mmm... from now on, when women ask me the benefits of breastfeeding and what they can expect if they have never nursed before, I have a new favorite teaching aid! :)

Autism and Childbirth

Recently, Elaine DeLack, RN, wrote a hypothesis on autism cause and treatment. The full article can be read here and her slideshow presentation on this hypothesis can be seen here (opens powerpoint presentation).

She contends that there is strong physiological as well as pharmaceutical evidence to suggest that the combination of the cocktail of medications in an epidural, along with pitocin, can cause changes in the baby's brain chemistry and its ability to metabolize this combination effectively.

The result is an increased risk of the damage that this causes manifesting itself  later in life during natural changes that occur in the child's brain. Thus, her hypothesis includes the possibility that epidural and pitocin combinations can contribute to the incidence of autism.

Here is a synopsis of her lecture presented at the conference via Autism One website:

“This presentation will explain how the metabolic imbalances, gastric problems, and core symptoms of autism may be the result of a malfunction of the mitochondrial enzyme, MAO-A. The presentation will discuss how stress, genetics, epidurals with Pitocin (oxytocin) augmentation during childbirth, toxins such as mercury, aluminum, high copper and cadmium are possible risk factors contributing to the overall symptoms resulting from the MAO-A deficiency. This science provides the rationale unifying the benefits seen from various therapies such as the gluten-free and casein-free diet, hyperbaric oxygen, methylcobalamin and Respen-A.”

Although obvious further research is needed, this may be a huge step in the direction of finding a preventative measure against autism. I am not jumping on the bandwagon, but I am excited to see what future conclusions will find and how this might help us reduce the incidences of autism.

BTW, In 2007 the CDC reported that 1 in every 150 kids is diagnosed with autism. I am hopeful of any step we can take to lower these incidences.

Chiropractic Care and Pregnancy

Chiropractic care is nearly as important as the care provided by your doctor or midwife to assess any problems that might arise, correct deviations from normal and natural pregnancy and labor/birth, and make sure that you have an enjoyable and healthy pregnancy and birth. Read why here, at Sage Beginnings.

Hands - The Hands of a Mother

Our hands can be used to harm, to heal, to love, to punish, to communicate, to nurture, or to work. As a doula, my hands are skilled in relief and respite. As an educator, my hands are used to communicate and to demonstrate. As a midwife, my hands will be used to catch and console.

Hands are powerful.

This is the second post in a series about hands. Mothers, doulas, midwives, educators, and nurses hands - they all speak for themselves - stories of regret,  forgiveness, empowerment, and love.

My hands are worn. My nails are short, the polish gone, the palms are calloused, and the backs are aging. They are not beautiful hands by any media standards, but, to me, they are more beautiful than diamonds - more precious than rubies.

I see a crescent shaped scar on one finger where, years ago, I threw my hand out to save my child from a burn - and received the burn myself, instead. I see broken and uneven fingernails because I spent the weekend teaching my son the rewards of working the garden. My hands are stained with the paint from a recent art project, and, under the nails, I can still smell the onions that I cut for our dinner. My hands are laborers - they are subjects of love.

They are healers - reaching, gathering, salving, blessing, covering, bandaging, massaging, and loving. My hands have blessed the head of a child whose fever refused to break. My hands have covered an ugly welt with healing salve. They have bound a sprain, iced a strain, bandaged a burn, and wrung cool water over the feet of many a tired and achy foot. My hands are healers.

They are guides - steering, blocking, brushing, encouraging, pressing, and loving. My hands have held a toddlers while crossing the street, they have hastened to hold back a child leaving a playground, they have pointed out landmarks while hiking a park, and they have presented collegiate options to an inquisitive teenager. My hands are guide posts.

They are soothers - rocking, swaying, smoothing, stroking, patting, and loving. My hands have rocked for countless hours, carried for countless days, and swayed for countless years. From wiping away the tears of a little one whose best friend won't talk to her, to smoothing her wedding dress while she frets about her future. My hands were built to sooth the broken heart and lift up the fallen spirit. My hands are soothers. 

They are teachers- signing, underlining, pointing, demonstrating, and loving. My hands have held countless books during countless reading times, they have outlined ideas and presented problems. They have checked home work, been smudged with the ink of the inquisitive and the paint of the preschooler. They have related, refracted, and refrained. They are teachers.

They are nourishers -measuring, mixing, chopping, cupping, picking, pruning, and loving. From cupping my breast to a newborns mouth, to guiding a spoon into a toddlers hands; from bringing heirloom recipes to the table of my family, to baking their favorites 'just because'. Berry picking, bread kneading, vegetable chopping, and watching my children's eyes grow in amazement and their limbs grow healthy, my hands are nourishers.

