2nd floor, 5237 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 97211 (inside the Vanport Plaza)

Cost

$20.00 for dinner and a complementary gift of “Black Midwives and Prenatal Provider Directory-Essential Recipes and Words of Wisdom for Expecting and New Parents”. Payment due by February 21st. There is limiting seating; the first 10 people will be guaranteed a seat.

Please pay through Pay Pal at www.sistahmidwife.com or by check to: Shafia M. Monroe, PO Box 11303, Portland, OR 97211. For more information please call (503) 281-1688.

Fat, Fiber and Protein - Essential to Starting Your Day

2009-02-23T06:34:00.000-08:00

When breaking fast it's important that your breakfast contains fat (think coconut milk, seeds, avocado), fiber (veggies, fruit) and protein (tofu, beans, meat). This will ensure a solid foundation for your upcoming day and will give your body everything it needs to begin the digestion and metabolism process.

Check out this recipe below, which I call The Cuba Special, to begin your day. I suggest making enough for several mornings and cooking everything the night before to ensure a calm eating ritual. You can decide the appropriate amounts that fit your tastes because you just can't go wrong with this meal.

Ingredients

Black Beans

Rice

Yams

Coconut Milk

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

The night before

Cook black beans

Cook rice

Roast yams (chop and place in oven at 400 for 20 minutes, flip and cook another 20)

The morning of

Heat the beans, rice and yams together in a pot

Heat coconut milk separately

When warm, combine in bowl and add Cinnamon and Nutmeg

Mmmmmmmmmm - this is another breakfast that will last a long time. And it tastes SUPER.

Check out my other recipes throughout this blog........

Kid's and Maternity Clothes Swap

2009-02-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

If you missed Nurture's last Naked Baby Party (don't worry, there will be more) you can always check out the kid's and maternity clothing swap hosted by PDXSwap on Sunday, March 8 at St. John's Library from 1:00 - 3:00.

To read more of this article, visit Nuture's blog.

Nurture Blog Posts

2009-02-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

I'll be linking to blog posts from the Nurture blog as I write them for Nurture and as interesting topics and events appear. Just another way to get the word out about local Portland birth and family events.

Portland is such a rich birthing community and I am honored to be a part of it.

Nurture- A Center for Growing Families

2009-02-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce that I have joined Nurture's wonderful collective of health care providers as a Doula. Check out my bio to learn more about the services I'm offering.

Nurture's mission is to provide space for growing families to access multiple resources for their needs. We offer midwifery care, doula services, acupuncture, art therapy, fertility consultation and much more.

Nurture is located on Alberta Street in Northeast Portland in an older home with ample room for workshops, baby clothes swaps, healing circles and play groups.

If you're interested in learning more, let me know.

Eleven - From Tao Te Ching

2009-02-16T07:53:00.000-08:00

Thirty spikes share the wheel's hub;

It is the center hole that makes it useful.

Shape clay into a vessel;

It is the space within that makes it useful.

Cut doors and windows for a room;

It is the holes which make it useful.

Therefore profit comes from what is there;

Usefulness from what is not there.

Undisturbed Birth

2009-02-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

An undisturbed birth will help you be the mother that your baby needs you to be.

Reiki Healing Prenatally and Postpartum - Monthly Article

2009-02-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

“Reiki? You mean where someone lays their hands on your body and channels energy to make you feel better? Yeah, I’ve heard of it, but have no clue what it is.” Most folks interested in a holistic approach to health have heard of Reiki. Few have actually experienced it and even less can explain how it works.

In a nutshell Reiki is a simple, non-invasive, holistic healing modality where the practitioner channels energy to help heal the body. The channeled energy comes from Universal Energy, that exists around all living beings and objects. What is Universal Energy you ask? It’s similar to holding your palms about a half inch apart from each other and feeling that fuzzy warmth between them - that is Universal Energy. It’s all around us.

Reiki healing takes place on physical, spiritual and energetic levels by balancing the natural energy of the body. Pregnant and postpartum women have found Reiki useful for everything from relieving day to day stresses to turning a baby as delivery nears.

Reiki can be used to achieve whole body relaxation as it removes blockages, allowing energy to flow unhindered and helping pregnant moms cope with their ever-changing bodies. Having opened the energy channels of the body you won’t hold onto things like stress, muscle knots and toxins. Plus, one of the secret added benefits of Reiki is that it leaves mom with more energy than when she arrived - always a nice bonus.

A recent study at The Hartford Hospital in Connecticut showed that Reiki used during pregnancy on a regular basis reduced stress and anxiety by 94%, pain during pregnancy by 78% and nausea and morning sickness by 80% after Reiki sessions. The study also showed that a woman’s quality of sleep was improved by 86% when Reiki sessions were included during pregnancy.

Unlike massage, mothers-to-be don’t have to be cautious when using Reiki while pregnant. The only precaution is that, as the pregnancy goes on, mom may have to sit in a chair or lay on her side rather than on the back. Treatment may also be shorter if mama is uncomfortable laying still for that long.

As we all know, an unborn child shares her emotional state with her mother. There is no better time than during pregnancy to experience the benefits of Reiki, both for you and your baby. The state of overall wellness that is passed from mom to baby helps nurture baby in the womb, during labor and after birth.

After birth, postpartum, Reiki can be used to accelerate the natural healing process as well as provide relief and comfort to physical aches and pains. Baby can still participate in the session, with mom holding her new baby or lying next to her.

Thinking about trying Reiki and wondering what your first appointment will be like? Generally, you can expect the Reiki practitioner to sit down with you to discuss your reasons for being there and ask what your intentions are. He or she will ask you to lay on their massage table, fully clothed with your shoes off. The practitioner may place their hands on your body over your clothes or may hold his or her hands a few inches from your body using gentle hand movements to channel energy. Either way, the vital energy force will be channeled through the practitioner to your energy field.

"Reiki is a wonderful way for women to nurture themselves and their babies during and after pregnancy. Giving and receiving Reiki is having the experience of loving and being loved unconditionally. Children thrive on love. It allows them to experience their full potential. The same is true for mamas and papas!" Molly Fitzpatrick, practitioner and teacher of Reiki at Transformational Medicine, Portland, OR.

Breastfeeding a Stranger

2009-02-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

YouTube video of actress breastfeeding a hungry african baby:

Induction Facts

2009-02-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

Under most situations, if you are giving birth in a hospital, you are likely to be offered an induction after 41 or 42 weeks, with significant pressure to accept. This option may be provided based on the schedule of the caregiver, concern’s for baby’s size, timing of ruptured membranes, or other health concerns. (Buckley 2009)

A serious concern with induction is that often other interventions are needed to cope with the induction, which increases the risk of a cesarean birth. The first important step to preventing an induction is understanding your estimated due date.

Estimated Dates

In obstetric terms, the expected due date is usually calculated at 40 weeks from the first day of your last normal period. This is based on a 28 day cycle and conception at 14 days after the first day of your last period.
If you know the actual date of conception, count 38 weeks ahead.
If you have a longer cycle, the probable day of conception can be calculated as 14 days before the next expected period, according to the usual cycle length. Then add 38 week for estimated due date.

Gestation

Studies have shown that the average length of gestation in healthy moms is 41 weeks.
Age, ethnicity and previous births influences the average length of gestation.

Induction Benefits

Reduction of stillbirth
Possibly reduce risk of Shoulder Dystocia
Possibly reduce risk of large baby (over 8 pounds 13 ounces) and labor complications
However, natural labor onset best prepares mom’s pelvis to soften and flex around large baby

Induction Risks

Longer, stronger and closer-spaced contractions, leading to artificial pain relief because of body’s inability to quickly produce own pain-relieving hormones
Compromised blood and oxygen supply to placenta because of strong contractions
Low APGAR scores
Increase risk of instrument delivery and cesarean birth
Prematurity of baby

Alternatives

Trust in your body and your baby’s process and timing
Walking / exercise
Intercourse
Prostaglandins from semen near the cervix can induce labor
Nipple stimulation
Trigger labor by releasing oxytocin

PPD Tip Sheet

2009-02-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

Baby Blues

80% of women experience what is called “baby blues” which occurs around day 3 postpartum and lasts less than 2 weeks.
You may feel overwhelmed, sad, anxious, fatigued, or have no appetite.
Thoughts like “I don’t even want this baby” or “What was I thinking?” are normal. They don’t mean you’re a bad mother or will have them forever.
If you experience these thoughts after 2 weeks, you may have Postpartum Depression.

Postpartum Depression & Anxiety

About 10-15% of all postpartum women experience more serious depression and anxiety and can begin at any time during the first year after birth.
Risk factors include previous depression/anxiety or PPD, social isolation or poor support, abrupt weaning, history of premenstrual syndrome, mood changes while taking birth control pills and prenatal loss.
You may feel a sense of despair, want to sleep all the time or have insomnia, have frightening thoughts about your baby or yourself, feel constantly fearful about your baby’s health or be unable to get through your day to day activities.
Thoughts like “I’ll never be myself again”, “I’m a terrible mother”, “I just don’t care anymore” or “No one understands” are symptoms of PPD.

Coping With Postpartum Depression

Talk to family or friends who can support you through this time. You want to ensure you are not alone and isolated. Access local support groups.
Express all your anger or sadness, keeping those feelings inside you won’t help you recover.
Look to the Internet and books to educate yourself on PPD.
Get as much sleep as you can. Rest when your baby does and don’t worry about keeping the house clean or friends entertained.
Ensure you are taking as much time for yourself as possible. Take a walk, a bath, get a manicure or read a book. Allowing yourself to reconnect with your spirit will help.
Consider talking to your health care provider, general wellness practitioner or therapist.
Pay attention to the good times and try to remain present in your day rather than worrying about the future or stressing over the past.

Your Postpartum Year

Baby Blues Connection is a local organization created to help mothers through PPD. They are available 24/7 by calling 503.797.2843. You can also find them at www.babybluesconnection.org
If you need additional referrals for therapists, psychiatrist, support groups, please let me know, I can help.
I am also available as a Postpartum Doula and can help you through this time by taking care of your baby while you spend time with yourself, helping around the house or just chatting.

Six - From Tao Te Ching

2009-02-11T05:23:00.000-08:00

The valley spirit never dies;

It is the woman, primal mother.

Her gateway is the root of heaven and earth.

It is like a veil barely seen.

Use it; it will never fail.

Pagan Self-Blessing

2009-02-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Divine Mother,

Bless (name of mother-to-be), for she is your child.

(Dip fingers, touch crown)

Bless (name of mother-to-be)'s sight

that she may clearly see your path as well as her own.

(Dip fingers, touch forehead)

Bless (name of mother-to-be)'s throat

that she may speak her truth.

(Dip fingers, touch throat)

Bless (name of mother-to-be)'s heart

that she may open to the wisdom of all women.

