Outlaw Midwives

Here is a pretty intense read that I just finished. I am still processing, but found that the Zine was insightful, sometimes painful, a bit raw and sore at times, and other times very encouraging and enlightening. I would like your thoughts. Anything in particular stick with you?

Open publication - Free publishing - More women

Natural Feminine Products and a Giveaway

Many women, once a month, find themselves using some type of feminine product for their monthly menses. There are also many women who don't know of their options when it comes to feminine products, they simply go to the local pharmacy or grocery store and buy a box of brand-name disposable pads or tampons.

On the other hand, there are many organic cotton, reusable, and more eco-conscious products available that only take a little searching.

There are such reusable products as:

• Cloth pads (Lunapads and GladRags) - a washable, reusable pad that fits comfortably to your underwear.
• Menstrual cups (MoonCups, and DivaCups) - a washable, reusable silicone cup worn internally like a tampon.

But, if that it is a bit too crunchy for you, though, and consider yourself a more mainstream mama, or if you simply have other reasons for choosing a disposable choice, there is a wonderful alternative to Playtex, Stayfree (J&J), Kotex, Always, and the like.

For the last week I have been using Maxim products and believe it is a phenomenal, more eco-conscious, healthier option to the name brand market.

Some of their products features include that they are:

• Made with Organic and Natural Cotton
• Chlorine/Dioxin Free
• Synthetic Free
• Wood Fluff Pulp Free
• And their tampons are biodegradable
  

I recommend taking a look at their blog, as well, to get a feel for the type of advocacy and healthy cycle support that they strive to maintain.



And, just for the fun of it, and because this is a birthy blog, I am going to give away a package of their maternity pads to one lucky reader.

So, to be included in this giveaway for a chance (or two or three) to win, enter by following the steps below, and remember to put EACH ENTRY in their OWN COMMENT and make sure I have your email address, in case you are a winner. :) You need to complete, at least, the first entry to have a chance to win, all of the others are considered additional entries.

This is a great win for any expectant mama, or for a doula or midwife to give to a client.

1. Go to their website, then come back and tell me two things that you never knew about feminine products (either their products or the mainstream products).
2. Go to their blog, then come back and tell me which post you enjoyed the most and why.
3. Join them on Facebook, then come back and let me know.

Comments will close on August 6th and the drawing will occur on August 7th. Good luck!

3 Steps to Recovery

Stephanie is a new blog friend of mine and I asked her to write a guest post. Her writing is refreshing, open, and honest. Check out her blog for more inspirational and witty posts, and read on to find her advise for surviving the first few weeks after birth.

When I think back to my early post partum days and what I wish had been different about them, lots of different things come to my mind. The thing that stands out the most, is I wish I had gotten more rest.

My home birth midwife gave me a post partum check list for the first four weeks that included total bed rest the first week and semi-bedrest the second and third. I remember looking at it while pregnant and thinking, "what a joke!" I am way too type A for bed rest. And true to my form, I was up walking around and taking the trash out. The same day I gave birth. Like an IDIOT!

If you are type A like me, listen to me now and heed my advice. The trash can wait. The dishes can wait. The house can become cluttered for a few weeks and you will not unravel. I take that back, you will unravel, but its not because of the dishes, its because you are now a mother and your old life is dead.

Let everything just be, if you don't have someone to help you do everything. And Lord knows, if you are like me, and you do have some help, they are doing everything ALL wrong. They are gonna put the dishes away wrong or fold your shirt a different way.

The dish will not have a panic attack inside your cabinets by being put in there in the wrong spot. The dish will be fine, trust me. The shirt will not be mad at you for being folded a different way. It will all be OK, so just sit your butt, or rather lay your butt, in bed and do nothing but eat, drink and make sure your baby is eating and drinking from you!

Even if you feel great and feel like you could do more, just stay in bed. You will never again have family and friends bringing you meals and helping around the house (at least until the next baby) so just enjoy it. And I really think that I would be less tired now, 9 months later, if I had rested more in the beginning.

In Aruvedic medicine, the mother and child should spend the first six weeks in bed to regain her energy and strength, in order to sustain the mother over the long haul of the psychically and emotionally demanding first year. I was doing anything but. I was pumping like a maniac. And I let my husband talk me into taking our newborn daughter on a 10 hour car trip to visit family for the holidays...like an IDIOT!

So if you are going to be on bedrest or couch rest for the first six weeks you need to learn something very important. You need to learn how to nurse lying down, other wise known as the side-lying position. For me and my daughter, nursing in those first few weeks, or lack there of, was a complete nightmare. For her first week, in order to get her latched on at all I had to be sitting in a chair, on a boppy, (because even though I didn't tear and had a peaceful home birth, water birth-pushing out a 9 pound 1 ounce baby made my bottom hurt like a mother), with a My Breast Friend strapped on, with a rolled up blanket under my boob to lift if up, and with my husband squeezing my poor flat nipples and me holding my boob in one hand and the other holding my daughters head to shove her face onto my boob the second she opened up wide enough.

It was a freaking 3 ring circus.

My dear friend who had given birth 7 weeks earlier, did not have so many issues. She learned how to nurse her baby laying down from day 1. So she just laid in bed all day and all night and nursed her baby on demand while laying down and resting. I can't tell you how jealous I was of her and how much I hated my rocking chair of torture.

Some women have a hard time with the side-lying position at first, boobs can be too small or too big to make it comfortable at first. But keep working at it, and keep trying to find the right pilow or whatever to get comfortable in this position. It is a life savor for night time feedings. Once you master it, you can whip out your boob and go back to sleep quickly.

