October 11, 2008
"Freebirthing" to air on the Discovery Health Channel
I am thrilled to announce that the Discovery Health Channel is going to show the Freebirth Documentary tonight at 7pm mountain time.
Since 1989 I have been working diligently to learn everything I could about home birth. Giving birth to my own five children, and teaching childbirth class in my home for eight years was the stepping stone to my online birth activism that began in 1997.
The goal was simple, mainstream homebirth and make it possible for any woman to give birth in whatever setting she felt was appropriate for her child.
Unassisted Childbirth was and is the answer for any couple that honestly wants to have a peak experience welcoming their own children into their lives.
Wether McCain or Obama win the presidency, the fact is that we as a nation are moving towards socialized medicine, and when we get socialized fully in America, childbirth is going to be about a million times more dangerous in the hospital than it already is, for mothers and babies.
Taking personal responsibility for our health: including prenatal care, birth, and postpartum infant care is the key to families being able to weather whatever storms may blow in our nation.
Learning these skills for myself has been the key to ultimate female empowerment and fulfillment. I testify in the name of Jesus Christ that gentle, ecstatic birth will heal women of all that ails them, physically, emotional, and spiritually. I have experienced it and I know this is the JOY that our Heavenly Parents want us to feel when we are welcoming our children into our homes.
Laura Shanley has a new blog post sharing the details around the new Discovery Health Documentary Freebirth.
And a new web site titled Freebirthing that Laura Shanley put together has some video clips and still pictures from the Documentary.
QUOTE:
"While this is not brought out in the program, nine pregnant women were actually interviewed for the documentary, and all nine went on to successfully give birth at home unassisted. None of the women sought medical care during the births, and only two sought non-emergency care after the births - one for a slow placenta (that came out easily, on its own in the hospital), and another for stitches.
For more information about this program please contact Laura Shanley. To learn more about unassisted childbirth visit:
Bornfree! The Unassisted Childbirth Page.
Tune In: Freebirthing
A growing movement of women in the US and in the UK are defying medical advice and choosing to give birth with no drugs, no midwife and absolutely no medical support. Supporters claim it's how having a baby was always meant to be. Doctors say this new 'freebirthing' craze carries great risks.
In this program, we chart the stories of three pregnant women who have decided to go against the advice of their doctors and go it alone. With intimate access, we follow the challenges they have to overcome from negative family opinions and medics, to their own fears and through to the eventual and extraordinary births.
Watch the premiere, Tuesday, October 21 at 9 pm on Discovery Health!
Freebirth: A Message to Obstetricians from Jenny Hatch
Here is my own Joyful Freebirth Movie:
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:50 AM
June 22, 2008
Jenny Hatch, My thoughts on Homebirth and the American Medical Associations "Model Legislation", which as far as I'm concerned they can write up, propose to congress, and then shove that legislation where the sun don't shine.
UPDATE:
Good Morning America posted the video and story that ran on sunday morning on their web site. Go check out this link to see the story. And the Comments.
Here is the comment I left on the site:
"PS: I don't have time to respond to any more comments by Dr. Tuteur."
It is my humble opinion that party pooper Dr. Amy Tutor, the bloggin' doc with a personality disorder and ax to grind against home birth, is a paid hack for pharmacuetical companies. As a blogging doctor she advocates a 39 week c-section as the best birth choice for babes and mothers. Anyone with half a brain knows that major surgery is far more risky for mom and babe than a natural vaginal birth.
And hey, she has the Big Pharma funded study to back up her claim - so you nasty, wasty home birthers just shut up, because nothing you will ever say will ever ever ever change her mind or get her to accept that family centered birth has anything at all, ever, to offer to a husband and wife relationship or help bond the family with the new child.
Only thing to do with someone like her is to blow her a big fat raspberry as you orgasmically push your baby out into his/her fathers hands. She is the killjoy of the homebirth movement. I debated her all last summer. But Dr. Crappen pulled the debate hosted on his blog.
The Salon debate was fun and my personal favorite, the unassisted childbirth debate hosted at the Washington Post.
What rockin good times we had last summer! She just magically appears any time someone mentions home birth on the internet.....What a busy beaver!
Check out this thread to see more about Dr. Amy!
Posted by:
JennyMHatch 8:25 PM
Lately Ben and I have been playing alot of Monopoly. He loves it and we have both enjoyed the leisure hours spent playing this fun Capitalistic board game.
These past few days I have been pondering the recent document TMZ published from the American Medical Association.
The OB's currently enjoy a near monopoly with birth in America. And the usual suspects are claiming that AMA resolution 205 on Home Deliveries statement is NOT a step towards criminalizing home birth. It says:
"RESOLVED, That our AMA develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the AAP and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers."
Now, I don't know what all of you think "model legislation" implys, but to me it leans towards outlawing or banning/criminalizing homebirth and homebirthing mothers.
Or making the rules of engagement so tightly conformed that only a woman between the ages of 34 and 35 who has already sucessfully given birth to four children vaginally in the hospital, who only gains 23 pounds during her pregnancy, who has an ambulance waiting in the driveway, who goes into labor at midnight at week 39 of gestation, and lives within four minutes of a NICU (with pre paid doctor standing by), and who pays out of pocket four thousand dollars to the MEDwife who has been trained, credentialed, and sanitized by the AMA, will be allowed to give birth at home.
So for the twelve women in America who meet the criteria outlined.....You Go GIRLS!!! Have your babies at home. The American Medical Association says you can if, and only IF you meet their "model legislation" rules of engagement.
The rest of us, who have previous c-section scars, who have bled out after a birth, who have been troubled with post partum emotional illness, and/or who dare to go past our due dates with a ten month gestator well, sorry Mama, you are NOT WORTHY to give birth at home, because we have RISKED YOU OUT!! Too bad...so sad. Now conform to our rules or we will take your baby away, lock you up in jail, and rip your family apart...because hey, we are the Gods of Modern Medicine and we know what is best for you and your family!!!
Barf!! Gag, Gag...
More bloggers weigh in on this topic:
Hatch Family one week after Benjamins Home Birth!
Jenny and Ben three hours after our Home Birth. I felt GREAT!!!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:05 AM
June 7, 2008
Fox News: Greta Van Susteren interviews Jenny McCarthy "On the Record" on her sons Autism
I thought this interview was the best one Jenny has done so far. Thanks Fox and Greta for taking the time to do such a great interview.
PS Who does not bother to be "fair and balanced" on this blog, and thus will NOT share the recent letter from the American Academy of Pediatrics on Autism and the Green our Vaccines Rally.
My blog Mission Statement is "Healthy Families Make A Healthy World". Vaccines are being used by Globalist Elitists to implement a Population Reduction Agenda in our society. Because of that fact, I do not, nor will I ever trust a Big Pharma Vaccine for me or my children and will go to jail rather than allow my little ones to be poisoned.
Here are three documentary movies that will help educate you about these statements of fact:
David Ayoub, M.D. goes through the relations of Mercury to Autism as well its connections to “National Security Study Memorandum 200”; for population control. Showing its shocking connections to today’s G.A.V.I. Are powerful forces really trying to help the poor people or could it be for another agenda; the sterilization of the poor?
This is an upsetting video, so brace yourself.
Endgame by Alex Jones
We Become Silent
These are my three favorite videos that expose the frauds of the Pharmaceutical Companies.
Take the time to give them a look. Then the Vaccine Story will make sense to you as a consumer of health care. These movies and the types of information they contain explain WHY I call the Medical Profession, and the Pharmaceutical companies that give them their marching orders, the Whore of Babylon as described in the Book of Revelations in the Bible.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:59 AM
May 28, 2008
Premature babies 'need cuddles'
Premature babies 'need cuddles'
"Professor Linda Franck, from the Institute of Child Health in London, said that parents were often not encouraged to have skin to skin contact with their premature babies in UK neonatal units, despite growing evidence that it could help.
She said: "Neonatal units can be very intimidating places, and parents often do not know the best way to get involved.
"Parents want to do the right thing, but the message is difficult to get out there.
"This study suggests that, even for the very youngest premature babies, skin to skin contact can reduce the stress response."
She is currently carrying out a pilot study in four London units which is using a variety of methods, including skin to skin contact, to encourage parents to become more involved with the care of their newborn children."
And Linda, when you are finished with that particular study, why don't you read the research on the Brewer Diet which can prevent prematurity in the first place??? Then take the time and energy to encourage mothers to eat this diet.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:27 AM
May 7, 2008
The Business of Being Born is now out on DVD!!!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:59 AM
April 28, 2008
Family Photos: The Baig Family
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:09 AM
March 29, 2008
Freebirth: A Message to Obstetricians from Jenny Hatch, "Physician Heal THYSELF!!"
This video is hosted on My Share Page at One True Media
In the past few months four obstetrics societies have made public statements about Unassisted Childbirth.
The Canadian Doctors (SOGC):
The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC)
The Australian and New Zealand Doctors:
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
The Royal College (RCOG) in the UK:
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG)
And in a recent article in the Denver Westword Newspaper (I was interviewed for this story)
A Spokesperson for ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) claimed freebirth was "dangerous".
Childbirth goes solo.
By Jared Jacang Maher
Published: May 10, 2007
"According to the guidelines of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the organization "strongly opposes" any birth not performed inside a hospital. A spokesman for the ACOG has a one-word assessment of freebirth: "dangerous."
I have just one message for these doctors, and it is this:
"The moral of the proverb is counsel to prove your trustworthiness with your own affairs before attempting to tell others what they should do."
Break out of the Matrix!
When the various obstetrics societies PROVE that they have the will to reform themselves internally by setting up standards of care that are more about the mother and the baby than they are about the doctor and staff at the hospital, then I will feel more open about listening to any edicts they have about my lifestyle.
