Purple Finger for Freedom
Purple Power!
Nobles mock
Jenny Hatch – Click to read the intro to this Blog

Liberty in Midwifery and Birth
Jan [Tritten] and I were discussing our upcoming conference in March, titled “Liberty in Midwifery and Birth” (March 23–27, 2006, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). I realized that I did not fully understand the meaning of liberty, so I looked it up in the dictionary. I was amazed at the correlations between the meaning of liberty and the needs of birthing women. I was astounded by the relation of liberty to midwifery and of how midwives assert the rights of birthing women.
Looking closely we can see what liberty involves:
Liberty is the quality or state of being free. It is the power to do as one pleases, or freedom from physical constraint. These literal meanings remind me of the birthing woman who, in the throes of labor, discards her clothes and abandons herself to the power of her contractions. She is in a pure state of freedom, unencumbered by restriction or boundaries.
Liberty means permission, especially to go freely within specified limits. Does this not describe birth? Our bodies and those of our babies interact dynamically; some of the effects of pregnancy are beyond our control. While we have no control over Mother Nature we do have the freedom to let nature take its course without intervention when all is well. This is the beauty of natural birth.
Finally, liberty is an action going beyond normal limits. While birth is normal, women reach far beyond their normal limits to bring forth their children. It is high time that women are given the credit due for their noble efforts.
All these meanings represent a basic and spiritual right to bring forth life with honor and dignity. Liberty is the basis of human rights!”
Although I am a passionate and unapologetic promoter of Unassisted Birth, I know that many women will not feel comfortable giving birth alone at home. A midwife attended home birth is often a great alternative to UC (Unassisted Childbirth), and most states have a wonderful group of midwives prepared to help women give birth safely at home.
My home state of Colorado has some particularly stringent rules regarding the hiring of a midwife and I would not have been able to give birth at home if I had used one for my care, but check out the rules and regulations in your state and see if a midwife can provide the care that will help you feel comfortable while giving birth.

Jenny Hatch

MARK STEYN
“Good news! On Thursday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, who recently called for Israel to be wiped off the map, moderated his position. In a spirit of statesmanlike compromise, he now wants Israel wiped off the map of the Middle East and wiped on to the map of Europe.”
Jenny Hatch

“It may be the most important talk you will ever
have with your child! The “big talk” about sex should
come early (we recommend the eighth birthday), but
it is never too late! A “preemptive strike” can give your
child a healthy, positive, respectful view of human intimacy
that will stand up to all the garbage that will come from the media
and the peer group. And being able to talk together about THE MOST
intimate subject will make any and every other subject “on limits” between you and you child. ”

Jenny Hatch

Hong Kong Hoards Herbs in Case of Flu
Quote:
“Tamiflu is the hot drug now as people prepare in case a deadly super-flu outbreak should sweep around the world. But herbalist Wong Chi-sun is putting his trust in what looks like a plastic zip-lock bag full of some really bad weed.
He sells a blend of some classic Chinese fever-fighting remedies: squiggly yellowish buds of honeysuckle flowers, brown seed shells from the weeping forsythia, crumpled black Dyers Woad leaves and dried chips of Isatis root.”
Jenny Hatch