Anything that makes birth less traumatic for the baby is a good thing in my opinion. It would seem logical that this innovation would be greatly appreciated by those mothers who need to have a section.
Here is the link to the Natural Cesarean article in BBC News.
Doctors at Queen Charlotte’s hospital in London are pioneering “natural caesarean” births with the aim of making the surgery less traumatic for mother and baby.
Normally, after the incision, babies are delivered rapidly behind a screen. But in this case the parents, Sheri and Jason Tan, are able to watch the baby’s head emerge.
Queen Charlotte’s says the natural caesarean is now becoming an established procedure at the hospital.
When I gave birth to my second child by c-section, I asked to be able to hold her for a few minutes after the surgery, but the pediatrician wanted to suck out her lungs with the little tube, so I was able to give her a little kiss on the cheek and then they took her over to the station where the baby sucker was and that doctor just kept jabbing it into her throat. It felt like she was doing this baby torture forever, and after a few minutes she said she wanted to put her under oxygen in the nursery, so Paul carried her down to the nursery while I was stapled back together. When I arrived in my room after the surgery I told them to bring me my baby and I pretty much kept her in my arms or in my room for the four days I was in the hospital after the birth.
My husband or my mother stayed with me the whole time and I had a reasonable recovery. The most difficult experience of all, after having a knife in my belly, was walking up the three flights of stairs to our little third floor walk up apartment once we arrived back home.
By the time I was up to the third set of stairs I was bawling, Paul kept helping me lift my legs, and as soon as I made it into the apartment I did not come out again for three weeks.
We had a c-section after twenty hours of labor because I had refused to have an ultrasound during my pregnancy and it was discovered during labor that she was breech.
Jenny Hatch
Tag Birth
Anna Stewart: Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers
I met Anna at a Birth Lodge when I was expecting my son Andrew in 1995. We became fast friends and she has always had a place in my heart. Her passion for healing birth and helping women connected us, and the fact that we both love to write and document this thing called life layers the depths of our friendship.
I attended her workshop, Motherhands when I was expecting my son Benjamin five years ago, and it was a wonderful way to set aside a few hours from my busy life to focus on the baby and my intentions around his birth.
I saw her at a park a few years ago and she told me that she was working on a book about Mother Blessings. Here is the Amazon Link.
Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers
Motherhands Web Site
It is always challenging to plan your own party around birth and the sacred milestones of life, (at least for me it was), but because of my friendship with Anna and her understanding of how important these celebrations are, I planned my own Blessing Way before Ben was born in 2002. We held this party on Labor Day, and Paul and I were very blessed to have Rico and Jeaninne Parvati Baker join us for this wonderful Ceremony.
I documented My Blessing Way on my web site here.
Having Jeannine with us was such a blessing, even more so now that she is no longer here. She died in 2005 and is greatly missed by all of us in the Birth Activist world. I sometimes feel her spirit around me, encouraging me, as I write and share insights around motherhood.
I praise Anna Stewart for taking the time to document The various Blessings that can be ours as women when we take the time to honor, love, and appreciate each other. I attended a Blessing Way for my friend Susanna back in 1998, and it was the first time I had ever felt the spirit of the Lord at a baby shower. Up to that point I had been to dozens of showers and had been the recipient of several showers around the births of my first four children. These parties were wonderful, and I was grateful for the time, money, and effort that various friends and family put into them.
But as we sang to Susanas baby, prayed together, and then shared our hearts and hopes for our wonderful friend and her new child, I realized that the materialism of the American Baby Shower had stolen from women our sacred and holy potential to truly honor and bless each other. The Blessing Way takes womanly connections and puts them into the spiritual stratosphere, rather than keeping those relationships tied down to materialism and silly jokes and games around birth and mothering.
Here are a few more links, mostly articles written by Anna about her work, but also some blog entrys by women who loved what she had to say:
Blessing Ways for all Women
Mother Blessing
Mother Blessings Intro to the book (PDF)
Gifts from a blessing way
And here is the text from my own Blessing Way article:
(Click on the link to see the pictures.)
Continue reading “Anna Stewart: Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers”
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
Hana Peace Works Newsletter
The First Ever Film Festival About Birth
Motherbaby International Film Festival premiered in Portland Oregon, hosted by the first annual Gentle Birth Conference, and was a huge success. Twenty six films were shown over the 3 day conference, grouped and scheduled thematically and followed by panel discussions led by filmmakers, educators, and local community leaders. For more information please see the article in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Mothering Magazine. www.mothering.com
David Chamberlain was a featured presenter at the MotherBaby International Film Festival, an event hosted by the Gentle Birth Congress and organized by Hanna Peace Works’ Debby Takikawa and Sage Femme’s Diana Paul. Just before the lights dimmed on Saturday evening for the West Coast premiere of The Business of Being Born, David was honored by the Global Maternal/Child Health Association for his unparalleled work on behalf of mothers and babies. The award, presented to him by actress/producer Ricki Lake and GM/CHA’s executive director Barbara Harper, reads, “The fathers of the world respect you / The mothers of the world adore you / The babies of the world love you… For letting them speak.”
Debby Takikawa is putting on another film festival about birth in Santa Barbara, Ca. on May 23rd and 24th, 2008. Please go to www.babyff.com for more information.
Continue reading “Hana Peace Works Newsletter”
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
The Business of Being Born Opened this week in New York!
Birth: “
It’s a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?”
If you live in New York, take the time to get a group of friends together and go see the movie, which recently premiered at the IFC Center and helped the New Space for Womens Health in Manhattan.
Here are the three main reviews from the New York Premiere:
New York Times
Hollywood Reporter
Time Out New York
More Here:
People Magazine
Access Hollywood Video: Go Here
Please, get together anyone who is pregnant, thinking of having a baby, or is interested in birth and go see this movie. It may be the most important thing you do all year! I watched the movie a few weeks ago, and it was one of the best documentaries I have ever watched!
Free Republic Thread
Jenny Hatch
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
Spirit Led Birth Blog: Christ Centered Birth
Christ Centered Birth
Susana Fierro-Baig shares some wonderful insights for the Christian Mother. Please note, Susana is expecting her seventh child in February, and plans to give birth at home only assisted by her Husband Robert.
Jenny Hatch