Hey Doctors: why don't you set some goals....
1. No inductions before 41 weeks
2. 10% C-section rate
3. No elective C-sections
4. Full acceptance of Lay and Nurse Midwifery both in the home and at the hospital
5. A Complete and total acceptance of VBAC (Vaginal Birth after Cesarean)
6. A willingness to embrace proper prenatal nutrition as the foundation for a healthy pregnancy as outlined by the Brewer Pregnancy Diet
When society stops locking up our midwives for bogus reasons, embrace and promote natural mothering as the IDEAL for a new baby (Natural Childbirth, Attachment Parenting, and Long Term Ecological Breastfeeding), then I will believe you have found your soul as doctors.
Until then? Well, I am going to continue promoting freebirth and encouraging families to break away from your way of giving birth, because frankly, the way you do it stinks.
Lamaze International has a white paper on Elective cesarean Vs. Vaginal Birth (PDF)
American College of Nurse Midwives:
RISKS OF CESAREAN DELIVERY ARE UNDERREPORTED,
BENEFITS OVERSTATED
Media Briefing Highlights Concerns In Advance of NIH Conference
QUOTE:
"Only women themselves can tell us if they are actually demanding cesarean section surgery. With what we are learning from Childbirth Connection today, we now know that women VERY rarely schedule first cesareans by choice without a medical reason," says Susan Hodges, president of Citizens for Midwifery. "Only women can tell us what kind of informed consent process was provided to them. Citizens for Midwifery believes that women are not being given adequate and unbiased information about all the risks and benefits of cesarean sections. Research is needed to understand who and what are now influencing decisions to perform major abdominal surgery 'for no medical reason' despite substantial evidence that all cesareans increase harmful risks for mothers and babies."
Free yourself from the Matrix~!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 2:35 PM
March 5, 2008
Midwifery Today: Options for Placentas
This article had some great information about Placentas and what to do with them after birth.
I wrote a book called A Lotus Birth that discusses all of the ins and outs of birthing this way. Go Here to purchase this ebook from my web site.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:24 AM
The Brewer Pregnancy Diet
Sometimes what looks like "toxemia syndrome" is actually something else
The following is reprinted from What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know, by Gail Sforza Brewer [Krebs], (1977, 1983).
Note from Joy: While the use of amphetamines and diuretics may no longer be considered the mainstream treatment of choice for the symptoms of toxemia, other methods of weight control in pregnancy and treatments for toxemia are currently in vogue which are equally hazardous to both the baby and the mother. And unfortunately, the hazards of these current treatments are no more recognized by the mainstream practitioners of today than were the hazards of the earlier use of amphetamines and diuretics by the practitioners of yesterday. I have been witness to some of the current hazardous treatments, just within the past 5-10 years.
I worked for a homebirth midwifery practice for several years. For most of that time, all the midwives were supportive of the use of the Brewer Diet by the clients of the practice. The last year of my time there, we got a new midwife on staff who was very opposed to the use of the Brewer Diet. Whenever we got a new client who was the least little bit on the plump side, she would apparently tell her to get a little more exercise and eat a little less carbohydrates. When her blood pressure would start to creep up, she would tell her to cut back on her salt a little bit. No amount of my trying to explain the Brewer insights to her made any headway. As a result, within the first six months of her being on staff, we had 2-3 clients who had to be hospitalized with blood pressure problems and premature labor, as I recall, which was very uncharacteristic of our practice (we usually had possibly 1 case per 1-4 years, if I recall correctly).
So it is very important that we not dismiss the historical accounts that Brewer has documented for us. We need not look down our noses at his reports of the starvation-amphetamine-diuretic practices of the physicians around him in his early days, and his efforts to stop those practices. We have our own faulty treatments in our own time, which are based on the same faulty thinking, and are just as hazardous as the treatments that he witnessed.
"Toxemia" in the Well-Nourished: mistaken diagnosis (p. 70)
The majority of obstetricians dismiss the idea that malnutrition causes toxemia. Their reason: they have seen many patients who were well nourished and still displayed the signs and symptoms of the "toxemia syndrome." Therefore, toxemia, as they have traditionally thought about it, could not possibly result from malnutrition.
Their position sounds reasonable, but it is based on a common clinical error.
When confronted by a mother with the "toxemia syndrome," these physicians customarily skip the important process of differential diagnosis. Instead, they make a reflex diagnosis of toxemia whenever one or more of the classic signs is present: swelling of the hands and face, excess weight gain, protein in the urine or elevated blood pressure. No further evaluation is deemed necessary.
The result: many thousands of pregnant women have been diagnosed as toxemic and treated for toxemia they did not have.
Serious problems result from this mistake. The mother with some other condition which appears similar to MTLP continues to suffer her original malady because it goes undiagnosed and untreated. Further, the mother may well develop MTLP as a result of the low-salt, low-calorie diet and drugs prescribed for her. She and the baby may develop further symptoms from prescribed diuretics, amphetamines and antihypertensives which cross the placenta.
Differential diagnosis is a routine practice in internal medicine. It means that the doctor carefully considers and selectively rules out different conditions which produce the same signs or symptoms in an individual case.
In order to make an accurate diagnosis of what is causing the "toxemia syndrome" in a given mother, the obstetrician must be persuaded to withhold judgment and treatment until all the possibilities have been examined, consultations with specialists in other medical disciplines have been undertaken and appropriate laboratory tests run whenever indicated.
Unfortunately, under current circumstances in which the obstetrician has not been trained to carry out differential diagnosis of the "toxemia syndrome," responsibility for insuring that an accurate diagnosis is made rests with the person least likely to know how to procede--the mother herself! The mother who finds herself in this situation must realize that her prime responsibility is to her unborn baby. She must insist that the doctor follow through with a complete evaluation of her condition before deciding whether any form of therapy is warranted. If she is not satisfied with the doctor's performance, she must not feel disloyal or ungrateful about requesting a consultation with a specialist in the suspected area. If necessary, she should make such arrangements on her own and request of the office nurse that her complete records be sent to the consulting doctor. Her main concern is not to appease the doctor but to obtain clear, complete explanations of his medical decisions before she decides whether to take his advice.
In order to become her own advocate in this troublesome plight, the mother needs to know what conditions other than MTLP account for the most common signs and symptoms of the "toxemia syndrome." She must also be sure she does not have MTLP!
The first step is responsible evaluation of her diet. MTLP cannot be ruled out unless the mother is obtaining enough protein, calories, vitamins, minerals, salt and water to keep her liver and other organs functioning optimally throughout pregnancy. Unless someone has made a special point of giving her correct advice about pregnancy nutrition, she probably assumes her customary eating habits are satisfactory for pregnancy. The idea that pregnancy is a nutritional stress for every woman, regardless of her pre-pregnancy diet or economic status, is not widely held. Most mothers, if asked, reply that they eat well. They usually mean that they eat what they like! Consequently, nutritional nonchalence commonly affects mother and doctor alike.
To determine the true state of affairs, the mother has to consider what foods she has been eating recently and in what quantities. She should realize that flu or other gastrointestinal disturbances like nausea and vomiting interfere with her eating pattern. Her appetite may also suffer if she has been worried or depressed. Any of these conditions may result in malnutrition.
Note from Joy: As you evaluate your nutrition and lifestyle, it would also be helpful to evaluate your level of activity and add extra nutritious calories if you use extra calories during the week, with jogging, biking, skating, skiing, or other sports, or other extra calorie-depleting activities, like teaching, dancing, waitressing, nursing, doctoring, or other activities that keep you on your feet all day. Caring for other children, working both outside and in the home, caring for other family members, and housework would also use up a lot of calories, especially as the baby gets bigger and you burn up calories just carrying around the extra weight of the baby, uterus and extra blood volume. You can also evaluate whether other stresses in your life might be using up extra calories. If you have had extra stresses in your life, then adding extra nutritious calories and other nutrients to compensate for those calorie-burning stresses would help to keep your blood volume expanded and your pregnancy and baby healthy.
The usual eating pattern that we suggest that pregnant women can use to keep up with their nutritional needs is as follows: breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, supper, bedtime snack, middle-of-the-night snack. If you are having trouble keeping up with the amount of food that you need, or if you are having trouble keeping your blood pressure within a normal range, we suggest that you eat something with protein in it (glass of milk, cheese cubes, handful of nuts, handful of trail mix, etc), every hour that you are awake.
If you are dealing with nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, it is important to try to alleviate those problems as soon as possible, since they also contribute to depleting your blood volume. You can try frequent, small snacks, herbs, and homeopathy to help you in this effort. If you decide to try using ginger, which can be very effective for "morning" sickness, use it only in small amounts, and only just before eating some kind of food, since too much ginger can cause bleeding and possibly miscarriage.
See a resource for homeopathy for morning sickness here
It would also be helpful for you to evaluate whether you are ever in situations that result in your losing extra sweat and salt--situations such as gardening in hot weather, exercising, living in hot homes during the winter, or living without air-conditioning in the summer, or working in over-heated working conditions. If you do have one of those situations, it would be helpful for you to add extra salt and nutritious fluids to your daily nutrition. This extra effort will help to keep your blood volume expanded to where it needs to be to prevent elevated blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, and other complications.
Eating the recommended amount of protein every day isn't enough to keep your blood volume expanded to where it needs to be for preventing complications in pregnancy. It is also vitally important to make sure that your intake of nutritious calories and salt are also at the recommended levels, with special extra allowances added as needed for your unique situation.
