Hakima Midwifery

Amnah's Birth Story

2012-01-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

Amnah has written up a beautiful birth story, one I was blessed to midwife. She was a pleasure to serve, always excited, reinvigorating my commitment to midwifery with her enthusiasm at each visit. It was a pleasure to experience her hospitality and friendship, as well as her delicious baking at each visit. Check out her blog as well, the recipes are a sure hit with your family! Here is my favorite line from her birth story:

Head. “Ring of fire”. Shoulders. Body. Bottom. Legs. Umbilical cord. I felt it all. And then I felt no pain. ”Which of the favors of your Lord do you then deny?” {Qur’an 55:13} My baby was here.

Isn't birth like that, simple, yet otherworldly all at once?! Welcome baby Z.

Reflections of a Midwife in Ramadan

2011-08-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

"And comparing the expanse of the world into which a man enters on death is like comparing the spaciousness of the world to the womb; only it is wider and greater"
-Al-Ghazili in The Book of Patience and Thankfulness

It's always a blessing to witness a birth, but as with everything in Ramadan, this blessing becomes manifold. This has been the year of precious Ramadan babies. They've all come with ease and grace, and many lessons to teach their midwife. In the quote above al-Ghazali says that this birth is a simile for the birth we will experience when pulled from our graves. A mother is earth, her flesh a portal transformed for another life. In tears, sweat, and joy she surrenders to life's calling and purpose; a new soul to traverse the earth.

It is an impossible thing birth. Even as I watch mothers over and over again, I am always amazed that this is how human life begins. The act of birth is a great sign from God. What we would logically call impossible, in each moment of labor becomes more and more possible. At first we see a quarter size of the head, with each contraction we see more, but then it too disappears back into the womb. This is the two-steps-forward-one-step-back dance of the second stage. Allah's power manifests itself clearly now as each witness is silently contemplating the possibility of a human emerging from such a small space. Even the mother needs a 'you can do it' at this point. Once we've given up, only then do we move forward.

Soon the prince or princess is crowning, emerging from one consciousness to the next. The attendants watch in wonder as the miracle that is about to occur pauses. With the next contraction the head spirals into Earth's pull. A graceful exhale is warranted. The mother is in awe. The midwife is honored to be of the first to lay hands on the world's newest member. It must be done with intention and clear spirit, for these new beings are impressionable. The shoulders and body emerge and a slippery body is placed on a heaving mothers chest.

The midwife can sit back now and watch from the corner. The room is still and seems to be full of angels, at least two more have just been called to duty. It took so long, yet went so fast. What we were once anticipating for months and months is now here in a matter of moments. The eyes of a child just born reveal all we need to know, aware, watchful, and knowing. As he takes in his surroundings, I wonder how we will take in our surroundings at the next phase of life. Will it be as astonishing and grand? Will there be joy or grief? What I now cannot fathom, a grave, bones, and a resurrection, will it all seem so obvious after the fact? Will I know who I am and will there be familiar souls to accompany me?

I'm not certain and apprehensive of the answers to these questions. But I do know that my perch in the birthing room again and again increases my certainty that creation is continually happening, and as uncertain as a new life after the grave may seem, each birth brings me closer to the fact that for the Creator, it is possible. It is just as possible as young mother stepping into a birth tub by herself, and emerging from it with another life. We dry them off and tuck them into bed. An ordinary miracle on a sunny Ramadan day.

Home Birth on ABC News

2011-08-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

A surprising and refreshing look at home birth from the mainstream news outlet ABC. With home births increasing by 20% in the four year period between 2004-2008, it's no wonder that mainstream news outlets are approaching home birth with some respect, even reverence. The hostess says she was born at home in San Francisco in the 70's, "but that was a different time". Well, if that's the case, the times they are a changin' once again, because thirty years from now, I bet there will be a newscaster or two who was born at home herself! Enjoy the video!

Ramdan - Fasting with Child (ren)

2011-07-16T11:20:00.000-07:00

Ramadan's many lights and gifts will be here in a matter of weeks. One of the questions I am often asked by pregnant and nursing women is whether or not they should fast in Ramadan. This post is not meant to encourage or discourage women from fasting, rather it is to provide information that can help mothers stay healthy if they decide to undertake even a few days of fasting.

Many women say that they would rather fast when everyone else is fasting instead of making their fasts up later. If you are one of those women, I hope this can help prepare you physically for the fast of Ramadan. Studies conducted about pregnant women fasting in Ramadan have found no adverse outcomes in the baby's birth weights, length, and head circumference. The fast of Ramadan also has not been found to adversely effect milk supply in lactating women, although it can alter the content of breast milk, but without affecting infant growth.

Pregnancy can be a challenging time to fast depending on when the fast falls in your gestation. Nina Planck, a real food expert and author, has written a wonderful book called Real Food for Mothers and Babies that breaks up pregnancy's nutritional needs by trimester. Planck says that in the first trimester, when the organs of your baby are developing, your embryo needs minerals to become a strong fetus. The bones and muscles are doing most of the growing in the second trimester, so your baby needs calcium and protein rich foods. In the third trimester, the eyes, brain, and nervous system are rapidly developing; fats high in Omega 3's will aid this growth.

If we base our Ramadan diet on Planck's demarcations, what are the best foods to nourish you and baby in each trimester? Fasting in Ramadan offers us only a few exchanges with food, so we need to make each of these encounters nutrient dense and filled with what our growing babes need. You will notice a theme throughout my recommendations and that is good fats and protein. Good fats include, coconut oils, olive oils, fish oils, butter, and tallow. Your baby's development needs cholesterol. You need good fats and protein to support this. This duo also supports mother's in their health and well being through pregnancy, therefore you will see multiple mentions of healthy fats and proteins.

In the first trimester many women often need to eat constantly to keep nausea at bay. Others do better with no food. Either way, your baby has to grow. If you choose to fast during this time, I really like a few foods to help you out. Much of nausea comes from hunger. When you eat, eat foods filled with protein and good, healthy fats. For the suhoor, the morning meal before dawn, try any of the following:

Smoothies with egg yolks, coconut oil, milk, and yogurt and lots of fresh fruit. The fruit will give you plenty of the micro-nutrients which your baby's organs need and the yolks, oils, and yogurt will give you good fats and proteins for fuel throughout the fast.
Eggs are a great suhoor meal for pregnant women. Make an omelette with lots of vegetables -- again this will give you a mix of micro-nutrients and protein.
Oatmeal with lots of butter, cream, milk, or coconut milk. Add nuts and fruits for a complete suhoor.
I do recommend eating at least three times a day in Ramadan, the suhoor meal, an iftar meal, and then again about an hour before going to bed. This still provides the same caloric intake, albeit not at the regular times you usually eat.

The first trimester is a big adjustment. Take it easy and don't push yourself to exhaustion. Read my post on the first trimester, where you will find many tips that you can do while fasting. I personally think essential oils, like lavender, ginger, and geranium go a long way in helping with nausea, fasting or not. Also, fresh air can alleviate nausea for many women. Get out and go for a walk right before you break the fast.

When Ramadan falls in the second trimester, it is perhaps the easiest time for you to fast while pregnant; the nausea has mostly passed, and you have regained some of your energy but don't yet feel uncomfortable from the weight of your baby. Here are some general tips for fasting and breaking your fast in the second trimester.

If you can, try to switch your nights and days. During the day, stay inactive and rest as much as you can. If you need to do anything active, like clean or cook, wait until shortly before the sun sets so that you can eat and drink soon after.
Try fasting every other day.
Do gentle exercises like yoga, tai chi, or walking shortly before the sun sets.
Don't skimp out on sleep! This is hard in Ramadan, especially during the summer months, but try your best not to exhaust yourself.
Because protein and calcium are important this trimester, be sure to include lots of protein rich foods in your meals. Meats, broths, eggs, and lentils are wonderful and healthy choices.
Calcium rich snacks can be eaten between iftar and bedtime. Almonds, warmed milk with cinnamon, ginger and a pinch of sugar, yogurt with fruit.
Dates, the traditional food to break the fast with, are an excellent way of revitalizing the body after a day of fasting. High in potassium, iron, anti-oxidants, and other minerals, they are also perfect as a second trimester treat.

The third trimester is perhaps the trickiest time to fast. There have been studies that have found that fasting in late pregnancy causes a state of 'accelerated starvation.' We should know that our bodies are working hard during this time; the baby's nervous system is developing connections between neurons, its brain folds are forming rapidly, and its gaining more and more motor control each day. All this while it is packing on half a pound every week. All of this requires an enormous amount of caloric input, so it makes sense that this trimester would be a difficult time to abstain from food. Also, labor could begin at any moment in this trimester. Beginning labor with a caloric deficit is adding an extra challenge to the challenging physical task of labor. Despite that, some women will fast. Whether or not you fast, here are foods that help build healthy brains for your baby:

Try eating fish when you break your fast. Fish is easy to prepare and full of healthy fats well suited for growing noggins. Check out Seafood Watch for more information on which fish is best for you and the environment.
I love herbal infusions in pregnancy. They are especially great for women facing the great task of birth, and subsequent mothering. Alfalfa, red raspberry leaf, nettles, and oatstraw are wonderful third trimester choices. Drink them mixed or separately. They contain an amazing amount of minerals and micro-nutrients, all of which saturate your tissues and muscles with nutrients that help them work efficiently in labor.
Egg yolks, butter, whole fat milk, and all other foods rich in cholesterol can be considered brain food. So go ahead and have eggs and toast with lots of butter for suhoor. Your baby will be smarter;)!

Staying hydrated is actually a bigger concern than caloric intake for fasting pregnant and nursing women. Abstaining from water all day can be a real challenge while pregnant and/or nursing. I suggest that when you eat in the morning and in the evening, drink an electrolyte drink, preferably not Gatorade as it has tons of sugar and other undesirable preservatives. Try this mixed in your water. Coconut water is another refreshing way to replenish your electrolytes. Vitamin Water and Re-Charge are also good choices. Electrolytes help the water replenish and hydrate you. Without them it often seems that the water just rushes through you!

Nursing and fasting is often more difficult than pregnant while fasting. That is simply because while nursing, you also have to change diapers, push the stroller, and carry and nurse the baby. There is more work involved! All of the above recommendations can apply to nursing women. Along with a few of these:

Add one tablespoon of coconut oil a day. You can eat it directly off the spoon. Lauric acid is the main ingredient in coconut oil. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, the primary component in breast milk. This can help keep your breast milk full of the nutrients your baby deserves.
Focus on hydration. You will feel thirsty due to the hormones of breastfeeding, primarily prolactin. When you are not fasting, always keep a bottle of water with you and electrolytes are a must. The above mentioned studies have found that lactating women hydrate more than non-lactating women in Ramadan. Remember that and drink to thirst.
Stay away from the fried offerings always so present at iftar gatherings. Often they are fried in unhealthy fats full of trans-fats. Trans-fats are easily transferred to breast milk. Be mindful of healthy fats and fulfill your fat cravings in other healthier ways such as butter, meats, fish, and eggs.

Ramadan, however, is not only about the physical fast. Fasting also takes place on the spiritual plane. Fast from the fast-paced world for your baby's sake. Slow down and retreat deep into the stillness of spiritual practices and a beautiful remembrance. This more than anything is what nourishes mothers and babies, whether or not they fast during Ramadan. I pray you all have a blessed month full of vast openings and a renewed closeness to God. Please remember me in your prayers.

Six is It - The Birth

2011-07-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

Someone just sent me this webisode of a family of six, having a home birth with their '6th'! I really love how real it all is. The mother does a great job of expressing why even though this was her most difficult birth, it actually has sustained her in times of difficulty when mothering six! It's also so nice to see families outside of the dominant culture birth theirs at home. Enjoy!

Six is It- Episode 6 (The Birth) from Sixisit Episodes on Vimeo.

The Healing Hour

2011-06-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

No matter what type of birth you have, the first hour after birth is meant to be savored. Both mother and baby have made it. The hard work is over and the instinctual acts of attachment and bonding are about to begin. Baby has so much work to do, learn to breathe, digest, find the food, etc..but these lessons have not begun yet. Think of this hour as an exhale, a big exhale after the bated breath of labor. No one needs to intervene, weigh, assess, or even show the baby where he is to get his nourishment from. Mom and baby know exactly what they are doing, it is a state of expansion after the contraction(s) of labor.

Recently, a fellow midwife deemed this hour, 'the healing hour'. Labor is a huge event, mother and child each feeling the grandness, and difficulty of it, well, they just need a moment to catch their breaths. An hour is not an exact measurement, but I find it nice to really try to guard that sixty minutes closely. Today's world moves fast enough, it impinges on every area of our life as it is, birth should be an exemption. For one hour, no visitors, no texts, no phone calls. Take advantage of the biological imperatives so firing in these moments, the baby's alert state, her large searching eyes, mother's oxytocin level the highest it will be in her life, take these and so many other reasons and fall in love. It is a love that cannot be weighed, swaddled, assessed, but one that in the moments after birth is begging to happen.

If this isn't enough reason to keep antsy nurses and fidgety midwives at bay, here are some more by the legendary Michel Odent. I have summed them up and clarified in certain instances. The full article can be found here.

1. Baby needs to breathe. Who is a better teacher of this, mom or incubator?

2. A short but crucial period, that will never be repeated. Ethologists have observed this period in birds and mammals and have concluded that it should never be disturbed. Why do we disturb it?

3. The first hour as the beginning of lactation. Babies have instincts too. Place them tummy to tummy between mom's breasts and watch them find their own nourishment. Also skin to skin has been shown to increase success in breastfeeding.

4. Metabolic adaptation. Babies use less of their precious glucose and fat when on mother. They use more when screaming from across the room, or being passed around to relatives. They can enter hour 2.

5. Thermoregulation. Babies stay warmer on mom, and they also learn how to keep themselves warm when sleeping near her. The womb didn't have great temperature variations, so they must adapt to the extremes on the outside and it takes awhile for them to be able to do that.

6. The bacteria. When placed skin to skin baby starts to colonize mom's bacteria, the bacteria he/she will be living with, and already has antibodies to from it's time in the womb. This is extremely important for babies future health.

7. "The greater the social need for aggression and an ability to destroy life, the more intrusive the rituals and beliefs are in the period surrounding birth." Wow! No comment!

I keenly remember each of my children in this first hour, both unique and different, yet I still see it in them now. These moments you can't have back. Talk to your midwife or doctor about this hour before you deliver. Tell them you want to postpone the weighing and measuring and any assessments until afterwards. Have a no cell phone rule in this hour. Everyone can wait, but your baby is present now, and he is looking for his mother, he is looking for home.

Pitta and Pregnancy

2011-06-01T14:00:00.001-07:00

Hello and happy summer! Please check out my article in Rhythm of the Home about pregnancy in the summer months, and let me know what you think. There are a couple of cooling drink recipes, such as nettle iced tea! If you have been directed here from there, welcome!! Hope everyone is enjoying a cool summer!

Preparing for Birth: A Discussion with an OB and a Midwife

2011-05-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday May 14, 2011, the MCA in Santa Clara is hosting its annual Women's Conference. Along with the lovely and talented Dr Sarah Azad, I will be discussing ways to prepare for birth. Sure to be an informative and lively discussion, we will present our unique perspectives on preparing for birth, and then take questions from the audience. If you live in the Bay Area, please come out and show your love!! Our talk begins at 3:15.

The Big Stretch - A Film Review

2011-05-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Big Stretch, an Australian DVD, has done what many other childbirth DVD's fail to do - it has given the voice and authority of women, to women rather than experts. Twelve mothers tell how pregnancy, labor and postpartum 'stretched' them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As a mother myself, I found most of their insights incredibly apt and useful. There are first time mothers, sixth time mothers and everything in between. Although all of them used midwives and had home births (but one, who tells with raw emotion what a hospital transfer was like for her), that is not the point of the video, in fact home birth is never directly mentioned or promoted.

From conception to operating on little sleep, mothering is a reworking of most of our internal structures, literally and metaphorically. It takes a lot of you to welcome another being into the world. As one woman said in the film, " I feel like I just went from being a girl to being a woman." That's a beautiful and desirous thing. For it's straight talk on labor pains, breastfeeding, and postpartum emotions, I recommend this for first time moms. For the real anxieties associated with subsequent mothering (will I be able to do it?, how will the other kids cope?), I recommend this for experienced moms.

The setting is lush, green and tropical, fertile actually - an appropriate setting for a film on birthing women! There is a lot of nudity in the film, nudity that doesn't have to do with birthing women. I'm not sure the reason for this, maybe the tropical environment. Or maybe it was to push the limits of the viewer, to 'stretch' our boundaries so to speak, which is something this film does quite well. The Big Stretch forces women to step into the shoes of mothers and walk with them for a spell, listen to their fears and triumphs, laugh and marvel at what they become, and in so doing, honor what we as mother's can also become; stretched, still ourselves, but larger, languid, and less rigid.

Pampers and Home Birth?!

2011-04-20T00:02:00.001-07:00

While midwives are being arrested for attending births here, and here, sentenced to two years in prison for attending births here - Pampers is bringing home birth into the mainstream. A water birth at that! Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better - whatever it is, a change is in the air. I hope the best for all of the aforementioned midwives, I pray that their struggles are not in vain, that midwifery is once again a viable option for women around the world!!

