Chosen Births Midwifery

04/21/2023

11/19/2022

How sweet.

11/14/2022

Someone sent me a message from Trenton TN and now can’t find it. Please resend.

09/30/2022

Did you know that before 1600 Western Women gave birth squatting, sitting and standing?.
This changed when King Louis XIV of France ruled that in order for him to witness the birth of his children, his women had to give birth lying down.

Although that posture makes childbirth more difficult and painful, it soon became widespread, and French doctors had to invent forceps to avoid some of its consequences. In a short time, the obstetric instruments multiplied, and it came to believe that childbirth was always an emergency that required medical attention to be uncomplicated.

The idea that women should be guided by their own instinct when it comes to childbirth is growing in popularity. The number of expectant mothers opting for natural childbirth—understood as the birth where external intervention is minimal possible—is on the rise.

French obstetrician Michel Odent, one of the most notable advocates of natural childbirth, claims that the midwife should not stick to any rules, but obey her instinct, which makes her an expert in giving birth. Odent gave his patients total freedom to proceed as they please, and even allowed them to sit in a tub of warm water to relieve the pain from uterine contractions. That's where the idea of water birth came from.

Current physiology knowledge has shown that vertical birth—standing or squatting— allows baby birth to be faster and less traumatic. However, there is no such thing as a universal posture for giving birth. In the most primitive communities, early birthing mothers are guided by the council of the most experienced women.

09/23/2022

https://fb.watch/fJuQCviP4O/

08/30/2022

We've all had blood drawn, so we recognize the size of the tube. When we acknowledge that immediate clamping leaves 30% of babies blood in the placenta, we get it...but to see it is pretty shocking.

08/25/2022

08/04/2022

Beautiful. Shared from a friend.

07/17/2022

So sweet. I’ve never seen a child over two years old even be scared at a birth. Such a family thing.

06/30/2022

05/06/2022

ONE LAST TIME
"From the moment you hold your baby in your arms,
you will never be the same.
You might long for the person you were before,
When you have freedom and time,
And nothing in particular to worry about.

You will know tiredness like you never knew it before,
And days will run into days that are exactly the same,
Full of feedings and burping,
Nappy changes and crying,
Whining and fighting,
Naps or a lack of naps,
It might seem like a never-ending cycle.

But don’t forget …
There is a last time for everything.
There will come a time when you will feed
your baby for the very last time.
They will fall asleep on you after a long day
And it will be the last time you ever hold your sleeping child.

One day you will carry them on your hip then set them down,
And never pick them up that way again.
You will scrub their hair in the bath one night
And from that day on they will want to bathe alone.
They will hold your hand to cross the road,
Then never reach for it again.
They will creep into your room at midnight for cuddles,
And it will be the last night you ever wake to this.

One afternoon you will sing “the wheels on the bus”
and do all the actions,
Then never sing them that song again.
They will kiss you goodbye at the school gate,
The next day they will ask to walk to the gate alone.
You will read a final bedtime story and wipe your last dirty face.
They will run to you with arms raised for the very last time.

The thing is, you won’t even know it’s the last time
Until there are no more times.
And even then, it will take you a while to realize.

So while you are living in these times,
remember there are only so many of them
and when they are gone, you will yearn for just one more day of them.
For one last time."

-Author Unknown-

04/23/2022

THE KEY INGREDIENT IS TIME

Do you know that your uterus cramps after birth and ejects blood into your baby? This cannot happen if the cord is cut.

Mother Nature's design is perfect for transforming your baby into an air breathing creature. This transformation is in fact called a Transition, but like all transitions the key ingredient is time - time for the placenta to release the rest of the baby's blood back to him.

The effects of premature cord clamping on our babies are not detectable right away - and this has allowed doctors and even midwives to continue this practice without challenge. (I was in fact taught to do immediate cord clamping due to a misguided belief that it prevented hemorrhaging). Research continues to prove that the baby deprived of blood is at risk for harm, and this is only evident later because you cannot test for cognition on a newborn. The way to get an Intact Birth as parents is to know and to demand they wait. Much of what we clinicians do to help your baby breathe when needed, can be done without immediate clamping.

The science is all there. The question around cord cutting is not "where is the evidence", but "why is this happening?" More-than-you-can-read compilation of research available at
http://www.nature.com/jp/journal/v37/n2/full/jp2016151a.html