I would also like to add here the assurance that Dr. Brewer is not blaming the mother for her situation. He is clearly blaming her doctor for not having the routine of examining her nutritional status and doing a differential diagnosis for her. He is saying that if her doctor is not doing this with her, then it is most important for her to do it for herself, for the sake of her own health and that of her baby.
See here to help you evaluate your daily nutrition patterns
See here for vegetarian versions of the Brewer plan
If her dietary evaluation shows she is well nourished, then MTLP can be ruled out and other explanations for the sign or symptom under consideration must be found.
A primer of mistaken diagnoses and how to avoid them is a distinct help to mother and physician.
Swelling of hands and face (generalized edema), as we have discussed is probably the most commonly misdiagnosed sign. Sixty percent of normal women experience swelling of their hands and face as a manifestation of healthy adjustment in pregnancy--if the mother is well nourished. It does not require treatment of any kind at any time in pregnancy.
Protein in the urine commonly occurs in pregnant women who develop a urinary tract infection, either in the kidneys or the bladder. Pregnant women are more likely to develop such infections because of continual pressure on the tubes which drain the kidneys early and late in pregnancy. Simple urinalysis may not reveal the presence of infection, so a quantitive urine culture should be done to establish the correct diagnosis and appropriate medication to combat the infection.
Note from Joy: It can also be helpful to request instructions on how to do a "clean catch" for your urine sample at your regular prenatal visit. Sometimes if you just pee into the cup without taking extra care, some of the normally extra vaginal secretions that often occur during pregnancy can end up in the urine sample which is being tested for protein, and their presence in the sample can then make the urine test positive for protein.
Many types of kidney disease, such as glomerulonephritis (Bright's disease), chronic pyelonephritis, kidney cysts and tumors, also cause protein spills in the urine. Differentiation between the various kidney disorders is the specialty of the renal expert, who should be consulted by the obstetrician when these diseases are under consideration.
Elevated blood pressure (hypertension) may result from many different causes. "Psychic" hypertension, is engendered by emotional stress of any sort. Many women become anxious during physical examinations or during laboratory testing. Women whose blood pressure has been normal throughout pregnancy may develop hypertension at the time of admission to the hospital for labor and birth. These mothers do not have MTLP: the liver is functioning normally and the blood volume is expanded.
"Essential," chronic, or benign hypertension is most common in women over thirty years of age. However, many black teen-agers have already developed the condition and will continue to have it the rest of their lives. These mothers require exactly the same diet as mothers with normal blood pressures--including the use of salt to taste--since their blood volumes must expand, too, as pregnancy advances.
Salt deficiency can trigger hypertension as mentioned previously.
Note from Joy: If you already salt to taste, please also remember that a salt deficiency can result from working in the garden on a hot day, exercising, living in a hot house in the winter, living in a house without air-conditioning in the summer, or having a job in an over-heated environment. So in those situations, and other similar ones, please remind yourself to salt a little more and drink a little more of your nutritious fluids, especially if you notice that your fingers or ankles are starting to swell.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:21 AM
February 22, 2008
Low Birth Weight Babes
Here is a link to some great information on nutrition, to help prevent low birthweight in babes.
The following is reprinted from What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know, a book on the Brewer Diet, by Gail Sforza Brewer and Tom Brewer, MD, first published in 1977.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:27 AM
Low Birth Weight Babes
Here is a link to some great information on nutrition, to help prevent low birthweight in babes.
The following is reprinted from What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know, a book on the Brewer Diet, by Gail Sforza Brewer and Tom Brewer, MD, first published in 1977.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:27 AM
February 21, 2008
Permission to Mother now available
Yet another holistically minded doctor has added her voice to the chorus of Mommy Knows Best!
Go Check out her blog and read her book.
Denise Punger MD FAAFP IBCLC & her husband John Coquelet DO are in private practice in St. Lucie County, Florida. They have three unschooled, drum-banging, karate-kicking sons. (Their hair is long, again.) Her perspective as a board certified family physician with expertise in breastfeeding is truly unique. Permission to Mother is her first book. Much of it has been worked on at home with the three boys active in the background.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:20 AM
Intuition?
Chris at House of Harris Blog had a great post recently about Mothers Intuition.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:06 AM
January 31, 2008
Blessing Way for Susana TONIGHT!
My dearest friends Susana is having her blessing way tonight. Here is the text of her blog entry that describes her Christian Blessing Way.
Here is a link to my own Blessing Way Ceremony
I am planning a blessingway, or a spiritual dedication of my birth. This is the plan that I have laid out. My friend Dee will be leading the blessingway, which I am holding in my home. She will say the following scripts in her own words. In addition to this plan below, Dee plans to lavish me with a detoxifying foot wash and rub, and I am planning on having all the ladies in attendance sew a stitch in a baby outfit.
Prayer- opening prayer/blessing on the food -Sasha
*All Sing a hymn- "I stand all amazed"
*Introductions -
The scriptures give the geonologies of our forefathers. In 2 Tim 1:5 Paul praises Timothy's female ancestors when he says: "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in they grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also."
Let us honor our own female ancestors as far back as we can remember them.
My name is __________, the daughter of ___________, the daughter of __________
(Dee initiates)
* Explain why we are gathered here:
We are here to Praise God for the joy of motherhood, the experience of birth, and for the new life that is about to join us here on earth. We are here to encourage Susana, to share with her and eachother our testimonies, that Jesus is our Savior, that Heavenly Father answers prayer, and that the Holy Spirit comforts, strengthens and directs us. One of the main ways we will do this is through song.
* Camille (my daughter) sing solo/play guitar, "Come thou Fount"
* Susannah sing solo
* Dee sing solo
* Sharing of symobolic gifts/testimony:
Now is the time for us to share the meaning/ significance of the items we have brought and also to offer an uplifting thought or scripture. (Dee initiate)
* Annette sing solo
* Our symbolic tie- As sisters and mothers we are joined by the experience of giving birth and mothering. (Tie string around each wrist in continuous circle.) This string represents that bond that we have all the way back through our mothers and grandmothers, even back to Mary and Eve who praised God after her birth when she said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord". We will cut this string and tie it around our wrists to remind us to keep Susana, her baby, and her family in our prayers.
* All sing hymn-
*Closing prayer- Offered by Dee
* Refreshments
My sweet friend, Jenny Hatch, who doesn't live in my state, sent me her thoughtful gift (below)via email. (It includes a snipppet from the 2nd Annual Husband/Wife Homebirth conference.)
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:45 PM
January 26, 2008
Spirit Led Birth
Go check out the Spirit Led Birth Site. Fabulous!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:07 PM
January 15, 2008
Anna Stewart: Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers
I met Anna at a Birth Lodge when I was expecting my son Andrew in 1995. We became fast friends and she has always had a place in my heart. Her passion for healing birth and helping women connected us, and the fact that we both love to write and document this thing called life layers the depths of our friendship.
I attended her workshop, Motherhands when I was expecting my son Benjamin five years ago, and it was a wonderful way to set aside a few hours from my busy life to focus on the baby and my intentions around his birth.
I saw her at a park a few years ago and she told me that she was working on a book about Mother Blessings. Here is the Amazon Link.
Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers
It is always challenging to plan your own party around birth and the sacred milestones of life, (at least for me it was), but because of my friendship with Anna and her understanding of how important these celebrations are, I planned my own Blessing Way before Ben was born in 2002. We held this party on Labor Day, and Paul and I were very blessed to have Rico and Jeaninne Parvati Baker join us for this wonderful Ceremony.
I documented My Blessing Way on my web site here.
Having Jeannine with us was such a blessing, even more so now that she is no longer here. She died in 2005 and is greatly missed by all of us in the Birth Activist world. I sometimes feel her spirit around me, encouraging me, as I write and share insights around motherhood.
I praise Anna Stewart for taking the time to document The various Blessings that can be ours as women when we take the time to honor, love, and appreciate each other. I attended a Blessing Way for my friend Susanna back in 1998, and it was the first time I had ever felt the spirit of the Lord at a baby shower. Up to that point I had been to dozens of showers and had been the recipient of several showers around the births of my first four children. These parties were wonderful, and I was grateful for the time, money, and effort that various friends and family put into them.
But as we sang to Susanas baby, prayed together, and then shared our hearts and hopes for our wonderful friend and her new child, I realized that the materialism of the American Baby Shower had stolen from women our sacred and holy potential to truly honor and bless each other. The Blessing Way takes womanly connections and puts them into the spiritual stratosphere, rather than keeping those relationships tied down to materialism and silly jokes and games around birth and mothering.
Here are a few more links, mostly articles written by Anna about her work, but also some blog entrys by women who loved what she had to say:
Mother Blessings Intro to the book (PDF)
And here is the text from my own Blessing Way article:
(Click on the link to see the pictures.)
My Blessing Way
With commentary on the Primal Mama Lifestyle from my experience and perspective
By, Jenny Marie Hatch
Hatch Family during Jenny’s fifth pregnancy – August 2002 Michelle – 13,
Allison – 10, Jeffrey – 8, Andrew – 5, Jenny, Paul
Sunday September 8th, 2002
Yesterday I called Jeannine Parvati Baker to integrate what happened during our blessing way last Monday (labor day). She offered this to me as a final gift before the birth of our fifth baby in a few weeks. We had intended to talk for thirty minutes, but went way beyond that time, and she said it was her gift to the baby and I to have a chance to chat freely. The timing was interesting to me as yesterday was the sixth anniversary of my first Freebirth. My son Andrew turned six yesterday, and I called Jeannine asking if we could talk during that time, as it was the exact moment that I was in labor, on a Saturday morning, six years ago. She agreed and we had a wonderful discussion. I realized as we hung up the phone that our conversation ended right about the time I had a quick five-minute transition and started pushing Andrew into the world – about 9:30 AM. He was born after four pushes at 9:52AM.