Feed Play Love - Free Teleconference

2011-04-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Feed, Play, Love, a free teleconference on parenting touching on the feeding, playing, and loving of children. I have just listened to Kim John Payne's lecture. His advice includes that when in difficulty, or feeling overwhelmed with our children, we should think back to the pregnant pause, the third trimester and the still, slow first few weeks of their birth to conjure once again, all of the dreams and possibilities we imagined for our family. Birth is the beginning of parenting. There are other great lectures from Sharifa Oppenheimer on the Essential Necessity of Play, and Dr Heather Manley, a naturopath, who outlines an Imaginative Adventure Through the Immune System - a way to talk to children about health. Enjoy!!

Prenatal Qi (Chi)

2011-04-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

Qi (pronounced CH-EE) is often translated as 'life force', a sort of subtle energy that penetrates and influences each person in myriad ways. Qi permeates the universe, it can be seen in the rising of the sun, the flowering of the bud, and in the buzz of bee's wings. There are different types of qi, but the one that fascinates me, is prenatal qi.

Inherited from our parents, prenatal qi is sort of like the Western concept of the genetics we inherit from our parents, this is what we nourish throughout our life. Similar to genetics, prenatal qi can thrive with a good quality diet, air, water, and without it it can wither, or flare and cause problems. Given a good dose of strong, healthy prenatal qi, babies and children thrive in their childhood and beyond.

Other types of qi, such as lung qi, spleen qi, etc... can be improved upon, but prenatal qi is like a seed that cannot be replaced, it can only be nourished. Mothers however, can improve the quality of their health, thereby improving the prenatal qi that they pass on to their children. Dr Randall Neustaedter, says in his book, The Holistic Baby Guide, " In Chinese terms, a deficiency of Prenatal Qi is one of the primary causes of immune-system weakness and susceptibility to external pathogens. A mother who seeks out the care of a Chinese herbalist before and during her pregnancy is more likely to have a robust and healthy baby." He says that according to Chinese Medicine, a Prenatal Qi deficiency is one of the leading causes of asthma in children.

Gestating, delivering and nursing a child depletes the prenatal qi that the mother has available to pass on to the next child. Practitioners of Chinese Medicine believe that the different qualities and quantities of Prenatal Qi passed from mother to child account for the sometimes vast differences of energy and health between siblings. In order to avoid passing on any deficiencies to her baby, between and during subsequent pregnancies, it would behoove mothers to nourish and replenish these spent stores. Here are some great ways to do that:

See an acupuncturist. Regularly. This is an excellent way to nourish yourself as a mother. Often they prescribe herbs that also replenish and build qi stores. If the cost of acupuncture is prohibitive, look for local clinics that provide these services in a group setting at a reduced rate. Such as this. If you are local, here's my beloved acupuncturist.
Eat a whole foods diet. Eat real food. Broths, fermented foods, grass fed meats, organic fruits and veggies, and unpasteurized dairy, heal and nourish a body better than most things. Nutrient dense food is also great for mothers who often have no time to eat, or if pregnant, can't eat much at one sitting. Make each bite pack a nutritive punch.
Eat lots of fish, or bump up your Omega 3's through supplements. This essential nutrient becomes especially depleted through nursing children.
Drink herbs. Nettle, red raspberry leaf, oatstraw, lavender, chamomile. Drinking an herbal cup of tea each day is also a calming, relaxing way to nurture oneself.
Exercise. Get some fresh air, swim, hike, yoga and strength building exercises can all be important in regaining vitality and building health. As a busy woman who doesn't have time for a yoga studio, I love Yogaglo for home practice.
Take time for yourself. Don't let motherhood deplete you. Let it be your path to nurturing and health, for you and your family.

Birthrights

2011-03-25T13:43:00.001-07:00

Birthrights is a wonderful new series premiering on Al-Jazeera English. It is a "series exploring maternal health and the power, politics and poverty that impacts it around the world.". The following three episodes are some of their first. The first one is about Hungarian OB turned home birth midwife, Agnes Gereb, and her imprisonment for attending home births in Hungary, a country where it is legal to choose your place of birth, but illegal to attend birth at home if you are a licensed practitioner! The second episode follows the lives of women who have undergone obstetric fistula repair surgery in Ethiopia. Obstetric fistulas are holes that develop, usually due to the prolonged pressure of a baby's head, between the rectum or vagina, leaving women incontinent of either urine or feces, rendering them also socially isolated. These injuries come about largely due to unskilled birth attendants, and a lack of resources. The third episode here follows a group of midwives traversing Ethiopia hoping to change that by either creating birth centers, or training traditional birth attendants, who have no training. Great series, I can't wait to watch more. Enjoy!!

Newborn Needs

2011-03-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

When my son was about four weeks old, one of my favorite uncles came to visit. I was feeling stronger and excited to show off my new bonny boy! I took him to one of my favorite Afghan restaurants. What a mistake, it was so loud, bright, and busy in there! I had never noticed this before and my son was not having it. He screamed at the top of his little lungs until I walked him outside back and forth, back and forth, weaving lullabies into the cool night air. Meanwhile, my husband and uncle were talking about all sorts of interesting topics, undisturbed by the heavy handed kitchen staff, or the glare of the overhead lights. This was the first of a slow learned lesson, restaurants and our baby did not mix.

I later came across a possible explanation. Ayurveda believes that mothers are in a state of psycho-physiological transition for six weeks after the birth of their child. That after pregnancy, birth, and lactating, the first six weeks their system is transitioning back to a new normal. It is such a rapid and profound time of growth and change, that nothing really matches it. Except the rate of growth and change in a newborn. When I experienced the loudness, brightness and bustle of the restaurant, something that had not occurred to me before (and to be fair, not after my kids are older either), I was simply in tune with my baby. Newborns need stillness, quiet, softness, love. Restaurants might offer the latter, but rarely any of the rest.

It is important for both mother and baby to honor this need for stillness, rest, and beauty. It can be done in all birth settings. Recently, I came across a beautiful example of a mother going to extraordinary lengths to create this for her newborn. Meg, of the Sew Liberated blog, knew that her second son Lachlan was going to be born with a heart condition that would require nearly immediate surgery upon birth. It would require him to be in the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) and separated physically from her. Well, this crafty and beauty loving mama, did not let that stop her. She hatched a plan to bring softness, black and white prints, breezy mobiles, and warmth to her son. You can read about her post, Every Baby Deserves Beauty -Thoughts of a Heart Mom, and then check out the lovely Lachlan, surrounded by softness and warmth here. Having spent my fair share of time in NICU's with babies, I know that all of this effort must have muffled much of the noise and beeping that incessantly happens in these units. The babies who need the most quiet to grow and thrive get the least of it. I hope Meg's example inspires others to take control of their baby's surroundings from day one!

The following quote from Cynthia Aldinger founder of LifeWays North America powerfully sums up the needs of a newborn. By taking care of newborns in this way, we will be meeting the needs of ourselves as mothers as well. Say no to the restaurants, the trip to Target, the mall, wherever. Bring sunlight and nature into your space. Celebrate your baby's stillness and tranquility, in stillness and tranquility.

" However, I do want to say something about the first three months. Some refer to it as the fourth trimester, and I feel it is worth noting that it is a time that is completely different from the development we see taking place in the months following. If it were possible to wrap an extra layer of care around these little newborns, that would be wonderful. As a kangaroo mother keeps the newborn in her pouch, I wish we could provide more protection around the child from birth to three months. If you have ever been in a situation where you have had to adjust to an abrupt change in your life, perhaps that experience can build compassion for the newborn’s adjustment from womb life to outer life. Even more than the adjustment from womb to world, I feel it behooves us to consider the transition the individual is making from spirit to matter. Imagine being pure spirit, held in the arms of the angels, so to speak, surrounded by heavenly sounds, then being tucked into the womb for nine months with its own special sounds and warming rhythms, then emerging into the mechanistic, materialistic, ever-moving and somewhat cold and loud world of modern life. Certainly nurses, midwives and many parents know that swaddling helps to mitigate the dramatic change in physical existence for the newborn. If we could imagine taking similar protective measures in regards to the type of lighting, the sounds, and the activities to which they are exposed, most particularly in the first six weeks, gradually expanding their worldly experience over time, that would be a real gift."

Wisdom From the Crone

2011-02-23T23:16:00.000-08:00

In this quarter's California Association of Midwives newsletter there is a wonderful new section entitled, "Wisdom From the Crone". This month's featured crone was the beloved midwife, acupuncturist and woman extraordinaire, Raven Lang. She talks about how midwifery, when she was coming of age as a midwife in the 1960's and 1970's, was yet to even have a name. That women felt a strong calling to it, to be held in sisterhood with other women, a vocation that often went unpaid and unsung. They followed their passion with great energy and drive, sometimes at the cost of their personal lives, such was their commitment to serving women.

I have a well loved, dog eared, highlighted, ancient edition of Myles Textbook for Midwives. In midwifery school, I relied on this book more than any other for guidance and explanation. I would (and still do) run home after a birth to look something up or confirm an explanation floating through my brain. More than any other book, I found the British no nonsense, cut and dry approach to midwifery refreshing and without dogma. We Americans tend to be a sentimentalizing bunch, midwives included. Myles's book was just birth plain and simple.

Which is why I was so dumbfounded to read how a few years before I was born, the midwives here, did not have access to this great midwifery text. Raven talks about how this type of global midwifery knowledge was just unavailable to the midwives at that time, some of whom didn't even have a phone line! I find this incredible, and quite humbling. To actually learn from birth itself, from women and babies, what a thought!

What a great debt we owe our teachers and the phenomenal women who have come before us. They have smoothed the path for all who have benefited from midwifery, students, midwives, women, fathers, babies, etc... Here are some more choice quotes from Raven Lang in response to being questioned about what we could do to help the Earth as midwives:

Grow one's own garden and help others do the same

Eat whole foods, buying them from local sources, and to shun corporate foods and packaging.

To remain connected to the moon and the power and integrity of nature.

To stay deeply connected to the cycles and power of the earth and its place in our universe.

How's that for career advice? She also advises young midwifery students:

To put their family on the front burner and their profession on the back

To work in pairs or teams so as to avoid burnout.

To continue learning and never stop teaching.

To strive for personal balance daily.

A midwife midwife-ing midwives. Now that's a midwife!

In Celebration of the Birth of the Prophet

2011-02-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again, the celebration of the birth of the Prophet!!This is a reprint with some added goodies (in bold at the end). Hope everyone is enjoying the celebrations, and all the rain! What a mercy.

"And when Aminah was pregnant with him

She did not complain about anything that befalls (pregnant) women

For Gentleness from the Lord of the heavens encompassed her

And Barred from her all harm, worry, and sadness

She saw (in a vision), as was narrated to us

That the Guardian (Allah) was going to Honor the Creation

Through the pure one who was in her womb, so she Rejoiced!

And the time for labor drew near, so she was filled with

pleasure!

And the lights emanated from all directions

For the birth of the one given intercession had arrived

And before dawn, the Sun of Guidance emanated

The Beloved became manifest, honored and protected"

An excerpt from "The Shimmering Light" compiled by the great scholar Habib Umar

Ustadha Eiman Sidky (May Allah protect her) is a treasure house of knowledge and goodness. Her accounts of the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) are intimate, compelling and fascinating. She teaches a seerah class for women online each Saturday. In honor of the upcoming mawlid, she recently enlightened us on the pregnancy of the Prophet's mother, Aminah, and about some of the secrets of his birth. To think of our blessed Prophet in the womb of his mother and the stellar impact of his birth, is moving and awe inspiring.

During her pregnancy, Aminah felt a light within her and one day it shone bright enough for her to see the castles of Bostra in Syria. Again before her delivery she also saw this intense light, light all the way to Syria.
Once, while pregnant, Aminah heard a voice say to her, "Thou carriest in thy womb the lord of his people; and when he is born say: 'I place him beneath the protection of the One, from the evil of every envier'; then name him Muhammad"*
When it was time for the labor, Aminah did not feel pains.
At the time of the birth of the Prophet (peace be upon him) there were no impurities; no blood or other impurities that normally occur at a birth.
The midwife who delivered the Prophet, Shifa'a, was the mother of 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn 'Awf (May Allah be pleased with them both).
The night of the mawlid Shifa'a was sleeping, dreaming of a full moon that was about to fall into her lap. She was awakened from the dream by a knocking on the door, it was some one sent to bring her to Aminah so that she could help with the birth of the world's last prophet.
When the Prophet was born, he was born in sajdaah. Shifa'a said that he smelled of musk and was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. She knew that this baby would become something grand.
When he was laid on the bed, he clutched his blessed little, newborn fingers into fists, all but the index finger of his right hand. La ilaha ila Allah from the time of his birth!
Every animal in talked on day of birth - they said she is carrying rasool allah and he is lord of ka'aba
Every bed belonging to a king was flipped upside down
All of the statues were upside down, a sign that the worship of One God would reign
The year of his blessed birth was a year of opening, year of happiness. It was very green, as there was lots of food and rain, after years of drought

*Exact wording taken from "Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources" by Martin Lings

inductions

2011-02-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

The other day I realized that I now mark time in terms of babies born. July 2008 brought Maryam, Omar, Julian, and Sofia. If I want to think back to say November 2009, I think of Asiya, Malachi, and Caroline. Living in a season-less California, births mark times and seasons more concretely than weather can. It would be a lie to say that they always arrived at the most convenient times, when my cold was gone, on the weekends when babysitting is free, or at a civilized hour. No. Babies come when they are meant to come. As much as I would like, I have no control over when that hour descends. Even now as I write this, a sunny weekend approaching, I am hesitant to make plans as I am waiting on a baby.

If I were another type of practitioner, maybe I would consider inducing this client. It would be nice to have it out of the way, with a free weekend sprawling before me. If so, I wouldn't be so off the mark. In 2007, a large study of 18,000 deliveries found that 9.6% were early births ('early' was not defined in this study), and the reasons for them being early were non-medical, i.e. practitioner or patient convenience. Indeed according to the Center for Disease Control sources, the average length of pregnancy has fallen by seven days since 1992!

No one really knows what kicks off labor. What I understand is that their is a complex interplay of mother and baby hormones that each tell the other that the time is near. Mom's cervix softens, telling baby's lungs to mature. Baby's lungs mature and mom's uterus develops more receptors for oxytocin, the hormone that makes the uterus contract among other things. Like all other bodily processes, it is hard to isolate it from the whole, and interference often shows up in other ways later.

This thought provoking look at early elective births by California Watch looks at the reasons why inducing early for non medical reasons is now thought to be contributing to poor maternal and infant mortality rates in America. There is a reason babies play a major role in deciding when they are born. A 2009 New England Journal of Medicine study found that elective cesarean sections resulted in respiratory and other adverse outcomes for neonates. The brain, eyes, and nervous systems all are formed in the third trimester. According to California Watch babies born early through C-section and/or induction are nearly twice as likely to spend time in the neo-natal intensive care unit.

How can women prevent this scenario? Show any of the above information to your doctor. Like an old college friend of mine threatened with induction at 41 weeks asked, "How can I go nine months with perfectly health pregnancy, and NOW all of a sudden I'm high risk?!" Good question. She answered it by delivering at 41 and a half weeks, a perfectly healthy baby girl, au natural. Here are some tips for preventing post-dates.

Drink lots of red raspberry leaf tea throughout the pregnancy. I can't say enough on this wonderful uterine tonic. It provides all of the minerals a healthy uterus needs to do it's job.

Walk, especially hills. I'm not sure what it is about hills, but many women claim that this helps them deliver a baby. Being fit, a side effect, may be what helps to prevent post dates.

Have sex. Yes, as the old adage goes, what gets the baby in gets the baby out. Semen contains prostaglandins which help soften the cervix. An orgasm cannot occur without oxytocin, once again, the hormone which causes contractions.

Visualization can help relax you and allow your mind to turn off. Sit in a quiet, undisturbed place and visualize a head down baby, distending the cervix and rotating down and out of the pelvis.

I haven't seen research on this, more of a hunch, but I think that adequate healthy fat intake in the third trimester can cook a baby just right! We know that healthy fats are needed for baby's brain development and that the most brain development happens in the waning weeks of the third trimester. It would seem to me that if baby is getting what he needs in terms of development, there will be no need to leave early, or hang on too late in order to soak up the nutrients. Eat lots of eggs, fish, meat. Supplementation of fish oil will do in a pinch, but best to get it straight from the source.

Sometimes inductions are unavoidable, even necessary. I suggest these final things only as a means to naturally induce labor when an induction is unavoidable. Use with wisdom.

A homeopathic induction of Cimicifuga and Caulophyllum is a gentle way to start labor. Take one remedy every half hour for three hours, alternating the remedy each half hour. Do this every morning until labor commences. The strength should be 200C

Herbal inductions can be used as well. Black and blue cohosh along with cottonroot are a potent mix of uterine stimulating herbs. A half dropper of each every hour for three hours. I have heard some herbalists comment that this isn't enough because our bodies metabolize herbs quickly. Consult with a person who knows if my recommendation isn't enough.

Acupressure points that you can squeeze yourself are also effective. The two I like are located in the webbing between your thumb and index finger and the other four finger widths above the inside of your ankle bone.

And finally, there is the dreaded castor oil. This is a last ditch resort. Castor oil makes for a messy birth. In fact, that the whole reason it works, it irritates your bowels, thereby irritating your uterus, or so the theory goes. I have seen it work many times. A castor oil milkshake is one way to tolerate it. 2oz of castor oil, some ice cream, and some juice. Drink it up!

