Pregnancy & Birth
"When women are in charge of their environment, when they have the privacy to labor undisturbed, when they feel completely at ease and supported, outcomes are always superior." -- Elizabeth Davis, Hearts and Hands
EWW Writings
Essential Tips for a Better Birth and Beyond
Herbal and Homeopathic Remedies for Labor and Birth
Laboring Under Delusions: Our Broken Birth Culture
Remedies for Anemia and PPM Hemorrhage
Thoughts on Placental Consumption
Outside Links/Articles
World Health Organization Ultrasound Report
Ultrasound: A Collection of Articles and Links
Spinning Babies (Avoid mal-positioned baby and c-section!)
Midwives Alliance of North America: About Midwives
North American Registery of Midwives: Standards for CPMs
Ina May Gaskin blog (pre-eminent midwife and advocate for dismantling the fear-based, technocratic, broken birth culture)
The Farm Midwives (Ina May Gaskin's practice)
BMJ Study: Outcomes of Planned Homebirths
2014 Homebirth Study (17,000 Cases): Excellent Outcomes
ACOG Continues to Attack Homebirth without Cause
Vitamin K Shot at Birth...Safe and Necessary?
Toxic Effects of EMFs (Microwave and Radio Frequency Radiation)
Effects of Cell and Wifi Frequencies on Fertility, Miscarriage, Babies and Children
Robbie Davis-Floyd on Birth Culture
Robbie Davis-Floyd on the Technocratic Model of Birth
Anne Frye's List: Technocratic vs. Physiologic (Holistic) Model of Birth
Deadly Deliveries (Amnesty Int'l report on hospital births causing maternal deaths; includes stats on c-sections)
C-sections Double Maternal Death Rates
UnneCesareans: Documenting Causality
While the medical industry claims that breech babies must be delivered in hospital, and are usually treated as an automatic c-section, breech babies have been (and continue to be) successfully and safely birthed at home with knowledgable and well-trained traditional midwives. Additionally, breech babies can be turned before labor if mama will apply herself to learning the methods to do so (including exercises and acupuncture).
Footling Breech Birth with Photos
Frank Breech Home Birth (video)
Sadly, most modern American women (who haven't grown up with nourishing food traditions) enter their pregnancies malnourished. This leads to deficiencies for baby and is a cause of morning sickness...not to mention harmful to mom's future health. What you eat while you are pregnant determines your child's development, his future health and yours. You must take Real nouishment seriously.
Nourishing Diet for Pregnant Mothers: Build a Healthy Baby!
The REAL Cause of Morning Sickness
Children are a blessing; babies are wonderful; large families are fantastic!! But having your children too often is unhealthy for them and for mama. Natural child spacing is an important practice (strive for at least a year from birth to the next pregnancy). A woman was not designed to healthily produce babies in close succession; in fact, frequent conceptions were part of God's curse on Eve after the Fall in the Garden. It is a physiological fact that having babies takes its toll on a woman's body. Havingchildren too closely together weakens mama's body and can cause significant pregnancy and birth difficulties; it also impairs mama's ability to replenish her nutritional stores, which affects her long-term health, and the future children's physical and neurological development.
How you breastfeed and how you sleep can naturally produce healthy child spacing by causing natural anovulation. This is a wise pursuit that is provided by following historical ways of nurturing baby (including exclusive child-led breastfeeding and co-sleeping for the first year with NO pacifiers or bottles)...it is the traditional way to preserve and build the health of the family. If ovulation occurs prematurely, women can use the natural family planning method of tracking ovulation (like the temperature and mucus methods) to avoid conception. (Learn more from the fertility and breastfeeding books listed in my Library section.)
We all know by now that breast is absolutely best for baby (and mama, too). But for optimal health of your children, breastfeeding for at least two years is paramount (this is termed "extended breastfeeding"). The historical worldwide average is three-ish years. A nourishing diet is essential during these childbearing/breastfeeding years....particularly if you will be pregnant while nursing your previous child. With some wise planning, tracking, traditional practices and nourishment, you can build your body and nurture all your future children.
Ecological Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing Summary
Extended Breastfeeding Factsheet
Benefits of Extended Breastfeeding
Fertility Awareness and Night-Lighting