This pregnancy has been a healing time for us. We conceived in January. My husband Paul has known for years that if we had another baby I would want to do my own prenatal care, as I did with Andrew six years ago, and was not surprised when I did exactly that for the past eight months. What was a surprise to me however, was how my life organized itself to allow me to use Jeannine and Rico as my Shamanic Midwives, much the same way that Laura and David Shanley were my mentor’s during Andrew’s pregnancy. I don’t know why I have been so blessed to have these pioneers as such an intimate part of my life. But I will take what I have been given and just say that it has been exciting to develop deep friendships with these souls who are working so diligently to heal birth.
I first discovered Unassisted Childbirth in 1989 when I read about Pat Carter’s League of empowered women, and I determined then that one day I would join her league by giving birth alone. How exciting for me to be able to have deep and passionate discussions through email and on the phone with these wonderful sisters while pregnant, being mentored and encouraged by those who have lived such amazing pioneering lives and then been passionate enough to write and share of their experiences!
As we have walked, skipped, and occasionally run in a dead heat down this conscious parenting path – I have been amazed and gratified that our journey has led us to living in close proximity to people like Laura and Jeannine.
Paul and I have had an interesting journey, with much of argument and discussion about how best to birth, nurture, and raise our children. We have finally arrived at the place where we feel very comfortable in our own skins as conscious parents, but it was not easy to get to this place.
This pregnancy has been marked with much peacefulness and happiness. A gentle soul is in the making and it brings us so much joy, I just want to sing and dance and praise God for the goodness of our lives after so much tribulation.
We transferred to the hospital shortly after Andrew’s birth for help with his breathing and my bleeding. Laura believes my background in musical theatre called for a dramatic birth and Jeannine has also expressed that a need for drama expresses itself through those types of realities. I don’t know why I had such a wild time after that birth, when all I wanted was a quiet bonding with my child after his entry into the world, but the trauma of that transfer resulted in me questioning everything about our life.
In the years that have followed we have really struggled, questioning everything we felt guided to do for our children. This time of scrutiny lasted a while, especially when I had friends who had a beautiful 9lb. daughter die during a Freebirth. I questioned my spirituality, my inner guidance, my sanity, and went through a dark time of wondering if anything that I had perceived as truth, was of worth to our children. We decided the year Andy was born to send our children to a Core Knowledge Charter school. It seemed like all of my ideals of home based everything – birth, school, nutrition, and conscious living had quickly evaporated into nothing.
As we struggled through this time, made more challenging by Paul experiencing debilitating panic attacks, horrible food allergies with a gluten intolerance that made us give up vegetarian eating, and terrible financial difficulties that required me to work outside our home off and on for a few years, I experienced a sort of valley after our peak empowering experience of taking personal responsibility for the health of my beautiful son during his gestation and birth.
*(I learned during his pregnancy that by indeed taking full responsibility and not passing the buck to anyone, I was much more careful about my diet, my exercise routine, and my sleep – and I built this 11 lb 12 oz child in 42 weeks from conception, on 80% live vegan foods and enjoyed an energetic pregnancy, nursing my two year old son for the duration.)
I have thought long and hard what this “valley” of darkness after Andrew’s birth was all about. A scripture comes to mind when I think of this time. It is from the Book of Mormon and says: “And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that FAITH is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your FAITH” Ether 12:6
I believe now that this time was the trial of my faith. Sometimes God gives us enough light and truth to encourage us to take a different path, but then he lets us struggle somewhat as we learn by our own experience to know the bitter from the sweet. As Jeannine and I talked yesterday she told me of the three years that her children were court ordered to attend school. I marveled once again at the similarity of our paths. While we were not court ordered to send our children to school, the outside pressure we felt from family and friends contributed greatly to this decision and Paul was deeply concerned that with tandem nursing the boys I would not be able to give Shelly what she deserved in terms of my time and energy. We sent her to school at age seven for the first time a few days before Andy’s birth.
We felt somewhat comforted that our children were in a safe place during the four years they were in public education and that we were able to rub shoulders with some wonderful families, but I hated the fact that after being so clear about home school our life had spun out of control and the institutionalized learning I had so long abhorred, the materialism, and the busy runaround lifestyle was being shoved on my children and ME! The irony in all of this was that the children loved it! (OK - Jeff did hate kindergarten, and refused to go about half the time, but he was excited for a few weeks in the beginning!)
Michelle told me a few days into her second grade year that she loved recess, music, gym, and eating lunch with her new friends. The only part of school she didn’t like was when the teacher stood in front of the class and talked! As Allison and Jeff had their first imprints with kindergarten and made new friends and mostly enjoyed the time outside our home while I nurtured Andrew, I again questioned my beliefs about unschooling and mother and father being so responsible for everything from birthing to teaching children to read.
We participated in Joy school for the first time (Joy preschool is a parent led program where parents organize a twice weekly preschool taught in their homes – I did this for a year with both Jeff and Andrew when they were four, with about seven other families from our church). Once again, I found myself doing something I had vowed I would never do – having developed very strong beliefs about pre-school being bad for children. Yet the boys loved the structure and the friends and the feeling of community, and I enjoyed developing friendships with the other mother’s.
As our diet quickly degenerated to the typical American cold cereal in the morning (easy, quick, and a kid pleaser), the school’s hot lunch for lunch, and meat based supper for the sake of my husband, I again would look in the mirror and wonder who I had become. As I thought of the years of painstaking efforts in my kitchen to feed my children the most nourishing, organic, whole foods on the planet, and the care with which I crafted my breastmilk, which I gave to them in such a careful, nurturing way, I wondered at this over night change to mainstream everything. If I sent a healthy snack to school for the classroom or baked something from scratch for the preschool or school party celebration, most often the container would come home full of what I had made and my child would be in tears saying that no one wanted what they had to offer, and next time could they bring fruit snacks for the group? Those evil gelatinous nasty concoctions of chemicals and sugar were my kid’s ticket to popularity and acceptance. And so I caved, and bought them time after time, again wondering “who” I had become and “where” were all of my ideals?
All of this questioning about home birth, nutrition, home school, and conscious intentional living was good for my heart. During the four years that the children participated in the Charter and Joy school’s and we had a real break from pregnancy and breastfeeding, Paul and I were able to negotiate and redefine our priorities and then in a careful and calculated way begin again. This time in a much more conscious way; aware of the pitfalls of being too independent and too isolated from our community - thus shutting ourselves off from wonderful friendships, experiences, and memories. With the children in school, our family and friends who had been so worried were able to relax for a few years and the uncomfortable scrutiny, rejection, and prejudice, (which are all present whenever one walks a different path - and which the children were able to feel), settled down somewhat. In order for of us to feel comfortable with this lifestyle, all families need to evaluate how much rejection and feelings of being “different” our marriages and our children can take as we walk the alternative paths.
For some, this rejection and scrutiny could weaken the ties that bind us together and cause a breech in our intimacy as a couple. One of Paul’s constant laments in the early year’s was, “why do we always have to be the weird one’s?” I believe this time of reevaluation was a chance for us to integrate and process the trauma that had troubled our marriage. Paul’s perception over the years was that I would rush from one book to another, take a flying leap into the unknown with him and the children quietly standing by flustered and uncomfortable. He told me once that every time I returned home from the Library with a stack of books, he would cringe wondering what was next.
As I raced from natural childbirth to vegetarianism to not immunizing, to pushing all the beds in the house together, to breastfeeding a four year old, to unschooling, and finally to the mother of them all…. Unassisted Childbirth… he was left wondering what sort of an irresponsible nut case he had married?
He didn’t have the time, energy, or gumption to read all the books that I did. He had been raised on meat and traditional medicine and turned out all right. His older siblings were raising beautiful, healthy, large Mormon families without all of this alternative stuff. Why did “we” have to do it just because someone wrote it in a book? As I said, we argued and fought and between times made babies. And I nurtured and tried not to talk too much to him or anyone else about the vision that was forming in my head on how our family life “could” be.
When everything collapsed after Andrew’s was born in 1996 and family and friends perception was that the Hatch’s had finally “come to our senses” and sent the children to school. I was so devastated. I sort of gave up. Yet now I can look at those four years and see that it was a sacred window of opportunity to heal and purge and become even more conscious of what our values and dreams for our family were.
It was a strengthening time for us as a couple. Because without the mind numbing fatigue associated with attachment parenting little ones we were able to take great leaps and bounds in the level of intimacy and trust in our relationship. I find it doubly interesting that after this time of settling and integration in our marriage, I was able to go through the terror of remembered sexual abuse (childhood molestation and adult gang rape) which I had carefully tucked away in my brain to be dealt with at a much later, safer time. From what I have studied, the memories coming back are a sign of health and are often enabled to come out by the loving acceptance of a spouse. As I perceived Paul’s emotional protection of me and his increasing satisfaction and delight in my efforts as a mother, I believe my body/mind was freed to take the plunge and fully purge the past out of my cells.
During this time of healing, I felt this child’s spirit around me, comforting and concerned, as I relived the horror of sexual abuse. As soon as I perceived I was healthy enough to carry a baby, both physically and emotionally, I prayed and asked Father to bless my womb with life. He did and this baby leaped into it with my next fertile cycle in January of 2002.