From my hands of labored love my family grows like a well watered tree. Strong and straight, resilient and graceful. Lovingly tended, pruned and picked, patted and trimmed, warmed with the sunlight of my love - this tree is deeply rooted, and widely branching. My hands, they are love. In all things, my hands are love.

- Anonymous

Squat Winner!!!

Congratulations to Michelle at Knitted Together for winning a year's subscription to Squat magazine!!!

Thank you to the lovely ladies at Squat for donating such a wonderful prize!!

Hands - The Hands of a Nurse

Hands

Our hands can be used to harm, to heal, to love, to punish, to communicate, to nurture, or to work. As a doula, my hands are skilled in relief and respite. As an educator, my hands are used to communicate and to demonstrate. As a midwife, my hands will be used to catch and console.

Hands are powerful.

This is the first post in a series about hands. Mothers, doulas, midwives, educators, and nurses hands - they all speak for themselves - stories of regret,  forgiveness, empowerment, and love.

To start our series, let's talk about the hands of a nurse who was willing to stand up to what she knew was wrong - ethically, morally, and bodily. A nurse who put her job and her future as a healer on the line to speak for those who could not speak.

This might not be what you had in mind when you think of the hands of a nurse, but her words are powerful enough that, I believe, she needs to be heard.

Her actions, and others like hers, are what has resulted in U.S. circumcision rates falling from 56% in 2006 to 33% in 2009. Thank you Mary.

Look at these hands.

These hands have taken a newborn baby from his mother’s safe warm breast and his father’s sheltering arms, and these hands have tied this baby to a cold hard platter and served him up to the circumciser.

These hands have readied the scalpel, even as they caressed the brow of the terrified baby as he struggles for freedom and searches my eyes for compassion he will not find.

A tortured being has sucked frantically on this finger in a hopeless effort to end the agony as his flesh – his birthright – is ripped from him and thrown in the garbage.

These hands have removed the diaper painfully adhered to the feces-covered wound between his chubby legs.

These hands have shielded my ears from his screams.

Nurses of America, I did not become a nurse to hurt babies, and neither did you.

In 1992, with over 20 other nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I gave notice to my employers and declared I would no longer be an accomplice in the atrocity that is infant circumcision.

I have reclaimed my tattered soul and begun the process of becoming whole again.

I am a conscientious objector in the war against our infant brothers and sons and it feels wonderful.

Nurses of America, wipe the blood from your hands and join me!

- By Mary Conant, R.N., Statement to the press May 25, 1994, Third International Symposium on Circumcision, University of Maryland.

Mary Conant is a co-founder of Nurses for the Rights of the Child. She is one of the original 24 Conscientious Objectors to Circumcision nurses at St. Vincent Hospital, Santa Fe, New Mexico. She also appears on Barry Ellsworth’s video documentary The Nurses of St. Vincent: Saying No to Circumcision.

Squat and a Giveaway!

Now I know some of you are getting familiar with the new radical birth magazine, Squat.

Their tagline, an "Anarchist Birth Journal", had me at hello and I just needed to share this new publication with ya'll.

For those of you who this is all brand new to, I wanted to give you all a chance to get to know the people behind Squat, enter for a chance to win a year's subscription, and also join me for the grand re-opening of my new business website - all in one fell swoop.

Let's first start with the Squat team, they are an amazing team of women, writers, midwives, and birth activists! 

Me: How was Squat conceived and consequently born?

Meghan:

Jaydee and I were driving to our midwifery class and discussing the future of midwifery. I had just returned from the Midwifery Today conference in Philadelphia and I felt a little disappointed by the lack of radical and young voices present there. I sensed a lot of fear at play during the discussions and had a sad realization that fear of the birth process actually influences a lot of midwifery practice and regulation. Jaydee and I were getting pretty pumped on the idea of creating a new magazine for radical voices and I think the conversation ended up with us agreeing, “Let’s just fucking do it.” And so began SQUAT.

Me: Tell me a little about each of you.

Danny:

I’m an aspiring midwife, currently studying with Whapio Diane Bartlett. I’m looking for a long-term apprenticeship :) I’m really interested in bringing the skills/energy of traditional midwifery and undisturbed birth together with a political analysis/ practice that addresses oppression in all its forms.

