"Loving and Supporting Mamas and Babies" - 5 new articles
Honoring Our Cycles: Using Fertility Awareness to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy
"Like the earth's surface, a woman of childbearing age moves through cycles of heating and cooling, which in turn create moistening and drying, which in turn provide a fertile environment for life to evolve. Rocks, glaciers, plants, and animals (including humans) all evolve in concert with these processes. Just as a meteorologist can observe and measure cycles in the earth's surface to determine weather patterns, a woman can observe her daily waking temperature, cervical fluid, and the cervix's changes to gauge her gynecological health and to determine when she can and cannot conceive. According to Leah Morton, an MD with a family practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 'The first step in being healthy is knowing about yourself and respecting nature. Fertility Awareness provides a way to learn these things.'" "With Fertility Awareness, a woman can be in sync with her own cycles, and couples often experience enhanced communication and intimacy." This article gives an introduction to Fertility Awareness and how it can be a benefit to couples. For more information about Fertility Awareness, please see Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, by Toni Weschler.  The Fight Against Iatrogenic PrematurityNovember is Prematurity Awareness Month "Iatrogenic prematurity refers to the birth of a physiologically immature and/or low-weight infant who is delivered prematurely as a result of medical intervention." The United States recently received a "D" on the March of Dimes 2009 Premature Birth Report Card. This is alarming, and raises some serious concerns. Much needed research is being done on the causes and possible prevention of preterm labor.  15 Breastfeeding Myths Explained
It's a short article, clear and concise, and helps explain the truth about breastfeeding.  Some thoughts about my breech baby
There was something I neglected to mention in my blog post about my home water birth. A few weeks before the baby's due date I went to my OB's office to get the Group Beta Strep screen. My midwife had recommended it and it was only the third time I'd been to the OB's office during my entire pregnancy because I had been seeing my home birth midwife for regular prenatal visits. As part of the visit, the nurse-practitioner checked the position of the baby. When she felt the large mass down near my cervix she looked confused and really started to feel around more. She told me she wasn't sure it was the baby's head that was down, and that I should have one of the OB's double-check the baby's position the next time I came in. I had no intention of returning to their office, so I brushed it off. When I got into my car to head home I sat and thought for a moment. I remembered that my midwife had felt the baby at each prenatal visit and said he was head-down. I wondered "what if my baby is breech? Would it change my plans?" I realized that no, a breech position would not change any of my plans. I knew that my midwife had caught a surprise breech at a home birth just a few months before my baby was due, and I trusted my midwife to be able to handle any situation at our planned home birth. If you've read my birth story then you know that my baby was indeed breech, and we didn't realize it until I had already started to push him out! At the time I was extremely grateful to be at home in the birthing tub with a wonderful support team, and all turned out beautifully well. Since the birth I've come to realize that if I had planned a hospital birth with my breech baby it would have ended in a cesarean section. I know this without a doubt, and this knowledge has brought me greater gratitude and appreciation for my amazing birth experience. I'm so grateful that I was open to home birth and able to embrace it fully. I had peace with me throughout my pregnancy that home birth was exactly the right thing for this birth, and I also had peace knowing that my baby would be healthy and all would be well. For me this peace came as a result of much study, careful introspection, and prayer. I personally feel that God was loving and gracious in offering me a natural, peaceful means of bringing this precious baby boy into our family, and I am eternally thankful for that.  UpliftingThis is not specifically related to pregnancy or birth, but it's beautiful and uplifting, and I would like to share it.  More Recent Articles |