As the Bible says (I'm paraphrasing), to everything there is a season, this includes babies. I rather like that my years and seasons are marked by a soul's entrance and not by my vacations or plans. Inductions can have long lasting effects on mother and baby. It's best to wait for the dance of hormones to begin. Just like we can't force the long days of summer, or rush the chill or winter, neither should we unduly force a baby's birth. To everything there is a season. I can't think of a better reason to put off my plans than a birth, so for this weekend, I'll stick around here and maybe next year I'll think back to February 2011 and remember the particular way the sun fell as a baby, for now nameless, was born.

Radical Homemakers

2011-02-03T22:16:00.000-08:00

As a midwife one gets lots of phone calls, quick questions, and requests from pregnant women. Mostly, these women are not my clients. They ask about how to turn their baby, does their weight gain sound normal, what's a gestational diabetes test, etc....Most of these questions don't come from my clients because we discuss these things, they are out in the open, transparent for the both of us to grapple with and resolve. The fears of a pregnant woman are nothing to be dismissed, in fact the further they are buried, the more likely they are to rear their ugly head at inopportune moments (i.e. labor). It often leaves me wondering how as a people we have become so out of touch with the flowering and bearing fruit of our species. Or perhaps we know too much, the technologies peeking into hypothetical drawers not meant for our eyes. Once opened though, we can't forget the drawers contents. In the past did women really worry about 'back labor' in their fifth month of pregnancy? Did midwives need an ultrasound machine to tell them which way the baby was facing? Who had a scale?!

I found a piece of the answer in Shannon Hayes's book, Radical Homemakers. In it she talks about how so many of our basic skills and economies have been usurped by corporations thereby swapping what she dubs 'a life serving economy' for ' an extractive economy'. She implores us to switch back. What is midwifery if not life serving? Do I dare say that obstetrics(think almost a 35% national cesarean rate) is extractive in the true sense of the word?! I found Hayes's book compelling. It offered reasons why so many women who choose the cookie cutter model of obstetrical care are often the ones calling me with burning unanswered questions. Like food, clothing and even education, the art and science of obstetrics has been co-opted by economic interests. Discussing with a woman how to possibly influence her GBS status, how to avoid a posterior labor, or even what constitutes a good baby growing diet, would not serve an extractive economy. It would take too much time and wouldn't pay so well.

When I get these queries from women who often see a new doctor at each visit, I feel for them. They are not blossoming from the care they are receiving.Rather their trust in themselves and their bodies, is literally being extracted. Doubt often creeps in. Midwifery on the other hand is life sustaining for both mother and midwife. It is a personal relationship with someone in your community who shops at the same grocery stores you do, who breathes the same air, plays at the same parks. This is the soil upon which new life is brought forth. It begins with a family and folds into community. It is an honest relationship brokered on trust. Just like we are discovering that local food is superior in terms of quality, environmental impact, and even taste, I hope that sentiment spreads to mothers and babies. Look for local, sustainable midwives and birth. Build a real community for your baby from day one.

Radical Homemaker is a fascinating read with lots of history of how we got to where we are in terms of a largely consumer society rather than producing to meet most of our needs. Here are some quotes I liked from the Radical Homemaker:

..."the homemaker who simply learns to cook dinner, keep a garden, and patch blue jeans will probably not find deep fulfillment, either. Those who do not seriously challenge themselves with a genuine life plan, with the intent of taking a constructive role in society, will share the same dangers as the housewives who suffered under the mystique of feminine fulfillment; they face what Freidan called a "nonexistent future".

"In order to revive our culture and create a vibrant society that does not depend on a consumer driven and ecologically rapacious economy, more of us need to look homeward to create a life-nurturing alternative."

"The simplest and most sensible start for Radical Homemakers departing the extractive economy and building the life serving economy were the elemental practices of thrift, frugality and debt avoidance....The defining principles: are including everyone in the economic picture; capitalizing on available resources; minimizing waste; becoming net producers of goods rather than net consumers; bartering; spending money where it matters most; and understanding the concepts of "enough".

"Healing remedies were once standard knowledge for homemakers, right up until the industrial revolution"

Fear Causes Tears

2011-01-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

Fear causes tears, perineal tears that is. This is the conclusion of a new study out of Sweden. The study looked at perineal tearing in home birth settings. What they found was that midwives prevent tears long before the birth actually occurs. They do this through a number of means, but the overriding theme, strong communication between the mother and midwife. Then when the pushing phase is underway, they have an already established relationship and a trust. If pushing needs to be slowed down, if the midwife needs to tell the mother to blow through a few contractions to ease the head out, it's fine because the mother and her midwife have a bond which they both can rely on in this intense moment. The mother can then relax, her pelvic floor muscles can relax too, she can push without fear into the trusted hands of her midwife.

The other areas which the study found important in preventing vaginal tears amongst a home birth population were:

1. Preparing for the birth

2. Going along with the physiological process

3. Creating sense of security

4. The critical moment

5. Midwifery skills

Another great reason to consider midwifery care. Your bottom will thank you!!

Hakima Midwifery is Expanding Services!!

2011-01-10T22:06:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited to announce that I am now offering two new services at Hakima Midwifery. In July I took a grueling exam, passed, and am now officially an IBCLC, or an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant!! I am so excited to be working with moms and babes to help cement their breastfeeding relationship. I do in home lactation consultations as well as Skype visits. Skype visits are great for women overseas, or in areas where lactation consultations are not available. They are also great for follow up visits. Here is more information about the visits.

After having my second water birth, I am an even bigger water birth aficionado. So much so, that I have decided to rent out birth tubs. And not just any birth tubs, eco birth tubs! They are the same tub I delivered my little girl in, and they are just so amazing. There is no harmful plastics, no off gassing, and the sides are so firm, offering the laboring mama wonderful support. Here is the link with tons more information.

Thanks all for your support. Please contact me with any questions and spread the good word!

Simplicity Parenting

2011-01-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Recently, we took a trip to visit all sorts of grandparents - grandmothers, step grandfathers, and even a few 'greats'. We hadn't been back for quite some time, and so let's just say, the grandparents made up for lost time. The closets looked like children's clothing stores, every day was a new toy, every sugary treat wish fulfilled, and macaroni and cheese whenever it was desired. Needless to say, we filled a large SUV with, well, stuff. It was touching, but also stressful transferring and keeping track of it all. Not to mention the constant whines and request for 'more', I constantly found myself longing for less.

Ironically, I had picked up this book, "Simplicity Parenting" by Kim John Payne right before we left. His book details ways to reduce the over stimulation our culture provides for children. Each day we were living out his theories about what happens to children when there are too many toys, clothes, or even, food choices. They become stressed and depleted. The constant stimulation renders them bored and restless, always on the lookout for the next stimulation. The ensuing almost daily meltdowns on the trip took shape and meaning while reading Payne's book.

We started the trip in Minneapolis and drove the four (or five, who's counting?) days back to California, or in other words, we started in snow, and yes, we ended in snow. Lake Tahoe had just settled into a two foot snowfall when we drove through. Who can resist the gleaming powder and balmy air of a California snow, not us. We didn't have the slides we had in Minnesota, but we had our hands and we rolled out some nice snowballs and snowmen. And what was the most memorable part of the trip, (besides the lovely grandparents), not the myriad toys and their bells and whistles, but from midland to the coast, it was, the snow.

I am grateful for the gifts, but after reading this, I think that next time I might offer suggestions for gifts before arriving, including ones with less batteries, and fewer buttons. Payne's suggestions regarding toys is priceless. He also really stresses a routine and rhythm as an antidote for our hectic world. A daily dinner time, eaten together as a family, a bedtime routine, and one quarter of the toys you already possess (yes, not just half, half of that). Suggestions like candlelight at bedtime, sharing favorite things from the day at the dinner table, and all in all, simplifying the schedules of the children make so much sense and he makes them doable. It's like attachment parenting for the older child. I've included some of my favorite quotes from the book below. Enjoy!

"A protected childhood allows for the slow development of identity, well being, and resiliency."

"Behavioral tendencies can be soothed or relaxed by creating calm." (In addressing ADD and other behavioral disturbances)

"When your child seems to deserve affection least, that's when they need it most" (I now tell myself this at least once a day;)

"Committing to rhythm builds trust and relational credits: a connection that is "bankable"

"Rhythms are like a place set for you at the table. An unquestioned invitation to participate, connect and belong"

Naitree enchantee

2010-12-25T23:44:00.000-08:00

This is such a beautiful film! It is birth with acceptance and without fear. It's simplicity speaks volumes. It is in Arabic, French, Spanish and English. The labor is enchanting and her vocalizations through contractions are musical. Gentle, peaceful, spontaneous, and joyous - a birth to be watched by all women. My favorite part is the cat ears poking up towards the pushing phase! Enjoy and happy holidays!

Dua (Supplications) for Pregnancy, Labor and Conception

2010-12-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

This has been going around lately, but I thought some of you might benefit. Unfortunately, I'm not sure who put it together so I can't give credit where it's due. For those of you who don't know the Arabic terms, apologies! I should probably put a glossary on here somewhere, but for now if you have any questions just ask. Enjoy!

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Here is a brief list of various things that we were told to recite and do during pregnancy and labour.

Please pass it on for anyone who you feel may benefit from it.

Daily

- Surah Inshiqaq (Surah 84) – to be recited daily throughout the pregnancy

- Surah Luqman (Surah 31) – to be recited daily during the 1st trimester when the baby’s brain, mental faculties and nervous system are developing

- Surah Yusuf (Surah 12) – to be recited in the 2nd trimester when the child’s physical appearance is forming

- Surah Maryam (Surah 19) – to be recited in the 3rd trimester as labour approaches

- “Ya Lateef” – to be recited 129 times every morning and evening

7th month only

- The husband should recite Surah Inshirah (Surah 94) 152 times on the baby

Labour

- The first ayat of Surah al-Fath’ (Surah 48)

- “Ya Lateef”

- Surah Maryam (Surah 19)

- Surah Inshirah (Surah 94)

- “As salaam Alaikum ayuha-nabee wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu”

General advice

- Shaykh Muhammad Ba Shu’ayb once advised, for the sake of any children we are to have to recite all our adhkar and awrad everyday and to ensure that we pray as many prayers in congregation with our spouse.

- Read as much Quran as possible.

- Try and do as much salawat on the Prophet (saw) as possible – in particular Salat al-Tunjina’ and “As salaam Alaikum ayuha-nabee wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu”

- As babies are said to be able to recognise certain sounds and music from their time in the womb, reading certain texts such as the “Book of Assistance” by Imam al-Haddad, is advised in order to bring about recognition.

- One of the Habaib advised pregnant women to look at pictures of the Ka’aba when she was too tired to actively engage in ibada.

For those trying to conceive children

Habib Umar has recommended…

- Recite Surah Fatiha (Surah 1) 41 times in between the sunnah and fard of Fajr prayer.

- Recite verse 38 of Surah Imran (Surah 3) as many times a day as possible.

Another Homebirth Video

2010-12-15T17:53:00.000-08:00

The Homebirth of Lucia Mae from Sara Janssen on Vimeo.

This video has some darling , colorful pictures. I love the portrayal of the daughter's role in her sister's birth. It is also a testimony to the family's affection for their midwife, she's like a part of the family! To read more on the lasting impression a midwife makes through a woman's lifetime (i.e. beyond the childbearing years), check this out, Midwifery Care: Reflections of Midwifery Clients. Be sure to download the full text.

Mom I Am

2010-12-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

I couldn't find an author to credit for this poem, so whoever you are, thank you! This is humorous and right on. Enjoy, and enjoy your weekend!!

Dr. Seuss for Nursing Moms

Would you nurse her in the park?
Would you nurse him in the dark?
Would you nurse him with a Boppy?
And when your boobs are feeling floppy?

I would nurse him in the park,
I would nurse her in the dark.
I’d nurse with or without a Boppy.
Floppy boobs will never stop me.

Can you nurse with your seat belt on?
Can you nurse from dusk till dawn?
Though she may pinch me, bite me, pull,
I will nurse her `till she’s full!

Can you nurse and make some soup?
Can you nurse and feed the group?
It makes her healthy strong and smart,
Mommy’s milk is the best start!

Would you nurse him at the game?
Would you nurse her in the rain?
In front of those who dare complain?
I would nurse him at the game.
I would nurse her in the rain.

As for those who protest lactation,
I have the perfect explanation.
Mommy’s milk is tailor made
It’s the perfect food, you need no aid.

Some may scoff and some may wriggle,
Avert their eyes or even giggle.
To those who can be cruel and rude,
Remind them breast’s the perfect food!

I would never scoff or giggle,
Roll my eyes or even wiggle!
I would not be so crass or crude,
I KNOW that this milk’s the perfect food!

We make the amount we need
The perfect temp for every feed.
There’s no compare to milk from breast-
The perfect food, above the rest.

Those sweet nursing smiles are oh so sweet,
Mommy’s milk is such a treat.
Human milk just can’t be beat.

I will nurse, in any case,
On the street or in your face.
I will not let my baby cry,
I’ll meet her needs, I’ll always try.
It’s not about what’s good for you,
It’s best for babies, through and through.

I will nurse her in my home,
I will nurse her when I roam.
Leave me be lads and ma’am.
I will nurse her, Mom I am.

Right Side Up - Breech Babies

2010-12-09T21:22:00.000-08:00

The women in the above photo are trying to right a baby. This directionally challenged baby is coming bottom first. The method they are using to try to turn the baby, hard to decipher in this photo, is called moxibustion. Moxa, or mugwort, is heated and, like acupuncture, used over certain pressure points to induce heat to the region, and thereby blood flow. It works incredibly well for turning babies upside down, exactly where they need to be in order to be born.

Four percent of all babies present breech at term, or 37 weeks of gestation and beyond. How do you imagine that those four percent are born? Does the doctor or midwife, pull them out by their feet? What is the danger of a breech birth? Why do we never hear of babies born breech anymore?

A recent study in Tel Aviv has challenged the wisdom of late that breech babies should be born via Cesarean section. In the 'old days' the skills to deliver a baby coming breech, feet or butt first, were taught in medical school. After 2000, this was no longer the case. The Term Breech Study, the largest of its kind on breech births, found that breech babies delivered vaginally had a 1% increase of death in the first six weeks of life. The study also found that for mothers there were more benefits to a vaginal birth. From then on, the only doctors to attempt breeches were the old school doctors who had learned from experience that babies born breech, stubbornly do just as well as their head first counterparts. There were many issues with the 2000 Term Breech Study including research bias, and the fact that it's near impossible to randomize such a study.

The Tel Aviv study is urging medical schools to reintroduce the skills of delivering breech babies. Their research shows that there is no increase risk to a baby born breech vaginally and that mothers do better with morbidity and mortality when delivered vaginally. Professor Glezerman, a researcher on the trial, states that a C-section is no minor event in a woman's reproductive life, that it impacts future pregnancies, uterine health, and subsequent labors.
Although, not mentioned in the study, increasingly the research is pointing towards health effects of babies born by C-section as well. In one of the more recent findings, babies born by Cesarean section are at a higher risk of developing celiac disease. Another reason to avoid unnecessary surgery, who would want to assign anyone to a diet that prohibits bread, pasta, cookies!! Poor baby.

So how do you reconcile the lack of skill of the current docs with a pending breech birth? Look at the photo above for some inspiration - you make all efforts to turn the baby before delivery. Here are some tips to get you started:

Acupuncture/moxibustion is a powerful tool for breech babies. Do the moxa each day while squatting and making figure eights with your hips. I'm not kidding! One time I had an acupuncturist for a client, with a persistent breech presentation. She tried everything under the sun, before turning to her chosen profession, to turn her little girl. Two nights of these contortions and the babe turned!

Pulsatilla 200C one time. My little girl was breech until about 35 weeks. I never resorted to this, but I was ready to. It was suggested to make it a one time event, and to do it consciously. Light some candles, pour some tea, put your hips up, and take the pulsatilla. Engage with your baby, visualize his little head snuggled tight in your pelvis. This can be a really powerful way to turn a baby.

The breech tilt. This is an old recommendation, but really useful. The idea is to elevate your hips higher than your pelvis, to disengage the baby so that when you stand up, the baby will realign itself the proper way. You can do this by laying an ironing board angled against a coach and laying down, with your feet up and head on the floor. Or you can make a stack of pillows and put your hips atop the pillows. Do these for at least 15 minutes twice a day. Talk with your baby and shine a flashlight starting at the top and moving to the pelvis, "For now and always baby, follow the light."

Webster's Technique is a chiropractic technique that is often employed to help turn breech babies. It's not really 'turning' the baby, it's addressing tightness and torsion, among other issues in the mother's pelvis. Let's be fair after all, there are two players at work here, it's not just the baby choosing to be breech. Fibroids, cysts, and other issues in the mother's pelvic can force the baby into a breech position. Webster's technique can address some of these problems.

One of the interesting theories about why babies are breech is not a physical reason. There is a theory that babies who are breech do so out of a need to get their mother's attention. It's as if they are saying, "Hello, remember me, I need you to pay attention." It could be this lack of attention that is causing them to swim close to mama's heart, a gentle pull on it's strings, those tiny fingers dialing your number before you've even heard them cry. It's a sweet thought and one I found bore a lot of fruit for women who were breech beyond 35 weeks. It tended to happen to women who worked, worked, worked right up until the end, women undergoing a lot of stress, and women who maybe had some hesitancy about becoming a mother. Overall tension also produces lots of tension in the pelvic region, which can be a culprit in breech presentation. If you are breech these themes are worth exploring through journaling, art, conversation, etc...

If none of that works, there is always frozen peas. Put a pack of frozen veggies on your babies bum. They won't much like it and will soon get the picture that that's not where they should be hanging out and will head to, uh, warmer regions!