During this pregnancy I have had dozens of witnesses that completely endorse and validate the other promptings I had on holistic lifestyle choices over the years prior to Andrew’s birth. I used to be so confident, almost to the point of being cocky and offensive to those I came in contact with, that my way was the absolute best way to welcome babies into the world and to nurture and raise them. The confidence I feel in regards to all of this primal mothering is more quiet and clear. With the sober understanding that this lifestyle while wonderful in most ways, has it’s drawbacks and pitfalls. Some of these pitfalls are the loneliness and feelings of isolation the family may experience. A lack of community for our husbands and children is also a very real phenomenon. We mother’s may feel supported, validated, and nurtured by friend’s from all across the world in our vast internet outreach, or in mothering circles in our community. But our husband’s and older children may not, and this lack of support for our partners may lead to a divorce. Our children may also feel they are “missing out” by not attending school, and our husband’s may be flat out rejected by peers who feel uncomfortable with these life choices. Men are already isolated in our western society and to add one more layer of isolation may tip the scales over to a family breakup.
Most truth in life is so surrounded by warfare that often it is difficult to clearly see and quantify what it is exactly that we are doing as parents. The ultimate payoff may not be felt for years, or even generations. But through the quiet, purposeful daily practice of nurturing, teaching, and loving our little ones in a very conscious way – we are battling all that is evil on the planet. As I have renewed my testimony and faith in the truths surrounding primal parenting during this very conscious pregnancy, a quiet yet firm confidence has welled up in my heart. The fullness of this flowering was made manifest not just to me, but also to Paul during our Blessing Way ceremony six days ago.
Rico and Jeannine “groom” Paul and Jenny
Early in my pregnancy, I was clear that the greatest gift I could give to my husband and children was the experience of the blessing way. I felt somewhat shy and embarrassed to organize my own ceremony – but had a very clear vision of how I wanted it to go. I felt confident that if I did nothing else during this child’s gestation – the feelings and power associated with a family blessing way would be the most important “prenatal care” we could experience. So, being the little red hen that I am, I set out to create the ceremony that would serve our family best.
I contacted Jeannine and asked her if she and Rico were coming to Colorado at all during my pregnancy. She told me that they would be in town over Labor Day weekend. It was perfect! Labor Day! Symbolic and also a day when Dad’s would be off work! She told me that they usually get up to $1000.00 for conducting these ceremonies, but that with our young family she wondered if $300.00 would be too much? I assured her it would be fine. For the same price as an unnecessary ultrasound I was going to be blessed by the very pioneers of blessing way who would perform the sweet ceremony for my husband and I!
I spent the summer dreaming, planning and visualizing how I wanted the celebration to go. Being a Christian, I knew it would be important to have the Savior’s spirit in abundance at the party and I also knew that sacred hymns and prayer would be the best way to invite his spirit. I also understood that the ceremony and the feelings attached to it would be a potential pattern for how my birth would be and was concerned about the “wrong” people attending. After a few weeks of pondering on “who” to invite, I decided to trust that whomever came was meant to be there and that I should just invite everyone I knew.
I mailed out 95 invitations two weeks before the party. I invited almost everyone I know in Colorado. I gave out an additional 50 invitations to my church community the day before the party. I sent quite a few invitations out of state to various family and friends, knowing they would not be able to attend, but hoping they would be with us in spirit. My best friend Susanna wrote me the week before and promised that she would be praying and with me in spirit during the ceremony. I had planned and conducted a blessing way for her four years ago, here in Colorado before she moved to L.A. It was the first “baby shower” I had ever attended where I felt the spirit of the Lord and angels in attendance. I was hoping for something similar with mine.
It was scary, exciting, and overwhelming thinking who might attend, would there be enough food? Would people judge me for not doing a traditional baby shower? Would they think I was judging them for doing the traditional baby shower? Would I ever be invited to a baby shower again?
I let all of that go, and trusted that it would be perfect…and it was!
The morning began with a shopping trip to get the fruit, flowers and ice. Then I cleaned, napped, bathed, and dressed for the party. Jeannine, Rico, and Halley came at 8:00AM and pitched right in and helped with food preparation and loading the car. I will never forget Rico washing grapes and strawberries at my kitchen sink while I baked muffins. It was just so homey and natural to have these wonderful souls in my home! I showed them my herb garden and my newly painted bedroom, which had carefully been prepared for our new baby. Jeannine was so complimentary of my efforts; it just made me feel good, and nurtured.
We drove up to the park about 9:30 and set up all the tables, chairs, and food. Then I prepared my alter with a picture of Jesus, and a few meaningful things to me – a bag of wheat grass, a jar of Kamut, Wheat, and Flax seeds, and a sample cloth diaper. We had requested that no one bring gifts, but rather donate to our cloth diaper fund. Our friends gave generously and I was able to order all of the diapers needed for this new little one last week!
Soon after ten AM friends started to arrive. We ended up having four fathers’ attend in addition to Paul. I was so pleased that they had taken the time to come. As each family arrived I had a feeling again, of perfection. This was my tribe, my family, our support, and the very souls we were destined to bless the way with!
To invite the spirit of the Lord, I had asked my son Jeff to offer the opening prayer, but he declined, feeling shy in front of the group. Then I asked if anyone felt guided to say the prayer, and my friend Nancy, a Doula, said that she would be honored and proceeded to offer a wonderful prayer of thanksgiving and protection for our family as we welcome our new baby.
Then Rico described how the blessing way came to be practiced in our modern age, and Jeannine described the purpose of passing around the yarn which we all wound around our wrist’s symbolizing community and unity and support for our family. As we wound the string I sang the opening hymn, acapella. I chose this hymn because I have sung it so often the past year as I mourned the death of my older brother. Dave’s first child was born a few months after his death and it was sweet to have my sister in law Lori and her son Dylan at the party!
We sang this song at Dave’s funeral, and it has brought me much comfort this past year since his death – and it fit in perfectly with the blessing way theme. Here are the lyrics.
Come thou Fount
Come thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above,
Praise the mount I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise to thee an alter,
Hither by thy help I’m come.
And I hope by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God.
He to rescue me from danger,
Interposed his precious blood.
Oh to grace, how great a debtor,
Daily I’m constrained to be.
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for thy courts above.
Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for thy courts above.
While I sang Jeannine noted two hawks flying overhead, gracing our party with their energy and spirit. As I finished the song, we broke the strings and tied them to our wrists to be a reminder to pray for the baby and the birth.
Then Jeannine and Rico did the ceremonial grooming. Letting down my hair, and noting coming wisdom evidenced by my first gray hairs. Paul noted that he must be very wise, as his head is covered in gray and we all laughed. Then Rico massaged Paul’s shoulders and expressed to him his love and confidence in his abilities as a husband and father/provider. Jeannine and Rico then demonstrated their hand mudras individually and then together facing us. The symbolic hand motions are indicative of the life walk that we all make first as individuals and then as part of a family.
Then they anointed our feet with a bottle of Young Living’s dream catcher essential oil blend. I had used this oil throughout the pregnancy and felt it would be appropriate for the blessing way. As Jeannine massaged and touched various reflex points in my feet, I felt a wave of loving energy wash over my body and the baby started to kick quite excitedly. Rico worked on Paul and as they massaged I asked that my friends start going around the circle telling who they were and how they knew our family. This was the highlight of the party for me and I really enjoyed hearing everyone tell how they had met our family and what our relationship was. Many touching things were said and I found myself tearing up as expressions of love and acceptance were conveyed to Paul and I.
To finish the ceremony Paul and I sang a hymn together with him accompanying on his guitar. We sang Jesus, Lover of my soul.
Here are the lyrics….
Jesus, lover of my soul
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer water’s roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me oh, my savior hide,
Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into thy haven guide,
Oh receive my soul at last.
Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on thee.
Leave oh leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me.
All my trust in thee is stayed
All my help from thee I bring,
Cover my defenseless head,
With the shadow of thy wing.
we finished the song, I had a feeling of love enter into my heart, from the circle of friends that had gathered and for my sweet lover and eternal companion, Paul. We finished the party with a feast of fresh fruit, muffins, and fruit juice and just visited and took pictures. Everyone was gone by 12:30 and we gathered up all of our belongings and went home. It was a beautiful and sacred moment in time for my family, and me and I will never forget the love conveyed and the happiness and joy that manifest during the party.
I feel that from this moment until the baby arrives we have been blessed, sanctified and set apart for the important task of welcoming our child into our home. Coming as it has after so much sorrow, warfare, and questioning of our choices and beliefs has made the joy experienced that much more intense for us.
My prayer for all of our families is that as we walk down this path we will be patient and loving as we learn new principles and truths and gradually implement them into our family life, with the understanding that it takes time to learn line upon line the precepts that will strengthen and nourish our children. I have a dream that by the time my children are grandparents these practices and this lifestyle will be firmly entrenched into our world as the ideal way to live family life. It has to be or how else is Isaiah’s prophecy in chapter 65 going to be fulfilled? Lord knows it is not going to be fulfilled with the current worldwide path we are on with the medical model of chemical parenting.
Symbol of the 1st and 2nd Husband/Wife Homebirth Conferences
Remember, Isaiah saw our day….
“And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain saith the Lord.
Isaiah the Prophet .
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:17 AM
Hana Peace Works Newsletter
The First Ever Film Festival About Birth
Motherbaby International Film Festival premiered in Portland Oregon, hosted by the first annual Gentle Birth Conference, and was a huge success. Twenty six films were shown over the 3 day conference, grouped and scheduled thematically and followed by panel discussions led by filmmakers, educators, and local community leaders. For more information please see the article in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Mothering Magazine. www.mothering.com
David Chamberlain was a featured presenter at the MotherBaby International Film Festival, an event hosted by the Gentle Birth Congress and organized by Hanna Peace Works' Debby Takikawa and Sage Femme's Diana Paul. Just before the lights dimmed on Saturday evening for the West Coast premiere of The Business of Being Born, David was honored by the Global Maternal/Child Health Association for his unparalleled work on behalf of mothers and babies. The award, presented to him by actress/producer Ricki Lake and GM/CHA's executive director Barbara Harper, reads, "The fathers of the world respect you / The mothers of the world adore you / The babies of the world love you... For letting them speak."