(Dip fingers, touch heart)

Bless (name of mother-to-be)'s solar plexus

that she may live in the world in a way that is true to her highest self.

(Dip fingers, touch solar plexus)

Bless (name of mother-to-be)'s vagina

the gateway of birth.

(Dip fingers, touch pelvic bone)

Bless (name of mother-to-be)'s feet

that she may walk your divine path.

(Dip fingers, touch feet)

Bless (name of mother-to-be)'s hands

that do your work as well as her own.

(Dip fingers, touch hands)

Bless (name of mother-to-be), for she is your child:

a part of you, and a part of us all.

(Dip fingers, touch crown)

Can be used in a Blessingway ceremony for mamas-to-be. Feel free to use scented oil, sea salt dissolved in water or rose water as a blessing.

Midwives Deliver - LA Times Article

2009-02-06T19:31:00.000-08:00

Midwives deliver

America needs better birth care, and midwives can deliver it.

By Jennifer Block
December 24, 2008

Some healthcare trivia: In the United States, what is the No. 1 reason people are admitted to the hospital? Not diabetes, not heart attack, not stroke. The answer is something that isn't even a disease: childbirth.

Not only is childbirth the most common reason for a hospital stay -- more than 4 million American women give birth each year -- it costs the country far more than any other health condition. Six of the 15 most frequent hospital procedures billed to private insurers and Medicaid are maternity-related. The nation's maternity bill totaled $86 billion in 2006, nearly half of which was picked up by taxpayers.

But cost hasn't translated into quality. We spend more than double per capita on childbirth than other industrialized countries, yet our rates of pre-term birth, newborn death and maternal death rank us dismally in comparison. Last month, the March of Dimes gave the country a "D" on its prematurity report card; California got a "C," but 18 other states and the District of Columbia, where 15.9% of babies are born too early, failed entirely.

The U.S. ranks 41st among industrialized nations in maternal mortality. And there are unconscionable racial disparities: African American mothers are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white mothers.

In short, we are overspending and under-serving women and families. If the United States is serious about health reform, we need to begin, well, at the beginning.

The problem is not access to care; it is the care itself. As a new joint report by the Milbank Memorial Fund, the Reforming States Group and Childbirth Connection makes clear, American maternity wards are not following evidence-based best practices. They are inducing and speeding up far too many labors and reaching too quickly for the scalpel: Nearly one-third of births are now by caesarean section, more than twice what the World Health Organization has documented is a safe rate. In fact, the report found that the most common billable maternity procedures -- continuous electronic fetal monitoring, for instance -- have no clear benefit when used routinely.

The most cost-effective, health-promoting maternity care for normal, healthy women is midwife led and out of hospital. Hospitals charge from $7,000 to $16,000, depending on the type and complexity of the birth. The average birth-center fee is only $1,600 because high-tech medical intervention is rarely applied and stays are shorter. This model of care is not just cheaper; decades of medical research show that it's better. Mother and baby are more likely to have a normal, vaginal birth; less likely to experience trauma, such as a bad vaginal tear or a surgical delivery; and more likely to breast feed. In other words, less is actually more.

The Obama administration could save the country billions by overhauling the American way of birth.

Consider Washington, where a state review of licensed midwives (just 100 in practice) found that they saved the state an estimated $2.7 million over two years. One reason for the savings is that midwives prevent costly caesarean surgeries: 11.9% of midwifery patients in Wash- ington ended up with C-sections, compared with 24% of low-risk women in traditional obstetric care.

Currently, just 1% of women nationwide get midwife-led care outside a hospital setting. Imagine the savings if that number jumped to 10% or even 30%. Imagine if hospitals started promoting best practices: giving women one-on-one, continuous support, promoting movement and water immersion for pain relief, and reducing the use of labor stimulants and labor induction. The C-section rate would plummet, as would related infections, hemorrhages, neonatal intensive care admissions and deaths. And the country could save some serious cash. The joint Milbank report conservatively estimates savings of $2.5 billion a year if the caesarean rate were brought down to 15%.

To be frank, the U.S. maternity care system needs to be turned upside down. Midwives should be caring for the majority of pregnant women, and physicians should continue to handle high-risk cases, complications and emergencies. This is the division of labor, so to speak, that you find in the countries that spend less but get more.

In those countries, a persistent public health concern is a midwife shortage. In the U.S., we don't have similar regard for midwives or their model of care. Hospitals frequently shut down nurse-midwifery practices because they don't bring in enough revenue. And although certified nurse midwives are eligible providers under federal Medicaid law and mandated for reimbursement, certified professional midwives -- who are trained in out-of-hospital birth care -- are not. In several state legislatures, they are fighting simply to be licensed, legal healthcare providers. (Californians are lucky -- certified professional midwives are licensed, and Medi-Cal covers out-of-hospital birth.)

Barack Obama could be, among so many other firsts, the first birth-friendly president. How about a Midwife Corps to recruit and train the thousands of new midwives we'll need? How about federal funding to create hundreds of new birth centers? How about an ad campaign to educate women about optimal birth?

America needs better birth care, and midwives can deliver it.

Jennifer Block is the author of "Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care."

My Complete Doula Services

2009-02-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

What is a Doula?

"Doula" comes from ancient Greek, and means "a woman who serves women". Today, Doula is used to refer to a trained woman who can provide support during three different times of a woman's childbearing year. An Antepartum Doula supports the mother later in her pregnancy with pregnancy massage, meal planning, education and labor preparation. A Labor Doula provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and just after birth. A Postpartum Doula is there for mom and baby after delivery to help in whatever way best serves mom.

What Services and Experience do I Offer?

Antepartum Doula

As an Antepartum Doula, I help support mothers on bed rest, single or teen moms, women with severe morning sickness, emotional trauma or multiple children. As an Antepartum Doula I can provide informational, emotional, physical and practical support during a woman's pregnancy.

My ongoing academic and professional experience includes education at Birthingway College of Midwifery, training from Alma Birthing Center, and my own self-study.

Labor Doula

I am currently in the process of becoming a certified Labor Doula through Birthingway. I have attended extensive training through the school and now must attend 5 births in order to become certified. The mother and caregivers will need to fill out paperwork for the school evaluating my performance as a Labor Doula to help with this certification process.

As a Labor Doula I can assist with birth plans, birth art, pain coping techniques (massage and touch, positioning, breathing, meditation and visualization, vocalization, aromatherapy and healing energy techniques), pregnancy and postpartum diet and fitness designed to ease labor and recovery, Reiki healing, and creative expression and relationship / birth coaching. (Whatever works best for mom and family.)

Postpartum Doula

Currently, I work at Alma Midwifery Birth Center as a Postpartum Doula where I have received training to care for new families in their first 48 hours after birth. I have expanded this service beyond the birth center environment and into new families' homes. I provide lactation consulting, infant care techniques, meal planning and cooking, gentle yoga and exercise options, natural healing, light housekeeping, dog walking and nanny care.

What do I Charge?

Antepartum & Postpartum Doula Services

$25 - $35 per hour with a 4 hour minimum

Labor Doula

During certification process: reimbursement of transportation and food expenses, usually between $50 - $75.

After certification: $400 - $700. Includes 3 prenatal visits (if time allows), full labor and delivery support, 1 postpartum visit

Want to Learn More?

For a lot of people, the concept of a Doula is a very new thing. Now that women often don't have built-in family support, a Doula can really fill the gap for the new family by providing knowledge, compassion and practical support during this very important childbearing year.

If you'd like to learn more about what I do and the services I offer, please leave a comment to this post (it will remain unpublished).

Allowing Postpartum Depression to be Talked About Prenatally

2009-02-03T15:45:00.001-08:00

I wanted to send a book about Postpartum Depression (PPD) as part of a baby shower present to some dear friends. My husband however, thought it might be taken the wrong way and they might feel weird about receiving such a negative message - like I was trying to tell them they were crazy. And unfortunately he was right. It's just not okay a lot of the times to give that kind of helpful present to people without worrying that they will think that you think they are not good parents.

It makes me so sad to see how little PPD is spoken about to pregnant moms. Their might be a small paragraph about baby blues in a pregnancy book or their caregiver might mention PPD after she has given birth, but unless mom knows enough about PPD to want to learn more, she has to get that information herself.

So, here are mothers, not supported in thinking that perhaps she won't feel connected with her new baby. That it's normal and okay to wonder if she made a mistake in having a baby or that she isn't cut out to be a new mom. All these thoughts are totally normal and a lot of moms feel that lack of bonding or just going through the motions with their new baby. They don't mean she has PPD or that she is a bad mom.

PPD comes into play when these thoughts last longer than two weeks and mom doesn't get any relief from her sadness or anxiety. Meaning, she doesn't have windows of feeling loving and peaceful.

So, how do we get the word out about PPD to pregnant and new moms without worrying about hurting their feelings, spoiling their idea of what could happen after birth or upsetting friends? Any ideas?

Is the Medical Model of Birth Really Better - Guest Writer Colleen Mahon-Haft

2009-02-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Since the 1940s and 1950s, the maternity care system in the United States has overwhelmingly involved hospital births and an increasing number of surgical and drug-related interventions, making birth a highly medicalized event. With this paradigm shift towards use of our advanced medical technologies and well-trained doctors, why does the United States not have better maternal and neonatal outcomes?

The use of hospitals in the United States for childbearing started in the early 19th century for women who did not have suitable homes. In 1900, less than 5% of women gave birth in hospitals (Starr1984). The proportion of births occurring in hospitals rose from 37% in 1935 to 97% in 1960, and reached 99% by the 1970’s (Rooks, 1997). By the 1940's, the standard was set, and hospital births became the cultural ideal. The idea was that at the hospital the doctor had all the "tools of the trade" readily available. Unfortunately, this was and continues to be a major downfall of hospital birth. Included in those tools were medications, forceps, surgical instruments, confinement to bed, enemas, pubic shaving, arm and leg restraints, and hospital nurseries with rigid schedules. Birth came to be seen as an illness that required medical attention.

The modern medical way of birthing is not producing better results; it is interfering with the instinctual process of birth. The World Health Report (from the World Health Organization) indicates that the neonatal death rate (death in the first twenty-eight days of life) is greater in the United States than in thirty-five other developed countries (WHO 2005).
The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is the highest it has been in decades, according to statistics released by the Center for Disease Control (Hamilton et al 2005). According to the figures, the U.S. maternal mortality rate was 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004. In 2006 a shocking one in 4,800 U.S. women dies from complications of pregnancy or childbirth (United Nations 2006).
The U.S. ranks 41^st out of 171 nations, behind even some nations without similar technology and resources, such as South Korea. Despite our enormous wealth and highly advanced technology, the United States lags far behind most other industrialized countries, and even some developing nations, in providing adequate health care to women during pregnancy and childbirth.