So lets recap. Things you need to do to get more rest during your post partum period:

1. Get over it. The mess, the untidiness, the laundry pile, the dishes, whatever. Just let it all be.
2. Lay down and stay in bed. I'm serious. Don't make me come over to your house.
3. Learn how to nursing laying down. Don't leave the hospital or have the midwife leave the house, without showing you how.

Come check me out at Mama and Baby Love. In the coming weeks I am doing a 5 part series titled Post Partum 101. Each day I will do a post from a different perspective; mama, papa, baby, grandparents and friends. And I also have an Infant Massage Video Tutorial coming soon, complete with a giveaway of 10 (yes, 10!) infant massage instruction books.

Stephanie is a first time mother to her daughter, Penelope. Born on 11.11.09 at home, in water, and into her own two hands. She is a Certified Birthing From Within Doula and Educator, Licensed Massage Therapist, and Certified Yoga Instructor. She has a BS in Environmental Science and was a Nanny for 5 years before becoming a mother herself. You can find her at Mama and Baby Love.

On Pins and Needles

Acupuncture - a word that strikes fear into many American's hearts, conjuring up images of needles, pin cushion pain, and witch doctor medicine.

In reality, acupuncture is an ancient art that has earned modern medical notoriety. Acupuncturists identify more than 2,000 acupuncture points that are interconnected with pathways that conduct (transmit) vital energy throughout the body and from organ to organ, regulating body functions, and affecting mental and emotional health.

Modern medicine now recognizes that we, as living, organic beings, do, indeed, transmit and create energy, and that many transmissions that are askew result in feelings of unrest or illness. This mirrors Chinese medical beliefs that illnesses and symptoms are associated with an imbalance of this vital energy that they refer to as qi (pronounced chee).

Acupuncture can either use hair-thin, disposable needles, or laser, electro, or auricular acupuncture (no needles) to stimulate specific areas associated with organ functions in order to help the body maintain its own health by balancing its energy and pathway's effectiveness. The treatment does not hurt, does not sting, in fact, it doesn't feel like a pin prick at all (this is coming from a trypanophobic). At most, it feels relaxing, heavy, and rather sedating even, like a warm bath or dark room.

I have often recommended to women that I am working with to seek out an acupuncturist for various issues, circumstances, or ailments that she might be encountering, but not often does the woman follow through on this advice. Is it a fear of needles, fear that it might not be safe for pregnancy, or a combination? I'm not sure, but let's look at some of the benefits of acupuncture during pregnancy, birth, and beyond.

Pre-Pregnancy
One of the largest benefits of acupuncture before pregnancy even begins is the probable increase in fertility from regular acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture has been known to help increase sperm count, increase healthy/regular ovulation, and even balance a woman's body to mimic a younger cycle - hence, increasing her chances of conception later in life.

During Pregnancy
Some women find that they experience morning sickness, or worse, hyperemesis gravidarum, in early pregnancy and sometimes throughout. The good news is that acupuncture has been found to be a very reliable treatment for both regular morning sickness nausea and the more dangerous hyperemesis gravidarum. I read a recent study from Australia that was the largest of it's kind, showing that pregnancy related nausea was no match against the skilled hands of an acupuncturist (wish I could find this study again, any help is greatly appreciated).

Acupuncture is also a reliable form of relief for fatigue, stress, heartburn, migraines, hemorrhoids, and bleeding.

Late Pregnancy & Labor
Later in pregnancy, women often encounter a whole new set of aches and pains. Surprise, surprise, acupuncture can help with the majority of these. in the third trimester, acupuncture can help relieve sciatica, lower backache, pubic pain, joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and can even help alleviate the symptoms of edema and high blood pressure - although this is only as successful as proper diet and attention to one's overall health is given.

Moxibustion (long sticks of the herb, moxa, that produce heat and are held close to the acupuncture point of the little toe) has a very good success rate for turning breech babies. This treatment works best between 32-36 weeks, but I personally know of women who have sought this treatment around 37-39 weeks and had success.

This treatment has also been found to be another viable option for encouraging labor. A new study states that it is NOT effective, although the treatment given to bring about this conclusion was not adequate. For induction acupuncture to even have the possibility of being successful, it must occur consecutively over 3 days. This study only gave women two treatments on the same day. Earlier, larger studies have shown that there is a small increase in women who choose acupuncture who go into labor spontaneously.

Postpartum
After birth, a woman can continue to reap the benefits of regular acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture has recently been proven to reduce the incidence of depression, as well as treat depression that haTs already manifested. This means that there is a very viable alternative to medication for women who would like to avoid medication postpartum.

Likewise, it has also been shown to decrease the incidence of heavy lochia, which, as a result, means that the body has less stress that is normally brought on by blood loss, and thus, has a faster and easier time healing and recuperating.

A final way in which acupuncture can help a woman who has just given birth is that it has been shown to have high success rates at assisting women to increase milk supply who might otherwise be experiencing insufficient lactation.

So, next time I, or any other doula, midwife, childbirth educator, sage mama, seasoned oma, or other person in-the-know suggests acupuncture - give it a second thought, and then perhaps you will also become a believer of the healing power of zhēn jǐu.

Additional Resources:
Acupuncture for post operative nausea and vomiting
Acupuncture for lower back pain
Acupuncture for Acute and Chronic Lower Back pain
Acupuncture for Induction of labor - inconclusive, per summary
Acupuncture and In-Vitro Fertilization

Birth Videos Online - reminder

Just a note, I am no longer posting birth videos on my blog, for a list of birth videos that I review/find online, check out Inspiring Birth Stories on Facebook.