 Jeramie:

I have been attending births, conferences, studying midwifery, etc since 2004- circuitously walking the path of becoming ‘midwife’. I began at Maternidad La Luz in El Paso, TX; have studied with Elizabeth Davis (whom I just love); and most recently worked with Carol Gaustchi, a traditional midwife on the Olympic Peninsula. I have come to accept my winding path because in midwifery it is the journey not the destination- we are always learning. I have wonderful partner, a 5 year old son born at home, and a baby girl due in December. Since becoming pregnant with my second child I have taken a break attending births to focus more on my own body, house, and family, and now Squat.

Meghan:

I’ve been on a steady path to becoming a midwife since I had a crazy dream a few years ago telling me to do so. I’ve never been one to ignore a good prophetic dream. I have since discovered that midwifery is not a simple career choice, but a political stance and a calling in life.

Jaydee:

Midwifery and supporting those who are birthing life is my work on the planet. I have been within this world since I was a little girl. There is nothing else for me to do, other than find unique and authentic ways to witness the process of childbearing… I am also a graduate of The Matrona, the administrator and faculty member of this midwifery school. I work as a birth assistant and independent midwife. I have three sons, two born at home with midwives, and the third was an unassisted birth.

Me: How did you become involved in Squat?

Danny:

Meghan asked me to proofread a submission, and then, voila, I became the copy editor.

Jeramie:

Meghan told me about it. I had wanted something like Squat to exist for a while. I have written for some other midwifery/ parenting related publications but none that really turned me on like Squat. I said “I have time, I want to help.” She said “Cool.” Voila.

Meghan:

My brain had be mulling around the idea of a radical midwifery publication for a while. I knew I couldn’t do it myself and so I teamed up with Jaydee, a beautiful midwife and friend of mine, and together we had the motivation to get the ball rolling.

Jaydee:

Meghan and I were inspired, and from inspiration, things are born… Hence SQUAT found its way to manifestation.

Me: Give me a taste of what subscribers might see in a given issue.. themes, issues and causes, education, topics, etc..

Danny:

We’ve only put out one issue so far, but we aim to have a variety of articles each time that address midwifery, birth, and parenting topics from a radical political perspective. We also plan on featuring some awesome artwork each issue!

Jeramie:

Covering the whole gamut, talking about the stuff other people aren’t willing to touch... I am excited about an idea Danny brought to the table- a review column to begin in issue number two. I look forward to uncovering all sorts of cool media for mamas, babies, and kiddos.

Meghan:

We want to hear from people everywhere! Maybe sometime in the near future we will be able to translate the magazine into different languages...

Jaydee:

My dream is that there will be submissions from anarchist punks to obstetricians who have something on the edge to say. I want SQUAT to be a vehicle for anyone who is interested, and then creating an extremely diverse publication

Me: I see something call Squat Camp on your blog. Can you tell me a little more about the details (time, place, cost, where to register) and what attendees can look forward to?

Danny:

SQUAT Camp will take place August 10-13th (really soon!) at Scenic Beach State Park in Washington State (it’s about an hour away from Seattle). It’s essentially our version of a midwifery conference...more accessible...camping style...radical midwives, doulas, parents, and allies...crazy cool speakers and teachers. It’s $30 for the whole thing (communal dinners included). Attendees can look forward to lots of s’mores, a gorgeous forest on the beach, lots of new friends, and workshops on subjects like: doula work within prisons, race and class within the midwifery/doula movement, gender identity and pregnancy, herbal abortion and abortion doulas, unassisted birth, the politics of licensure, and soooo much more!

Me: If someone would like to be a contributor or supporter, what would be the best ways and what are you looking for?

Danny:

Buy our magazine if you’ve got the money! Let us know if you want to help distribute the magazine to your local bookstore or co-op! Talk about it with friends/colleagues! Submit artwork or articles!!!

You can find them here, buy their first issue here, and read the first issue online for free here!

Now, like I said, I am celebrating my new business website, so, as a shameless self promotion, it will be a part of this giveaway. On a side note, it is also to give me some constructive criticism. My business website will have it's own blog, independent of this one, with guest Houston-based bloggers, that will focus more on my client's needs, and this blog will keep running. So, as this one will continue to cover more controversial viewpoints, soapbox-arguments, and family randomness, my business blog will solely be for client information, Houston area information, and area events. So, DON'T UNSUBSCRIBE. :)

To enter this giveaway, you must complete the first entry. All other ones completed will give you additional entries to the giveaway.

1. Visit my new website and subscribe to my business blog, come back and let me know.
2. Visit my new website and give me some critical feedback. Come back and let me know what I can improve upon, if I have grammatical errors, if there is something that you would like to see on there that is missing, etc...
3. Visit Squat online either at their blog or at their free issue, then come back and let me know what you loved about it, what surprised you about the issue, or what you hope to see in future issues. 
4. Blog or FB about this giveaway, then come back and let me know

If you fulfill all 4 of these entries, you will automatically receive one entry to my next giveaway to be posted next weekend.