In countries where laboring mothers are not subjected to the medical model, the maternal and neonatal death rates are significantly lower. In the five European countries with the lowest infant mortality rates, midwives (who practice holistic care) preside at more than 70% all births. More than half of all Dutch babies are born at home with midwives in attendance, and Holland’s maternal and infant mortality rates are far lower than in the United States (Otis 1990). The United States has more neonatologists and neonatal intensive care beds per person than Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, but the newborn death rate in the U.S. is higher than in any of those nations (Lawn, et al 2005).

The international standing of United States (in terms of infant mortality rates) did not begin to fall until the mid-1950s. This correlates perfectly with the founding of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in 1951. ACOG is a trade union representing the financial and professional interests of obstetricians who has sought to secure a monopoly in pregnancy and childbirth services. Prior to ACOG, the U.S. always ranked in 10th place or better. Since the mid-1950’s the U.S. has consistently ranked below 12th place and has not been above 16th place since 1975 (Stewart, 1993).

Today in the United States, not only do nearly all births take place in a hospital, but they often involve unnecessary medical procedures that can actually make the natural birth process more dangerous. Women are wheeled in to “labor suites” where they are hooked up to machines, strapped with monitors, given (usually) unnecessary intravenous fluids, and put “on the clock.”

Home and birth centers definitely have opponents, but the statistical evidence states that if you are a healthy low risk woman, having your baby in a hospital is riskier than home or birth center. One set of midwives in Tennessee had 2,028 planned homebirths from 1970 until 2000. Ninety-eight percent of them delivered vaginally with a 1.3% emergency transport rate and a 1.4% Cesarean rate (Gaskin 2002).

There is not a hospital in this country with numbers as low as that. Why? Because the midwives let birth happen. They do not rush to induce, they do not perform unnecessary tests, they just let the mother birth her baby, and the majority of the time, it is uncomplicated and not a medical event. The paradigm shift towards medical birth is hurting this country, and unnecessarily killing and injuring many women and newborns each year.

Thoughts on Postpartum Depression

2009-02-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

There are times in every life when we feel hurt or alone...

But I believe that these times when we feel lost

and all around us seems to be falling apart are really bridges

of growth.

We struggle and try to recapture the security of what was,

But almost in spite of ourselves, we emerge on the other side

with a new understanding, a new awareness, a new strength.

It is almost as through we must go through the pain

and the struggle

in order to grow and reach new heights.

-Sue Mitchell

Having a Child

2009-01-31T15:24:00.000-08:00

Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.

- Elizabeth Stone

Pregnant In America - A Movie

2009-01-30T07:13:00.000-08:00

Pregnant In America is a wonderful movie that anyone interested in childbirth should watch. Shot by a newly pregnant couple who decide to travel the world interviewing people on the street and professionals about childbirth and home delivery.

Movie runs 1:46.

What is Emotional Dystocia During Labor>

2009-01-29T11:27:00.000-08:00

Emotional dystocia is emotional stress during labor that causes a woman's catecholamines to rise, which reduce the circulation in the placenta and uterus, resulting is contractions that can be inefficient. As a Labor Doula, partner or birth companion, you can look for these outward signs from mama, to determine if she is experiencing high levels of emotional stress during labor:

Does she exhibit signs of anxiety or fear during or between contractions?
Is mama strongly responding to mild contractions?
During the later stages of labor does she not move into Labor Land, instead staying active and alert, making sure she knows exactly what is going on?

Try to talk with mama about her concerns, always validating her fears. Try offering her another way of looking at the situation. It may be all she needs is a little more information about what is happening or reassurance that everything that is happening is a normal part of the birth process. If you know her history, she may be remembering abuse from her past, which often comes up during labor.

Never assume you know the reason mama is upset and concerned. Always be honest and listen to what she is saying. As a labor companion, your responsibility is to help her through her birth and offer her what she needs to become a new mom.

Baby Food - Article in The New Yorker

2009-01-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

Great article in The New Yorker on this history of breastfeeding and how woman have been encouraged to bottle their milk called Baby Food.

The Importance of Birth Art

2009-01-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

Birth art, created by pregnant women, mothers, families or artists, allow us to share feelings about the natural process of birth in ways that move beyond words. Often times it is difficult for us to express how we feel about the magical and sometimes frightening process of birth. Having the privilege of looking into this personal world is a true blessing.

Thank you all for sharing this very inspiring gift.

Birth Art Submissions

2009-01-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for submitting your birth art to Healing Midwifery. Artwork posted on this site may not be reproduced in any form or manner without explicit and prior permission from the Artist.

Artist: Alixandra Lynn Mullins

Title: Earthwoman

Artist: Alixandra Lynn Mullins

Title: Oceanwave Fertility Goddess

Artist: Alixandra Lynn Mullins

Title: Fire Goddess of Fertility

Artist:Alixandra Lynn Mullins

Title: Conception

Birth Art Submissions

2009-01-27T10:47:00.001-08:00

Thank you so much for submitting your birth art to Healing Midwifery. Artwork posted on this site may not be reproduced in any form or manner without explicit and prior permission from the Artist.

Artist: Colleen Patricia Williams

Title: DANCING WITH OVUM: THE YEARS OF MY FERTILITY

Website: www.colleenpatriciawilliams.com/ovum.html

Artist: Anonymous

Title: Birth in a Belly

Artist: Anonymous

Title: Time

Artist: Anonymous

Title: Wheel of Life

Birth Art Submissions

2009-01-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for submitting your birth art to Healing Midwifery. Artwork posted on this site may not be reproduced in any form or manner without explicit and prior permission from the Artist.

Artist: Courtney J.

Title: Creating

Artist: Thomas James

Title: Baby Scream

Website: http://www.thomasjamesillustration.com

Anonymous

Artist: Pam Allen

Artist: Anonymous

Title: Blue Womb

Using Guided Imagery During Childbirth

2009-01-20T11:41:00.000-08:00

Helping a pregnant mama visualize her labor and delivery will allow her to become more comfortable with her birth and give her more confidence during that time.

Studies have shown that a person's visualizing an event is the same as doing it according to the brain activity, and using this ancient technique can decrease a mama's pain and allow her to open and allow her body to give birth.

After a Cesarean Birth is another great time to practice guided imagery with the new mama. A lot of times the new baby is away from her and surrounded by doctors and nurses. Guiding her to a safe place that is warm and inviting where her and her partner are holding their baby can ease her anxieties about what is happening.

You can make up visualizations on the spot or write a script that you're comfortable with. The following is a visualization you could use for a woman that I adapted to fit a waterbirth or laboring in water .

Ask the mama to close her eyes and place her hands on her belly (if that's comfortable to her). Lower the lights and try to reduce interruptions for the next 15 minutes. In a calm, soothing voice, walk her through the following visualization, using your intuition to add or eliminate things and always following her non-verbal cues.

You are gliding underwater, able to breathe like a dolphin. As you swim about in the warm, blue and quiet sea you can see waving seaweed, bright coral and glistening fish. Looking down you see rocks and seahorses and anything else you can imagine. Looking up you can see the sunshine beaming down on you and warming your back.

Gliding and gliding. You are a dolphin moving with grace and ease through a warm, friendly ocean. You can feel the sunshine and the support from the water. You glide with ease and happiness. You are weightless, without worries and cares, knowing that your body and environment are supporting you.

If you'd like more examples of guided imagery to using during pregnancy or labor, please let me know.

Portland Doula for Hire

2009-01-20T07:05:00.000-08:00

As a Doula, I am honored to serve in whatever way you feel will best support you and your family prior to, during and after the birth of your new child. I am privileged and humbled to be there for you and your family during your birthing process.

My ongoing academic and professional experiences includes continued education at Birthingway College of Midwifery, Postpartum Doula work at an established birthing center, and experience as a student Antepartum and Labor Doula. I maintain an extremely flexible schedule and support network to ensure you will never be without Doula support.

My services include supporting families during the antepartum period if mom is on bed rest, a single or teen mom, has severe morning sickness, emotional trauma or multiple children. As a Doula I can provide informational, emotional, physical and practical support during your pregnancy.

As a Labor Doula, we will meet three times (if time allows) and can incorporate modalities that you and your family need, such as help with birth plans, birth art and pain coping techniques (massage and touch, positioning, breathing, meditation, visualization, vocalization, aromatherapy, energy techniques) pregnancy and postpartum diet and fitness designed to ease labor and recovery, Reiki healing, creative expression and relationship / birth coaching. You will decide what type of total labor support you require from me as your Labor Doula.

Postpartum, you will receive one visit, during which we will share your birth story and discuss all the challenges and joys that lay ahead. You will also receive any needed breastfeeding support during this time.

Additional longer-term postpartum support can include lactation consulting, infant care techniques, meal planning and cooking, gentle yoga and exercise options, natural healing, integrative life coaching, light housekeeping, dog walking and nanny care.

Seeking Birth Art Submissions

2009-01-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

Healing Midwifery is seeking birth art submissions. Send in pics of your pastels, watercolors, clay sculptures, finger paints, illustrations, metal - any medium - that captures the beauty of being pregnant, giving birth or raising a child.

Please comment (general inquires won't be published) if you'd like to submit or if you have additional questions.

Looking forward to all the amazing pieces we'll get to share.

Essential Oils for Birth - Part 1

2009-01-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

Stephanie, a Labor Doula from the Portland Birth Collective, recommended some essential oils for my birth bag when attending a laboring woman. I purchased the oils she suggested, plus some additional ones that I use in my personal practice, while holding the intention of childbirth, then meditated on the scents and allowed imagery to come to me that would assist women during their work.

Here are some of the oils I in my birth bag. More to come later.

Lavender

Feminine. A pure waterfall. A gentle caress. A bed of satin.

Lavender is calming. Place drops around mamma.

Rosemary

Remember how it feels to climb a wall. Dancing in a dream. Running into the wind, feeling the sunshine on your back.

Rosemary and Orange are energizing. Sprinkle a few drops on the floor around the birthing mamma.

Sweet Orange

Clean and safe. Mouth watering sweet. Paradise.

Use in combination with Rosemary.

Ylang Ylang

Erotic beauty. Lotus flower opening gently in the calm of the pond.

Ylang Ylang is a good to drop in a bathtub when mamma's cervix isn't opening. Because it is a sensual oil, Ylang Ylang can help open the cervix like a Lotus.

To use during birth - remember to hold your intention:

Waiting for Birth - Guest Writer Series from the Portland Birth Collective

2009-01-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of anticipation involved in awaiting an upcoming birth, both for birth professionals and for excited families. Birth is dynamic and diverse, and though we attempt to assign dates to this spontaneous process, the “due dates” are very rarely the actual date upon which the baby decides to arrive. We have no real power over the date when our baby comes. This is a challenge for families because often they expect to meet their baby after 40 weeks gestation, and because following their due date there may be pressure from their health care providers to induce labor. This article will provided suggestions and assurances for families awaiting the spontaneous birth of a baby.