Immersion - a Birth Story

I am a little biasedly loving this. I read Leigh Steele's blog (Mere Mortal) as often as she posts. Recently, she gave birth and wrote her birth story here and here.

And just today, I found her birth video!



So lovely, so lovely! Thank you, Leigh, for sharing with all of us!

Green Salve - Product Review

Out here we have mosquitoes. I know, you are probably thinking 'mosquitoes are bad this time of year anywhere.'. Well, yes, but they aren't TEXAS bad. I never thought there could be worse mosquitoes where I previously lived until I lived here in Texas.

We have 4 major types of mosquitoes, two types that you can feel when they they start to suck (and one of those two burns like nothing I have ever felt before), and two that you can't feel at all.

What does this result in? A huge increase in mosquito bites in our family. And, the worse thing is that they are not deterred by anything that we have tried.

The good news in all of this blood-sucking bad news? We have discovered MotherLove Green Salve.

When our children get bit, they swell horribly.. like, golf ball sized swelling. And then, on top of that, they are habitual itchers.

So, we started applying Green Salve after a mosquito bite and we have found that, not only does it stop the itch, it also, as a result of them not itching, results in a huge decrease in the amount of swelling. All of this equals less grumpy children and less grumpy mom!

Best of all, it is 100% organic, which makes mama even happier. :)

So, this is my little promotion of a wonderful little product that will be sure to always be stocked in my medicine cabinet!

Full-Term Breastfeeding: Keep A Good Thing Going!

I have the amazing honor of presenting a guest post by one of my new online friends, Sarah Langford. I happened upon her blog just a few days ago and absolutely fell in love with it. I invite you to visit Sarah over at Ilithyian Inspired.

Sarah writes mostly about breastfeeding, breastfeeding rights, and EBF. She also talks about positive parenting styles and childbirth, though. I asked her to write a guest post on breastfeeding as she supports and encourages EBF (extended breastfeeding) more than the average Joanne and I thought it an important enough subject to share with my readers.

With that said, please welcome Sarah!

(While this article focuses on breastfeeding after the first six months the author acknowledges that learning to breastfeed and sustaining the breastfeeding relationship up to six months can be hard work. You can read about her own challenging initiation into breastfeeding here: http://ibreastfed.com/2008/09/self-loathing-to-love-sarahs-story)

Hopefully by the time a woman becomes a mother she has heard that "breast is best" and that babies are not able to consume solid foods prior to 6 months of age. Once mother and baby pass that six month mark the game begins to change. Those of us fortunate enough to have received the support necessary to successfully breastfeed, sadly find that our breastfeeding support shrinks as our children grow.

In Australia breastfeeding rates steadily decline from over 80% on hospital discharge to less than 50% by six months. Only 23% of one year olds are breastfed. The World Healthy Organisation recommends that breastfeeding continue for two years or beyond, but a mere 1% of Aussie kids are still breastfeeding at the age of two. (Breastfeeding in Australia 2001: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4810.0.55.001; WHO: http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/infantfeeding_recommendation/en/index.html). As a lactivist who knows the dire importance of full-term breastfeeding to human health, these figures concern me. As a mother who knows first hand the sheer joy and practicality of full-term breastfeeding, these figures sadden me.

Health Facts

According to The American Association of Physicians "If the child is younger than two years of age, the child is at increased risk of illness if weaned" (quoted on Kellymom: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/start/prepare/bf-benefits.html). Jen Davis explained in a 2007 edition of Le Leche League's (LLL) New Beginnings:

"Even after 12 months, babies continue to benefit from human milk. At one year of age, a baby's immune system is functioning at only 60 percent of adult level and because formula has no live antibodies, it is strongly associated with high rates of infection (Huggins 2007). A child's immune system isn't functioning at adult level until age six (Dettwyler 1994)." (Davis 2007: http://www.llli.org/NB/NBSepOct07p196.html)

The truth is that as long as your child is receiving your milk she or he is receiving the important health components unique to breast milk and the longer your child receives your milk, the better his or her health will be in the short and long term. (LLL: http://www.llli.org/FAQ/bflength.html). Some studies have also found a relationship between children's IQ and the duration for which they were breastfed (ABA: http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/sustained.html). Unfortunately toddlers who aren't breastfed have been shown to experience more illness than those who are (ABA: http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/sustained.html)

Prematurely ending your breastfeeding relationship will also leave you at risk of greater health problems. For example full-term breastfeeding reduces your risk of osteoporosis, anemia, ovarian and breast cancer (From Australian Breastfeeding Association: http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/sustained.html)

According to Australian Physician Sarah J Buckley breast milk provides toddlers with up to one-third of their daily energy needs, two-thirds of their fat requirements, 58% of their vitamin A requirements and nearly a third of their calcium needs (Buckley 2005: 246). As a first time mum I found this knowledge extremely comforting and on the days that I feel we're falling short of optimum healthy eating it is nice to know my daughter still has breast milk meeting so many of her health needs, with very little effort on my part.

In addition to all this, research has shown that toddlers who are breastfed experience more secure attachment to their mothers and as a result were better able to become independent compared to toddlers who weren't breastfed (From Australian Breastfeeding Association: http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/sustained.html). This stands in direct contrast to the myth mothers are told that breastfeeding beyond babyhood will lead to dependent cry baby children.

After The First 6 Months

At six months the battle is by and large already won for breastfeeding mothers. Those tumultuous days of establishing breastfeeding have become a distant memory. Mother and baby have found their groove and putting baby to breast is second nature. Once my daughter passed the six month mark I realised with trepidation that I was going to have to start remembering to make nutritious food and then remember to pack it in the nappy bag before leaving the house, oh the inconvenient horror!