The most important thing with breech delivery is the skill and experience of the practitioner. If none of the above work, seek out someone experienced with breech births. These tend to be the older male obstetricians and older midwives. Trust your instincts, as always. And encourage medical schools to teach the skills of delivering babies who for some reason, want to land in this world, feet first.

Hakima Midwifery at Eco-Fair

2010-11-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, November 6, from 11-4, the MCA in Santa Clara, California is hosting it's annual Eco Fair. I'm going to have a booth there with lots of giveaways, including Erba Organics mom and baby body care products. I think I might even have some chocolate to give out too. So, come and say salaam, there will be children's activities, a mini farmer's market, demonstrations, a book and hijab exchange, and more. Come and support the Muslim Green Team!

What Luke Said

2010-10-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

Home births don't always happen at home. On average around 10% of attempted home births end in the hospital. This is the story of one such birth and the feelings and raw emotion such a transfer can evoke. This acute disappointment and sense of failure is the domain of women who attempt natural birth and don't end up with one. They are the brave ones, the ones who risk, struggle, go out on a limb, and after their labor, in this case two days of it, end up in the place they had hoped to avoid. Unlike women who intend a hospital birth and well, end up with one, women who attempt a home birth and then end up in the hospital have the extra burden of processing what went 'wrong'. Another curve on the long road of motherhood.

Maceo was my client. She is an example of the intelligent and thoughtful women who choose out of hospital birth. A talented writer and warm presence, she brought joy to her pregnancy and was one of the rare women who enjoyed the pregnancy more and more as her belly swelled, all the way up to and past her due date! She will always have a special place in my heart as after my own baby was born, in her fifth month of pregnancy, she brought me delicious Cuban food and her cheery presence. We measured her belly on my couch with my two week old sleeping nearby. During her first night of contractions, I slid my sleeping daughter into the car, and drove the mile to Maceo's house, my daughter never waking the entire night. This type of shared motherhood is the glue of friendship and community. Thank you Maceo!

So without further ado, here is a re-posting from Maceo's own blog, Dripping River Water, which of course, you all must go subscribe to right now, as I'm sure there is much forthcoming mama wisdom from this source! And welcome to the sweetest Omar!

There is a table in the lobby. It is long and wooden positioned right below a big mirror. There people leave things they no longer want: old fax machines, magazines, sneakers, books. I am the resident manager and this leaving of things annoys me only when no one takes it. I am left to throw away these items. Things that could have easily been given as a donation, somewhere else, not in the lobby of my building. There was a pocket sized New Testament once. I picked it up. This is a book I couldn’t throw out, I couldn’t leave it on the sidewalk, I couldn’t give it to a random person. I had to keep it and for a year it lived between my Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook and El diccionario de sinonimos y antonimos bought in Venezuela when I was there in 1996.

My son is now 5 weeks old. He has lived his days between arms of those who love him. I have only been away from him minutes at a time, missing him and calling my mami to see how he is doing. Yesterday I went for a walk with my friend. I left my mami with 5 ozs of my milk. I gave her instructions and hoped that it wouldn’t be too hard for either of them. The sun was out. Its rays hit my toes. There was a chill in shady areas. I was afraid to catch a cold. I thought of myself confined in my bedroom pumping milk, sweating and sick, not able to see my son.

We went to Arizmendi. I was treated to pizza and a root beer sitting outside. I watched the beautiful people of Oakland pass by. I saw the mamas pushing the strollers or carrying their babies on their backs. I saw the dogs. The endless amount of dogs take over the sidewalk. I wondered if my skin would darken sitting outside of Arizmendi. I have been home for weeks looking out the living room windows at the trees and the birds. The root beer was good. It became my new favorite. There on the table was the cap. It had writing. In the inside it read, Luke 1:37. I thought the root beer bottling was more hipster than religious. Or maybe it was both.

For the past five weeks I have only written in my head. I write books and plays while I nurse my son in his sleep. I wish that the words would leave my mind and walk unto the page. Any page. Somewhere else. But the words don’t. They are locked away and I wonder if I will be able to write. Then I read stories of writers who have shared similar nights. Perhaps not nursing their sons but still in bed writing words on the walls with their pupils.

For the past five weeks I have begun learning what it is to be a mother. I have learned what it is to remain still, to be totally dependent. There is a scar above my bikini line. It is black and sometimes it is sore. All throughout my pregnancy I was pleased not to have any stretch marks. Instead I got a scar where they pulled my baby out. That scar reminds me of my imperfections and my failures.

I wonder sometimes why I couldn’t give birth at home. Sometimes I have a hard time completing things. The end is always so hard. I go through my over fifty hours of labor at home and four days in the hospital. I try to figure out what exactly went wrong. I know everything is God’s will but somehow I feel at a loss. I wonder if somewhere in back of my mind I was too scared to finish the job. I couldn’t give birth naturally in a birthing tub, in my kitchen because it meant I actually had to complete something. I needed help. Like heavy drugs to soothe me, to make me relax, to actually fall asleep. I went to the hospital, a place I still don’t want to give birth in again. They helped me. I had sweet nurses who gave me more pillows and filled my water bottle. I knew that with a touch of button someone would be at my side. So the whole time I had to not be upset. I had to take everything in stride because I had my baby in my arms. And if I got frustrated at the nurses constantly coming in and asking me the same questions, at them grabbing my breasts without asking me anything to see if my milk was coming out, at my son being picked up all hours of the night to be weighed, I would have made it worse for myself and I would have been ungrateful. I still have to write about that. All of that. But I am afraid that it will make me cry.

On my bedside table there is a tube of Barq’s root beer lip balm. I don’t like that root beer but I like the taste on my lips. I put it on last night before getting into bed. Then I remembered. Luke 1:37. I went to the living room to the shelf where the pocket size New testament lived. I took it into bed. My husband perplexed. I have not read the Qur’an in weeks and here I was with the Bible. I opened it to Luke right away. There I read: “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Sighs and smiles.

the end.

Good Bacteria

2010-10-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

This article came out a few months back, but time has not diminished my amazement! Of the myriad species specific qualities that breastmilk possesses, one of the more fascinating is the 'probiotic' qualities. A newborn, born with a very sterile gut, lands in a world full of bacteria, good and bad. The probiotic qualities of breastmilk, or the good bacteria in breastmilk, sufficiently protect newborns from a host of sometimes lethal gastrointestinal diseases. The recently discovered, bifidobacterium longus, passes through breastmilk to the infant, and on its way out, coats the babies intestine with a protective coating, thereby serving the role of stomach acid, a substance babies don't yet possess much of. This coating acts as a decoy to potential bacteria and viruses, coaxing it to bypass the baby's gut.

Dr. E. Stephen Buescher, a pediatrician and scholar of breastmilk's many anti-infective and ant-inflammatory qualities, has an interesting theory as to why this protective coating not only benefits the gut, but also may contribute to the dramatic reduction in ear infections in breastfed infants. He had an exclusively breastfed son who spit up, a lot. After watching a plethora of spit up episodes, ones that sometimes exited the nasal orifices, he reasoned that the breastmilk when spit up was coating the upper respiratory tract with all of it's soothing and protective qualities, just like it coats the intestine. Embrace the spit up. It's better than an ear infection!

Scientists are beginning to understanding that breastmilk can serve as a lesson plan for how to nourish and protect the human body against pathogens, not just in babies. It is after all a food, specifically designed for humans, and the most vulnerable, swiftest growing of humans. The researchers aren't sure what happens, or where these bifidobacterium bacteria hide out in adults. But probiotic supplementation in America is a booming business, sales of it tripled between 1994 and 2003. Perhaps we could save our children some money in their future, by breastfeeding them now. As one of the researchers so eloquently summed it up, "It’s all there for a purpose, though we’re still figuring out what that purpose is,” Dr. Mills said. “So for God’s sake, please breast-feed.”

Nursing on Both Sides

2010-10-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

And because I love this life

I know I shall love death as well.

The child cries out when

From the right breast the mother

Takes it away, in the very next moment

To find in the left one

Its consolation.

-Rabindranath Tagore
from Gitanjali

Guardian Angels

2010-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

NPR just posted a story on Afghanistan's midwives. The training of midwives in a country with the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world (approximately 1600 women for every 100,000 women who deliver die) is proving to beneficial, not only for the women who deliver at these midwives hands, but for the midwives themselves. It is an occupation accepted in a society with deeply entrenched customs concerning women and work. With midwifery, everybody wins. The head of woman's affairs in the province of Badakshan, recently declared that the midwives are like, "...guardian angels for infants and mothers."

A world away, here in America, a world where woman's rights are supposedly sacrosanct, we are also struggling to make midwifery safe and legal. Illinois is currently debating the role of midwives in their state, a state with a large rural population, who sometimes end up delivering with no licensed practitioner attending them. Rural areas could grealty benefit from legal midwifery. It allows access to qualified health care providers, something all women should have the right to, during pregnancy and childbirth. Time magazine recently detailed the lengths some women have to go to in order to have a licensed midwife at their birth. It is reminiscent of the what some women used to go through in this country in order to obtain an abortion.

It astounds me how similar the struggles of a woman in rural Afghanistan and a woman on the 'El' train in Chicago truly are. Both are entitled to safe, smart, professional care during their childbearing years. Why then, can we laud such care for Afghan women, but fear or deny it for ourselves? It's time America realize all of the benefits of midwifery care, and it's time we stick up for woman's rights on our very own soil too. For as the head of woman's affairs summarized, midwives really are guardian angels for mothers and infants. Don't all mothers and infants deserve such a watchful, tender eye?

Labor Popsicles and Lactation Cookies

2010-09-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

Eid Mubarak! Maybe because the past few days have been all about food, I've decided to bring you a food post, replete with recipes! Let's start with the labor pops. This is a simple way to stay both hydrated, and nourished throughout labor. Many women experience nausea with contractions, and these labor pops are a great way to head that off. The coolness is also refreshing and easy to take in.

You'll need:

1-2 oz of dried red raspberry leaf
1 quart of water
Quart size jar with lid
Honey and lemon to taste
2-3 1mg calcium tablets
ice tray

To make the labor pops, steep 1-2 ounces of red raspberry leaf in a quart of water for at least 20 minutes up to four hours. Strain and sweeten with lots of honey and lemon, these will add much needed calories and lemon can help ease the nausea (as well as the red raspberry leaf). Crush the calcium tablets and add to the tea. Calcium is a muscle relaxant and can help with some aches and pains during labor. Pour the mixture into the ice tray. When labor commences, eat throughout the labor. They really are easy to eat when nothing else sounds to good!

Lactation cookies purportedly can increase and/or maintain milk supply. I find them more of an excuse to eat cookies, but, oh what a great excuse! They are also nice to just have around to snack on, or take with you while on the go; an easy way to up your calorie intake while nursing. And they happen to taste really, really good. Here is a recipe that I like and that makes enough to feed everyone in your house. Just don't tell them they are 'lactation cookies'!

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons flax seed meal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips
2 -4 tablespoons brewer's yeast

Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
Add eggs and mix well.
Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, beat well.
Sift together flour, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
Stir in oats and chips.
Scoop onto baking sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes.
Let set for a couple minutes then remove from tray.

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I have! Finally, here's a beautifully portrayed home birth of one Leo Hart. Scroll down to see the video, it's well worth it. Have a great weekend!

photo: watermelon and cucumber popsicles by rakka and cookies by ilmungo

Mother Roasting

2010-09-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

Please check out my article entitled, "Mother Roasting" at Rhythm of the Home's fabulous and inspiring online parenting/craft magazine. My article contains a how-to on preparing a nurturing postpartum gift basket, or experience for you or a friend. It also speaks a bit about postpartum practices worldwide, where warmth and nourishing of new mothers and babies is an art form.

There are some intriguing articles and craft tutorials from this season's edition that I can't wait to dive into. If you've been directed here from Rhythm of the Home, welcome and thanks for visiting!

The Womb and Mercy

2010-08-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

Some of my Ramadan reading has entailed the above, The Tao of Islam by Sachiko Murata. It is only through the materially deprived yet,spiritual uplifting state of fasting, that I can even hope to make sense of most of this book. She uses the Taoist formulation of yin and yang as a lens to look at Islam's theology around gender relations. It's fascinating. She has a most amazing chapter entitled, "The Womb." One of Allah's 99 names, ar-Rahman, or the Most Merciful one is closely related to the word for 'womb' in Arabic. There is so much depth and reflection on that alone, but for one more qualified than I! I wish to leave you with a few quotes relating ,of course to pregnancy, birth and mothers, all of which can be a wide opening into understanding the nature of the One who created.

There are four main sayings by the Prophet Muhammad, called hadith in Arabic, regarding the womb, which Murata uses towards the end of the chapter to exemplify the relationship between the nature of women, and Allah's Mercy. One of these that I particularly like is:

"God said, 'I am God and I am the All-merciful. I created the womb and gave it a name derived from My own name. Hence, if someone cuts off the womb, I will cut him off, but if someone joins the womb, I will join him to Me'"

The following passage on the station of mothers, was aid by Ali ibn al-Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

"The right of your mother is that you know that she carried you where no one carries anyone, she gave to you of the fruit of her heart that which no one gives to anyone, and she protected you with all of her organs. She did not care if she went hungry as along as you ate, if she was thirsty as long as you drank, if she was naked as long as you were clothed, if she was in the sun as long as you were in the shade. She gave up sleep for your sake, she protected you from heat and cold, in order that you might belong to her. You will not be able to show her gratitude, unless through God's help and giving success." (pg 213)

In reflecting on gestation and birth and how it relates to the grave and death, and the life after this, Sachiko Murata writes:

"Human beings develop in the womb in a manner that parallels the order followed by God in creating the macrocosm. In the womb the infant grows to completion and reaches deliverance by dying to the womb in order to be born into the world. In the world the human being grows to spiritual perfection and reaches deliverance through death to this world and birth into the next."

In keeping in this vein of reflecting on birth in this life with birth in the next, Murata quotes a Rumi poem. Here, he is comparing pregnancy and birth to a death, and encouraging us to live by the quote of Ali to "Die before you die", this of course, referring to the death of the ego. Like labor, this is an incredible challenge on all levels.

"Although the mother suffers the pain of childbirth, the embryo breaks out of prison.

The woman weeps at the birth: "Where is the refuge?" The child laughs: "Deliverance has come!"

Until mothers feel the pain of childbirth, the child finds no way to be born.

The Trust is within the heart and the heart is pregnant: all the exhortations of the saints act as a midwife.

The midwife says, "The woman has no pain. Pain is necessary, for it will open a way for the child."

I hope these quotes inspire you in these waning days of Ramadan. Please remember me and my family in your prayers!

Blessed Births and Beginnings

2010-08-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

Motherhood by bagath makka

My Ramadan post has taken a back seat to, well, my Ramadan! Next year God willing, I will post something! In the meantime, I have found a lecture, again by Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad, on motherhood. He talks about many of the mothers mentioned in the Quran, the mother of Moses, Mary, and others, and mentions the significance of this. That each time we speak about greatness, we mention the mother, and that this in turn deserves an immense amount of respect. He mentions that starting with birth, a mother is given blessings; that with each contraction she is given the reward of freeing a slave. Each contraction! One reason to be grateful for a long labor! If you are celebrating Ramadan this year, I pray that it is one of enormous benefit to you and your family. Look for more frequent posting in a couple of weeks!

Born into Ramadan

2010-08-18T11:39:00.001-07:00

"Metabolically and internally, Ramadan knocks the stuffing out of us. Like all the basic practices of our religion, it is an idea as simple as it is shattering. The body and spirit respond at their deepest level. The ego squeals with pain. To the extent that we are still babies, we cry and cry.

There are some elemental human experiences where the body, detecting its limits, transforms the spirit. Making love, famously, is one example. But there are others. Once, walking in the Alps, I passed a lake as blue as cobalt, formed from the meltwater of a glacier which towered over it. No-one was in sight, so I stripped off and ran straight in. The shock of that freezing water around me was staggering, and I could feel my heart straining. Coming out, shivering uncontrollably, I felt like a king. All of life seemed to be shivering around me, and the world seemed to have become strangely sharp and bright.

The experience of being born must be similar. From a comfort zone we experience the pain of delivery, and the outrage of new existence in an external world of bright lights and strange sounds. The baby screams, but its pain is its first experience of true life. Spiritually, it has begun its career.

The fast blasts us, and exhausts us. We feel the laughable flab melting away, and start to remember the important fact that we are alive. Life is a symbiosis between our bodies and the world. We are alive when we feel that interaction and dependency at work."

-RAMADAN TRAVELOGUE No. 1

By Sh. Abdal-Hakim Murad

Please consider donating to the Cambridge Mosque, the first fully eco-friendly mosque in Europe, of which Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad is a part of.

Photo by The Alpine by kern.justin

Home Birth Videos

2010-08-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

I bring you two home birth videos. The first is a first time couple, birthing at home on their Oregon farm. It is a mini-documentary and one of the most modest home birth films I have seen, yet very real and moving. The second is from a documentary I have blogged about before, The Doula Film. It is a second time mom birthing at home in the UK. She is incredibly calm and composed throughout the birth, particularly whilst pushing. Enjoy.

I hope to post on Ramadan for pregnant and nursing moms in the next day or two. Ramadan begins here tomorrow so we are making goodies and preparing today. There is a sister conducting a study on whether or not fasting in Ramadan while nursing impacts baby weight gain, and/or milk supply. She is hoping to get more participants. If you are interested please email her at RamadanNursingStudy@gmail.com - until then enjoy the videos and Ramadan Kareem!!