Waiting for your baby: Surpassing 40 weeks gestation in your pregnancy

Expected gestational age of an infant is approximately 40 weeks. This is the basis upon which an estimated due date is calculated. Due date is 40 weeks after the last menstrual period and based on an average cycle of 28 days. While in calculating averages and quantifying biologically processes this is fairly accurate, it is not necessarily always the case. Menstrual cycles are not all 28 days long, and not all babies take exactly 40 weeks to mature. Rather than considering the estimated due date a helpful tool to help us understand when to expect a baby, we have begun to consider it a rule for when the baby must come. It is this misuse of the 40 week marker that presents unnecessary challenges for birthing families.

Consider that in the United Kingdom gestation is considered complete after 42 weeks. Are our babies biologically different than babies in the United Kingdom? No, rather our interpretations of what gestational age means are. Consider also that this is a country where homebirth is a widely accepted norm.

Gestational age is a helpful guideline. Much like two pieces of fruit do not ripen at precisely the same time, women are unique and diverse and the way that their bodies function, while remarkably similar, are different and we should allow those differences to exist, appreciate and embrace them.

Once a 40 week due date is surpassed most women will be asked to have regular ultrasounds and non-stress tests to ensure the health of their baby. If these tests show a healthy baby there should be absolutely no reason to suggest intervention at that time. A myth that babies will grow to be too large for us to birth is often perpetrated by birth practitioners and frightens many women into unnecessary inductions. This is widely believed misinformation. Our bodies are wise and we must trust that we are not going to grow babies too large for us to pass. Our species is extremely efficient and functional, and believing in that is the key to a healthy birth.

There are more natural and more medically interventive means of inducing childbirth, but unless there is a medical indication to do so, both should be avoided. Women can safely go many weeks over 40 weeks gestation as long as their health is monitored by supportive birth practitioners. Women have the right to refuse any intervention. I encourage you to do your own research regarding the risks of induction versus post-dates pregnancies. You can then make a decision that suits you.

While, after 40 weeks, pregnancy can be uncomfortable and the anticipation of meeting your newborn can be a great motivator for induction, it is important to allow nature to take its course and not to attempt to artificially hasten the process. In doing that we are sending our bodies a strong message about their efficacy and setting ourselves up for a potential cascade of unnecessary interventions following the first.

All of that being said, when medically indicated, induction can be a lifesaving procedure. When it is necessary it often works efficiently and provides necessary results. It is essential for you to be aware of what presents a real medical indication for induction and what does not. Do not be afraid to ask for a second opinion. Your birth is in your hands, and you are the one who needs to decide what is best based on information from professionals, good science and intuition.

Tips for anxious parents awaiting a post-dates child:

-Speak to your health care provider in advance about their protocols regarding post-dates pregnancies
-Ensure your due date is accurate by calculating it yourself based on the length of your cycle, or ideally your date of conception
-Abandon your attachment to a specific due date. Think more in terms of “due week”, or “due month”
-Trust your body. It is wise and knows just what to do. Your baby will come when they are ready
-Keep yourself occupied. Pregnant women often do not schedule activities beyond their due date because they expect to have their babies. When the babe has not arrived they find themselves idly waiting for their upcoming birth. Scheduling self care appointments such as massages and pedicures can be a nice treat and something to look forward to post-due date. Appointments can be cancelled. Projects such as crafting, making things for the baby, and cooking and freezing foods for the postpartum period are pleasant and useful distractions for the post dates period
-Get exercise. Lots of exercise helps prepare for the physical act of childbirth, gets the baby in an optimal position for birth, and can hasten the onset of labour. Long walks, yoga, and swimming are enjoyable and gentle exercises for late pregnancy
-Enjoy some alone time. If this is your first child you are about to enter into a period of your life where you will have very little time to yourself compared to what you may be used to. Take the last weeks of your pregnancy to enjoy some quiet solitude
-Indulge. Spoil yourself with some of your favourite self-centered activities such as eating lots of chocolate or going shopping. Obviously activities should not be harmful to your health or that of the baby.
-Communicate with your baby. If you are getting uncomfortable in late pregnancy and want the baby to come, explain to the child that you are excited to meet them, that you have a warm and safe place outside for him or her, and that the passage out will be safe and peaceful.
-Process any emotions or fears you have about birth or mothering. Occasionally fear about birth or uncertainty about parenting can prevent the onset of labor. Welcoming birth and motherhood can help. Discussion and emotional work with your partner, Doula, midwife or therapist will benefit you in your transition into parenthood

Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your child. Trust yourself. Women’s bodies are infinitely wise.

-By Stephanie Elliott
Portland Birth Collective

Portland Birth Collective

2009-01-14T18:18:00.000-08:00

Portland Birth Collective is a gathering of birth practitioners who have come together through the cooperation and community of supporting women through the natural process of birth. Through this collective we are able to guide and support one another as we each work with families in the Portland Metro area.

We offer grief support, labor doula and postpartum services, as well as education and resources during the childbearing year.

If you are interested in learning more, you can contact us at portland-birth-collective@googlegroups.com.

Trigger Point & Myofascial Release Techniques to Help During Pregnancy and Postpartum - January Article

2009-01-14T15:45:00.000-08:00

I discovered Dr. Bryan Baisinger, owner of Clearwater Clinic in downtown Portland, when I was training for the Portland Marathon in 2005. He's the medical director for the PortlandFit Marathon Training Program and the doctor who helped me run 26 miles.

After training for several months, my left hip suddenly locked up as I was driving to work. I could barely lift my leg to clutch and walking up stairs was difficult. Even though I was a new patient, he saw me during his lunch break, cracked my back (ahhhhh) and externally massaged my hip loose. I left his office walking normally and ready to run again. But the same thing kept happening over and over and Dr. Baisinger recommended trigger point and myofascial release work.

Since my muscles refused to permanently release using external pressure, Dr. Baisinger suggested using fingertip pressure from inside the vagina to release the myofascial trigger points that were causing me problems. All I wanted to do was run the marathon, so I was up for anything. Within 4 treatments, I ran my first marathon with no pain at all. I had zero recovery and was out walking the very next day (while my husband was puking from drinking too much at my celebration party).

I know I never would have been able to run half that distance if it wasn't for Dr. Baisinger's amazing knowledge of trigger point and myofascial release techniques. Using this healing, Dr. Baisinger is able to release internal and external pelvic tissues that are hypersensitive to light pressure and traction. He uses hands-on manual methods like active muscle release, skin rolling and ultrasound with muscle stimulation to treat trigger points and myofascial restrictions.

During a recent interview, Dr. Baisinger gave me more insight into the procedure.

(CKJ): How does this work help pregnant and postpartum women specifically?

(Dr.B): With pregnancy related physical changes mild pelvic pain issues may become more pronounced and women with significant pain may experience an increase as well. Normalizing the tone of the pelvic floor muscles and tissue allows for needed expansion during pregnancy and vaginal birth. Postpartum, muscle imbalances can be addressed as the pelvic region re-calibrates the resting tone settings. Once any torn tissue has healed, ultrasound is excellent to restore plasticity to excessively hardened scar tissue. Stress incontinence is common and often resolved by normalizing the myofascial tissue neighboring the urethra and pubic symphysis area."

(CKJ): What are some symptoms that may tip off a woman to explore this type of healing?

(Dr. B): If you have difficulty or pain sitting, clitoral/vaginal/genital pain, stress incontinence, post operative pain, urinary urgency, incomplete voiding, pain with sexual relations, pain in legs and feet, irritable bowel symptoms, PMS lasting more than 24-48 hours, these are good indicators that you should see what relief myofascial release techniques can help with.

Your pelvic floor controls all sorts of postures and movements, not to mention bladder and bowel functions and genital tissues. The volume of neurologic information transferring in and out of the region is not always coordinated. It sounds odd but sometimes muscles are capable of working but cannot due to the pain they would cause by contracting forcefully. Trigger point and myofascial release can help.

I feel very strongly that it is important for people with non-resolving acute or chronic pelvic pain make sure to keep pursuing help until the condition is resolved completely or the limiting factors are understood. Doctors and healthcare providers who take their patient outcome results personally act their best professionally.

Dr. Baisinger is offering a 1 day workshop at Birthingway College of Midwifery called Trigger Point and Myofascial Release Techniques for the Female Pelvic Floor. This workshop is open to practicing Midwives and Midwifery students. In this hands on workshop, Dr. Baisinger will teach women how to administer remedial trigger point and myofascial release treatments for both prenatal and postpartum times. These release skills help women achieve a non-medicated vaginal birth and can be taught to women so they can treat themselves.

If you're interested in finding out more about this work, Dr. Baisinger recommends starting with the International Pelvic Pain Society and searching the web with terms like "manual therapy" and "non-surgical". Of course, people are always welcome to call Clearwater Clinic to find out more information.

Role Playing Dad

2009-01-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

During my Doula training at Birthingway one of our activites was to role play a hospital birth. I was the husband of a laboring mother who wanted a natural birth. Another student was the head nurse, who took notes, came in and out of the room and periodically asked if we wanted medication.

My wife was insistent on no interventions and she did most of the talking. I took the persona of a shy husband who supported my wife when we were alone and noticed that I became embarresed at my wife's "demands" that she wanted to stay in the tub and didn't want an epidural.

Getting into the role, I wondered if her behavior would negatively affect how this nurse treated us and if we were causing her too much trouble. As I kept these worries to myself, I felt my emotional support withdraw ever so slightly and my fear rise.

Never, ever, ever would I have imagined that it would be so easy to fall into that submissive role. Had we not been role playing, I wouldn't have thought that our simple requests to be left alone to allow birth to happen naturally would lead me to question the quality of care we would receive because of our beliefs.

This simple exercise drives home the point that all families could benefit from Labor Doula support. The Labor Doula acts as a educated companion and your advocate during the birth process.

Not Right Now

2009-01-11T12:32:00.001-08:00

By Thursday morning I knew I didn't get in. When I came to that conclusion I got called to work at the birthing center, which cemented it for me even more. Now I would have to face women who knew my fate before I did.

So I called the school and left a message. I went to work and kept to myself. I got the message that I was wait listed around 4pm. I could tell that Dave knew when he asked me to call the school, but I didn't want to ask him.

They used my short length of interest in Midwifery as a measurement of my devotion. I knew that would be the case during my interview. I left that meeting broken and sad, knowing I was being judged by my path of discovery. But I successfully buried it and waved it away, hoping my energy would dissolve their doubts.

Like all establishments, they have their thought clouds they believe in. And I didn't fit into one of them. I could still get called, up through April to attend the school.

After I found out I got my first Labor Doula client and held a beautiful baby with an old soul. Today I feel heavy and sharp, but not angry anymore. I know the school is just one part of my journey, so I am going to continue on my path with the knowledge that I now have even more opportunities available to me.