I had taken for granted how easy we'd had it in the days when my breasts did all the preparation, cooking and serving. In this sense continuing to breastfeed requires no extra effort on mother's part. In fact, it is an absolute blessing in those moments when baby cries in hunger and you realise you've forgotten to pack any infant appropriate food! Or, as happened to a friend of mine, when you get locked out of your house with nothing but your baby!

Some mothers worry about the arrival of their baby's teeth and can't imagine placing their soft breasts near those pointy whites. It's important to know that biting is not a challenge faced by all breastfeeding mothers. I have been breastfeeding for over 30 months, numerous times of the day and night, and there is only one time that I can remember being bitten. For the mothers whose babies need some guidance not to bite there is support available via groups such as the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) and LLL. It is also worth noting that as children grow so too does their comprehension. Older children rarely use their teeth because they enjoy access to mother's breasts and know that biting is counterproductive.*

For mothers who are anxious about public breastfeeding and have spent 6 months keeping their breasts out of public view, weaning might seem like a welcome change. But let me tell you a great secret I've learned: the older your breastfeeding child is, the less likely you are to receive criticism in public. And in many ways breastfeeding becomes even more convenient and necessary as your child moves from babyhood to toddlerhood.

Breastfeeding The Active Child

Breastfeeding an older child is a richly rewarding experience for mother and child! I cannot count the number of times I have felt relieved to still have milky boobs to soothe my child when in pain, avert a tantrum or give us both much needed down time. Full-term breastfeeding has been very convenient in terms of making my work as a mother stress-free. My experience has been that 9 problems in every 10 can be solved with a breast. This has been particularly useful in public, where I have found it most challenging to mother a noisy, tired or cranky toddler with a tendency to run off in every direction.

When you're in the thick of breastfeeding a young baby it can be hard to imagine continuing to surrender so much of yourself to feeding for years to come. But the feeding patterns of babies under six months are different to children at 1 year, 18 months, 2 years, 3 years, etc. In my experience the regularity of feeds comes and goes in cycles. When my daughter approaches a big moment in development her feeding tends to increase. When we are out with lots of other children she is generally too busy for boo-bee. She still feeds regularly during both night and day**, but her best friend at the same age fed once or twice a day. Your child may be different again.

When, where and how you and your child breastfeed will be unique to the two of you. It will be a relationship that develops organically if you let it. There will be times when you will feel happy to go with the flow and there will be other times when you will feel the need to set some limits. Full-term breastfeeding is a great way for children to start to learn about personal boundaries, mutual respect, and the give and take inherent to forming intimate relationships.

How To Breastfeed Full-Term

Before a mother has experienced the breastfeeding relationship it might seem easy to set a time frame for feeding and weaning. It is not unusual for mothers who do this to discover that when they reach their marker, neither mother or child is ready to wean. If you don't feel ready to wean, DON'T DO IT! Remember, as long as you're breastfeeding, your breasts never stop giving your child health and well-being.

If you like the sound of all you and your child stand to get from a full-term breastfeeding relationship but are apprehensive about how to do it, get in contact with mothers who are already doing it. A support network never stops being useful to breastfeeding mums. LLL and the ABA can help you find support. The best breastfeeding support I have ever witnessed has been through Joyous Birth, an online parenting forum with a focus on gentle birthing and parenting.

If the only thing holding you back is an unconvinced partner or reluctant friends and family, you can choose to educate them or you can choose to ignore them. You know what's best for you and your child. Anyone who loves you or your child wants what's best, they might not realise yet that what is best is a full-term breastfeeding relationship. Luckily you do know! In those odd instances where you are forced to deal with a persistent critic there are resources to help you (see LLL: http://www.llli.org/NB/NBcriticism.html ; Kellymom: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/criticism.html ; ABA: http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/dealing.html).

Last, but not least, for all those mothers breastfeeding their babies, the way to go about achieving a full-term breastfeeding relationship is simple: just keep doing what you're already doing! When the time is right for your child, she or he will self-wean (Kellymom: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/how_weaning_happens.html). Finally, while years of breastfeeding might sound extensive to you now, it won't be long before you're looking back wondering how 3, 4, 5+ years went by in the blink of an eye.

About the author: Sarah Langford is a certified pregnancy, birth and postpartum servant, trainee breastfeeding counsellor & writer. Sarah’s writings about reproductive technology, childbirth and breastfeeding have been published in; fully refereed academic journals, online magazines, a feminist zine, homeschool and homebirth websites and she is presently a feature writer for Essence, magazine of the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Sarah lives in Melbourne, Australia with her partner & two and a half year old daughter. She is currently looking forward to giving birth at home for a second time in January 2011. Fore more of Sarah's writing please visit her online home: http://ilithyiainspired.com

*When a child is correctly attached to the breast she or he cannot bite. This is why a baby growing teeth does not necessarily mean a bitten breast This means that for a child to bite you, he or she must change that latch, giving you warning and time to prevent it.
**Nighttime feeding has never been an inconvenience to me because our family co-sleeps. When my daughter stirs in search of a breast she and I pull my shirt up, she latches on and feeds, all the while both of us remain predominantly unconscious.

For more on full-term breastfeeding

Online

Breastfeeding Two Years And Beyond

Breastfeeding a Toddler Facts Sheet

Myths about Breastfeeding Toddlers

Breastfeeding Beyond a Year: exploring benefits, cultural influences and more

Sustained Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding a Toddler

How Long Should a Mother Breastfeed?

