Great workshops
April 30, 2008 at 7:06 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: lotus birth, Sarah Buckley, waterbirth
There are so many great workshops going on at Conscious Woman at the moment that I don’t know where to start! Gloria Lemay is doing an interactive 90 minute online workshop on Waterbirth and Lotus birth as part of the Advanced Doula Training, but it is also open to the public.
Sarah Buckley’s workshop Gentle Birth: The Science and the Wisdom starts tomorrow! But if you miss it then there are still 5 more on topics such as the hormonal impact of interventions, cord-clamping, epidurals, c-sections and ultrasounds.
If you are interested in getting an online presence, particularly with a view to advocacy, then Laureen Hudson is running an online workshop: A Guide to Online Communities.
Hope you find something useful and fun and please share it here if you do!
Heatherx
In Adelaide
April 30, 2008 at 12:14 am | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: random
1450kms later, my body has arrived in Adelaide, but I think my spirit is still halfway between Sydney and Adelaide trying to catch up. I took 2 days to drive it, which is a bit less than the 2 months and 3 days it took to walk that far! I heard/read once that you shouldn’t travel further than you can walk in a day (Native American Indian Wisdom) and I did a quick search on the web and couldn’t find any reference to it, but I did find these nice Quotes and I liked this one:
The True Peace
The first peace, which is the most important,
is that which comes within the souls of people
when they realize their relationship,
their oneness, with the universe and all its powers,
and when they realize that at the center
of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit),
and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this.
The second peace is that which is made between two individuals,
and the third is that which is made between two nations.
But above all you should understand that there can never
be peace between nations until there is known that true peace,
which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.Black Elk, Oglala Sioux & Spiritual Leader (1863 – 1950)
Perfectly on time
April 25, 2008 at 2:36 am | In Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: EDD, post due dates
Let’s throw out the Estimated Due Date (EDD) altogether and replace it with an Estimated Due Month (EDM), only 3% of bubs come on their due date anyway. “Normal” (a whole other topic deserving of it’s own blog) is (apparently) 37-42 weeks and depending on whether you use Woods, Naegels, Lunar, Mittendorf’s or a wheel to calculate an EDD, could give you a date that varies up to 3 weeks anyway! I think I heard (correct me if I’m wrong) that in Canada they are giving a “to be born by” date instead of an EDD?
Babies arrive perfectly on time – on their Birth Day 
Twin HBAC
April 24, 2008 at 12:23 pm | In Birth | Leave a CommentTags: HBAC, Twins
So beautiful and check out the gorgeous placenta print!
Secrets of a Homebirth Dad
April 23, 2008 at 8:04 am | In Birth | Leave a CommentTags: Homebirth
Written by a Dad after the birth of his second child at home in London – Secrets of a Homebirth Dad
All Dads-to-be are nervous, or at least skeptical, when their wife/partner first mentions the idea of having a home birth. This is nothing to be ashamed of – us guys are conditioned by a lifetimes constant bombardment that Doctors know best and that it is our patriarch’s duty to always make the safest choices. That’s why when my wife Bel first brought up the idea for the birth of our second daughter, my first train of thought was about risk. Images of John Hurt’s chest cracking open and a tiny, evil alien being screeching its bloody arrival to the universe ran through my mind. I looked up at the walls of our apartment and wondered whether an arterial spray of blood could ever be washed out of that particular shade of off-white.
Ten minutes’ googling dissolved my misconception that home birth is reckless (with Bel peering over my shoulder and directing me to websites she’d already read). In a nutshell, there are studies for and against, but if you listen to your own common sense you will probably agree it’s just as safe, if not safer. You can find all that stuff for yourself, what I want to really want to talk about is the second train of though that ran through my head – why?
Why have a home birth? My wife had her reasons and she laid them out for me. Bel had a horrible experience in hospital with our first daughter and that was a big part of it. As Bel explained it to me I nodded and said ‘umm’ a lot and was happy to go along with it because I knew it was what she wanted. But I never had reasons of my own – from my selfish perspective as a Dad – until after I had experienced it for myself. These reasons are the 7 secrets I want to share with you Dads now so that you can appreciate your home birth the first time round.