My Labor Doula Profile

2009-01-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

As a Doula, I am honored to assist in whatever way you feel will best support you and your family prior to, during and after the birth of your new child. I am privileged and humbled to be there for you and your family during the birthing process.

My ongoing academic and professional experiences includes being a student at Birthingway College of Midwifery, a Postpartum Doula at an established birthing center, and a student Labor Doula. Throughout my work and academic responsibilities, I maintain an extremely flexible schedule to ensure you will never be without Doula support.

My expertise includes pregnancy and postpartum diet and fitness designed to ease labor and recovery, Reiki healing, meditation, creative expression and relationship coaching (aka baby-proofing your life). If time allows, you will receive two-to-three prenatal visits where we will get to know each other. We can incorporate modalities that you and your family need, such as help with birth plans, birth art and pain coping techniques (massage and touch, positioning, breathing, meditation and visualization, vocalization, aromatherapy, energy techniques).

Additional postpartum support can include meal planning and cooking, gentle yoga and exercise options, infant care techniques, natural healing, integrative life coaching, light housekeeping, dog walking and nanny care.

Unassisted Birth Interview

2009-01-02T20:15:00.000-08:00

By accident, my husband ran into an old acquaintance we hadn’t seen in years. I’ll call her Tina (all names have been changed). I used to work with her husband Mike at a joke of a software company many years ago and we bonded over our collective work misery.

Much has changed between the four of us in those years, including the fact that Tina recently delivered her second baby unassisted at home, while her husband was on the highway and her 3 year old was watching TV. All this was according to plan, with the exception of Mike not being there.

With her first baby Aura, Tina chose a hospital birth with an OB/GYN. After 3 hours of painful contractions they went to the hospital only to be told she wasn’t really in labor and it would be another few weeks before delivery.

Tina labored by herself believing what the hospital said and wondering how she was ever going to live through the next few weeks with these “fake contractions”. Tina said, “I threw up. I cleaned it up. I went to the kitchen to drink water. Then back to the bathroom.” This happened all night.

The next morning Tina phoned the on-call OB to ask for pain medication to take over the next weeks and was told that she actually was in labor and to come to the hospital right away.

She was wheeled to the exact same room where she was the night before when the doctore told her to go home. The nurse asked her to spread her legs after forcing her to lie on her back. When she was able to take a closer look at Tine, the nurse hit the emergency button saying that she could see the baby's head.

Tina tells the rest of the story like this: “I said "Can I push?" She said "No. The doc isn't here yet." Well.. that meant to me that I could push. Thank God! Nothing felt better. The doctor got there in a skirt suit and a nurse threw a gown on her. Three pushes later and Aura was out. All 6 pounds 6 ounces of her with Apgars of 9, then 9. We were in tears of joy.”

A few years later and Tina knew she did not want the hospital experience again. She also did not want to share her birth experience with a stranger. Tina, being practical and absolutely competent, did her research and decided to work with the same OB/GYN she did the first time but secretly plan to have an unassisted birth at home.

When she went past 41 weeks, her doctor gave her a speech about being induction and they decided that they just had different opinions about birth. Tina filled out her registration papers for the hospital "just in case" and so her OB didn't suspect anything was up.

At 42 weeks, Tina went into labor while driving from the suburbs in traffic to her Portland home. Her 3 year old was in the car and her husband was at work. She called Mike and insisted he leave work. She knew this was the real thing.

At home she took Aura to the potty, pulled the plastic sheet over the couch and squatted over it while Aura watched the “forbidden TV”. She called Mike again, almost 2 hours later and told him she was close to having the baby. She pushed twice and Rose was born 2 hours and 20 minutes after contractions began, 11 minutes before Mike got home.

Tina didn't tear and she gave Rose Apgars of 8 & 9. She left the cord attached as she birthed the placenta, 3 minutes before Mike arrived at home. Everything was perfect.

Below are some questions and answers between Tina and myself.

1. What preparations did you make to ensure a safe delivery?

First and foremost I had prenatal care to ensure I was having a healthy pregnancy and (probably) a healthy baby. I had a Level III US at 20 weeks to look for any potential problems. Even though these things aren't always detected, I knew the likelihood of having a baby with a major defect was low.

For Baby: A Doppler to monitor heart rate during contractions intermittently. Her HR held steady with accelerations during contractions. She had some late decels during the pushing stage, but since they didn't dip below 120s and it recovered well, I wasn't worried. I had a neonatal resuscitation kit that included an intubation tube, bag/valve mask, oxygen tank with tubing, and a suction kit (beyond the usual squeeze bulb). 4 sets of cord clamps, surgical scissors, and of course the usual stuff like a thermal cap.

For Me: Methergine to be given IM in the case of bleeding.

In addition, I wouldn't have hesitated to dial 911 at any point in my labor or delivery. I'm also trained in neonatal resuscitation and Mike is trained in infant, child, and adult CPR.

2. What were your fears about the unassisted labor and delivery?

My fear was that Mike wouldn't make it in time for the birth (and he didn't). I also had some fears in the back of my mind that maybe I would be in that small % who did not have an uncomplicated delivery and I'd kick myself for something horrible going wrong.

3. How did your family (including husband) react to your decision?

I did not tell my family other than my husband. They all knew I was receiving prenatal care from an OB and assumed I'd be delivering at the hospital. I had also pre-registered with the hospital and had taken a tour just in case. Funny enough, though, they all joked that I wouldn't make it to the hospital in time. My coworkers (nurses and doctors) absolutely had no idea and I would've never heard the end of it had they found out my UC was on purpose.

Mike was receptive to a homebirth, but really had to warm up to the idea of a UC. He was concerned with safety of me and the baby. He also didn't want to clean up the yuck and not have help with it. I had him read some articles on UC and also a lot of birth stories. We also talked with a friend of mine who UP/UC'd all 4 of her children in the 90s and that sealed the deal.

4. What would you have done differently?

Had a place in my house all set-up 24 hours a day and not have ventured so far from home being as post-date as I was. Maybe I might have asked Mike to take time off from work early so he would've been around. I also feel, though, that he would have missed a hospital birth as well.

5. Do you have any advice for mothers considering an unassisted delivery?

Look into all your options and make sure to take responsibility for your birth. UC IS more risky than a hospital birth or even a homebirth. Accepting the risks and owning your decision is so important for going into labor and birth with confidence.

6. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I'm not opposed to women who UC and UP, but I felt like I did not want to UP for the "just in case" reason. I wanted to have the best possible outcome in my own home with my own body without any other factors.

Aura's first words as she sat on the couch watching me squat, were "Hi Baby!" She didn't seem bothered by it at all and took it in stride with the cartoons on the TV. If I ever have a baby again, I hope to have my family there, without outside distractions such as TV, and involved in the process a little more.

What were the reactions from your doctor and family?

I called her (the doctor) office the Monday after, she said "Well that was one expensive home birth!" She was congratulatory and expressed interest in seeing the baby. She also had me come in the Monday after she was born (born on a Friday) for a check (as if I were discharging from the hospital).

As for my family... They all said that it was Mike's "fault" that I didn't get to the hospital in time since he didn't get home to take me there. Poor Mike. They all wanted to know details like what I gave birth on and what I used to clamp the cord. That's when I told them the truth that I had been planning on birthing at home alone all along. They were all very surprised and said things like "You're lucky it worked out that way." My mom even said "Wow! You could've had a dead baby." It only reinforced my decision to not tell them in advance. They've also expressed concern for if we have another baby (we're not planning on it) and how I BETTER go to the hospital this time.

Woman Shaman's - Book Review

2009-01-02T18:10:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a solid book on the history of woman shamans who were Midwives and Healers, The Woman in the Shaman's Body is a great start. This book is all about reclaiming the feminine in religion and medicine, as the author Barbara Tedlock puts it.

Barbara makes a case that women, not men, are the oldest shamans and it's incorrect skeletal analysis and a history of archeology being a mostly male vocation that has led to misconceptions of the true history of healing around the world.

The book takes the reader on a journey throughout ancient cultures and modern villages where shamans, like midwifery, is a strongly feminine specialty. She also shares traditional practices of ancient people, like the Huichol tribe's practice of having the husband of a laboring woman's first child squat in the rafters with ropes attached to his testicles. As the woman goes into labor, she tugs on the tethers allowing her husband to share in her painful experience of childbirth. (To quote my husband, "That tribe is probably no longer.")

Below is a song from a shaman chanted while she was in an hallucinogenic trance. The first verse was recited in a feminine voice, the second verse was spoken in a stronger and more powerful masculine-sounding voice:

Woman who waits am I

Woman who divines am I

Woman of justice am I

Woman of law am I

Woman of the Southern Cross am I

Woman of the first star am I.

For I go up into the sky.

Lawyer woman am I.

Woman of transactions am I.

Mexican woman am I.

Woman like a clock am I.

Woman like an eagle am I.

Woman like an opossum am I.

Woman like a hunting dog am I.

Woman like a wolf am I.

I'll show my power!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

I wish all women, moms, health care workers and babies a wonderful and healthy new year.

Happy Birthing!

Laboring On Birth Transition in the United States - Book Review

2008-12-31T06:42:00.000-08:00

Touted as the first "feminist sociological analysis of birth in the United States", Laboring On can fit into the Women's Studies, Sociology, Midwifery and Health sections of your library.

Together Wendy Simonds, Barbara Katz Rothman and Bari Meltzer Norman explore American birth practices and delve, in an easy to read manner, into the varying and conflicting perspectives of OB/GYNS, Midwives, CNMs and Doulas.

Throughout the book the authors focus on the medical model as separating mom from baby and doing what is best to prevent lawsuits, Nurse Midwives mostly having to compromise their ideals in order to work under the medical model of birth, Midwives needing to balance being the most knowledgeable of birth yet having the least rights of all practitioners and Doulas as championing the way in hospitals.

Interviews with medical professionals are printed verbatim, then analysed in Laboring On, which helps the reader find the nuances of doctor's language and the defeat in the voices of the Certified Nurse Midwives working in hospitals.

This book provides a strong insight into the politics of birth and why America's maternity wards are in the shape they are in today.

Breast is the Best, Even if You’re Three - Guest Writer Series

2008-12-30T06:33:00.000-08:00

The following article, written by Colleen Mahon-Haft, is an informative piece on extended breastfeeding. Welcome Colleen to Healing Midiwfery!

Last year a Delta Airlines employee asked a nursing mother to put a blanket on her child’s head, because she said seeing the toddler nurse was“weird” and made her uncomfortable. The flight attendant reacted in this manner simply because extended nursing, when a baby nurses past a year old, is not the norm in United States culture. As a result, virtually any mother of a nursing toddler can recall dirty looks she has received while nursing in public and is likely to have horror stories of more confrontational judgments from strangers, like the mother on the plane.