Why Mothers Nurse Their Children Into Toddlerhood

The Nursing Toddler: A Baby on Wheels

Why I Nurse My Toddler

The Advantages of Extended Nursing

Information on Breastfeeding an Older Baby/Child

Tricky Two Year Old

How Weaning Happened

101 Reasons to Breastfeed Your Child

How Weaning Happens

For Online Support

Joyous Birth - Breastfeeding is Normal Forums

Le Leche League Forums

Books

Buckley, Sarah, Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, Brisbane, One Moon Press, 2005

Bumgarner, Norma Jane, Mothering Your Nursing Toddler, Le Leche League, 2000

Sinnott, Ann, Breastfeeding Older Children, Free Associated Books, 2009

BirthsMART (tm) - via Mama Is..

I love Mama Is... I mean, how could you not? I fell into her video this morning and simply had to share. Enjoy and comment away if you would like.

Doulas & Homebirths

When people think of a doula, typically, they think of an advocate, someone to help them navigate early labor, and then, later, the hospital scene. Someone to help them make a birth plan, someone to educate them on the risks of different interventions and medications.... someone to help them with a hospital birth.

While all of those things are true, doulas are equally as wonderful a support at birth center and home births. A doula at a home birth works with your midwife to be a fluid source of support and encouragement throughout labor and birth.

A first time mom can benefit from a doula because a doula offers suggestions, provides information and alternatives to interventions (even natural ones), and give mom the reassurance that a first time mom so often needs so that she can surrender to her own birth process.

A first time partners can benefit from a doula for the same reasons above. A doula can also help partners by being the 'timer' of contractions (most doulas don't time, but they have more reliable means of knowing how far along a mom is), helping to map how far along the mom is, and when an appropriate time might be to call the midwife, whether it be for a deviation from what should normally be expected, or to let the midwife know that things are picking up and moving toward the birthing time.

Women who have longer labors will benefit from a doula as they will often arrive hours earlier than the midwife to help with comfort measures, position changes, suggestions for speeding up labor, reminding mom to keep hydrated, and to make sure both mom and other support people remain well nourished and rested. In addition, she can be a watchful eye for the midwife, so that the midwife can come rested for the more active labor stage.

A woman who has older children can benefit from a doula as the doula can provide information and reassurance to the children, help them bake a cake near birthing time, take them for a short walk so mom and partner can reconnect, or give them activities to do to keep them occupied throughout labor.

A woman who wants woman support can benefit from a doula, especially if she is in short-order of other supportive women. A woman who is away from her home town, new to an area, or has family that is hostile to her home birth choice can all benefit from having an additional female presence to 'stand in' for those missing family and friend figures and provide emotional support.

Midwives often appreciate the doula who understands and works within her limitations. A good doula will understand that both her skills and the midwives, together, work toward the goal of the mother-centered birth. A good home birth doula understands that she is not to act as a pseudo-midwife, but to support the mother in her own, very blessed and priceless, way.

Doulas can steep labor tea, hold a flashlight, fill a birthing pool, Refill a birthing pool, get older children up from naps to view the birth, and take photographs for the family. Doulas at home births can prepare the placenta for placentophagy (some), prepare postpartum teas, help with nursing, or prepare a LeBoyer bath. Doulas can fetch birth gear, clean up messes, and provide counter pressure, all within the same breath.

When providing the support aforementioned, the midwife is given even more space to be able to be the care provider for the mother, while the doula supports the family unit. This pairing can provide for a beautiful protecting of the space by two women whose sole focus is the mother.

The doula who serves both at hospital births and home births changes her hat, but never her heart, shifts her skills, but never her service. She is a constant support, encouragement, and every bit as useful, just in so many different ways, at a home birth.

Further Reading:
Why I Advocate The Dad and Doula Relationship

In Defense of Doctors

I wanted to talk just a bit about obstetricians. In their defense, they are only working within their training and nature. Most don't go out of their way to be bull headed, opportunistic, business-minded, opinionated, god-complexed individuals. They are simply doing what they were taught to do: stand in the way of birth.

The typical course of study for a med student hoping to become an obstetrician includes, roughly:

• Undergraduate degree (BA or BS, 4 years)
• Medical school (4 years)
• OB/GYN residency (4 years)

Very early on in their career choice to become an OB-GYN, for a very short amount of time, the medical student learns anatomy, biology, and physiology of normal, natural pregnancy, labor, and birth. The rest of their career is a stringent desensitization to normal and natural and an indoctrination of the risk, diagnosis and preventative medicine, variable obstetrical and gynecological conditions, procedures (including operative), business ethics, and professional ethics.

In other words, whereas a midwife spends her whole career focusing on the normal and natural, and thus are experts in normal, natural childbirth. Obstetricians are experts in risk and conditions of pregnancy and birth.

Because midwives are experts in normal pregnancy and birth, they will see deviations from normal and natural pregnancy and labor/birth early on, be able to assess these variations, and take immediate and early precautionary measures to ensure your safety...

Because obstetricians are experts in risk and conditions associated with pregnancy and birth, they will be seeing the process as 'guilty until proven innocent', watching expectantly for these conditions to crop up, managing and attempting to control the event so that they can, in their trained minds, control the outcome.

Unfortunately, studies have found that the more we 'do' to pregnancy and birth, the more active management we try to assume over nature, the more unnatural and risky the event becomes. In other words, the very thing that doctors set out to avoid becomes reality - iatrogenic complications.

This training is amazingly beneficial for when true emergencies arise, when we truly medically need these services, when natural acts up. But, when nature takes it's normally uneventful course, obstetrics can really mess things up.

The very word 'obstetrics' comes from the Latin root obstāre, which means to stand in opposite/opposition to, obstacle. Medicine.net states that the clinical definition of obstetrics is: The art and science of managing pregnancy, labor and the puerperium (the time after delivery).