Entries will be closed on August 18th at 11pm, EST. The drawing will occur on August 19th.

Good luck to everyone and I cannot WAIT to see who the winner is of this giveaway. 

Natural Feminine Products Giveaway WINNER

Thanks to those who have contributed in our past few posts discussions on menses and feminine products. Our winner for the Maxim pads is.....


MARE!

congratulations! Look for another giveaway later this week and a surprise!

The Menarche

On the Rag, Aunt Flo, Time of the Month, Red Wings, Moon Time, Crimson Tide, George, The Visitor, Monthlies, Period, Womanly Time, Feminine Hygiene, Bloody Mary, The Curse, That Time.. There are many words that we use to describe the one thing that nearly all women of childbearing years experience.

Let's talk about our menses.



I am very excited about this film. It is something that our culture needs to see.

Truly and honestly, what are your first thoughts when you think of your menses? Disgust? Shame? Burdened? And why? I believe, because of what we have been taught and how our culture influences us.

"If men could menstruate"... "menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event"... "Men would brag about how long and how much. Boys would mark the onset of menses, that longed-for proof of manhood, with religious ritual and stag parties. Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea to help stamp out monthly discomforts. Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. (Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of commercial brands such as John Wayne Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-dope Pads, Joe Namath Jock Shields - "For Those Light Bachelor Days," and Robert "Baretta" Blake Maxi-Pads.)" - Gloria Steinem

In reality, if we were to look at what our cycles mean, they mean that we are able to bring life into this world, that our bodies are fertile, and that we are amazingly fearfully and wonderfully made! Ask the woman who has fought a hard battle of fertility issues because of a strongly upset cycle what her first thoughts are when she thinks of her menses and she will tell you that she looks forward with anticipation, quiet triumph, respectful awe, hopeful planning, and girlish gigglies at her 'powerful womanhood' and the chance to be 'normal' or 'fertile'.

But we take it for painful granted if it comes with regularity.

Giveaways on this blog are even indicative of that. If I am giving away jewelry or books, I get a plethora of entries. But, if i have a giveaway for pads, suddenly the entries plummet.

I am a firm believer that we need to talk to our daughters, truly talk to our daughters, about their cycles. It should not be considered a taboo subject, it should not be taught as an ill omen, a shameful secret, or a disgusting monthly bane on womanhood.

My eldest is 10, and she will likely start any day. I started my menstrual cycle when I was 11, and she is showing some signs a little earlier than I did. We have talked about a woman's cycle often,  what it means, and feminine products are a normal thing in our house. My husband and I talk openly about my cycle, and it is not a shameful secret.

I am planning a day, in the very near future, to talk with my daughters in depth about their upcoming menarche. It will not be as elaborate as some other cultures, but we will be celebrating their female bodies, how beautifully perfect they are made, and preparing their minds to accept and even look forward to their menstrual cycles!

We will be silly, we will be serious. We will have some ritual and some gifting. There will be food and drink, pampering and praise. We will talk about yonis and cycles and beauty. We will talk about the holistic menstruation - both her mind and her body.

Some of my readers might even find that they, themselves, need to host a belated menarche party for themselves, their daughters, their friends and community. And that is a good thing! Email me if you want some ideas on how to host such a celebration!

We need to heal this rift in our respect for our bodies if we ever hope to heal birthing and parenting practices. It starts at the beginning, the first red mark - the menarche.


Additional resources:

• Yoni - information on everything yoni. Has a great section on maiden and menarche celebrations.
• Menstruation - information on charting cycles, fertility, and much more. There is even a great section on printable charts.
• Flow - Youtube channel on fun facts about menstruation, from the book author of Flow
• Bell - a printable chart for menstruation/cycle and emotional levels. Can also add fertility to this easily.
• Taking Charge of Your Fertility - information on fertility charting, BBT, and a great online community. User-friendly site for a newbie to charting and a great starting point for girls that are new to charting - good practice now for something necessary later.
• Fertility Friend - pdf booklet available about how to read the signs of fertility.

Lovely Home Birth

With mama, partner, doula, and midwife.

How well it works together!

b

Have You Had A Homebirth?

Consider sharing your story with CNN, who are looking for home birth stories including what went into your decision to have a home birth. 

Happy National Breastfeeding Month

Be sure to check out the breastfeeding blogs in my sidebar and the links in my resources tab.