Mothers in the US generally wean before twelve months, most at six months or earlier. A mere 14% of mothers still nurse their babies at seven months of age (Le Leche League International 1997). However, breast milk is the optimal food not only during infancy but also into toddler-hood, and if more mothers were aware of the benefits of extended nursing, they would not look at it as “weird” and would be proud to offer their baby the best nutrition possible. U.S. culture, many American doctors, and the mainstream media discourage extended breastfeeding, in the process attaching shame and embarrassment to a natural feeding process that is extremely beneficial to the child’s well being.

A child can only absorb 10% of the iron from cow’s milk, while 50% of the iron from breast milk’s can be absorbed (Eiger and Olds 1999). Additionally, “human milk contains living cells, hormones, active enzymes, immunoglobulins and compounds with unique structures that cannot be replicated in infant formula" (Benson, Masor March 1994). For this reason, when both mother and baby are healthy, the Food and Drug Administration, the Center for Disease Control, and the World Health Organization all advise nursing for a year or longer, as long as mother and baby are comfortable.

Beyond the nutrient content of breast milk, extended nursing also provides a crucial boost to children’s immature immune systems. Until the age of six a child's immune system isn't functioning at adult level, which leads parents to shield them from sick neighbors, bundle them up during the winter, and make sure they don’t leave the house with a wet head. Still, by nursing for a limited time, many mothers pass up the opportunity to directly provide young children with what it needs to fight off a cold or the flu. The composition of mother’s milk provides infants and toddlers with vitamin E, which is crucial for immune system development, along with enzymes, proteins and already developed antibodies that are essential to developing and maintaining good health. For this reason, breastfeeding has been directly associated with fewer infant illnesses, and extended breastfeeding subsequently with fewer toddler illnesses (Gluiuk 1996).

Not only does extended nursing have great health benefits, it also plays an important role in mother/child bonding and later social bonding. Extended breastfeeding gives mothers and toddlers special time to be together, experiencing each other’s closeness. Getting a toddler to slow down can be challenging, so the time spent nursing is needed and enjoyed. Oxytocin and Prolactin are released into the mother’s body during nursing, Both hormones have been referred to as the "love hormones" or the "bonding hormones.” Those hormones provide a sense of calm to the mother, promoting bonding and creating desire for further contact with the child.

Adversaries to extended nursing suggest that extended nursing makes weaning more difficult and leads children to be overly dependent, therefore advocating that mother’s force their babies to wean on a set time frame. In reality, forced weaning can be a frustrating experience for both, as it requires fighting biological instincts to continue nursing. On the other hand, child-led weaning tends to be much easier on the mother and toddler as all children will eventually give up the breast when they feel the cues to do so. Often, they will set their own time frames, such as “when I’m four” or “after Santa comes.”

There is evidence that child-led weaning is beneficial for the social development of children. Dr. William Sears (The Breastfeeding Book 2000), having studied the long-term impacts of the weaning process on thousands of children, reports that “children who had timely weanings… are more independent, gravitate to people more than things, are easier to discipline, experience less anger, radiate trust.… [After] studying the long-term effects of long-term breastfeeding, the most secure... and happy children we have seen are those who have not been weaned before their time” (Sears 2000). Thus, despite what opponents of extended breastfeeding suggest, research on childhood development shows that toddlers who nurse will not be clingy and overly dependent, and are actually likely to be more trusting, independent, and happier than children who are force-weaned.

Additionally, extended nursing benefits children in ways that extend all the way to school age. One study found that school age children who were breastfed as infants and toddlers have I.Q. scores averaging seven to ten points higher than formula-fed infants (Dr. Sears 2000). Breastfed babies and toddlers also have the privilege of receiving high levels of DHA (docasahexaenoic acid), which is a brain boosting fat, found in cold water fish and in seaweed. DHA is essential for the proper development of the nervous system and vision (Memmler’s 2005). DHA levels are highest in babies who are breastfed the longest. The cognitive development of babies fed formula does not equal that of those who are breastfed (Dr. Sears 2000).

Mothers who nurse their babies into toddler-hood are doing themselves and their little ones a great service physically, socially, intellectually and emotionally. They are providing comfort and nourishment that will affect the children their entire lives. Breastfeeding is also a life-affirming act of love. If you have ever observed an older baby or toddler nursing, you can see that there is something almost magical, something very special about the mother/ child bond. With such strong evidence of the positive effects of extended nursing, the pattern of limited breastfeeding in the United States is puzzling.

Royal Bottoms - A Review of Cloth Diapers

2008-12-25T13:22:00.000-08:00

Royal Bottoms, a local Portland, Oregon company, is a mom owned and sustainable cloth diaper company. And these aren't your ordinary cloth diapers.

Raya, the mom, owner and talent behind the beautiful designs ensures that each order is made to your exact specifications and needs. Her Royal Bottoms blog as well as her website have lovely photos of each design, so you can find something for your needs.

Royal Bottoms recommends that parents start with 20 cloth diapers for a newborn. Although that sounds like a lot, Raya says that "when you take into account a one-size diaper will last until he or she is potty-trained it makes a lot of sense."

What about poop in the washer? Raya has this to say, "A lot of people worry about putting feces in their washer. But in the first six months of life when a baby is breastfeed that poop is 100% water soluble and will leave no trace in the washer. Then when the child starts eating solid foods you can use biodegradable rice paper liners and plop those off in the toilet before washing. Most of the time everything just shakes right off and whatever is left is fine to wash. Trust me, it's not as scary as it sounds."

Looking for sustainable clothing, wetbags, wipes? You can definitely find it at Royal Bottoms as well. Each wetbag is handcrafted at home by Raya and is used to hold the smells and moisture of dirty diapers until laundry day.

Here is what I love best about this company: the education. Raya takes the time to teach you how to begin the path of cloth diapering, and her products make it a much easier and safer task than the old school cloth diapers you had to fold and pin. And they look so cool on little babies.

Note to shoppers: Royal Bottoms is holding a sale on bumGenius diapers, 6-15% off for diapers that rarely go on sale. Contact Raya while supplies last.

Birth Poetry by Stephanie Elliott

2008-12-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

This exaggerated hip swing,
The rocking of my own cradle;
Relaxin relaxes my joints into soft sensual submission,
Allowing me to open, open, open.

How did I get here?
Oxytocic orgasm,
Estrogen and Progesterone, mounting, mounting, mounting,
Leaving me cry, cry, crying, over spilt milk.

How did I know I was here?
HCG whispered it in my ear
Two blue lines, in parallel
The tell tale sign, that every woman anticipates and fears.

Oxytocin awakes me at 2am,
I feel the pulling
The downward force
My body is moving
...without my permission.

Still, it says yes, and asks for more.
More oxytocin... more....
More pain, more force.

The hours go by...
I pace and dance
With my relaxin hip swing.

I feel the baby drop down

Down

Down.

Prostaglandins are massaging my cervix,
Softer, thinner,
Creating gentle passage for my child.

Down and through he slides...

Just when I think I can take no more,
When I can do no more to birth my child.
Endorphin release...

Things get less sharp...
The sights, the sounds, the pain.
Suddenly it is just me
And this child... Working together, a team.

Finally the time is coming
Rushes of oxytocin are overwhelming
I feel a rush of urgency and fear
Catecholomines.

Noradrenaline is telling me to get this baby out...

So I push...
My heart pounds and I push....

And I push...
And the child bursts forth, and lies before me...
Shakes its head and begins to scream.

I feel something come over me,
Something I never knew I could feel
Overwhelming love, intoxicating....

I hold my child on my chest,
He slowly bobs towards my breast.
I watch him with tears in my eyes.
Prolactin and oxytocin bring me so close to my child.

These hormones have made me a mother today.

Upcoming Submission Requests

2008-12-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

After the holidays, I'll be posting calls for the following submissions:

January: Birth Art

March: Personal Birth Narratives

May: Birth Rituals

If you would like to submit now, feel free to contact me.

Upcoming Articles

2008-12-21T11:56:00.000-08:00

Healing Midwifery is pleased to announce the upcoming articles:

January: Bedsharing

February: Reiki Healing

March: Waterbirth

April: Creative Expression

Article suggestions are always welcome.

Resource List

2008-12-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

Inspired by being snowed in for a full week out here in Portland, I've started putting together a resource binder for women who need information about getting pregnant, pregnancy, birth, infants, sleep, feeding, yoga, health, nutrition ---- all sorts of topics.

Very excited about this! Now I just need to come up with a cool name other than Community Resource Binder for Women. Any suggestions?

Getting the Best Eats During Pregnancy - December Article

2008-12-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

There are heaps of nutrition articles on the Internet that can make a mother-to-be feel overwhelmed. If you’ve read any three, you can already surmise that there’s no special nutrition formula for your diet.

Consider the following to be general guidelines on how to eat an appropriate diet while pregnant. You’ll also find easy recipes that follow standard pregnancy nutritional guidelines. For more specific information, always check with your Midwife or caregiver. She knows your situation best and can provide the most accurate information specific to your needs.

Eating healthy, whether vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc., is almost always possible as long as it is well-planned and approved by your Midwife or caregiver. Don’t stress about how or what you are eating on a daily basis, but instead look at your diet over the course of a week to ensure it is balanced.

Over a seven day period, ask yourself if you’ve eaten enough greens, protein, fiber, fat and vitamins to satisfy your nutritional needs. If it’s hard to keep track, consider using a food journal for a week. If you feel you’ve been lacking something, plan how you will make changes and start again the next day. Each day is a new time to begin feeding you and your baby the way that is best for both of you.

Whenever possible, buy organic. This will ensure you are getting the best produce, dairy products, meat and snacks you can without harvesting them from your backyard.

When selecting fish, always check with your Midwife or caregiver to ensure it is safe for you to eat fish, and then chose varieties that are fresh rather than farmed for optimal nutrition.

For meat, select hormone and antibiotic free and grass fed to ensure the best cut of meat for you and your baby. The less synthetic hormones and medicine you have moving through your system, the better off you are.

Below are some nutrients that are vital to you and your baby’s wellbeing during pregnancy, followed by fast and easy recipes.

Folic Acid

Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps prevent abnormalities of the brain, spinal cord and neural tube. Ingesting 1 milligram a day during pregnancy, either through foods or supplements is essential to your baby’s well-being.

Organic leafy green vegetables (think kale, mustard greens, chard), root vegetables, organic citrus fruits, organic beans and fortified organic orange juice are great natural sources. Nutritional Yeast is also a nice way to add B vitamins to your diet. Sprinkle on popcorn or on dishes where you would normally use cheese.

Calcium

Calcium is another big one during your pregnant and breastfeeding months. Your skeletal, circulatory, muscular and nervous systems rely on calcium for day-to-day functioning. Add in a pregnancy and your body is thirsty for this nutrient. If you don’t provide enough calcium through the food you eat or your pre-natal supplement, then your body is going to take what it needs from your bones and teeth.