Doubly unfortunate is that, because of their training, most doctors loose sight of what is truly going on here: the miracle of life through the conduit of the feminine form. Oftentimes, they forget that the majority of pregnancy and birth IS normal and natural

Likewise, often they forget the autonomy, as well as the humanity, of the individual giving birth. For 12ish years they have been staring at diagrams of parts of the female anatomy, illustrations and models of the reproductive organs of the woman, not the person of the woman.


Not all doctors are ready to cut, or probe, or induce; I have been blessed to meet and work with many obstetricians who are midwives in wolves clothing, and you can find them every once and while in the blogsphere.

Not all doctors are ready to cut, or probe, or induce, or whatever... but the majority are. And, I cannot blame them, it is what their training has prepared them to do - to stand in the way of.. I cannot blame them, and neither can you. They are simply doing what they were taught to do: stand in the way of birth. And, if you don't want them to, then why did you hire an Obstetrician?

On the other hand, you have no one else to blame except yourself if you choose this model of care for your health care and should not feign surprise at the outcome of your experience.

This is just one more reason to be sure that you trust and are happy with your choice of care provider. If you aren't, then find another who you can trust and who does reflect your believes and ideals.

Breastfeeding a Toddler

Code Name: Mama has a great thing going on over at her blog, talking about the rights of women to nurse in public, information on extended nursing, and state laws.

One of my most favorite things I found on her blog, I simply had to share as it made me 'uh huh' in agreement, while also smiling from ear to ear. I hear you, Mama, I do!

Tricky Research

The AJOG printed a 'study' that, in their minds, validates the ACOG's continued stance against home birth as a safe option for healthy, low-risk women. Their conclusions were that less medical intervention during planned home birth is associated with a tripling of the neonatal mortality rate.

Before we swallow this hook, line, and sinker, though, lets break it down, shall we?

Tralee Pearce of The Globe wrote a response article to this 'study' on Thursday entitled U.S. Analysis on Home Birth Risks Seen As Deeply Flawed.

Patricia Janssen, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s school of population and public health, says that conclusion is “sensationalist” and based on data that are in some cases decades old, on very small samples and in some cases incomplete.

In many cases, she says, women included in the studies may not have planned to give birth at home. They may not have been attended by a properly trained midwife. And much of the data used were retrospectively, gathered using birth records, which may not include enough information...

... Michael Klein, emeritus professor of family practice and pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, says the analysis and its conclusion has to do with the climate in the United States around midwifery. It is less accepted by the medical profession there than it is in Canada, he said.

“We’re dealing with a politically motivated study,” said Dr. Klein, who was a co-author with Dr. Janssen on the B.C. study.

NHS writes their own follow-up on this study in Safety of Home Births Questioned:

Applying sensitivity analyses that excluded poorer quality studies had little effect on the findings. However, when the researchers excluded studies of home births attended by people other than certified midwives, there was no significant difference between the newborn mortality rates associated with the two locations of birth...

... There are other key points to consider when interpreting this research:

• Although home birth was associated with greater neonatal death (within 28 days), neonatal death is still very rare, and the absolute size of the risk is low (0.2% among planned home births and 0.09% among planned hospital births). The researchers calculated that only 0.3% of neonatal deaths could be attributable to birth occurring in the home rather than the hospital.
• It is also important to note that there was no increased risk of neonatal death with home birth compared to hospital birth once the analyses excluded those studies of home births attended by people other than certified midwives, i.e. when the home birth was assisted by a certified midwife there was no increase in mortality compared to a hospital birth.

Carolyn Ryan of the CBC reports that

The authors found that when babies were born at home there were fewer medical interventions like epidurals and episiotomies, and women in home deliveries tended to have fewer tears or lacerations, fewer cases of postpartum hemorrhage and fewer infections.

The team also came to the conclusion that there was a tripling of neonatal deaths for home births once babies with congenital abnormalities were left out. The tripling of fatalities represents a very small number — from four in 10,000 to 15 in 10,000, acknowledged Dr. Jay Iams, the journal's associate editor.

But Iams said the findings provide an appropriate caution to women that giving birth in a hospital can be safer.

"The study results are consistent with what common sense would tell you," Iams said.

But Dr. Michael Klein, an emeritus professor of family practice and pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, said the U.S. conclusions are "crap" that don't consider the facts.

"It's a politically motivated study that was motivated by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology who is unalterably opposed to home birth, and they probably were quite happy to publish this article because it fits with their political position," Klein said.

UBC epidemiologist Patricia Janssen, who collaborated with Klein, said the American study mixes their work with research dating back to the 1970s, and surveys with as few as five recorded births.

"The data and the methods taints the quality of the study," Janssen said, noting the review includes studies where the qualifications of the caregiver were not known.

In conclusion, their methodology of information gleaning doesn't support a well documented, well researched study that warrants any type of support. It doesn't lend any validity to the hospital birth debate, either.

It's not clear who attended all of the women, under what situations they were birthing at home, if it was planned or not, what types (health, age, 'riskiness', etc..) of women were birthing these babies, what training their attendees had, and what life saving equipment their attendees (if any) were carrying.

Other, more appropriate studies of planned home births with trained attendees in other countries have so far shown that there are improved outcomes for mothers and no significant increase in risk for baby.

Chalk it up to just one more case of the ACOG up to their dirty little tricks again.

** updated to add CIMS response and Science and Sensibility's response.

Shots in the Dark

Shots in the Dark is an amazing film with an interesting history... it was never released.