Debby Takikawa is putting on another film festival about birth in Santa Barbara, Ca. on May 23rd and 24th, 2008. Please go to www.babyff.com for more information.
New Products from Hana Peace Works.
Check out our store at www.whatbabieswant.com
Hana Peace Works is excited to add these new products to our store. Of course What Babies Want , CALMS and our Audio CD Series can also be found on the website. www.whatbabieswant.com
DVD's
Psalm & Zoya: The Unassisted Homebirth of Our Twins,
Earth Birth Productions. This educational tool will move, inspire, and transform you and your students as twins Psalm & Zoya are born into their mother's arms.
It's My Body, My Baby, My Birth,
Wisewoman Childbirth Traditions. An educational childbirth film that tells the story of seven mothers and their emotional journeys to natural childbirth.
The Birth of Sabine, Andaluz Waterbirth Center. The first in The Birth Story Series, Sabine's video shows us the excitement and anticipation of a moms first pregnancy.
Books
Baby Massage by Suzanne P. Reese Calm your baby with loving touch. This unique Stand-Up Book is full of information, techniques and photographs to show you how to massage your baby.
The Birth Book by William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N. Everything you need to know to have a safe and satisfying Birth.
Falling Out Of Grace
by Sobonfu Some' Meditations on Loss, Healing & Wisdom
Guide To Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin. A comprehensive guide to natural childbirth. This book is an incredible resource for every expectant mother.
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A man who would cure the world. "It'll fill you equally with wonder and hope." --Cathy Burke, People Magazine
The Secret Life of the Unborn Child by Thomas Verny, M.D., with John Kelly. How you can prepare your unborn baby for a happy, healthy life. A gift to every loving, caring parent. A book that will change the experience of pregnancy and childbirth forever!
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer. Birth activist Henci Goer gives clear, concise information based on the latest medical studies.
Mother Blessings Honoring Women Becoming Mothers by Anna Stewart. This book gives women a hundred ideas for honoring women in the community through ceremonies, celebrations and creative expressions.
I completely endorse the work of Debby and hope that her film festival is a great success!
Jenny Hatch
Upcoming Events You Don't Want to Miss
Birth Film Festival
A Benefit for the California Association
of Midwives.
Sunday, January 20 ~ 2:30-7 pm
The French Garden Restaurant,
8050 Bodega Avenue, Sabastopol, CA
(707) 824-2030
Films to be screened:
2:35 What Babies Want
4:05 Q & A **
4:30 It's My Body, My Baby, My Birth
5:00 Birth Day
5:15 Homebirth Parent Panel
5:45 Birth As We Know It
7:00 Closing Dialogue with Midwives
**Q&A with Debby Takikawa, director of What Babies Want, and Karen Melton, who's healing work is rooted in pre- and perinatal psychology.
With testimonials by homebirth mamas.
Advanced ticket sales encouraged as this event is expected
to sell out. Call 707-829-5094 for tickets and more information.
Donation: $15-35 sliding scale
****************************************************
The Trust Birth Conference
March 7-9, 2008
will be held in the beautiful Crowne Plaza Hotel in Redondo Beach, California.
What Babies Want will be shown on Saturday March 8th at 7:30pm. Producer/Director Debby Takikawa cordially invites high school and college students from the local community to join with conference members in viewing the award winning film, What Babies Want and talking about the issues that women, babies and their families experience during pregnancy, birth and infancy. We will be joined by Sally Clark, MFT, author of a high school curriculum unit used in conjuction with What Babies Want, for high school health and psychology classes. Also joining us will be Carrie Contey, PhD, parenting and pregnancy parenting coach and co-author of CALMS, A Guide to Soothing Your Infant, and Karen Strange CPM, beloved instructor of neomnatal rescusitation and teacher of conscious midwifery.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:24 AM
January 11, 2008
Ricki Lake takes on baby birthing industry
Actress and former talk show host shares:
Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in new film
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 9:59 a.m. MT, Thurs., Jan. 10, 2008
When Ricki Lake was giving birth six years ago to her second son, Owen, she wasn’t thinking about ever sharing the video taken of the joyous event with the public. If she had considered that possibility, she said with a laugh Thursday on TODAY, things would have been different.
“I would have had better lighting, I would have removed the shampoo bottles, and I would have worn a top,” she quipped.
The “birth experience,” as she calls it, ended up in her new documentary, “The Business of Being Born,” which debuted on Wednesday to positive reviews.
The film follows the actress and former talk show host as she decides to have the delivery at home attended by a midwife and also documents other births, both at home and in hospital birthing centers.
It’s already stirring controversy as well as criticism from the medical community, which feels maligned by Lake’s advocacy of giving birth at home, a course chosen by just 1 percent of American women.
“This movie is not about hospitals versus home,” Lake told TODAY’s Ann Curry in New York. “I’m raising some really major questions about the medical system and whether it’s really servicing mothers and babies as well as it could.”
The United States, she said, has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the developed world.
According to “The CIA World Factbook,” Singapore led the world with an infant mortality rate of 2.30 per 1,000 live births, followed by Sweden with a rate of 2.76 and Japan at 2.80. The United States’ rate of 6.37 ranked just 37th, behind South Korea and Cuba and just ahead of Croatia. The highest mortality rate was in Angola, where the rate is 184.44 deaths for every 1,000 births.
“The fact that we have the second-worst infant mortality rate in the developed world is a statistic that I think people need to know about,” she said. “We are the richest country in the world and the technology that we have is amazing today. Women in their 40s and even in their 50s can get pregnant today and carry children and deliver, babies are living at 23 weeks gestation. It’s amazing the strides we’ve made. But in that process, we’ve lost normal birth.”
Lake was still hosting her long-running talk show when she became pregnant and started to research home birth. Her first child, Milo, was born in 1997 with the aid of a midwife in a birth center. Her second, she decided, would be born at home.
“I felt through my second birth — all the research and finding out what I found out — having my baby at home was incredibly empowering,” she said, adding quickly, “Not that the other one wasn’t.”
She also fought off suggestions that she believes that all women should give birth at home.
“I’m not saying women aren’t empowered when they have their epidural, when they have their C-section, and I don’t judge any woman for any choice they make when it comes to their body,” she told Curry. “I just feel like I had information that I felt my friends and people around me didn’t have access to.”
Home births rare in U.S.
Home births and midwives are more common in Japan and Europe than in the United States, where just 8 percent of all births are attended by midwives, most of those in hospital birthing centers.
“Midwives are an amazing profession,” she said. “I think they make amazing sacrifices for women, for their patients.”
Curry noted that critics in the medical community feel that giving birth at home exposes women to unnecessary risks. Indeed, one of the women in “The Business of Being Born,” the film’s director, Abby Epstein, had to be rushed to a hospital while attempting to give birth at home because of a breech delivery.
“I don’t see it as unnecessary risks,” Lake said. “I had a low-risk pregnancy. My midwife was incredibly trained. I think it’s about the consumer, the mom-to-be, the family, to make the best choice for them. I’m not telling them to do what I did. It’s not about that. It’s about doing your homework and caring about the process of birth.”
The film has many scenes of births both at home and in hospitals, including a C-section. The scenes of women giving birth at home are particularly striking. “It’s really important for women today to see how amazing these women are during their birth experience, when they’re completely able to move around and labor on their own. It’s mind-blowing,” Lake said. “The reaction we’re getting is mostly extremely positive.”
The Business of Being Born Web Site
© 2007 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22592397/
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:36 AM
Unassisted Childbirth Testimonial 1 - The Ojala Family
This is a new catagory on my blog. I am taking testimonials from families who have moved from hospital birth to unassisted childbirth. Here is the first from Jamine Ojala:
This video is available on My Share Page at One True Media.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:53 AM
January 8, 2008
Good Morning America Story on Unassisted Childbirth
I've missed blogging too much these past three months, so have decided to come back, well rested and ready to participate in the various discussions around my favorite topics.
Good Morning America has prepared an excellent print article for their web site. The comment section is roaring, and tomorow they plan to play this video during the second hour of the morning broadcast during the turning point section of the show.
I thought it was interesting that we are called a "New Movement", when if you really think about the six thousand year history of the world, it is the drugs and surgery during birth that is the innovation here, not the historical reality of couples birthing alone. Think about Adam and Eve, did Heavenly Father send down a medical birth team to help while they birthed Cain and Able?
Did they need nurses, doctors, drugs, electronic fetal monitors, knives, forceps, and the host of medical tools and tricks to get the babies born? Or did they put their trust in the Lord and give birth alone?
I would suggest they gave birth alone.
The doctor in the clip made the case that the few hours of labor are the most dangerous for the baby, and I would agree with him, IF someone like him was calling the shots. Inducing with Cytotec and/or Pitocin, making the woman labor on her back, refusing her fluids and food etc etc... The very fact that he believes labor is dangerous is part of the problem.
I also disagree that those of us who have chosen freebirth are "rebelling". I am not a rebel. I have never thought of myself as rebellious. I am a very obedient person, happily living the laws of morality that have been outlined in the ten commandments, and keep my life in strict accordance with mormon ideals and principles for living.
Rather than a rebel, I am simply a mother who has logically weighed all of the issues in a methodical and practical way, spent many years reading books, statistics, and carefully following the birth controversies, and then, when I felt comfortable with it, made the faith leap to unassisted homebirth.