GO HERE for the secrets
Fertility
April 23, 2008 at 6:47 am | In Fertility | 1 CommentTags: Fertility
Whenever talking about fertility issues, I avoid using the term “infertility” as much as possible. People truly underestimate the importance of language, not just in birth which I have mentioned before.
The diagnosing of “infertility” is grossly out of proportion to actual incidence and can have a devastating effect on couples. Most couples are not “infertile” but due to our modern lifestyles are simply out of balance. For instance 78.4% of previously diagnosed “infertile” couples that follow the Foresight Preconception program have healthy babies. This is a program that is based on eliminating toxins, restoring nutrient balance and making lifestyle changes.
It’s just common sense that if you aim to IMPROVE health rather than circumvent ILL HEALTH then you are going to have healthier mothers and babies! Studies done by the Foresight Foundation have shown that there is a significant reduction in miscarriages, perinatal deaths and malformations with their program.
Chinese medicine has been used in fertility treatment for several thousand years. The beauty of this system is that it brings the body back to balance and it’s very successful. Acupuncture and chinese herbs can regulate the menstrual cycle, balance hormones, improve uterine blood flow, circulation and uterine lining quality. It improves ovarian function, egg quality and the number of follicles. It also promotes relaxation and decreases chances of miscarriage and most people going down the IVF route know that it improves chances of success if you do acu with IVF.
A great book for understanding how chinese medicine can help is “The Infertility Cure” by Randine Lewis and her website is also very informative.
Gauging a Woman’s Health by her Fertility Signals is one of my favourite articles for people who want to understand more about how Chinese Medicine looks at fertility.
Practitioner sites with good laypeople resources include:
OK, I stop me there…I could harp on about this stuff till the cows come home (when do cows come home?). Next time I will just do as I intended and share links rather than start harping
Love
Heatherx
Questions to Ask…
April 17, 2008 at 11:07 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentMost people put more thought into choosing a car than choosing a care provider for their birth. Before making such a big decision for you and your family, do some research and start asking questions!
Here are some links to get you started on questions you should be asking your care-providers.
Questions to ask:
Midwives – motherfriendly.org, gentlebirth.org
Doulas – DONA, chilbirthcollective.org, chilbirthconnection.org
Obstetricians – bellybelly, motherfriendly.org
Birthplace – motherfriendly.org, childbirthconnection.org
Childbirth Connection is a US website, but full of useful info that is still relevant to Australians.
Breech
April 16, 2008 at 5:21 am | In Birth | Leave a CommentTags: Breech
While waiting on Maggie Banks’s book to return to library, I thought I would post myself these links. If you have any other breech links PLEASE post them in the comments, I would love to add them! I only recently discovered Maggie’s site, which is called Birth Spirit!
- Facilitating Breech Birth: Midwifery (and Women’s) Business by Maggie Banks
- Active Breech Birth: the point of least resistance by Maggie Banks
- Term Breech Trial – Commentary by Maggie Banks
- Breech Birth Beyond the “Term Breech Trial” by Maggie Banks
- Breech Choices by Dr. Sarah Buckley
The blog Breech Mama has lots of links including Henci Goer’s analysis of the Term Breech Trial and you might want to look at the Coalition for Breech Birth.
Lewis Mehl’s study on hypnosis was conducted with 100 women who’s babies were breech at 37-40 weeks. They received hypnosis with suggestions for release of fear and anxiety. 81% of the babies turned in the intervention group compared with 48% in the matched comparison group. I don’t need statistics to remind me of the spiritual and emotional aspects of these things, but it’s nice to refer to
And of course moxabustion on BL67 (an acupuncture point on the little toe) is well known for helping to turn breech bubs!
Heatherx
calmbirth®
April 6, 2008 at 12:29 am | In Birth | 2 CommentsTags: caesarean
No posting this week. I am in Bowral for the calmbirth® course, then back to Adelaide on the weekend for a workshop next week. I was going to post on April being Caesarean Awareness Month, but every other birthy blogger out there has covered it pretty well I think, as highlighted on Trial of Labor and a few studies on the True Face of Birth.
Have a great week!
Birthy blessings,
Heatherx
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