You can get it, though, from their website, and I highly recommend every parent watch the following 8 films... or buy it yourself.

















I'm not saying to not vaccinate, I am begging you to question and educate before you stick that needle into your or your child's skin. You can't undo a vaccination. Be prepared to assume all risks in the event one occurs to your family.

More on vaccinations:
PBS and Vaccinations
The Big Stick
Gardasil and Guarding my Daughters

Boardwalks and Home Births

I met you on the boardwalk, a beautifully bronzed burst of sunshine adorned with sparkles, bright yellow, and black flowers that flowed around your barely rounded belly. Your tangled mass of thick, wavy, auburn hair reached down toward your elbows and your smile was as brilliant white as the sun-bleached wicker chairs dotting the deck.

A square jaw jutted forward as you pressed your face toward the wind as you laughed gently at something that was said between your lover and you. Your partner lovingly wrapped his hands around you from behind, caressing your abdomen, before dashing off into the crowd.

I edged closer.

"My, are you ever beautiful! I love a pregnant woman, so full of life!"

You blushed darker bronze and murmured a thanks while outlining the contours of your baby with your palms.

I introduced myself and told you my calling. Instantly, your eyes began to sparkle and dance like the sunlight on the nearby cresting waves, "Oooh! I wanted to have a home birth so badly!" you exclaimed.

"What's holding you back?"

"My partner/I thought it was too risky", "I will definitely look into it further for future pregnancies, but, with my first and because I don't know what to expect, I think the hospital is a better choice", "It seems a little too hippy for me", "My partner is not comfortable with it", "my doctor is just fine and its only one day, right?".

You named your reasons, and I listened quietly, offering only a gentle nod of encouragement to continue. When you had exhausted all of your worries, you looked at me anxiously, apologetically. Your partner appeared as if a mirage and wrapped his sheltering arms around you, moving you away from me and further down the boardwalk.

I grasped your hand in goodbye, pressing my card, and this blog address, into your palm. "I wish you all the luck in the world. You are an amazingly beautiful, strong woman who is doing a good work to bring this beautiful life into the world!"

And you were gone.

I hope you have found your way here. Because I had so much I wanted to tell you!

A midwife and a doctor view birth so much differently! There is a wonderful source of information on what to ask your care provider to find out if they are truly Mother-Friendly, and I invite you to read it here.


Additionally, here is a pretty concise outline of the differences between a midwife and a medical model of care.

Midwives Model of Care	Medical Model of Care
Definition:	Definition:
• Birth is a social event, a normal part of a woman's life. • Birth is the work of the woman and her family. • The woman is a person experiencing a life-transforming event.	• Childbirth is a potentially pathological process. • Birth is the work of doctors, nurses, midwives and other experts. • The woman is a patient.
Definition:	Definition:
• Home or other familiar surroundings. • Informal system of care.	• Hospital, unfamiliar territory to the woman • Bueaucratic, hierarchical system of care
Definition:	Definition:
• See birth as a holistic process • Shared decision-making between caregivers and birthing woman • No class distinction between birthing women and caregivers • Equal relationship • Information shared with an attitude of personal caring. • Longer, more in-depth prenatal visits • Often strong emotional support • Familiar language and imagery used • Awareness of spiritual significance of birth • Believes in integrity of birth, uses technology if appropriate and proven	• Trained to focus on the medical aspects of birth • "Professional" care that is authoritarian • Often a class distinction between obstetrician and patients • Dominant-subordinate relationship • Information about health, disease and degree of risk not shared with the patient adequately. • Brief, depersonalized care • Little emotional support • Use of medical language • Spiritual aspects of birth are ignored or treated as embarrassing • Values technology, often without proof that it improves birth outcome

No matter how natural of a birth you have in a hospital setting, it will never even come close to a home birth. Home births are different on so many different levels than simple surroundings.

"My partner/I thought it was too risky"
There have been many studies throughout the years that have found that home birth is as safe, if not safer, for healthy, low-risk women, as hospital birth. Most recently, a Canadian study has shown these same findings, once again. Home birth midwives will, very often, carry oxygen, and all carry homeopathics as well as are trained in lifesaving CPR and first-aid.

Home birth midwives are experts in normal, natural childbirth. Because they are experts in normal pregnancy and birth, they will see deviations from normal and natural pregnancy and labor/birth early on, be able to assess these variations, and take immediate and early precautionary measures to ensure your safety... this is part of the reason why home birth is so safe.

If your midwife were to see something that did not match normal and natural, she would be able to attempt to get you back to normal and natural before it became an emergency and, if she couldn't, she would be able to transfer you to appropriate care. Home births have come a long way from ripping up bedsheets and boiling water.

"I will definitely look into it further for future pregnancies, but, with my first and because I don't know what to expect, I think the hospital is a better choice"
This particular reason is like a punch to the midsection. There is a large body of women who choose home birth for their second birth because they had a horrible experience with their hospital birth. If you are considering a home birth, your first birth is a great birth to start with - you cannot go back and redo your first birth, and that first birth can impact your options, emotional health and wellbeing, and even fertility of future pregnancies/births.

Some women, by the end of their labor, believe that their doctor/hospital has saved them from a bad outcome, when, in actuality, the hospital or doctor (procedure that they performed) caused the risks that they ended up needing to save you from. But, the perception that is given is that a woman is so thankful that they were in the hospital and are glad that they didn't have a home birth because they 'needed' this or that intervention.

Other women end up with unnecessary cesareans and find it hard to find a homebirth midwife or hospital based doctor who will take her on for a vaginal birth with subsequent pregnancies and births. I am sure you have heard the saying 'there is no time like the present'.

