Susan Fierro Baig was one of our speakers at the 2nd International Husband/Wife Homebirth Conference
Susan is the mother of six children, four born at home, and she is one of my dearest friends.
Here is a picture of Susan with her husband Robert.
And go here for the streaming video of her talk from the conference.
Jenny Hatch
Tag Musings on Motherhood
HuffPo: Rebecca Woolf: Moshing in the Sandbox
Rebecca Woolf
No, I don’t think enjoying some good old fashioned rock n roll is going to hurt a mommy. I enjoy that sort of thing myself, sans beer…
Jenny Hatch
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
Meridian Magazine: Janet Peterson – Relief Society Presidents are great cooks!
Janet Peterson
Great article by Sister Peterson.
Jenny Hatch
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
My Triplets Were Inseparable, Whatever the Risks
My Triplets Were Inseparable, Whatever the Risks
“FOR the first month, their bedroom, with all the wires and machines, would look more like an extension of the intensive care unit than a home nursery. Endless visits to the pediatrician, ophthalmologist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist and neurologist would fill the boys’ first calendar year.
But with a good insurance plan and Medicaid’s coverage for babies under 2 pounds 10 ounces, we were relieved that we did not have to pay the million-dollar hospital bill. This was not the time to pontificate on how our quest to have a family resulted in a significant financial drain on society’s resources, though that knowledge has weighed on me.
What hasn’t weighed on me, as our boys have grown healthier and bigger (they’re now 4 and thriving in preschool) is our decision not to reduce. I often look at them and ask myself that impossible question: Which one wouldn’t be here?
But I feel no righteousness about our choice, only luck. Time and again I run into mothers at the playground with twins who notice my triplets (it’s hard not to) and gently ask whether I faced that decision, only to then confess their deep guilt at having reduced from triplets themselves.
“Look, don’t,” I tell them. “We could have lost all of ours. We almost did.”
Almost.”
Susanne M. Sanchez lives in Hollywood, Fla.
I appreciate Mrs. Sanchez’s insights and story. Yet I have to think about the story of the mother who gave birth to triplets that is outlined in the Book Having Twins by Elizabeth Noble
The mother in that story used midwives and had a home birth. Every night her husband would pack her some fruit and turkey by her bed, and she ate and ate and ate the Brewer diet, which is basically a 170 gram protein a day diet, for each additional baby you add 20 grams of protein and 500 calories for higher order multiples. The mother in that story carried her three babies to term and gave birth to them at home.
I would challenge any mother reading this to seriously consider investing in the Noble twins book and start now, before you even get pregnant, to train your body to digest all that protein. It takes time and the wrong time to start is when you are six weeks pregnant, however, any efforts that can be made to increase calories and protein will help those babies.
Jenny Hatch
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
Birthsong: Maya I Johansen: Homebirth & Unassisted Birth
“It is often said that women who give birth at home are selfish, and do not care for the well-being of their little ones. This is so far from the truth. Hospitals are in many instances dangerous for healthy babies. Hospitals are a place for the sick, and germs and bacteria are often transfered to the newborn.
Drugs given to the mother cross the placenta, and cause distress in the baby, and the health risk increases with each hospital procedure that is performed, not to mention psychological trauma from painful medical procedures. Babies born at home are usually more alert and ready to interact and bond.
Their minds are still open as they have been handled gently and lovingly. Often babies who have experienced a great deal of trauma will literally withdraw into themselves.(6) Mothers who have given birth at home are in an optimal state to greet their babies because of the natural “high” from endorphins and the hormone oxytocin.
These hormones are an important part of producing nurturing feelings. I believe this is an important part of forming the loving mother child relationship, and it helps a women get off to the right start in nursing and caring for her little one.(7) Sadly, this is overlooked by the medical profession. Doctors and nurses whisk babies away from their mothers when they need their mothers the most, and at a time when they are most alert and ready to interact.”
This article is an excellent introduction to Unassisted Childbirth, contains many links, and even has a quote from an online article by Shel Franco that mentions my fourth birth story!
I highly recomend pregnant women taking the time to read this article and surf around to the various sites, books, and videos mentioned.
Birth Testimony by Amanda Terfansky Counter speaking at the 2nd International Husband/Wife Home Birth Conference
Jenny Hatch