Birthing With Reverence

2010-08-06T16:26:00.001-07:00

img_2798 by eyeliam

I found the following passage, about birthing with reverence from midwife Carolina Wise, to be eloquent and thoughtful. She does a wonderful job of extrapolating our current state of our highly technological maternity care system to our understanding of the meaning of sacred in society. May we all be more reverent. Birth is a litmus test for a society's treatment of women and for it's application of the sacred. A rising 32.8% Cesarean rate (and rising) leaves much to be said for America's view of women.

Birthing with Reverence

Midwives can create a spirit of beauty at a birth or they can desecrate it. They can create a sacred space around a birthing woman that drives out fear and inspires the mother’s belief in herself, which ultimately determines the outcome of the birth. Midwives can be a channel of Grace in ways they never imagined and in doing so they create a spirit of reverence. Reverence in these days and times is not a common thing.

As a midwife there were times after births that I was overcome with awe, which is another term for reverence. It seemed appropriate for the sun to stand still in the sky, and the traffic to stop, and the whole universe to pause for a minute of awe in acknowledgement [sic] that something astonishing had just happened. It just seemed appropriate that all of creation should have taken notice. Perhaps, in the unseen world, it did.

Unfortunately in America there appears to be little reverence for much, especially not women or birth. This is not surprising given the history of the oppression of midwives, the rise of the medical model and the objectification of women’s bodies. The sacred has not just been drowned out at births but in our lives as a whole. In fact, reverence is not part of our public vocabulary at all. Yet, there are a few things that Americans do revere. Reverence for money comes to mind.

If you follow where the money goes it will reveal the short list of things that Americans do have reverence for. Large amounts of money are funneled into the pornography industry. Women are not revered in that industry. In fact, they are desecrated as an object of fantasy, not to be loved, cherished and honored, but simply to be used and discarded. Therefore, lust is revered, and as a result we have become a pornographic culture in which women are routinely desecrated.

Desecration involves an act in which a sacred thing is pillaged, or dishonored. The opposite of desecration is reverence. Reverence acknowledges and honors the sacred. Women and that which has to do with them, namely birth, are sacred. But they are not sacred at this place and this time. In fact, who among all the industrialized nations are reverent about women and what they do when they give birth?

Midwives have been given a sacred trust and a great honor to stand by as a witness to a miracle. Birth is not a small miracle. It is an extraordinary miracle. We are created for reverence and our work demands it. But when birth became a medical procedure our culture became so far removed from the beauty of it that it became commonplace and unimportant to the larger community. In the process of our irreverence we lost sight of our beauty as human beings.

— Caroline Wise
Excerpted from "Birthing with Reverence," Midwifery Today, Issue 82

World Breastfeeding Week

2010-08-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

Piknikas by c r z

Happy World Breastfeeding Week! Every year, the first week in August is World Breastfeeding Week. Among other things, the purpose of this week is to highlight the ten steps to successful breastfeeding, which are part of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. The World Health Organization and UNICEF started this initiative in 1991 to encourage hospitals to engage in birth and immediate postpartum practices which encourage exclusive breastfeeding. Of the 19,000 facilities worldwide, the US has a mere 63.

If a hospital birth is in your future, I strongly encourage you to consult this list of the US Baby Friendly hospitals and deliver there. At the birth center, we take our transfers to one of two Baby Friendly hospitals in the Bay Area. It is a display of excellence in maternity care. Women and babies are treated as they should be, an inseparable dyad (unless, of course, medically indicated). Because un-medicated, natural, vaginal births have higher rates of success in regards to initiating breastfeeding, these hospitals tend to support natural births, and offer less interventions. Here are the 10 steps to successful breastfeeding:

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all healthcare staff.

2. Train all healthcare staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.

3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.

4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within an hour of birth.

5. Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants.

6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.

7. Practice rooming-in - allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.

8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.

9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants.

10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.

Sounds an awful lot like what we do at a home birth!! Maybe that's why our exclusive breastfeeding rates this past year were 99% at 'discharge' and 85% at six months, well above the national average. Enjoy the rest of the week and pat yourself on the back if you're breastfeeding. Way to go mom!!

The Midwife's Apprentice

2010-07-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

One thing I have managed to squeeze in over the past few weeks is some easy reading. The young adult novel, The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman, a 1996 Newberry Medal winner, tells the story of a homeless girl, Alyce, in an old English village, who is recruited by the local midwife to do the drudgery of birth work under the guise of an apprentice. She collects herbs, boils water, and is ordered to stay out of the room at the actual time of the birth, so as not to be divulged of the midwife's secrets! In the beginning the girl is grateful for a warm place to sleep and two square meals a day in exchange for her help, but eventually she succumbs to the magic of birth. Oddly enough, the first time she realizes that she has a knack for birth is at the delivery of twin calves. The mama cow is frightened and so Alyce starts to pet her and whisper to her, and soon the miracle of birth occurs. She is smitten.

"One morning as they sat under the old oak tree eating their breakfast bread, Alyce told the cat again about the birth of Tansy's twins. 'All shiny they were and sticky to touch. I did not even know them, but I loved them so much."

I'm sure most women who attend births experience this instantaneous affection for the baby as well. I often feel as if the baby's otherworldly secret lingers with me for days after the birth. Alyce thereafter was hooked. At the next birth (of a human this time) that she attends, the midwife gets called away to another (better paying) birth. She is left alone with a thrashing, miserable, laboring woman. Her success with calming the laboring cow resurface and so she:

"...took another deep breath and returned to Joan's side. She gave her mugwort in warm ale to drink and spoke soothingly, calling her Sweetheart and Good Old Girl. She warmed oil over the fire and rubbed her head and belly, as she had the cow's. She did not know the spells or the magic, so gave Joan all she had of care and courtesy and hard work."

And that is the essence of being with women in labor, coaxing babies through the darkened portal into light, bringing a woman 'round the bend to motherhood just takes a little courtesy, care, and hard work. It makes such a difference to have a hand to hold, a soft smile, and someone to laugh with when it's all said and done. These are the midwives, the ones who sit with women on the threshold of pain, and walk with them over it to joy, who bring them through this rite of passage again and again with dignity, wisdom and grace. I hope that there are midwife apprentices forever.

Give this book to the young women in your life that they might be inspired. And when you do, consider that there is a global Call to Action to strengthen midwifery around the world. Maybe like Alyce, more young women will look inside themselves and feel the call to serve women with that ancient, gentle midwife's touch. Far too many women in this world never know respect and compassion when they need it most, when bringing a new life into gravity's pull. We deserve better.

The Frog Leg Position

2010-07-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

Sling Baby by N.R.

Dear readers, I'm so sorry for my absence these days! I am in the midst of studying for a big exam, not to mention being mama to my new babe! I hope you are enjoying the hot summer. My exam is over at the end of the month, so in the meantime, a little tidbit on baby wearing. Enjoy!

Soon after my daughter was born I received this sling as a gift. Besides being a phenomenal (and pretty!) way to carry your baby, it comes with a slew of information on the benefits and justifications for baby wearing. One of the most fascinating arguments for why babies should be carried is simply physical. They title it, The Frog Leg Position. The idea is that babies physical bodies are a sign to us that they should be carried, rather than bumped around in their car seat all day. And, that their frog legs are developmentally geared towards being carried. Their rounded backs, frog legs, and palmar grasp reflex, are cues to us clueless parents, "Carry me!"

To quote from the Didymos booklet, "....infants are especially adapted to being carried on and against our body. Thus, it is possible to make a statement about the carrying position: with widespread flexed legs, slightly rounded back and oriented towards the carrying adult." This is a good proof to me that babies were created to be carried. Ever try stuffing a baby in their car seat, they don't fit so well. And they don't like it!

Recently, there have been a spate of sling recalls. Mothering magazine addressed the issue in an hour long podcast found here. Slings are becoming increasingly popular in America and with that popularity, there has been an increase in sling manufacturers. Most of the slings recalled are the slings newer to the baby wearing market, the slings that have not withstood the test of time.

There are so many benefits to wearing your baby. I recall being in Senegal, where women wear their babies on their backs constantly, starting from the day they leave the birthing clinic until they are about two, and not being able to hear a baby cry at all. In the middle of the rural Senegalese street, you couldn't hear a pin drop, much less a baby cry. I would attribute much of this to the ubiquitous baby wearing. Strollers and car seats would be greeted with riotous laughter there. Here are some more great benefits that result from baby wearing. This is a picture of my son as a babe, being carried by one of the midwives, Khadija, in Senegal. See how much he liked it!! I hope you and your babies enjoy lots of baby wearing, those days go so fast. Here's a good website with lots of different types of slings, and the pros and cons of each. I'll be back regularly in a couple of weeks. Thanks!!

VBAC & VBA2C

2010-06-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Zoe's Delivery by Mwesigwa

VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean), or lack of it, is one of the major reasons for America's steadily (or should I say, alarmingly) rising Cesarean rate - currently a whopping 32.8% of all Amercan births end with an incision. Recently Richard Waldman MD, the president of the powerhouse medical organization, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, made a powerful statement concerning his colleagues quick jump to surgery. This year, at their annual conference he said:

"In 2008 the cesarean delivery rate reached another record high—32.8% of all births. There is a community not far from my home in which 45% of the newborns are delivered via an abdominal incision. [...] Liability dampens our spirits but unfortunately, it is also starting to define our specialty. [...] Let us recommit to do everything in our power to perform surgery only when necessary. Let us recommit to induce only when indicated and let us vow to never electively induce or perform an elective cesarean prior to 39 weeks. Any time we are tempted to take the safe path but not the righteous path, we should all say, “not on my shift."

It is a refreshing statement, one I hope holds up to the testing grounds of hectic and busy maternity wards. In our modern world it often seems that Cesarean is the only "choice" women have in the hospital to keep them and their babies safe. But our bodies have not changed since 1975 when the US Cesarean rate was 10.4%, obstetric training and practice has. Midwives have always been on the side of women and their bodies, learning and studying normal physiological birth in order to safely deliver women, and even now are often the only option for women who desire a chance at vaginal birth.

VBA2C refers to Vaginal Birth After 2 Cesareans. It is an unfortunate fact of life that many women now are in the situation of having had more than one Cesarean, but still long for a vaginal birth with a subsequent pregnancy. ACOG has in its guidelines on VBAC, allowed for a trial of labor with 2 or more Cesareans if a woman has had a vaginal birth before. Now a recent study has shown that even if a woman has not delivered vaginally before, she should still be allowed a trial of labor, even if she's had 2 prior surgical deliveries. In their findings VBAC in these cases, was successful 71.1% of the time. Uterine rupture, of course the sole reason for not allowing for VBACs, increased to 1.36%, which is roughly double what it would be in a woman who has had one prior surgery. But the tone of the researchers was encouraging and prompted practitioners to also caution their patients about the risks of a third repeat cesarean, in the light of these findings. Now that's informed consent.

This is great news for many women. Check out the video below to truly see the joy a successful VBAC can bring to a mother's face. If you want more information on VBACs in general check out this enlightening Cesarean fact sheet.

A Noisy Postpartum

2010-06-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

crying-baby by bbuanach

After I had my daughter, my midwife checked both of us out, and satisfied with the health of me and my girl, tucked us snuggly into bed to rest. She then walked down to our local coffee shop and picked everyone up a latte. I got freshly picked wildflowers in lieu of the caffeine. We then proceeded to snack on fresh berries, cheese and crackers while chatting. There was a soft morning breeze blowing through my window and I could hear the pigeons cooing.

That was after my home birth. If I had had a hospital birth, it would've not only looked different, but it would have sounded different. My labor would have been accompanied by at the very least, the thumping rhythm of the fetal monitor, the beep of aforementioned monitor when the paper ran out, and the constant introductions of nurses, doctors, and pediatricians. My postpartum room most likely would have been shared with another mother, who may or may not have had a slew of visitors, and who may or may not have had a penchant for television watching. And again, there would be a new face and name introducing itself, at least every 12 hours or so. The coffee would have been terrible, and the flowers an elevator's ride away.

That's to mention nothing of the cries of not only my baby, but possibly my roommates baby too. Recent findings are now claiming that the noise of the hospital can be detrimental to health, not to mention recovery from birth. Take a look at this brilliant study and analysis of the decibel level of labor and delivery, and postpartum units in American hospitals. I love her idea of a postpartum lounge for new mothers to congregate in after they birth their babies. Although, I think even this might be a bit much for new mothers - it takes a considerable amount of energy to interact with strangers, especially in the precious moments after one has a baby. Still, I think that her nod towards other postpartum cultural practices, and their strict emphasis on calm, quiet, and rest for the new mother and baby, is an important and lacking one here in America. For most women here, it's back to 'normal' at about seven days postpartum. In contrast look at these practices from around the world.

In Sudan mothers are treated to 40 days of rest, and beautification, treatment very similar to what a new bride in Sudan receives. They are served a fenugreek pudding, believed to encourage breast milk production and make one fat, something desired in Sudan! The treatment is thought to allow them to exit their 40 days feeling beautiful and rested.
In Indonesia, the mother does not enter the kitchen or wash until the umbilical cord has shriveled and fallen. This ensures rest for her. The husband does not sleep for three days as he must guard the mother and baby. How about that for a taste of sleep deprivation for the partner!
In India trained women come to the house and perform warm oil massages for mother and baby. It is believed to reduce colic in infants and preserve a woman's life long health. They also believe in resting for 40 days. Their are many special foods associated with the postpartum period.
It is Holland I believe, who takes the cake for postpartum care. There a women receives a kraamverpleegsters, a postpartum nurse, who comes to the house all day long for eight days. This is paid for by the government. She helps with everything from breastfeeding, advising on infant care, to laundry and cooking! She even manages the flow of visitors.

With all of this care, I'd be surprised if a baby ever cried in these countries! I hope that hospital administrators and anyone involved with postpartum mothers, would look at the above examples for inspiration and guidance on how mothers should be valued. Ask any mother what she wants, and I hedge that a good portion of them would say, "Some peace and quiet". Wishing that for you and yours!

Spirituality and Childbirth

2010-06-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

Gold Dome Masjid by TeeJe

The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said that Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.

Much of a woman's allure, is not in the color of her eyes, or coquettish smile, but rather, lies in the layers of tissue, muscle and fat which conceive, nourish and birth her children. It has been written about and allegorized since pen was put to paper, probably even before. Women themselves ponder its meaning and symbol. Rightly so, for it is hard to find a greater sign on this earth of something more powerful, more majestic, more intelligent, than a mother's growing girth and the subsequent perfection of her rose mouthed babe.

Many women find themselves in a more reflective state while gestating their young. Who will this little one look like? Boy or girl? When will the labor begin? How long will it be? Will I be able to breastfeed with success? With so many unknowns it is no wonder that many women turn to a Higher Power to make sense of it all. It is calming and reassuring knowing that with all the uncertainty and upheaval that this new life has brought, that it is the same Power who called its soul forth and into your womb, the One who will bring the contractions, who long ago rendered the gender of your baby, and who has brought many, many women to the other side of this childbearing experience. What a glory to participate in a child's creation!

And now modern science has proven it. A study was recently published in the Journal of Perinatal Education which showed a connection between childbirth and a woman's spirituality. They looked at data collected from 250 culturally diverse women over the past 20 years and concluded that many women experience a richer spiritual experience during the childbearing and mothering experience. Among other things they found:

Childbirth as a time to grow closer to God.
The use of religious beliefs and rituals as powerful coping mechanisms
Childbirth as a time to make religiosity more meaningful
The significance of a Higher Power in influencing birth outcomes
Childbirth as a spiritually transforming experience

Based upon their findings, the researchers are recommending that health care practitioners ask their patients, "Do you have any spiritual beliefs that will help us better care for you?" There is no time like the birth of a child to ask that question. I hope that all of the above come true for you dear readers!!

Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding

2010-06-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

I realize that there have been a few breastfeeding posts in a row, but seeing as I'm spending much of my days and nights doing just that, I guess it's on the brain. Recently, I read Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding. Ina May is a woman's woman. Reading her is like having a chat with your auntie about breastfeeding. She peppers her writing with illuminating anecdotes and funny asides.

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth is famous for its birth stories and one of the best aspects of this book, is it's breastfeeding stories. There are breastfeeding triumphs and losses, long unheard of stories of wet nursing, nursing multiples tales, and more. These are stories that allow women to see that breastfeeding is above all, simple and accessible. It is almost like reading about a different time and place, but these stories all take place in the here and now. Ina May is a student of cultures, and the stories, or "forgotten lore" as she calls them, are no accident. For, it is from lack of these stories in our lives, that Americans have lost so much knowledge of breastfeeding.

The highlight of the book is a chapter entitled "Nipplephobia". It is a brilliant and humorous analysis of why Americans, unlike other cultures, are so uptight about a woman's breasts being used for anything other than sex. This prudishness gives way to a dislike of breastfeeding in general. Nipplephobia is defined, identified, and cured in this chapter. She looks at other cultures and their examples to lead the way towards healing America's nipplephobia. I am especially fond (and I guess somewhat flattered), that towards the end of the chapter she cites examples from Muslim cultures where women who are covered head to toe, still have no trouble breastfeeding their baby, when their baby is hungry. One such example is from a male friend of hers who lived with a group of Bedouins during the '60's. Here is his experience in a culture where women covered head to toe:

"...but what really had an effect on me was the time when one of these Bedouin women raised her robes, exposing her breasts to me as she fed her baby. She acted as if everything were perfectly all right. It was only I who was taken by surprise. I realized that in cultures in which women breastfeed their babies, everyone in that culture grows up seeing breasts being used as they are meant to be. They have a natural attitude toward them. It's only in cultures like ours, where you almost never see a woman breastfeeding, that breasts become the object for something else, usually something to lust after."