Some women may be rebelling from the powers that be, but I give birth alone because I believe it is best for the baby. This choice is based on a factual understanding of all of the facets of birth.
My dearest friend Susana Baig is gearing up to give birth to her seventh child in a few weeks. She has had four homebirths, three of them without a midwife present. Interestingly enough, she told me that she probably would have hired a professional in her state to help with a homebirth for this child, but because midwives are outlawed in her state, she feels that freebirth is her only choice.
Susana was one of the speakers at the 2nd International Husband Wife Homebirth Conference, hosted on my web site here. Here is a free copy of her talk.
Here is a video montage of her beautiful family!
Mothering Magazines Discussion board talking about this story: Go Here
Free Republic Thread on this topic: Go Here
Amanda Counter Speaks at the 2nd International Husband/Wife Homebirth Conference.
UPDATE Jan 9th:
Chris the mother profiled in the GMA Video had this to say about her interview with the producer for the piece on the Mothering Discussion board: Go here for her quote.
"Delurking, desperate to vent lol!
Well, overall that was a pretty big disappointment for me.
I can't believe how much they left out of my interview! They didn't mention WHY I decided to do this - being forced out of my midwifery clinic because of a new hospital policy against VBACs, no homebirthing midwives in our area, etc - nor did they mention that I had already had 2 VBACs; gotta wonder how many people are thinking I had 3 c-sections and then chose to UC lol!
I can't believe they had a doctor giving an "expert opinion" about the irresponsibility of UC, without giving me a chance to respond - they even specifically asked me in the interview, "What would you say to someone who says you're being selfish/irresponsible?" (And I had a very rational response of course lol!) By not showing a counterargument, they slanted it against UC - that position solidified by Annie's (shocking) comments at the end. I can't believe she told me she agreed with what I was doing and we sat there talking about the evils of hospitals, only for her to turn around and come out so anti-homebirth on air. :roll:
And their little "complications" part was absolutely laughable - breech birth and nuchal cord are NOT "complications" but just variants of normal; they could've chosen some REAL complications like shoulder dystocia or cord prolapse at least :roll: And hemorrhaging in 5 minutes? Um, if you're going to bleed to death in 5 minutes it doesn't matter where the heck you are, home or hospital. :P
Ah well, it could've been much worse. It will at least get people thinking."
__________________
Chris, 25, mom to: Cade - 2/14/04 (c-section), Parker - 7/30/05 (hospital-medwife VBAC), Macy - 11/12/06 (hospital-midwife VBAC) & Dawson - 12/12/07 (UP as of 18 weeks/UBAC!)
And Gloria Lemay responded to the doctors rediculous claim that a mother could bleed out in five minutes: Also found on the Mothering Discussion board here.
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Dear Women, the above quote is by a physician who was interviewed by Good Morning America for a program about Unassisted Birth on Jan 8, 2008.
http://abcnews. go.com/GMA/ TurningPoints/ story?id= 4098198&page=1
Please feel free to repost what I'm about to tell you. I think it's very important to address the statement that a woman can hemorrhage and bleed to death in as little as five minutes. This is a very horrifying comment for a dr to make and, for anyone who doesn't really know birth, it could be enough to send them running for the hospital.
First of all, yes, it's possible to hemorrhage and bleed to death quickly in birth IF YOU HAVE A SURGICAL WOUNDING. Women die from bleeding in cesareans and with episiotomies. The closest to death that I have ever seen a woman in childbirth was in a hospital birth where the ob/gyn cut an episiotomy, pulled the baby out quickly with forceps and then left the family doctor to repair the poor woman. We were skating in the blood on the floor and desperately trying to get enough I.V. fluids into her to save her life while the family doctor tried to suture as fast as he could. I have never seen anything like that in a home birth setting or a hospital birth that didn't involve cutting.
Think about it, would any midwife ever go to a homebirth if it was possible for the mother to die from bleeding in five minutes? I know I wouldn't go if that could happen. We had a visit here in Vancouver BC from an ob/gyn from Holland back in the 1980's. Dr. Kloosterman was the head of Dutch maternity services for many years and he was a real friend to homebirth and midwifery. He told us that you have AN HOUR after a natural birth before the woman will be in trouble from bleeding. Does this mean that you wait for an hour to take action with a bleeding woman? No, of course not. If there's more blood than is normal, you need to call 911 and transport to the hospital within the hour, but you're not going to have a maternal death before an hour is up. I have had 10 transports for hemorrhage in the many homebirths that I have attended (over 1000). Two women have required transfusions. The other 8 recovered with I. V. fluids, rest and iron supplements. Of course, no one wants to see blood transfusions in this day and age. We also don't like to see a woman anemic after having a baby because it makes the postpartum time very difficult. The most important action after having a baby is to keep the mother and baby skin to skin continuously for at least the first 4 hours.
What doctors won't tell you is that the most severe cases of postpartum anemia are in women who have had cesareans. Major abdominal surgery results in anemia. I have a friend who is a pharmacist in a hospital. He spends most of his days trying to figure out individual plans to help cesarean moms get their hemoglobin counts up. He finds these cases of severe anemia in post operative mothers very distressing.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
As far as the other nonsense this person is trying to frighten you with:
1. Significant tearing---if you look with a mirror at your vulva after birth and there seems to be skin that "flaps" away from the rest of the vulva structures, you can always go into the emergency ward and have someone suture the wound. Tears do not bleed like cuts do. This should not dissuade anyone from staying away from the place where the scalpels reside.
2. Breech position---you' ll know if your baby is breech. When the membranes release, you will see black meconium coming out the consistency of toothpaste. With a head first baby, the meconium colours the water green or brown but with a breech, the meconium is being squeezed directly out without mixing with water. The other way that you should suspect a breech presentation is if you have a feeling from about 34 weeks of pregnancy on that you have "a hard ball stuck in your ribs". Breech presentations are about 3 percent of births.
3. Cord wrapped around the neck---the smart babies put their cords around their necks to keep them out of trouble. If you have a baby with the cord around the neck, it can be unwrapped very easily either during or right after the birth. The most important thing is to keep the cord intact.
Gloria Lemay, Vancouver BC Canada
Advisory Board Member, ICAN
Contributing Ed. Midwifery Today Magazine
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 11:14 AM | Comments (2)
October 11, 2007
Current Birth Stats, The Business of Being Born, and CYTOTEC DANGER!!!
Preliminary Birth Data from the CDC for 2006.
Birth Report by States: Table D has all of the various section rates for 2005 and 2006
2005 Final Report Birth Stats from the CDC! C-Section rate at an all time high.
I was able to watch Rikki Lakes The Business of Being Born recently and strongly recomend every birthing mother watch it with her partner. Variety Review of the Movie.
More information about Cytotec. Read the comments attached to this post as well. Really good information.
PS Cytotec is in fact the standard of care in terms of inductions in the hospital.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:19 PM
October 10, 2007
Amazing Home Birth VBAC! Go Mama Go!!!
Read this amazing birth story posted on the Mothering discussion boards just yesterday:
QUOTE:
"After doing this I feel like I can do anything I put my heart in to, it is amazing to feel like that again, after my Cesarean Section with Gabriel, I did not feel like myself, a lot was taken away from me that day, not just the chance to push out a baby, but a lot of my 'self' was taken, a lot of my fire and spirit along with most of my confidence. I had been banking it all up since August 2006 when I had resolved to take control of my birthing, putting it all in layaway a little at a time, and I finally got it all back the night I had Violet, with interest! Ross says I even look different. I definitely feel different, I feel redeemed and proud of myself for accomplishing so much in such a short time, I also feel like I absolutely must help to spread this feeling to as many women as I can.
I know that unassisted birth is not ideal for everyone, but for me, it is the only way I feel I could safely and securely give birth; for me, any interference at all, 'good' or 'bad', would have ruined my Violet's birth.
I respect the need for well trained obstetricians in hospitals or operating rooms, in the cases when medical care is prudent; so it isn't like I have something against doctors or hospitals, it is just, I personally do not need all that to give birth. I love and respect the work that midwives do, their wisdom and their dedication to a profession that is really unappreciated by our society at large; I have every intention on training as a midwife in the future when my children are a little older, not requiring my undivided attention and are no longer breastfeeding, so it is not as if I have something 'against' midwives, I simply would never have been comfortable being myself in front of a midwife, even if she was a friend, I would never have really been able to let go and just birth. I know that for sure.
The simple truth is this: Ross is the only person who really knows what I am all about, he really knows what I need and want and he can do it without disturbing me or even without thinking, and in the moment of birthing, that is the most important thing, I think. We were the best midwives I could ask for. A great number of couples do not have the sort of relationship conductive to unassisted birth, and some do; a great number of women do not have a personality conductive to birthing alone, and again, some do. I had no real desire to be all alone, I wanted Ross to be with me, idle but present, and that is what he was; it was perfect. For us.
I think we in the birthing 'community' need to realize everyone has individual needs and desires, some need and desire to be completely alone, some want a midwife, some want their mothers, some want an obstetrician and an epidural and we all need to respect and support those needs and wants.
All women need to have choices, many varied choices that they can choose from freely without worry of people thinking they are 'crazy' or 'weak' or 'radical'. I felt the need to keep our plans for an unassisted birth a secret among many of our family members and friends until after the fact because I could not deal with the fearful, rude and even downright snarky comments and 'looks' during my pregnancy if I were to be peaceful and happy, which has since made me resolve as long as a woman has educated herself with accurate truthful information about all of her choices I have no place thinking (or saying) anything but supportive things, even if she has decided to have an elective Cesarean Section operation after being fully informed of risks and benefits.
I think we could all resolve to make sure women are well educated about their options for birth.
