So Many Things to Talk About

I have so many things to talk about. So many things going on! I don't know whether to just put everything in one post or break things up!

One thing I did want to post was the birth of my niece, Florence! Ashly and BryAnn had a beautiful baby girl on Friday, June 27, 2008! 6lbs 8oz 18in, My sister-in-law BryAnn did wonderful giving birth to this gorgeous little bundle! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!











I'll write about my other adventures later!

Birth Doesn't Hurt?

I believe that childbirth can be pain free (last birth). I believe this because I have experienced it. I have also experienced childbirth being painful (with my two previous births). What changed was my belief about childbirth. I learned about the pain-fear cycle and how to create in my mind an ideal pain free birth. Believing in myself, my ability to give birth to my child and knowing how this could be done helped to change my perception of child birth.

I saw this quote today from Ina May Gaskin, in her book "Spiritual Midwifery".

"There is extraordinary psychological benefit in belonging to a group
of women who have positive stories to tell about their birth
experiences. This phenomenon is exactly what developed within our
village.

So many horror stories circulate about birth-especially in the United
States-that it can be difficult for women to believe that labor and
birth can be a beneficial experience. If you have been pregnant for a
while, it's probable that you've already heard some scary birth
stories from friends or relatives.

This is especially true if you live in the United States, where
telling pregnant women gory stories has been a national pastime for
at least a century. Now that birth has become a favorite subject of
television dramas and situation comedies, this trend has been even
more pronounced.

No one has explained the situation more succinctly than Stephen King
in his novella "The Breathing Method." Commenting on the fear many
women have of birth, his fictional character observes, "Believe me:
if you are told that some experience is going to hurt, it will hurt.
Most pain is in the mind, and when a woman absorbs the idea that the
act of giving birth is excruciatingly painful-when she gets this
information from her mother, her sisters, her married friends, and
her physician-that woman has been mentally prepared to feel great
agony." King, you may not know, is the father of several children
born at home."

Why do we as women destroy another woman's birth experience by telling her how awful birth is? Why are we so negative about one of the most beautiful and natural experiences on this earth? I would like to challenge all of us to be positive about child birth and mothering. Tell women what an amazing experience birth is. Tell them about the amazing way our bodies create a person and the amazing way we bring that person into this world.

If you have had a bad birth experience, keep it to yourself. As women a lot of times we want recognition and attention for things we do. Sometimes we want sympathy for bad things that have happened to us or the hard things we've had to do. Sometimes we want to be heroes and be known to others for a specific thing we did. We tell these stories over and over again. What we sometimes don't realize is how this affects first time moms or even mothers who are having their 2nd, 3rd child or so on. Our minds are very powerful and when being told a story we can see it vividly in our minds. Our mind doesn't always know the difference between what is imagined and what is real. Pregnant women are already emotional, they already have their own set of fears and worries. They don't need other women telling them their horror stories and putting upon them their fears and worries.

There are times that we tell our stories about birth thinking we are helping to prepare the pregnant woman for what could happen. We are smart, we know there are risks associated with pregnancy and birth. It is no secret. However, pregnant women don't need those risks magnified and described in a way that they themselves feel like they have experienced them. We set ourselves up to fail when we focus on the risks and potential problems of pregnancy and birth. We create that experience in our mind and that experience becomes our reality.

I know I've probably been guilty of telling women not-so-positive things about birth. Here and now I am going to commit to telling positive and wonderful things about birth. It is my goal to empower women with information, knowledge and positive experiences, not fear.

Please tell a different story!

Birth Video

This is a slide show type video of the pictures from Isaac's home birth.

Paradigm Shift

As you know from a previous post we are having a home birth assisted by a midwife. Due to the nature of the situation I had been considering pain management techniques, since I will not be having an epidural or medical pain relief. I knew a little bit about hypnosis during childbirth so I decided to do more research about that. I also asked my midwife what she recommends.

She gave me some brochures for different providers for hypnosis during childbirth in our area. Two were for teachers that taught hypnosis and another one that was called Hypnobabies. I wanted to know what the difference was. I found that for hypnosis during childbirth you had to lay down and relax to be in the hypnosis. Hynobabies taught hypnotic anesthesia and eyes open hypnosis. These techniques made it possible to have completely pain free childbirth while still being able to walk and talk. Hypnobabies is also a complete childbirth class.

I signed up to take Hypnobabies from Laura Lund. It is a six week course. Taking this class has opened my eyes to many of the routine procedures hospitals do. In the classes, we have discussed how many of these procedures basically put you on a course to child birth failure. I always just thought you had to do what the hospital said and you had to follow their rules and that they knew best. I have come to realize that this is not the case.

Despite many studies and facts hospitals still continue to have routine procedures that, for normal pregnancies and births, have more risks than benefits to the mother and baby. One standard procedure that I found very interesting was the clamping and cutting of the cord. It wasn't something I gave much thought until our class at Hypnobabies.

This is my experience with clamping and cutting the cord; after the baby is born and the doctor suctioned the baby with a bulb syringe (another routine procedure) the baby was placed on my stomach and the doctor clamped (a clamp was put near the baby's skin and then the remaining blood in the cord was pushed back toward the placenta. The cord was then clamped again a few inches from the first clamp with a surgical clamp) the umbilical cord and handed my husband a pair of surgical scissors. My husband was then instructed to cut the cord between the two clamps.

Trusting the hospital like I did, I never thought this could actually be harmful to the baby. I am still unsure as to why they do this routinely, what benefits do they see to doing this? Some risks include:

• Asphysiation - after birth the baby is still learning to use it's lungs. They are not use to breathing in air and therefore do not function fully in bringing oxygen into the body. The umbilical cord, however, has oxygenated blood in it that is meant for the baby and, left intact, will continue to give the baby the oxygen it needs. If enough oxygen is not delivered to the baby's brain it may cause brain damage.
  
• Inadequate pulmonary perfusion - As your baby tries to breathe for the first time, additional blood volume is needed to fill the blood vessels that go to the lungs to pick up oxygen. If there's no blood flowing in from the umbilical cord, your baby may become hypovolemic, meaning it doesn't have enough blood.
• Educator Joseph Chilton Pearce in his book "Magical Child" makes reference to studies that were done on primates who gave birth in captivity and had early cord clamping. Autopsies of the primates showed that early cord clamping produced unusual lesions in the brains of the animals. These same lesions were also found in the brains of human infants when autopsied. (REFERENCE)

After a normal birth the baby should be allowed to stay attached to the mother through the umbilical cord. This also allows the baby and mother time to get to know each other and the baby to adjust to it's new surroundings in a very loving and gentle manner. When the umbilical cord stops pulsating and the placenta has been delivered, the cord can then be clamped (although not necessary, the cord will clamp itself when it is done delivering the blood) and then cut.

I will write later about other routine procedures that complicate birth and have a domino effect that can lead to unnecessary c-sections.