She also cites Norway's example of moving towards a pro-breastfeeding culture, and gives reasons why they were able to do so while we weren't. It is a thought provoking chapter. The book as a whole is great with lots of information and tips about breastfeeding in the early days to weaning. The last two chapters, "Shared Nursing, Wet Nursing and Forgotten Lore" and the previously mentioned "Nipplephobia", are what makes this book so unique and memorable.

Nurslings

2010-05-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

I remember when my oldest was a newborn, feeling that a divine grace was permeating our house and our beings. It felt as if angels wings were enclosed over us, creating a nest of safety and peace. As a midwife, I encounter that same sentiment when doing the postpartum visits, there is a deep sense of contentment and joy in the house, and all emanating from this one tiny, bundled creature! Recently, I came across this hadith which might provide a clue as to what that feeling exemplifies. In one hadith (sayings of the Prophet) the Prophet (pbuh) said, “If it weren’t for nursing children, bent-over old people and grazing animals, catastrophe would descend upon you like a flood” (Heysemi, Mecmau’z-Zevaid, X, 227). Thus, he pointed out that “sabiler” (babies in the nursing stage) are the first factor preventing divine wrath." The first factor in preventing divine wrath, isn't that amazing?

The following is a public service announcement from Puerto Rico encouraging breastfeeding. I think it is such a visual image of the grace and beauty that flows between a mother and her nursling. It shows babies of all ages and toddlers nursing. I could not imagine a public service announcement like this in America, our culture is so obsessed with breasts as a sexual image that we could never air something like this on television. But how effective it would be if we could...

The following is a trailer for a film, Formula Fed America, which portrays the low rates of breastfeeding in America in the context of a public health crisis. And if we look at the above hadith, I suppose we could think of it as a spiritual crisis as well!

Home Birth on the Rise

2010-05-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

on Flickr - by christyscherrer

Using birth certificate data from around the United States during 1990-2006, the CDC has just released a report on Trends in Out of Hospital Birth. It is a promising report detailing the uptake in out of hospital births in 2005 and sustained in 2006. Here are a few interesting and encouraging findings:

Home births were less likely than hospital births to be preterm, low birth weight, or multiple deliveries.
An increase in out of hospital birth also took place in Canada in the years studied.
Women who are non-Hispanic white, over 25, and married, were more likely to have an out of hospital birth.
Women born outside of the US were less likely to have an out of hospital birth than those born in the US.
In 2006 64.7% of the out of hospital birth were home births and 28% took place in freestanding birth centers.
61% of home births were delivered by midwives - 16% by Certified Nurse Midwives and 45% by other midwives (which would most likely be Certified Professional Midwives, although the report doesn't specifically state their titles)

I hope this upward trend in out of hospital birth continues. For healthy moms and babes, there is nothing more joyful and empowering than welcoming your baby into this world, in the comfort and serenity of one's own home. For more information on midwives in your area, check out the Midwives Alliance of North America website, where you can search for a qualified midwife in your area and learn more about the Certified Professional Midwife educational process. Happy birthing to you all!!

The Great Gelatin Divide

2010-05-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

Still basking in my newborn's light, so meanwhile, check out my non-midwifery related blog post at GrowMama.com. Trust me, this was written long before I had my baby!

Fatimah Elaine

2010-05-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

If you noticed that I haven't posted lately, look above for the best excuse ever! Welcome to my baby girl Fatimah Elaine, named after her two great grandmothers. Here are her stats:

Gestated one full month longer than her big brother.
First contraction to last push was two hours.
Born in the water in our bedroom with one amazing midwife and her wonderful student..
Birthed in four pushes.
14" head (!)
7'13"
21" long
Loved and adored by many.

Thanks for all of your support. Posting will be light for awhile. If you are a midwifery client, I am taking clients with due dates of September and beyond. Thanks again. Keep us in your prayers and good thoughts!!!

Poem - Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy_010 by bethykae

Happy Mother's Day to each and every hard working, laughing, loving mother out there. May every day be filled with the recognition and gratitude that mothers deserve! My gift, a Rumi poem (don't be swayed by the title, there is a moving reference to mothers). Also, head over to Seeker's Guidance for a wonderful poem by Baraka Blue, "To Mothers". Enjoy!

Joseph in Prison

Joseph in prison asked a fellow prisoner,
"When you leave here, your affairs will prosper
with the king. Please mention me to him
and try to obtain my release."

One prisoner cannot free another prisoner,
and except for rare cases, every human being
is a prisoner, waiting.

Joseph asked a low, prickly shrub
like camels graze on, for help,
and he was punished for it.

The prisoner forgot Joseph's name completely,
and Joseph spent several more years confined.

In bright sunlight, don't ask a bat for directions.
If you're an ocean storm, don't look to heat-mirages
and sand for assistance. Dont' make a brace
from rotten wood.

God punished Joseph, or seemed to.
Actually He totally absorbed him
in such an intimate joy that
the dungeon disappeared.

There's no more restricted place
than the bloodwalls of the womb,
yet in there God opens a window
into the Presence, and your senses grow.

They blossom out of the body.
The delight is so profound in the womb
that you never want to leave.

You pull towards your mother's spine,
and away from the labia door.

The way of spiritual treasure is inward.
Don't look for it outside in property or wealth.
Setting means nothing. One man sits ecstatically
in a bare stone nook. Another is sad
in a beautiful rose garden.

At the wine-feast the drunkard
is most happy when he passes out.

Look at his smile. Be a ruin.
This body-house is full of imagery
Demolish it. Those fantasy art-works
keep you from union.

But the beauty of the pictures
comes from the radiance of the soul!

That light-filled water produces
the bubbles that obscure its surface.

That which blocks us from seeing
is from a deep vision-source inside.

Let your bats fly into that sun
and lose their batness!

(Mathnawi, VI, 3400-3431)

Happy International Day of the Midwife!

2010-05-04T22:35:00.000-07:00

Indeed, the world needs midwives now more than ever. Maternal mortality rates are a scourge in our time. In Afghanistan a woman dies each half hour of pregnancy, or childbirth related causes. Over 90% of these deaths occurs in developing countries, many of them Muslim. And in California, the maternal mortality rates have nearly tripled in the last decade! Midwives are oft touted as a large part of the solution when it comes to the crisis of maternal mortality. Take today as an opportunity to increase your understanding of midwifery and what midwives do. There is a fascinating and informative free online seminar taking place all day. There are some great sessions for expecting mothers about nutrition and yoga, as well as more academic sessions for midwives. And in an exciting step forward in terms of midwifery and home birth in the Gulf region, there was a recent article in The National opening up the conversation about home birth options there in UAE. Blessings to all the midwives who get up in the middle of the night, worry over their mums -to- be, and take great pride in continuing the tradition of women taking care of women.

First Birth in Medina - Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr

2010-05-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

Masjid-An-Nabawi #17 by Huda M Elmatasani

Asma bint Abi Bakr, sister of Ayesha (May Allah be pleased with them both), made the Hijra while pregnant. During her hijra, there was a rumor spread that any Muslim baby born in Mecca, would be slain. Imagine, not only fleeing for your life, but fleeing for the unborn life within you.

SubhanAllah, Asma must have been a very strong and courageous woman. She was also the one to bring food and water to her father, Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) and the Prophet (peace be upon him), while they were hiding in the cave. This was no small physical feat, and took a bravery I'm not sure many of us possess.

Then, to make hijra, a long and arduous journey while pregnant, also took an incredible amount of prowess and determination. Let this be an inspiration to those of us who are pregnant (or not pregnant, for that matter) next time we make an excuse for not exercising. May we be inspired and prodded by the strength of Asma!

Asma made the emigration safely, and not long after began to feel the pangs of labor. It must have been a relief to feel them in a place where she knew that she and her baby were safe and protected, and where the blessing of the Prophet's presence must have been palpable. Soon, her son was in her hands, the first son of Medina, Abd Allah ibn Zubayr (May Allah be pleased with him). He was the first Muslim baby to be born in Medina. Both the Emigrants to the city of Medina, and those Muslims of Medina who generously welcomed them, celebrated this birth with enthusiasm.

It was a sign of hope, the next generation of Muslims born in Medina, the newly adopted home of the community. Abd Allah was brought to the Prophet, who took a bite of a date, then removed it from his blessed mouth, and rubbed it over the baby's gums, all the while making lots of du'a for this child. The people of Medina paraded him through the streets, and it is said, made a sort of tawaaf of the streets of Medina with him! What joy and happiness babies bring!

JazakAllah khair to Ustadha Eiman and those who make her Saturday morning class possible for giving us the splendid details of this event!

Babies Suck

2010-04-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

Pacifiers at Frederiksberg Have by zaxer

Babies do suck, as attested to by the pacifier tree above, lots of them, and they seem to like it. This interesting article in Salon, follows the history of pacifier use, and the subsequent guilt it evokes in parents. I would advise skipping pacifiers for at least the first month or so, not because of nipple confusion, but because it can inhibit a mom's milk supply. The more the baby sucks on something besides the mother, the less signals her brain and body are receiving to produce milk. If you have sore nipples and all of that non-nutritive sucking is giving you blisters, try offering your clean finger nail side down. If you ultimately decide on a pacifier go for a BPA-free one with a silicone nipple. If your baby is in the NICU, pacifiers have been shown to be useful in extending the breastfeeding relationship. I think to extend that conclusion, as he does in the article, to full term, vigorous and healthy breastfed infants is fallacious. In the end pacifier use, like all parenting issues, is a personal decision.

If you'd like to learn more about the wonderful pacifier tree tradition that they have at this Denmark park, read here. It's such a sweet tradition, and shows what meaning these tots give to their pacifiers, what a strong attachment!

From War to the Womb

2010-04-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt from a new film out about my favorite midwifery organization's efforts to bring Palestine and Israeli midwives together. It's unbelievable to think that a Palestinian woman has to wait 3-4 hours to reach her midwife because of checkpoints. I wonder why there are not more home births that happen there. I've blogged about these efforts before, but I think this clip is comprehensive in detailing the problems of the two countries midwives, how they are similar and how they differ.

COHI Coexistence Project
Uploaded by aldermanjessica. - Have a look at more lifestyle videos.

In other midwifery inspirations, I wanted to include this quote that was recently posted at the Citizens for Midwifery blog. I think it is a testament to the beauty of midwifery care, home birth, etc... Shouldn't we be striving for this beauty in our lives, even in birth?

While shopping [one] day, I noticed hand-dipped chocolates, homegrown vegetables, hand-spun wool, homemade preserves, cottage-industry soaps—all at premium prices, since they were made with care, individually, by hand, at home. I reflected, too, on how "old-fashioned" doctors, famous for house calls and compassion, are remembered fondly as part of the "good old days" and praised for their one-on-one caring. I mused how our society honors unique, special, one-of-a-kind items and services.

Yet when it comes to maternity care, it seems the bigger and busier, the better: high-tech procedures, standardized treatment, massive patient loads, in-and-out, assembly-line-style facilities. We are urged to leave the clean peace and quiet of home and go, instead, to a large, centralized center and entrust ourselves to a system of detached and often distracted institutional workers whom we've never met and may never see again. I find it hard to believe that anyone would consider hospital care preferable, if they really thought about it.

High-tech or hands-on? The choice is not new. In many cases, of course, mechanical and technological advances have been just that: improvements. Other advances, as we all know too well, have resulted in lasting harm.

— Judy Edmunds, excerpted from "A Grand Triumph," Midwifery Today Issue 37

Miscarriage and Prematurity

2010-04-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

Rose Knit Hat by thedayhascome

We all want to see our babies come out fat, healthy, and robust. For many women though, this is not always the case. Our preterm birth rate in America is among the highest in developed nations and rising. 12.8% of pregnancies in America end in preterm births, meaning the baby is born before 36 weeks of gestation. The number of preterm births in America has risen 36% since the 1980's.

Miscarriage occurs more often than we'd like to think as well. It has been said that one in three pregnancies results in miscarriage! Most of these are missed by women, who think that their period is just a little late that month. Miscarriages, when they happen, are often devastating and defeating for a woman. In this society it is rarely talked about, and often downplayed if brought to light.

I just wanted to briefly address these issues in terms of midwifery care and advice. In terms of preventing preterm labor, there are some herbs that I recommend.

Cramp bark and black haw are a combination often used to prevent preterm labor. They can be taken every two hours, two droppers-ful.
I advise, lots of water, rest and nourishment, also ask your health care provider to test for urinary tract infection.
False unicorn root (yes, that is it's real name!), can help when there are signs of preterm labor. Check with your local herbalist for dosages.

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to ensure the health and growth of a preterm infant is kangaroo care. A recent study showed that kangaroo care could reduce newborn deaths by up to 50% worldwide. Kangaroo care is typically defined as skin to skin contact between mother and baby, exclusive breastfeeding, and supporting the infant/mother unit, as one unit, as if mom were still pregnant.

Breastfeeding is a bit tricky with preterm infants as they tire easy from trying to get the milk out, but it is so important for these babies. Formula increases the chances of babies getting infections, something preterm babies have a much harder time fighting off.

Kangaroo care increases the chances of successful breastfeeding.
Early attempts at the breast for the preterm baby is important.
Swabbing the babies mouth with your colostrum is even beneficial if for some reason you and baby have to be separated in the beginning. This is something dad, or grandma can easily do.
Continued pumping and hand expression by the mother will ensure a good milk supply.
If the baby is unable to suck at the breast, he can take the mother's pumped milk in many forms, cup, finger, syringe. See here for more details.

Miscarriage is probably one of the most frequent things I am asked to counsel women about. Not all bleeding and cramping leads to miscarriage though.

Red raspberry leaf drunk throughout the pregnancy is a good uterine tonic and while there is no evidence that it will prevent miscarriage it can nourish the uterus.
Vitex, otherwise known as chasteberry, is a great herb at preventing miscarriage when there is a history of it, or when there is bleeding and cramping. When there is bleeding take two droppersful every two hours.
Acupuncture can also be of great aid to women who have had a history of miscarriage or are actively bleeding.
Finally, if you have had frequent miscarriages, there are a lot of interesting studies out about the link between miscarriages and celiac disease. You might want to ask your doctor about getting tested for this. If you do have it, it's a somewhat simple fix towards carrying a pregnancy full term.

And of course we cannot forget the spiritual component of anything. I came across these amazing pieces of advice on Sunnipath. I will summarize a couple of the nuggets of wisdom below:

Anyone who, whilst placing his hand on the stomach of his pregnant wife, repeats Ya Mubdi ( O Originator) 99 times at the time of suhur (before Fajr), neither will she have a miscarriage nor will she give birth prematurely, insha Allah.

If an expectant woman writes Sura Al-Haqqa (in the 29 Juz) and wears it as an amulet (ta`weez), it will protect the unborn child from physical, mental and spiritual calamities, insha Allah.

May Allah grant all of you blessed pregnancies!

Doula Film & Lorenza Holt

2010-04-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

The following two films are portrayals of women and their journey towards natural birth. The first explores doulas and their roles in the birthing process. The second is by a doula, childbirth educator, and Mexican American, Lorenza Holt. She tells the motives behind her choices and moves towards women centered midwifery care for her second birth. Both are moving and touching vignettes. To learn more about the Doula Film click here. Lorenza Holt, the woman telling her story in the second film, is nominated for Our Bodies Our Blog, Women's Health Heroes 2010. You can read more about her inspiring story and vote for her here. While you are there check out all of the nominees for this award, there are some really brave and powerful women's health advocates in the world! Both films contain either birth scenes or pictures of birth, lovely though they are....

Birth Doula film from Alex Wakeford on Vimeo.

The Immense Ocean

2010-04-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

"All who are in the heavens and upon earth ask of Him
Every day He is in some task."
Quran (55:29)

This is a tafsir on the 54th hizb of the Qur'an from the great Moroccan scholar, Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba. It is a wonderful translation of a work rarely available in English. It's available here. Last night I was struck by the commentary on the above verses. Here is the commentary:

"Concerning this verse, I heard our Shaykh, Sidi al-Tawudi Ben Suda, may God have mercy upon him, say, " Among His tasks is to make ready, every day, three multitudes [of souls]: those which enter the wombs, those which are born into the world, and those which enter the graves."

I like this reassurance. For those of you trying to conceive, for those of you waiting to deliver, and for all of us waiting to enter the graves, this presents a solace and a guidance, that this is not our tasks, that Allah will bring manifest these destinies in His time. What do we then need Pitocin for? With Allah's Mercy and Help, babies will be born when He makes their souls ready.

Latching On

2010-04-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

In follow up to my post about the dismal US breastfeeding statistics reported in the Washington Post, there is a new documentary film out titled, 'Latching On'. I haven't seen it yet, but it is a brilliant idea. She discusses her sister's experience as a breastfeeding mother, beginning in Germany where she delivered her baby and where women breastfeed anywhere and everywhere, and ending in New York City, where spotting a breastfeeding mother is as rare as spotting a unicorn.

I'm always proud of my Muslim sisters who overcome sometimes great odds to breastfeed their children. When I travel to the Muslim world, I am also surprised at how openly women in these modest cultures breastfeed their children. Even in the stricter countries, where gender segregation is imposed in public, breastfeeding is still the norm. This study from Australia compared breastfeeding rates amongst Australian, Vietnamese, and Turkish women in Australia. Turkish women had the highest rates of breastfeeding initiation. I pray that this is a legacy we can leave the world with, that breastfeeding children, is a norm and a divine duty of the mother, and that it does not have to be difficult or even hidden.