Bottom line, THIS pregnancy and birth is the best one to pursue a home birth for.

"It seems a little too hippy for me"
The wonderful thing about midwifery going mainstream in the last 20 years is that you have all types of midwives now practicing. There are more traditional midwives, as well as more modern midwives. This allows for families to find the right type of midwife to fit their families needs.

I know midwives who wear hemp, bohemian skirts, have dread locks, drink herbal teas, eat a vegan diet, and choose a more natural lifestyle.

I also know midwives who wear high heels, highlight their hair, like cabernet sauvignon and sushi, and have a more urban feel.

And most of the midwives I know fall somewhere in-between. The stereotypical 70's midwife is not the only option anymore, but the continuity of care, the midwifery model, will remain constant no matter whom you choose.

"My partner is not comfortable with it"
Not all partners are men, and not all partners fit this stereotype, but the majority of male partners are not comfortable with home birth at first. They usually don't research and read as much and tend to follow the paternal medical suit more readily.

That said, if you can simply get your partner to go to an initial interview/consultation with a home birth midwife and present it as an opportunity for your partner to ask whatever questions they might have of the midwife, this can, oftentimes, dispel fear, uncertainty, and incorrect stereotypes and assumptions that they might have about home birth and midwives. Oftentimes, just one consultation is all it takes to get a partner to start seriously considering a home birth.

Here and here are two different examples of the types of interview questions you might ask at an initial consult.

And finally, when it comes down to it, although it is always best to have both of you in agreement over your birth options, it is your birth and body, ultimately, it should be your comfort level and decision on where and with whom to birth.

"My doctor is just fine and its only one day, right?"
I know lots of good doctors, I know some 'just fine' docs, and many bad doctors. Not bad at what they do, but bad at taking care of a woman and babies needs and holistic health.

There are doctors who have great bedside personalities, but who are not good doctors. There are doctors who make you feel 'taken care of', but don't shoot straight with you about your options... or disguise your options as necessities so that you don't have true options. And there are doctors who, when you are at your most vulnerable (labor and birth) will 'not allow you' so many things previously promised. It is necessary to more than LIKE your doctor... you must trust him/her with your holistic health and life, and that of your unborn baby. If you don't, you really truly should look for another care provider.

And let's not forget that the average first time labor is around 16 hours. This is average. Some women labor for a few days, some for a few minutes. Beyond the actual laboring time, your birth experience will last with you for much, MUCH longer.. in fact, your whole life. So, if you think it is 'just one day', think again.

My heartfelt desire is for you to remember this moment, which will stick with you for the rest of your life, with joy, trust, love, and fondness. Please make sure that you can trust your care provider for that.

As Dr. Biter said in a recent interview,

They don't even know the difference between natural birth and a vaginal birth. They think that, just because a baby is born out of a vagina that that is a natural birth.

But a natural birth is an unmedicated birth, a birth that is honored, where women and their partners are respected, and where that little buddy comes into this world in a solemn sacred moment. That's what a natural birth is!

There are additional great resources out there that will help you to work through other scenarios that you might encounter to help you make the best choice for you and, hopefully, feel secure in choosing a home birth for your first, beautiful, birthing time.

And finally, just for you, Sunshine Mama, some inspiration!

FGM, the AAP, and the Washington Post

I wrote about FGM in March and, in May the AAP considered making it legal in the U.S. through a 'ritualistic cut'.

As a result, Intact America published an open letter to the AAP in the Washington Post. Click on the picture below to see it larger.

And here is a link to the press release.

As a result of the public outcry the AAP has retracted its dangerous policy statement on female genital cutting.

YAY! Now we just need to get them on board with male circumcision.

A Vision

I have a vision for my future.

I am destined to be a midwife, it is in my dreams almost nightly, it is in the movement of my hands, the networkings of my mind. It is in my soul.

This is a fact. It is not a future possibility, but a reality already purposed in the near tomorrows.

I see women, being supported, being attended to, and my presence is there.

I see a House, with a wrap-around porch, a full garden, and a number of birthing rooms. I see semi-self sustaining acreage that has livestock and chickens, a well and outbuildings. I see a community room open and accessible to any practitioner of Mother-Friendly and Baby-Friendly care. I see a lending library for families and a movie room for weekly showings. I hear women in the halls making birth noises and see women in the garden, wearing their babies as they harvest the crop.

I pause to see a group of youngsters practicing yoga on the hill behind the House and see fathers getting ready for market. I hear young couples learning to cook good, wholesome, healthy meals in the kitchen on a budget.

I see the single young woman, with no resources and a ripe belly, coming to my House, knowing that she will find a room, training and skills for the workforce, education and preparedness for her upcoming birth and parenting, and a safe haven for comfort and loving, nonjudgemental, community.

And then I see, when I am ripe and old and gray, a Sailboat. This Sailboat will take my lover and I away to distant countries where our hands and hearts can be used by those who need it most. And our House will be well cared for, by a community that loves it and what it is: a Home for all families. And though a day will come where the Sailboat no longer guides us to foreign soil, and our ears no longer hear the chatter of the House - the House will stand for generations, and another pair of hearts and hands will unfurl the Sail for distant lands.

This is my vision.

Now, for the less pleasant part...

I need to pay for my education to get there. My tuition isn't much in the long run, but it's a lot for this family to pay. This is a very humble, but unabashed request. If you can afford to spare some change, know that every penny that you donate would go directly to pay for my training and education to bring my vision of the future to a modern day reality.

No pressure, but, if you could, I, my family, and those families whose lives I will become a part of in the future, would be eternally grateful for the help. There is a donate button on the left hand column that has been added. That's all.