At least 1,000 milligrams per day is necessary, and more usually won’t hurt.

Again, organic leafy greens come into play here, as well as organic dairy and soy products, salmon (check with your Midwife) and yogurt.

Protein

The importance of protein cannot be stressed enough during pregnancy. Many Midwives and natural caregivers believe that protein can prevent serious pregnancy-related disorders. It is critical for your baby’s growth and your body’s ability to maintain a healthy environment.

At least 80 grams of protein per day is mandatory during pregnancy. Think 3 ounces of organic chicken breast (27g), 1 cup of organic cottage cheese (28g), 2 tablespoons of organic peanut butter (8g), 1 egg (6g).

All organic lean meat, poultry, fish and eggs are easy protein sources. For vegan and vegetarian diets look towards organic tofu, beans, TVP (textured vegetable protein) and nuts.

Iron

Feeling tired? Your body requires iron to deliver oxygen to your body’s tissues. Your blood volume nearly doubles during pregnancy, which means you need around 30 milligrams of iron daily to ensure your tissues are able to receive enough oxygen.

Look to lean organic red meat, beans, spinach, dried fruit and nuts for your daily iron requirements.

Easy Recipes for Your Pleasure & Health

Roasted Root Veggies & Friends

This easy, veggie-friendly meal contains folic acid, fiber, vitamins and minerals aplenty plus it’s gluten-free and vegan, and makes a great cold snack, a nice side dish or even a main meal. Remember to purchase organic whenever possible.

Eggplant

Zucchini

Turnips

Beets

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Yams

Red or Yellow Pepper

Salt & Pepper

Olive or Coconut Oil

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Wash and cube veggies

Spread in baking dish, coat with oil and season as desired

Bake for 45 minutes, turning every 20 minutes

Yummy Sautéed Greens

Rich in all the good stuff like calcium, magnesium, fiber and vitamins A, C, and E, this gluten-free, vegan dish is a great side dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Handful (4-5 leaves per person) dark leafy greens (Chard, Kale, Mustard Greens, Bok Choy)

Apple Cider Vinegar

Slivered Almonds

Water

Salt

Wash greens

Tear greens into bite-size pieces, composting the stems

Heat enough water to cover greens in wok

Add greens when water is lightly boiling

Stir and cook until tender (2-3 minutes)

Drain water

Add ACV as you would a dressing

Toss with almonds and enjoy

Midwife’s Breakfast

This protein packed breakfast will carry you through your morning. It contains protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals and can be made vegan. It’s also great with some sautéed greens sprinkled on top.

Steel-cut Irish Oats

Milk Product of Choice

Cheese

Egg

Avocado

Almonds

Cook oatmeal per product directions – use milk product for extra protein

Add cheese over oatmeal in your bowl

Cover cheese with cooked egg, prepared to your liking

Garnish with half an avocado (and sautéed greens if desired)

Sprinkle with almonds

Beef/Bison or Tofu Stir Fry

This quick dinner that you can put together at the last minute is packed with lean protein. It can also be made vegetarian with the addition of tofu or tempeh.

Organic Lean Steak

Snow Peas

Green Beans

Broccoli

Bok Choy

Olive Oil

Soy Sauce

Wash and cut veggies

Coat protein in a little olive oil

Heat wok

Stir-fry the protein

Add vegetables to the wok and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes

Combine vegetables with soy sauce

Return protein to wok, toss to combine

Feeling confident about your diet is about understanding, both academically and intuitively, what you and your baby needs to grow strong and healthy. Rather than micromanaging your diet at every meal, take a step back and evaluate your eating over a longer period. Add in your emotional state and energy level and make decisions from that place as to what you should be eating. And of course, your Midwife is a great resource.

Doulas on the Today Show

2008-11-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

The Today show ran a piece on Doulas. In addition to the article, click on the video on the right.

The piece started out on a positive note, but did contain a warning from a doctor who works in a hospital that banned Doulas all together.

Looks like our community is really starting to make itself known! Keep spreading the positive word about Doulas and our scope of practice.

Handmade Baby Products

2008-11-19T09:17:00.001-08:00

Handmade baby presents are a great way to give this holiday season in a truly sustainable, from-the-heart way. The site owners of Make Your Own Baby Stuff have made it easy and fun to do just that.

They offer tips, instructions and motivation to craft everything from baby bedding to clothes and keepsakes.

Check out their offerings and let the community know what you think.

Baby, You're Home - New York Times Article

2008-11-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

The New York Times published an article about NY homebirths.

I'd love to hear feedback from folks on it.

What Kind of Advocate am I?

2008-11-08T06:19:00.000-08:00

Am I a birth advocate? Am I a baby advocate? Am I a mother advocate?
I am a birth baby mother advocate.

Providing the most diverse and safe options for a woman will allow her to birth in her most natural way. I believe that by doing this, the baby and mother will be safe and protected because the mother is using her natural instincts to birth her baby.

By allowing a woman to create this kind of natural childbirth space, I am empowering her to trust her body to allow the very best birth that is perfect for her little baby.

By holding a natural birth space, mom and Midwife are allowing the baby to come into this world with it's fullest potential and power.

What kind of advocate are you?

What a Midwife vs. Nurse Midwife vs. Doula?

2008-11-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

I grew up going to the hospital with both my mother and step-father whenever they would get called into work. I'd spend weeknights and weekends there hanging out with doctors and nurses, helping mom run CT scans on patients and moving from department to department.

I'm very comfortable in that environment and don't have any of the fears that most people have in hospitals. So it's not intimidation that directs me away from the Nurse Midwife profession, it's actually because a hospital is too limiting for me.

My desire to be a homebirth/birth center Midwife is so that I can provide mothers, babies and their families with as many options as possible while maintaining a safe and protected environment.

Within the home setting of birth, I want to have clinical responsibility for the well-being of the mother and baby. Throughout my life I've always strived for as much ownership as possible and it doesn't really get bigger than taking care of two lives.

I also want to be involved in the actual birth of the baby. I think of the baby in the womb as a being with unlimited potential. As the baby comes into the world he or she is immediately shown sights, sounds, sensations and boundaries. It takes only a second to ground that baby to this earth and I want to help with that process.

Nurse Midwives are able to provide uplifting support and care to women who want to birth in hospitals and Doulas are so very very important to birth. Both provide a service that is truly beyond words and I'm so grateful that women are beginning to have more and more birth options available to them.

Make Peace with Holiday Stress - November Article

2008-11-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

Make Peace with Holiday Stress

Celebration Season is upon us, and if you’re pregnant, now is not the year to worry about creating the perfect holiday for family and friends. Your sole responsibility when pregnant is to take care of yourself so you can care for your growing baby. Every expecting mother has day-to-day stress in her life; when the holidays come around there is a good chance she can up the stress ante two-fold. Reducing holiday stress makes for a happier mom, baby and family. So take off the white gloves and leave the picture perfect holiday behind. This is your only time to be a vessel for your baby, which is more than enough reason to relax and enjoy the season.

Don’t Stress
According to The Guardian, “Stress experienced by a woman during pregnancy may affect her unborn baby as early as 17 weeks after conception, with potentially harmful effects on brain and development”. High levels of stress can also boost your odds of preterm labor or delivering a low-birth weight baby. Since no mom-to-be wants those facts nagging her, it’s time to start preparing to do less during the holidays.

Identify
The first step to preventing holiday stress is to know when you're stressed. This may seem obvious, but often women don’t feel the early warning signs like a clenched jaw, increased heart rate, irritability, and guilt.

Lynette Winter, a development coach, reminds women that, “our bodies can be a great source of wisdom if we slow a bit to listen. The great thing is that it doesn't take a lot of time to hear the messages. In five-minutes we can do a thorough scan of our bodies to see what we need most.”

What does a body scan entail? Ms. Winter explains: “Start with your feet. What sensations do you notice? Are your feet tired? Swollen? Continue to scan upward moving to your lower leg, then thighs, tummy, lower back, chest, upper back, hands, lower then upper arms, neck and finally head. With each body area, simply notice the sensation and if possible, name it (energized, fatigued, warm, cool, green, blue, etc.). If you notice any tension, breathe into that tension. Then ask, what does my body and my baby need most? Is it rest, water, food, to not eat another holiday treat, to say no to another party? Ask how can I best meet that need? Is there anyone else who might support you in meeting this need?”

Familiarize yourself with stress-reducing techniques, such as the one above, before the holidays, and you will be able to access them when you really need to. Just like any skill, you need to practice what it feels like to relax when you are already partially in that state, not when you are on the verge of crumbling under the pressure.

In addition to supporting you through the holidays, the following toolkit will help you and your baby stay healthy during pregnancy and may even come in handy during labor.

Boundaries & Communication
When someone is asking you for a favor or to take on another responsibility, there are three possible answers; yes, no or maybe. Which answer is your usual default? If you're a “Yes woman,” then pregnancy is the perfect time for you to start setting more boundaries. Adding an ‘and’ statement to a “No” answer will ensure the asker feels heard and may provide them with other options.

For example, your boss asks you to stay late to finish a report. You’ve worked way too much already, are tired and have a pre-natal appointment to get to. Rather than saying, “No, I can’t do it” and then feeling guilty, include the ‘and’ statement: “I’m unable to stay late to finish the report AND I know it’s important to you, so would you be okay if I worked on it first-thing tomorrow morning?”

If you’re usually stuck in the maybe category, the ‘and’ statement will still come in handy. For example, your best friend asks if she can invite her out-of-town friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. An easy response if you’re hesitating is to reply, “I’m not sure that I can have two more people over for dinner AND I need to sleep on it before I decide.” Use the evening to determine how you want your holiday dinner to unfold and to take it easy.

Relationships with Yourself and Others
Boundaries and relationships go hand in hand. Your relationship with yourself dictates the type of relationships you will have with others. Be sure to create enough time for yourself by scheduling a vacation day during a week you know your time will be in high demand. If you can't take a full day off, then schedule an evening for yourself. Come home with some healthy take out, draw a bath and relax. Your baby will love spending time with just you.

While you’re sleeping on your friend’s request to invite more people to your Thanksgiving dinner, your body and baby are getting an important recharge. Jodi Mindell, a pediatric sleep expert, notes that nourishing and growing a baby takes enormous energy and sleep is vital to both mom and baby. So go to bed ladies and forget setting the table!

Eat Right, Be Fit
Speaking of takeout, what does healthy food look like anyway? Talk with your Midwife, Doula or health care provider to ensure you are getting the most balanced and perfect diet specifically custom to you and your little one’s needs.

In general, every pregnant women needs to eat a variety of foods that are high in fiber, protein and calcium. And remember to take your pre-natal supplements.