Poem - Morning Song

2010-04-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Mother and Child by Koshyk

Morning Song

Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.

Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.

I'm no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its
own slow
Effacement at the wind's hand.

All night your moth-breath
Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen:
A far sea moves in my ear.

One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow heavy and floral
In my Victorian nightgown.
Your mouth opens clean as a cat's. The window square

Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons.

-Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

There was a study released in Pediatrics on Monday that says if American women were to breastfeed exclusively for six months, that nearly 900 infant lives and billions of health care dollars would be saved each year. Only 12% of American women exclusively breastfeed at six months. This article in the Washington Post details many of the benefit of breastfeeding and mentions how birth practices affect breastfeeding outcomes, "The pediatrics academy says babies should be given a chance to start breast-feeding immediately after birth. Bartick said that often doesn't happen, and at many hospitals newborns are offered formula even when their mothers intend to breast-feed. " That first hour or so is so important for many interactions between mother and infant, breastfeeding included. Ask for help from your midwife or hospital staff if you are unsure of how to get the baby on, it really can ease the way for so much if the baby can have at least one go at the breast in the first hour or so. Breastfeeding is often viewed as a choice in this country, but in terms of public health, it really should be looked at similar to seat belts, you are far better off with it than without it.

I also wanted to share a link of a UK publication entitled Mum and Muslim magazine. They have just come out with their first issue and there are some interesting articles up. Go check it out!

Singing

2010-04-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

In my interview with Hakim Archuletta's he briefly mentioned singing (and offered to conduct the entire interview whilst singing!)as a good preparation for labor. Michel Odent, a French obstetrician who has dedicated his life to natural, uninterrupted childbirth, used to conduct singing sessions in place of some of the prenatals. Here is an excerpt from Odent's book entitled, "Birth and Breastfeeding: Rediscovering the Needs of Women During Pregnancy". In this excerpt he talks about how a pregnant woman's brain changes and how becoming more in touch with our mammalian, and our human sides, is most befitting for this time in our lives, and actually congruent with the brain changes occurring in a woman's brain during gestation.

Labor is another excellent time to use our voice. It can be a wonderful coping technique especially for the intense contractions at the end of labor. Anything from moaning, "oooooopppeennn", "ooommmm", or even 'Allllaaahhh", relaxes our throat muscles, channels the pain and energy of the contraction, and in turn relaxes our pelvic area. Ina May Gaskin, America's legendary midwife, is famous for saying "Loose lips make loose hips". It's true, try it even now, not pregnant. Blow a raspberry and feel if you can't feel where you are making contact with the ground, or chair, more fully. I love this following video of a woman singing through her labor. She has two big contractions while singing which are almost impossible to distinguish. A couple of hours after this video was taken, she delivered a ten pound baby at home!

So try singing as a preparation for labor, and for life, and for all those lullabies that are sure to come!

Birth Story - Baby Abdurahman

2010-03-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

By Faraz_Ilu

This moving birth story is from a mother, Umm Abdullah, who had a C-section for her first, and a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) in a birth center for her second. Umm Abdullah was incredibly educated and persistent in her decision making around her VBAC birth and it was thrill to be able to aid her on this healing journey.It was a joyous day for all when little Abdurahman arrived! She was blessed to have the resources available to her to achieve the VBAC, unfortunately, many in this country are not so lucky and are forced to have repeat Cesarean surgeries. Recently, though the tides have been changing and there has been a lot of attention given to allowing more VBACs in America. Newsweek recently documented the changing attitudes about VBACs and the National Institute for Health has just convened a conference all about VBACs. You can read the results of that conference here and a NYT summary here. And now, the birth story....

Ar-Rahman's Gift

by Umm Abdullah

My second son, Abdurahman, was a gift from Ar-Rahman, as was his birth.

My first son, Abdullah, was born via c-section. Despite an un-medicated labor in which I even refused the IV, and an hour and a half of pushing, Allah willed that he come into this world with the help of surgical intervention. Alhamdulillah, he was a healthy and beautiful baby with a purple, cone-shaped head, and he latched-on to the breast vigorously despite the one hour interlude from the time of his birth until I could hold him in my arms. I brought him home with a sense of gratefulness to Allah for blessing me with His gift, yet I could not shake the sense of dissapointment that I had in not being able to birth naturally. I started to research VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) in those early post-partum days.

Almost exactly two years later my husband and I were blessed with another pregnancy. I knew that this time I would do things differently. I researched and searched, and realized that the best way to give myself a chance at a successful VBAC was to avoid the hospital. In the hospital, interventions are used routinely, and often times not out of real medical necessity. These unnecessary interventions interfere with the natural birth process and lead to unnatural results. Plus many women who gave birth in non-hospital settings, such as birth centers and at home, wrote of such amazing, positive birth experiences. I contacted a midwife named Shannon, a Muslima alhamdulillah, who works in a birth center, and my husband and I decided to meet her and tour the center. From the moment I met her I knew that I wanted her to be the one to help me deliver my baby, biithnillah. She is my sister in Islam and I was blessed to have her there for me from the start of my pregnancy, alhamdulillah.

One morning three weeks before my due date I was laying in bed reading stories of natural births when I felt a lot of pressure and more 'contractions' than the day before. I called Shannon and the rest of the day I noticed more and more pressure and contractions. Sure enough, by evening time I began contracting rhythmically and they were becoming more painful. I mustered up the energy to do a light cleaning of the house, packed my bag, and my husband and I drove to my in-law's house. We stayed there all night. My contractions were getting more intense but I took my midwife's advice to lay down on my side and try to get as much sleep as I could. This is the best piece of advice I can give to a woman in early labor: Don't get excited, sleep as much as you can! Towards fajr time it was very difficult for me to get any rest but I let my husband sleep some more because I knew he would need the rest. I took a shower which was very soothing. Some family members came in the morning and took my older son out and my husband and I headed to the birth center. We arrived there around 11 am and upon checking me Shannon said I was already almost eight centimeters dilated, Allahu Akbar - that was wonderful news!

We settled into a birthing suite (I picked the blue one). My doula arrived at the same time we did, and for the next few hours my husband and my doula did an amazing job of helping me through my contractions with massage, moral and physical support, and lots of liquids and yummy snacks. Every contraction was getting stronger and I was using breath awareness along with visualization to help me through. I thought about Maryam (alayha salaam) and how she did it all alone. Allah, aza wa jel, helped her and I knew He would help me too. He, subhanahu wa t'ala, would not give me more than I can bear (that's a promise from Him!). It was so wonderful to eat and drink as I pleased (which you are not allowed to do in the hospital), to try different positions without being strapped to beeping machines or with something poking you in the arm, and to have complete privacy. The only man that was there was my husband and it was a very intimate and comfortable environment, a requirement for natural labor. Standing up and holding on to a birth ball on the bed was my position of choice. Every time I would squat another contraction would come and this position allowed me to have some control over the contractions. My midwives were checking the baby's heart rate intermittently with a stethoscope and testing my urine hourly, and I felt that was in such good hands, alhamdulillah.

My contractions were becoming extremely intense and I knew I was in the transition phase. The intensity of the contractions made me feel overwhelmed, and the midwives recommended I try the birthing tub for relaxation. As the water to fill the tub was flowing my water burst and I knew the baby was coming. I called out to Shannon and she placed a birthing stool under me. I held on to the sides of the stool and began to push. Nervously I asked whether I should be pushing even when there is no contraction and Shannon told me to do whatever felt right for me. That was a sort of mantra during the labor and it was such a wonderful and intuitive piece of advice, advice that I would never have gotten in the hospital. I pushed as I felt was right and before long the baby's head was almost out. In fact, I only pushed for ten minutes before he was born. The last push was intense but when Abdurahman came out and was given to me I felt sheer elation (along with relief). His little body felt so sweet against my chest.

Not once during my labor or delivery did I think about another cesarean. Allah, ta'ala, took that concept out of my mind completely, alhamdulillah. I was surrounded by caring, warm people whom I knew and who sincerely wanted the best for me and my baby. Undoubtedly it was hard work, but in the end I was blessed with an experience that I would never forget or want to change. Subhan'Allah, what a blessing from Ar-Rahman.

Interview - Hakim Archuletta

2010-03-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hakim Archuletta is a healer in the true sense of the word. His knowledge of human nature on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level is profound. To read more of his extensive bio, click here. We are blessed to know him, and thrilled that he agreed to share his thoughts with us on women, birth, and pregnancy. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did! Many thanks to Hakim!

1) Tell us, in general, what you have learned about women through your work. The thing that I have seen most through the many years is the courage that women have and the strength that they have that they are often not aware of. More recently [I have seen], the willingness, the kind of enthusiasm for change and growth that they seem more connected to than men. So it seems that they more easily can make changes and are able to change with this goal and understanding that growth is part of their natural life force, and it demands a courage to face oneself; I’ve learned over the years that they do this more easily than men. Along with that, generally speaking, the strength that women have is inherent in their woman-ness, or their femininity, or whatever term. They are closer and find it more easy to be real and on the ground and grounded and connected than men. The other thing I have discovered is that they have taken up the slack that has been left by men who have not taken on the responsibility in the world for being men. So this strength that I have seen in women is more evident that in men. Men really have a fear of this strength. That fear is very often hidden and creates the need in men to control and to dominate. Woman’s kind of generosity in knowing that in many cases—and managing it anyway—is remarkable. And the patience and the tolerance that woman have for the weakness of men is part of the qualities they have as women.

2) Do you think women understand that they have this inner strength? Sometimes

they do, sometimes they don’t. They do unconsciously in many cases. They have the wisdom to know they can’t command their husband to do something. They can’t be “in charge,” but sneak the information in so he doesn’t know they are actually teaching him. The other thing I’ve learned is that cultures have not been—across the board whether they are Muslim, Arab, Pakistani, American—cultures are really off balance, and the real place of women even in this country is not really in place for the most part at all. And mostly that is because men have not stepped up to bat in the modern times. Rather they have let it go.

3)What kinds of issues specific to women do you feel affect their births? I think this basic configuration that I just described affects women deeply. They have not learned in many cases to trust what they know—and what they know in a more biological way for starters by being connected and grounded and real. Biological intelligence. And so they have been taught to believe that their knowledge is not real, that their emotions, for example, are their weakness according to cultures, whereas their emotions are their strength and force and foundation of knowledge. They don’t trust that; if they trusted that, everything would be better for them, including their birth. We are an unhealthy society top to bottom—education, politics, health, and finally in terms of our deaths—and all of this is not being addressed, little pieces, yes, but changing the whole kind of juggernaut in this world is daunting. My prayer is that Allah does not heal us with calamity and disasters like He heals individuals. Individuals are sometimes healed by disaster, calamity, grave illness, and so on. So childbirth should be completely re-thought. The hospital is not a healthy pace in terms of energy, in terms of everything a newborn needs, in terms of touch and smell, natural environment, air, light, energies. Traditionally, the advice that the hakims gave to pregnant women—and I have pregnant women who always ask me what to do you advise: First of all respect and honor what you have in terms of your natural mammalian capabilities in you. And if you give them their proper due, you want to have a setting that is safe. Every mammal does this. The closer they get to the birth, [they acquire] this need for the security of place. The traditional hakim is saying is during pregnancy, you surround yourself with good people and spiritual people and things that bring inspiration to you. Going to the awliya and having good energies surrounding you during the pregnancy is more important than any multi-vitamin for sure. Also, my advice when you are pregnant, is to be sure that you bring things to the table as a couple and address the unresolved issues as much as you can. You want love to be the primary nourishment for the child in the womb. Love is going to be the most valuable nutrient that it will get. Love, passion, lots of touching, lots of closeness, all those things that enhance the biological being, and singing … I love the tradition of an African tribe where the mother, each month of the pregnancy she composes a new line, she adds a line each month, until she has nine months of a song. So the child has a song, and when the child gets sick or hurt, she sings the song to him. The community as well sings the song to the child. Imagine the impact of this on the child, his nervous system, etc…

3. You have experienced home birth as a father. Can you tell us what that was like for you? I delivered my first son—following that I kind of had the realization that there is an energy that women have and that men have and that the birthing event is best conducted by women. Birthing belongs to the realm of women more than it does than to the realm of men. And so I actually tried to encourage women to take part in the births of my children as much possible, although I was present in many cases. I think if it were a homebirth, the sense of empowerment I think it has more do with recognition on a man’s part, the ability for him to recognize and on some level to grasp to some degree the awesome event of a birth. We have a tendency to abstract, and birthing drives home very dramatically that this is a life coming into being—because it so dramatic and so powerful, I would pray that insha’Allah men would have that ability without necessarily being present at birth. The best births tend to happen at home, and if there are women around that are supportive and they are reciting Qur’an and singing … my wife was doing the hadra right up to the birth. This is a very powerful thing to do in terms of preparing for birth. She would have half-hour labors. My daughter had two-hour labors. I asked her what would you attribute this to; she said childbirth is not hard, it’s easy because it's so natural. Yes, there is pain, yes, there is struggle, yes, there is stress … she actually uses that term, easy. The biggest thing is not buying in to the misogyny by men that describes childbirth as “the most painful thing that a person can go through.” That’s part of what I said in the first place. Men have a fear of woman. They love their mothers, but fear the power of women. The power to create—that’s much more than we men can ever take part in, the majesty of that. So keeping them [women] as these passive servants is an antidote for that. Making childbirth hard, all that comes in the same bundle of misunderstanding the strength and power that women hold ….

4. I have seen that hospital births have the potential to disrupt early bonding between mother and child. Meanwhile, it seems that much of the trauma you see originates in the relationship between mother and child. Can home birth play a preventative role? It is pretty clear to everybody that initial bonding, that intital touch,

establishes the foundational principle of resilience, and the ability to have a sense of security. That lack of security is one of the causes for so much emotional illness and physical illness in the mdoern world. Looking back historically there were times they would take child away from mother, there was a time that the colostrum of the mother was believed to not be clean, that baby should not suckle. All of these bizarre distortions of our basic nature. So bonding, genuine presence of mother and father, is the key to healthy stability in the persona and the development of resiliency of that child, the strengthening of the nervous system. Allah is generous so he gives mother-ness in many forms in his creation, even if the mother was not able to have the contact that they wanted with the child. The birth practice the more natural it is, the more pleasant the surrounding, there is beauty present. We cannot underestimate how important beauty is in our lives. Take the hospital, how it looks—already you are in trouble. Beauty is a real thing. It's not just aesthetics. This is something we lost, we have this idea that these things are not important to us in terms of our well being. So beginning with the birth process, this establishes our resiliance and ability to feel safe in the world, to have the nervous system function fully is important to our spiritual well being.

5. Can you recommend any somatic exercises that might help women prepare for birth? The more present one can be in body from the very beginning is important. This naturally wants to happen in pregnancy anyway, so the body will do things to make you present. Birthing is actually a somatic demand to be present, isn’t it? If I was giving advice, the exercises of awareness would be the first exercises [I would recommend]. These exercises establish their sense of standing on their two feet, of their legs carrying the weight of their body. [The are about] learning how to stand and establishing standing or re-establishing a sense of standing. Number two, becoming aware of the body's responses to everything the person encounters. How do you feel when this happens, what happens in you body when you walk into a Wal-Mart, when you walk into a rose garden? Become more aware of the standing in your body with your consciousness in the world. And then the awareness of breathing and the ability and development of this awareness, along with the flexibility of movement during the pregnancy. So the breath is full and complete. All of that breath and oxygen is free to travel through the body as fast as possible. There are more specific excercies that have to do with flexibility and presence that can enable one to relax so there is an easy letting go of the cervix and dilation that one can have …

In summary back to some of these things I started with. Women: learn to trust what you know inherently. Find how you can reach those things, trust them, and use them to live by. They call it women’s intuition, but more than that, it’s what Allah gave them. Its our inherent biological system, our nervous system, on mammalian level, a human level.

Picture Credits - Hakim Archuletta from www.islamondemand.com

Ethiopian Woman - babasteve flickr.com

Father and Baby - modenadude flickr.com

Sultan Ahmet - rmx flickr.com

Third Trimester - The Blossoming

2010-03-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

Cherry Blossom by conner395

"And God brought you out of your mother's insides while you knew nothing, and gave you hearing and eyesight and feelings, that you might be grateful."
Qur'an (16:78)

You feel as if you are about to burst forth. Your body is now completing its preparations for the upcoming birth and subsequent mothering upon which you are about to embark. And everyone wants to know, "When are you due?" The waning days of pregnancy can bring joy and discomfort, all within moments of each other! Fetal development is geared towards preparing the baby to enter the world; the lungs are preparing to inflate and the brain is laying down the foundation for the nervous system. For most women this is a time of anticipation and excitement, but it can also be a time of anxiety and worry as the end of pregnancy nears and the momentous act of receiving a new life begins. I want to briefly discuss some common physical and emotional manifestations that can arise in the third trimester.

Insomnia is common during the last few months of pregnancy. It can be a combination of physical and emotional factors that have you tossing and turning. A study of pregnant women throughout their pregnancy revealed that by the end of pregnancy 97% of women had trouble with sleep! The most common cause for night waking? You guessed it, the need to urinate!