It is in our hands, we have the ability to change things for the better, if only we would act to do so. We must let the well educated woman choose what is best for her and her family in birth, and then just let her choice be, whether or not we think it is the 'right' choice; it will make for happier, easier pregnancies and a much more simple kind of birth."
Jasmines Email Address: shegothipslikecinderella@gmail.com
Pictures used with permission. Please feel free to contact Jasmine to talk to her about her empowering birth!
I completely endorse and applaud this mother for her courage, focus, and intentions.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:23 AM
September 30, 2007
Meridian Magazine: Healthcare, Throwing off the cords that bind us
Meridian Mag Healthcare Column
This excellent analysis by Dr. David Deardeuff covers many issues around the health care debate that are near and dear to my heart.
Here are a couple of quotes: (highlights are mine)
"Recently I sat down and knocked out, in rather short order, 23 reasons that socialized medicine is a bad approach to healthcare. When I looked over the list, it became clear that most of my items stemmed from two primary objections: lack of agency and lack of accountability. Many of the problems inherent in socialized medicine may, unfortunately, already be seen in our current insured, Medicared health care system."
"When we lived in England, which has a socialized medical system, and my wife was going to have a baby, a doctor told her that if he delivered the baby, he would do everything possible to earn more money from it, even including doing an unnecessary Caesarian section so he could get an extra £4,000 from the government. He was honest enough to recommend we use a midwife.
Actually, it's not all gravy for the doctor either. In exchange for their loss of agency, their charges may be heavily discounted by the insurance companies, and it can take a long time to get paid. We have had a payment delayed for two years in our office, and someone who works in a hospital accounting office once let slip that it takes a year to receive a Medicare payment. I can't confirm that, but I don't have any reason to doubt it."
"...Eat simple foods that don't have a whole list of artificial additives. President Ezra Taft Benson, as President of the Quorum of the Twelve, said, “In general, the more food we eat in its natural state and the less it is refined without additives, the healthier it will be for us.”(6) Eat fresh food, not canned or processed. Support natural, organic growers. Organic costs more, but you could make up for that by eating less — we all could. And you'd get more nutrition and less junk to insult your body and create illness.
I have seen over and over again how effective it is to “cleanse the inner vessel” according to natural methods as a vital first step to health and vigor, eat wisely according to the Word of Wisdom, and to use gentle, natural, non-intrusive methods in case of sickness — herbs, mild food, essential oils, chiropractic, acupuncture and so on. In addition, a skilled practitioner can even elicit true emotional healing — all without the need for symptom-suppressing drugs. It's a better way to live healthy and to shake off the ever-strengthening cords of socialism.
Many of our illnesses can be prevented by healthy living. I urge you to break free of the strong cords of socialized bondage and look around at the alternatives. Live the way the Lord has counseled. Stop fighting illness and, instead, create health!"
I wholeheartedly endorse the good doctors article. Dr. Deardeuff is the co-author of the book:
Inner Transformations Using Essential Oils
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:46 PM
September 6, 2007
Freebirth! My friend Kirsten gave birth to her daughter this past week!
My beautiful friend Kirsten emailed this past week with the news that her new daughter was Freeborn at Home into the hands of her Father!
She sent an email titled "She's Here" and shared the happy news!
I'll post pictures and the birth story in a couple days!
UPDATE: Kirsten sent some pictures today. Some were taken from the video of the birth:
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 12:31 AM
August 28, 2007
The True Face of Birth Blogger shares her journey to Unassisted Childbirth
She shares links to the Formative Words that helped her down the path to Freebirth.
My comment on Rixas Blog in response to her post:
One of the things that surprised me the most about doing my own prenantal care was how very seriously I took the job at hand.
I had thought during my first three pregnancies that I was particularly proactive and worked hard to make a healthy child, but until I took it upon myself during my fourth pregnancy to do the whole pregnancy without seeing anyone for anything, my own definition of personal responsibility took a swerve up into the clouds.
In the past twelve years friends who discover that I gave birth alone are very surpised, but they are completely gobsmacked when I tell them I did my own prenantal care.
The ripple effect into a family is powerful. I continue to observe friends who do so much for older children that they are completely capable of doing for themselves.
My own children seem to feel the spirit of Freebirth in our home. They are so proactive on so many levels of their lives. Not claiming they are perfect mind you, but the sense of "I can do it myself" is very, very strong in our home.
Currently I am enjoying my four year old Ben as he gradually weans from our Family bed, and attachment breastfeeding. He is so confident some days. He wants to sleep in his own bed, nursing is for babies, and he is the MAN in little boys body.
Yet he has moments of complete surrender to his needs as a little person, and happily reverts back to a mommas boy for nursies, naps, and snuggle time in bed with mom and dad. He is my first child that will self wean, I had to use extreme coersion with three previous babes to get them off the breast. My daughter stopped nursing at 4 and a half, not because she was ready but because momma was tandem nursing during a pregnancy and could not do it anymore.
My next two boys were both weaned on third birthdays, although they were also not ready. I tried to wean Ben on his third birthday for consistencies sake, but he moped around for a week and was so sad, I did not have the heart to do it.
I find it no accident that this child who was Freeborn Lotus Style, who has such acute intuition to his own needs as a preschooler that he regularly informs me in direct and very clearn language exactly what his needs are in the moment, I find it no accident that this pattern of internal confidence to know his own needs continues on.
During his pregnancy I would regularly talk to him to ask what he needed from me in terms of exercise, nutrition, etc etc... And he guided me through my dreams, my mothers intuition, and spirit to spirit to know exactly what he wanted. Up to the second he was born, I was being guided, mostly by him (and his assorted guardian angels).
This perfect guiding is SO MUCH more powerful that an outside paid hireling giving his or her "expert" opinion on the various issues of pregnancy.
I challenge all women to take on the task of growing and birthing the baby all by themselves. It will change everything in your life.
Jenny Hatch
WWW.NaturalFamilyBLOG.com
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 3:50 PM
Blogger Alias Mother - funny funny funny
This is what she meant, right?
My favorite ice cream before I gave up chocolate last year was Ben and Jerrys Peanut Butter Cup. I ate a whole pint of that regularly during the past few years. Yeah, I think that is what she meant.....ha ha....
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 3:18 PM
August 25, 2007
Fox News: Government Report: U.S. Women Dying in Childbirth at the Highest Rate in Decades
Government Report: U.S. Women Dying in Childbirth at the Highest Rate in Decades
"U.S. women are dying from childbirth at the highest rate in decades, new government figures show. Though the risk of death is very small, experts believe increasing maternal obesity and a jump in Caesarean sections are partly to blame.
Some experts note that a change in how such deaths are reported also may be a factor.
"Those of us who look at this a lot say it's probably a little bit of both," said Dr. Jeffrey King, an obstetrician who led a recent New York state review of maternal deaths.
The U.S. maternal mortality rate rose to 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004, according to statistics released this week by the National Center for Health Statistics.
The rate was 12 per 100,000 live births in 2003 — the first time the maternal death rate rose above 10 since 1977.
To be sure, death from childbirth remains fairly rare in the United States. The death of infants is much more common — the nation's infant mortality rate was 679 per 100,000 live births in 2004.
Maternal deaths were a much more common tragedy long ago. Nearly one in every 100 live births resulted in a mother's death as recently as 90 years ago.
Some health statisticians note the total number of maternal deaths — still fewer than 600 each year — is small. It is so small that 50 to 100 extra deaths could raise the rate, said Donna Hoyert, a health scientist with the National Center for Health Statistics.
In 2003, there was a change in death certificate questions in the nation's most populous state, California, as well as Montana and Idaho. That may have resulted in more deaths being linked to childbirth — enough to push up the 2003 rate, Hoyert said.
Some researchers point to the rising C-section rate, now 29 percent of all births — far higher than what public health experts say is appropriate. Like other surgeries, Caesareans come with risks related to anesthesia, infections and blood clots.
"There's an inherent risk to C-sections," said Dr. Elliott Main, who co-chairs a panel reviewing obstetrics care in California. "As you do thousands and thousands of them, there's going to be a price."
Excessive bleeding is one of the leading causes of pregnancy-related death, and women with several previous C-sections are at especially high risk, according to a review of maternal deaths in New York. Blood vessel blockages and infections are among the other leading causes.
Experts also say obesity may be a factor. Heavier women are more prone to diabetes and other complications, and they may have excess tissue and larger babies that make a vaginal delivery more problematic. That can lead to more C-sections. "It becomes this sort of snowball effect," said King.
The age of mothers could be a factor, too. More women are giving birth in their late 30s and 40s, when complications risks are greater."
CDC final death report for 2004
A More in depth version of this same article at the Huffington Post: Go Here
Is anyone who has been following the childbirth scams of the past few years surprised by these statistics???
I'm not.
People are talking about this article on the web:
Here are three conversations:
Mothering Magazine Discussion Forums
My Comment at the Post:
As a Bradley Childbirth Teacher and Mother of Five:
I have been watching the unfolding childbirth drama in America play out over the past 18 years.
It has been horrifying to watch so many gains from natural birth activism just melt away the past ten years as several different factors came into play. Soaring C-section and induction rates, increased drug use during pregnancy and labor, and systematic outlawing of home birth. This is a complex issue, but for me the bottom line questions are these:
With more mothers than ever getting prenatal care and more using allopathic (Drugs and surgery) infrastructure for birth, why is the maternal death rate going up? The preemie rate going up? The infant mortality rate going up? And why isn't anyone in the press yelling about this travesty???
Articles like this do indeed link the c-section rate to the higher mother mortality rate. Yet, it feels like one big fat defense for Obstetricians.
The women are fat.
The women are old.
Lots of head scratching going on, "I dunn