Also, keep in mind that the holidays are not a free-for-all. Overindulgence can lead to more stress, so pre-pack your meals, eat a healthy snack before the cocktail party and keep in mind that your baby needs you to make the best nutrition choices.

A great compliment to a healthy diet is a healthy exercise ritual. If you've been following an exercise routine throughout pregnancy - wonderful. If it's fallen off your schedule, slowly start to integrate it back in with your caregiver’s guidance.

Light exercising, even a brisk 20 minute walk in the sunshine, will give you more energy and stamina throughout your day. Your baby will have a lower heart rate, increased blood flow and will have a happier mom. If you are unable to exercise, try some deep-breathing and visualization practices. Spend 20 minutes a day focusing on your breath and releasing all thoughts from your mind. There are wonderful guided meditation CDs you can purchase or borrow from the library. As a bonus, this practice will help during labor as well.

Be Good to Yourself, Be Good to Your Baby
The holidays are a time of connecting with family and friends. Being pregnant makes this time of year even more memorable and significant. Be sure you create the holiday you want, while keeping in mind the important job you have of nurturing yourself for your birth as a Mamma to a new spirit.

If you are at your max stress load, speak to your Midwife, Doctor or Doula who can refer you to a therapist or coach that will help you with your stress. Sometimes all you need is a 3rd party to listen and possibly offer advice.
Kristen Thompson, a new mother, said it best, “I always thought of what I wanted to give my baby, which was love and peace, and I would go to that place in my private moments during the day when it was just me and the baby growing inside me. No matter what else was going on around us, no matter what was going on with work, bills, relationships, inside the womb there was a calm, warm, protected place for our baby. Connecting to that place was reassuring and had a deeply calming affect for me.”

There are many options for mothers-in-waiting to handle holiday stress. Remember, if keeping yourself healthy during the holidays isn’t reason enough to reduce your stress, always think about your baby.

The Community Behind This Site

2008-10-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

I am loving how the site has evolved in such a short time! Thank you all for participating, reading and sharing.

Here is a quick update on what will be happening over the next few months:

Articles focusing on pregnancy, Midwifery and families will be posted by the 15th of every month. The first article in this series is titled, "Making Peace with Holiday Stress" and provides insight for pregnant women on relationships, setting boundaries and truly taking care of themselves during the upcoming holiday season.

The featured December article will focus on easy, healthy and nutritious recipes that are perfect for mothers-to-be.

Every few months I will be calling for submissions from readers. Most recently I asked for birth poetry and received such touching personal stories. The next call for submission will focus on birth art, so get your crafts and cameras ready. You can expect this posting mid-November.

Again, thank you all for participating. It is so important that we have a forum to connect with each other and share our stories.

If anyone would like to see something that is not posted, feel free to comment and let me know.

Hippie Sister Born at Home - Poetry Submission

2008-10-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

Santa Ana winds call to her
Roasting LA, cooking us
Mom floating naked in the stealthy pool
No splashing, no voice
Only the treacherous moon

Patchouli and Jasmine kiss me good morning
Trips to Ventura keep it all very cool
Digging sand pits around the tummy that will soon
Be a sister

Lamaze classes with Carol King in the front row
Dreamy times for hippie children
Our lives turning out to be a Tapestry

Up all night, my first time knowing
Dad and I late Olympic coverage
Then watching Dondi
Fading into the celebratory mist of dreams

Awakening to the strange Moscow circus
The symphony of coordinated pain and breath
And joy, watching sister get born
Olive oil and boiling pots
Naked not transforming
In mom and dad's bed
In Van Nuys

There was music that day, always
Dad greeting the birth in song
Then a Pepsi and a filet for mom
Just one day old
Molly watched the green sparklers
As she and America celebrated their birth
One with the other

Michael Deasy Jr.10/31/08

Pregnant Woman - Poetry Submission

2008-10-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

She is beautiful and strong
She is sensual and unafraid of being naked
She has excellent balance because she is rooted to the Earth
She is dancing because her swollen body wants to move
Her belly is like the full moon and the tides move within her
She smiles because she knows a secret. The secret.
She is a goodess – she can choose whether to bring life or send it away
Her heart is full and swells with blood
Her breasts swell with milk and nectar
Her belly swells with life
She is tender like a deer and ferocious like a tiger
She is radiant and people smile as she passes
She shares her body with her child as Mother Earth shares hers with all of her children
Magick is happening in her and to her and with her

Written by Chandala Tso Shiva
January 11, 2008

Before Air - Poetry Submission

2008-10-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's not a baby. And it's not my politics
saying this, it's experience. A baby is
everyone's: grandma holds it, aunt
changes it, brother kisses it. But a
fetus does not breathe air, cannot live
on its own, and if it is anyone's other
that its own, it is mine, solely mine.
Perhaps you can't love a fetus, need it
to be a baby, an air breathing being that
looks like you. I need only to know it
is inside me, feel it pushing its way around
its tiny home. I love the almost baby because
it is not yet a baby. I love the fetus not
for its potential but for what it is right now.
Its own self, connected and separate. Mommy's
constant companion swimming without a name.

--Lisa Alden

Fully Empowered - Pablo Neruda - Poetry Submission

2008-10-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

Births

We will never have any memory of dying.

We were so patient
about our being,
noting down
numbers, days,
years and months,
hair, and the mouths we kiss,
and that moment of dying
we let pass without a note -
we leave it to others as memory,
or we leave it simply to water,
to water, to air, to time.
Nor do we even keep
the memory of being born,
although to come into being was tumultuous and new;
and now you don't remember a single detail
and haven't kept even a trace
of your first light.

It's well known that we are born.

It's well known that in the room
or in the wood
or in the shelter in the fishermen's quarter
or in the rustling canefields
there is a quite unusual silence,
a grave and wooden moment as
a woman prepares to give birth.

It's well known that we were all born.

But if that abrupt translation
from not being to existing, to having hands,
to seeing, to having eyes,
to eating and weeping and overflowing
and loving and loving and suffering and suffering,
of that transition, that quivering
of an electric presence, raising up
one body more, like a living cup,
and of that woman left empty,
the mother who is left there in her blood
and her lacerated fullness,
and its end and its beginning, and disorder
tumbling the pulse, the floor, the covers
till everything comes together and adds
one knot more to the thread of life,
nothing, nothing remains in your memory
of the savage sea which summoned up a wave
and plucked a shrouded apple from the tree.

The only thing you remember is your life.

Pablo Neruda: (from "Fully Empowered", translation of "Plenos Poderes" 1962)

Zen White Sale - Poetry Submission

2008-10-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

Heat hovers
Like whispers close to the ear
In a room lit by an August moon
Quiet light warms your feet
Like slow moving water

The small of your back
A sweet dewey cup
The curve of your collarbone
The slope my fingers ride
The strand of hair wending across your forehead

My thrill

From the summit of this dizzying height I willingly leap onto the shores of your life and die happily in your love
White linen sheet cool as reprieveScented with loam Floats
In the hollows of your shapely bones
Lays delicatelyOver your undulating grace
The impossibility of your beauty
White seeps into every corner Ever expanding my fulfillment.

Its fibers
A trillion tiny stalks
Quivering with joy that they were plucked from the earth in time to enfold you

First published in the PoetSpeak anthology for their November 2004 poetry reading event. Written by Kim A. Steffgen

Sharing Thoughts From Danielle

2008-10-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Danielle sent the following note to me:

I am not one to write poetry but I was drawn to write you this email after reading your blog page. Quite a few things struck so true to my hopes and desires that I just HAD to share.

I have been waiting to find someone, and receive my reiki attunments for nearly a year now, I am so anxious to start doula work and to be fully entrenched in such miracle work. I think it was first the blog about "off timing" and then your amazing ability to see missing a birth as a lesson that just inspires :)

I've been struggling to let go that an acquaintance of mine that seemingly has no interest in birth work "fell" into a job at a birth center! Now I have never been the jealous type but I just cant let it go. Everyday she updates on myspace how she is at work and having a great day. I try and see it as lesson but have yet to get to that place.

I think I was even more drawn to you because I too plan to use reiki during labor and pregnancy. I found an awesome article online about repositioning baby(using reiki) during labor and avoiding a c-section last minute.

Every way I turn something seems to be blocking me, I can't help but wonder if it's not meant to be at all but this is what I want and feel so passionately about!

I've stopped by to see my midwife and talk doula paths/work, and all three times she was not there. Part of me feels crazy for writing this to a stranger but the other part feels I'm suppose to. Don't be afraid to just tell me I'm wacky but if nothing else I just wanted to share that I pray to be on a similar path soon and wish you well along your own!

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts Danielle. I feel strongly that Midwives, Doulas, women and mothers need to have a place to connect with each other and share their joys and sorrows. And what you just wrote is evidence that everything happens for a reason.

Timing is Divine, not human. For 10 years I searched to find the perfect job. I tried everywhere, only to stumble upon Midwifery when I wasn't even looking. It took a lot of inner work and a major release of hurt and anger that I carried around from childhood, and only then was the gift of Midwifery available to me.

The greatest gifts come when you open yourself to love and forgiveness and it sounds like you are on that path. When you are able to release all hurt and open yourself to serving others, that is when everything will fall into place.

Thanks again for sharing.

Birth Poetry

2008-10-16T10:00:00.001-07:00

I never expected to be so moved by the words mothers have sent me. I have chills reading their poems and feel humbled by the greatness of life.

Thank you for this gift.

Miracle? - Poetry Submission

2008-10-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

A Woman waits, as
a Girl maybe of curls, yet
surely of cuddles

From the time of mud
puddles to the Rain from the
Moon, her Rain, her Reign...

Empowered as none
might even feign to know, 'cept
as, HerSelf under-

stated...Unabated
vibrancies we cannot see,
Empowered as none

might even feign to
know, tho'... And then the Love Be-
yond-Beyond, and to

The Plan... of a first
knowing Nau; draw the shudders
un-the-string, soon the

mutterings...in the
Spring, my Darling, in the Spring!
We will taste the Wine's

Sublime... Yet, how do I
Feel me to You? I do, want
two...Alas, It is

Yours to know mine as
Mine, and you of three in Me
Feel this Miracle!

H.e.m.
10.15.MMviii.

Yoko Smiles - Poetry Submission

2008-10-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

effervescence hinges the high notes
while dreamy eyes blink
slow light
as fishes float lilac blue;

vermillion wonder flashing
fierce mother-Love through my fatal heart,
piercing the
foggy, breathless dreams.

i hold her softness with
careful memory:
golden glowing baubles,
aquatic gestures, when!

a sudden beam
smashes bittersweet tears
into the ache of Time
(a dilated sigh)

she, my yoko, smiles!

slipping silvery sands
cross my round belly,
over moony breasts;

through the untouched guise
i drift on the magick spell
of yoko’s newborn eyes.

katalin december, 2004
written a week or two after her birth