Doing cat/cow pelvic tilts before bed can reduce the frequency of urination at night. Try doing at least ten before bed and see if it reduces at least one trip to the bathroom. The theory is that it moves the baby's head off your bladder for enough time to allow you some shut eye.
Take a bath with aromatherapy, lavender oil, chamomile oil, or other relaxing scents about an hour before bed.
Working out any fears and/or anxieties around the birth often happens at night. I find that most women benefit from writing down a list of the things they are concerned with when they wake at night. They can then promise themselves that they will get back to it in the morning. This can also be an enlightening look into the unconscious mind.
Getting plenty of exercise during the day, particularly late afternoon, can help bring on restful sleep.
A calcium magnesium supplement is always helpful when dealing with insomnia.
Also, make sure you are getting enough to eat. Hunger, even when you don't feel hungry, can be a cause of insomnia. Try to make yourself a snack, peanut butter toast, milk, an apple, and see if you don't drift off easier.
Know that this is also Allah's way of preparing you for the frequent night wakings bound to come with a newborn in the house. It's a marvelous system isn't it?
The infamous dreams of pregnancy also arise during the third trimester. You misplace your baby, or your baby is born a cat, or you are stuck in a small space. All of these dreams are allowing you to work out the worry. Psychologists say that the more anxious the dreams a woman has, the easier her labor! Now there is an upside to bad dreams!

The main work of the third trimester though, is preparing for the birth. There are a lot of physical and emotional preparations that all mothers make in order to ready themselves for the big arrival. Here are some suggestions that might help with making this passage smooth for you.

Visualize the birth. Imagine yourself not at the birth, but in the birth. What is the sensation of your labor journey, the color, the feel? Picture the baby head down, with her back facing out and her limbs cocooned towards your center. See yourself as strong, confident and capable.
Be honest with your self about any fears that you have around the birth. The more these fears stay suppressed, the likelier they are to arise at inconvenient times. It's best to look them in the eye now. Try writing them down, painting them, singing them...
Birthing From Within gives guidance to creatively expressing yourself around the issues of pregnancy, labor, delivery, etc... I find it a wonderful friend in the third trimester. Lots of art and soul searching in this book.
Find ways to feel supported and nurtured, both now, and for after the labor. Organize a food tree. This can be a great way to let your friends and family see the baby, while you get the help you need. It can be strengthening to know going into labor, that others are waiting to nourish your family with food and their help after all is said and done.
Midwife guru, Anne Frye, has an interesting, and Islamic take on emotions during the third trimester. She believes that many women are coming up against their own mortality during pregnancy, and that a lot of the fears that arise during this time, can stem from that thought. She states that "...in some ways labor is the closest she may ever be to the threshold between life and death while she is still very much alive." And really, doesn't a part of us die while giving birth. It's the tariqa of motherhood I suppose!

In order to complement babies quickly developing brain and lungs, there are a few supplements specific to the third trimester. Also, there are a few for mom too, in order to prepare her body for the momentous task of birth.

As stated above fetal brain development is rapid during these last months. There are some preliminary studies to show that prenatal supplementation with omega 3 fatty acids, like those found in fish oil, might aid in your child's cognitive function later in life. Supplementing with fish oil prenatally has also been found to aid in preventing postpartum depression.
Supplementing with pro-biotics prenatally has been found to reduce the incidence of eczema and allergies in the first year of life, in children prone to them. It also makes for a healthier vaginal flora and can help in preventing colonization of GBS in both mothers and newborns.
Alfalfa tincture or pill can help to prevent excessive blood loss by building a mother's Vitamin K stores.
Some midwives suggest taking a late pregnancy tonic to help tonify the uterus and prepare the body for birth. I don't believe it's essential, but can be useful for some.

You are about to begin a new journey as a mother, no matter what number the baby, our lives always change when a new one is added. May these final adjustment to pregnant life be easy and blessed!

A Mattress Ad & The Home Birth Project

2010-03-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

This is a husband and wife team talking of their experiences with midwifery care and home birth. She tells her birth stories and experiences with midwives. Her sons play and come in and out of her telling, making for a natural, intimate setting, much like home birth.

If you can believe it, the following video aired on Spanish television. It shows a home birth on a Flex mattress. It is a commercial for Flex mattresses! I love how beautiful yet commonplace they make the birth of a child seem. Amazing. For those of you more sensitive viewers, it is a birth, portrayed tastefully enough to show on Spanish television, but a birth none the less...Worth a watch!

Interview -Maha al-Musa Creator of Belly Dance Birth

2010-03-17T23:35:00.000-07:00

Maha al-Musa is author, mother of three, doula and creator of Belly Dance Birth. She has released a DVD entitled, "Dance of the Womb - Belly Dance for Pregnancy and Birth". I love this DVD. It is soothing, encouraging, and a wonderful exercise during pregnancy and as a preparation for childbirth. I wanted to ask Maha more about how she developed this method, her experiences as an Arab women reconnecting with her roots, and of course, her births! The interview is below. You can watch a trailer of the DVD here and visit her website here.

1) Can you tell us a little bit about your background? How did you become interested in belly dancing as an art form?

Thank you Shannon – lovely to connect with you - My background is that I am of Palestinian/Moslem (father) and Lebanese/Christian (mother) origin, raised in Australia from two years of age! East meets West! I have always listened to Arabic music, including my father’s soulful singing voice, and danced as a child but it wasn’t until I went to visit my father’s exiled Palestinian family in Jordan at 21 years of age that I connected to belly dance as a powerful, spirited, fun and explorative dance art form…art in terms of expressing one’s longings, emotions, moods and essence through the bellydance..I was so fortunate to be invited into many different women’s space’s that exuded the same passion and genuine love of the feminine sisterly connection – I loved it and was hooked!

2) How did you start to make the connection between belly dancing and birth?

When I was 30 weeks pregnant with my first son Kailash over 13 years ago, I came to a very progressive and exceptionally beautiful town in Australia called Byron Bay that supported natural, home waterbirths and independent midwives…here I actually joined a pre natal belly dance class with an amazing midwife Ann (who was also a belly dancer!) … her class triggered deep memories of my Arab ancestry and experience from Jordan. I saw a very simple and natural connection to birthing through the belly dance movements which mimic the instinctive rhythms of the female body….in pregnancy the beauty of the changing shape and body of a woman is reflected in the tempo, tone and rhythm of this Arabic dance. In labour I took with me these empowering movements that encouraged a welcoming of contractions through a holistic focus on the dance, one’s body and breath, and a beautiful alignment and connection to baby during the birth process…I felt that I had all I needed to be autonomous and strong in my own resource: my birthing body and I was able to surrender without fear as my cervix dilated and I softened body, mind and Spirit thru the dance. When Kailash turned 6 months old I took over the class from Ann and I would take him with me dancing with him on my hip swirling and circling around the room full of beautiful mothers…I developed the work over the next 13 years until today and I never stop being inspired and sharing the knowledge with so many other women to give them faith, hope and strength in the normality of birthing...it is a great passion and love of mine…!

3) Can you speak about some of the traditional ways in which Arab women birthed and how the incorporated movement in their birthing?

I can speak about some traditional birth stories I know from my own Palestinian grandmother who birthed 9 babies at home and from an Egyptian friend of mine whose mother had 6 babies at home in rural Egypt, as well as an American dancer and belly dance teacher Morocco who witnessed the birth dance in a village in Morocco in the 1960’s – In regards to my grandmother - we had a traditional family birthing house where women of the family went to birth in the village of Al Qubab - Palestine… To this special house my grandma was taken on a horse and cart by my grandfather, whilst she was in labour with all her children by her side..there a midwife would meet her and assist in the birthing…the understanding was that a woman could move about in labour however she wished and in fact she was positively encouraged to move and be in upright positions..this is also depicted in many statues, drawings and images of ancient Near East women’s studies….before the advent of hospitals and medical interventions women of the east and I would assume in many traditional cultures supported one another whether it be by midwife, relatives or other village women…The contemporary observation of a birth in a village in Morocco by the wonderful belly dancer Morocco from New York was one in which she witnessed the supportive circle of women dancing, chanting, ululating around a very relaxed labouring mother..it is a beautiful tale of sisterly support and celebration of natural birthing..

4) One of the things I love about your work is that it portrays Arab women, not only in a positive light, but also as very powerful. This has always been my experience of Muslim women, but Arab women in particular. How do you see this work in terms of changing some of the stereotypes people may hold about Arab and Muslim women?

Thank you Shannon – this subject is extremely important to me…I am very very passionate about sharing POSITIVE aspects of Arab women’s culture..the awakening I had in Jordan was a real eye opener because before embarking on this trip I had a pre conceived idea about Arab and Moslem women and families expecting to witness Arab women as subservient, uneducated, walking 10 paces behind a man and generally down trodden! Nothing could have been further from the truth in my experience (and I am not denying that there are negative things that do also happen) but what we tend to see is media that constantly portrays Muslims and people of Middle Eastern origin as somewhat primitive, unapproachable and when not romanticized plain odd! Being Palestinian I have had many a surprised comments from people when they meet me amazed that I am a very nice and normal person not the assumed terrorist or fighting kind! Often it is those whom have never met a Palestinian or Arab person who have in their mind a detailed analysis, usually a one dimensional stereotype, that isn’t always favorable to the truth of what is…I love that the fact that in the birth climate (which has a political edge – human rights for baby, mother and society!) and my work there is a similar running theme of needing to stand up, be heard, to have the “truth” spoken and to be honored and acknowledged!

5) In your DVD you show the home birth of your daughter at 46, no small feat! It is very clear by watching it that the pelvic movements of belly dance births allowed you some release and relaxation, what was it like for you as a laboring woman to have this tool of belly dancing to cope with the contractions?

I have to say that I truly believe that having had the experience, knowledge and support of my cultural roots and this bellydancebirth® work enabled me to birth with a fearlessness and strength that was undeniable…..it was such a great gift to birth at home again at 46 years of age…….the bellydancebirth® techniques definitely helped to put me into a focused, soft, surrendered and relaxed state..a very good dear friend of mine, who also assists at homebirth, said to me there is no reason why older women cannot birth naturally….the main thing is they must release the neo cortex (thinking brain) and focus in on the primal brain, letting go of thoughts, analysis, what if’s etc in birthing – I have to say I AGREE!!...as we get older we do tend to think too much and not allow spontaneity and that comme ci comme ca attitude to prevail!! As an older woman birthing if you can allow the thinky brain to go on holiday and LET GO of “mind” chatter you will birth with greater surrender….the bellydancebirth® movements can powerfully bring you into this meditative, hypnotic state very easily…..its a great tool and focus in first stage labour….Not to say I didn’t have moments of “thinking” but I was able, through my experience of meditation and softening in the bellydancebirth® techniques to let them go more easily…and accept the sensations and contractions of my labour with a sense of birthing purpose rather than tension and tightness….

6) How have you seen belly dancing help pregnant and laboring women? Are there any specific labor patterns or pregnancy complaints that belly dancing might address?

There are many areas where bellydancebirth® techniques are very helpful for a pregnant and labouring woman…..the main areas that I emphasize are around the philosophy that birth is baby and woman centered…giving a central premise upon which the movements and philosophy of my techniques must stem….so firstly the psychological knowing that women are capable, strong, and their bodies are perfectly designed to birth is but a beginning point…we cannot hope to empower women when their main belief is that the answers lie outside of themselves….We have lost birth to the experts – the idea that the “other” is more knowledgeable than “I”…women must also work hard now to get back their sense of I CAN DO THIS identity…to have positive birth possibility is our main hope for the future……Then of course there are the physical realities of pregnancy and labour…For example, lower back pain a very common complaint which belly dance is very good at releasing through the sacrum and circling and rolling the pelvis with bended knees…..Also posterior presentations are more common today and are generally caused from too much reclining so we need women to exercise in upright positions with pelvis at its widest point and in labour to get women up with gravity and leaning forward to allow greater pelvic room with circular rotations ..this really helps with optimal foetal positioning……Bellydancebirth® techniques can help in so many ways – physical, mental and emotional….

7) Thank you so much for preserving this legacy of women centered birth. Is there anything else you would like to add or leave us with?

I am so happy to see after 13 years of work that belly dance for birth is really starting to take off around the world..I think women are looking for natural ways to empower themselves in birthing and in ways that truly work and support her instinctual knowing…I also know that birth is a mysterious process sometimes way out of our hands as well….there are no certainties so we must approach all our preparations with an open heart and mind ready for whatever experience we will have…..still to be BEST prepared, knowledgeable, have informed choice and with a sense of feeling safe wherever we birth (and that is personal) must be respected for all women…..I say “less can be more” on this journey…I am also happy to say that I am in the process of putting together my one day intensive workshop for birth professionals in theFundamentals Of Bellydance For Birth – The Al Musa Method®, which I have had many requests for and which I hope to take all over the world. My book and DVD Dance Of The Womb, are two wonderful resources as a starting point for women to have some understanding of this beautiful birthing modality.

Thank you Shannon for taking the time with me…much appreciated!

The Family Bed

2010-03-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

by Kenny Moller

The midwives have cleaned up and left, or you're finally home from the hospital, a family unto yourselves. And it's finally here,the first night alone with your baby. It's exhilarating and all too real, this little creature is yours from now until forever, and somewhere you have the inkling that your life will never be the same, for better or worse. You are ready to curl up and get some much deserved sleep, but what do you do with, and where do you put the baby?

Co-sleeping, or family bed as it is sometimes called, is the practice of an infant sleeping in the same bed as the parent. In the West, co-sleeping is a controversial phenomenon. It stems from incidents in Europe during the 16th-18th centuries where mothers, with no access to birth control and usually suffering extreme poverty, would smother their infants by overlaying. It resulted in co-sleeping with an infant being outlawed in much of Europe, and a permanent aversion in the Western psyche to the family bed.

In other parts of the world, where mothers often have little money for cribs and fully accessorized nurseries, the family bed is the norm. Even in the developed world in countries such as, China, Sweden, Chile, Denmark, and Japan bed sharing is the norm. Helen Ball, an anthropologist specializing in parent-infant behavior, found that in the UK up to 75% of families co-slept, but did not report this to their doctor or midwife. Another study in the United Arab Emirates, which looked at changes in childbirth and parenting over three generations of women, found that birth attendants, breastfeeding length, medication and labor during childbirth, all changed across generations, except for the family bed, this remained a constant amongst Emirati women over time.

SIDS, which stand for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, is often cited as a reason to avoid the family bed. In the United States, SIDS is the leading cause of death in infants past one month of age. Yet there are many reasons why SIDS occurs, none of which holds the entire solution to the prevention of SIDS. So far, the 'Back to Sleep' campaign has been successful in countries like America and New Zealand at reducing the SIDS rates. Of great interest, is that in countries with the lowest rates of SIDS, such as Japan and China, they also report the highest numbers of co-sleeping. The concern with co-sleeping and SIDS is that the infants will be smothered, an age old concern, not well validated by today's science.

Researcher James McKenna has found that mother and infant dyads sharing the same bed display an inordinate amount of sensitivity to each other throughout the night. In his Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory, he found that mothers usually adopted a protective position, on their sides facing their infants throughout the night, increasing the amount of face to face time with their infant. This is stimulating to the infant and believed to stimulate infant respiration,believed to be a protective factor against SIDS. He has also found that the mother regulates the baby's breathing, heart rate, temperature, and that babies had greater daily weight gain when they slept side by side with their mothers.

This is to say nothing of breastfeeding and its relationship to co-sleeping. Bed-sharing is strongly associated with better breastfeeding outcomes. One of the beauties of breastfeeding is it's relationship to mom's sleep, there is no getting up to make bottles in the middle of the night, the food is always ready and the right temperature. Not that bottle feeding mamas are more or less exhausted than their breastfeeding counterparts, all moms work at night, but it does make nighttime infinitely easier if all you have to do is roll over and nurse. In answer to a question on co-sleeping on the Islamic forum, Sunnipath, one teacher answered: "I don't know of any specific Islamic injunction about co-sleeping. There is absolutely no problem with having your baby in the bed with you. In fact, if you're breastfeeding, which, according to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari, is a religious and moral responsibility toward your child, then it makes a lot of sense to co-sleep. " It does just make sense!

Nothing is absolutely foolproof however, and sadly, babies do succumb to SIDS even while co-sleeping. May Allah protect all of our children. Here is a list compiled by Dr. James McKenna, excerpted from Mothering magazine, of how to increase the safety of co-sleeping:

For parents who smoke, drink, or are unusually heavy sleepers, or use any kind of drugs that inhibit arousal from sleep, co-sleeping on the same surface with a baby is not recommended, said McKenna. For these parents, having their child sleep on a separate surface near them, such as a cradle or bassinet, will protect the baby from overlaying while still providing the baby with many of the same benefits as cosleeping.
Make sure the surface your baby sleeps on is firm. "There are many adult mattresses that can match the stiffness of CPSC recommendations," McKenna said. Avoid waterbeds, lambskins, and other soft bedding for your baby. Stuffed animals and toys should be kept out of the baby's sleep environment.
Don't give pillows to babies or young toddlers, and keep their faces away from your pillow. Keep blankets away from babies' faces, too.
Cosleeping babies are kept warmer than solitary sleeping babies, so they need lighter blankets and pajamas. (Being too warm may be a factor in SIDS.)
Toddlers should not be allowed to sleep next to infants, said McKenna, because "They are too unaware of the dangers their bodies pose." Instead, either the infant or the toddler can sleep on a separate surface next to the family bed—the infant in a cosleeper, crib, or bassinet; the toddler in a toddler bed or mattress on the floor.
Headboards, footboards, and side rails can be unsafe, especially if a baby is left alone in bed with these trappings. One of the most dangerous situations for young children is getting their heads wedged in furniture, said McKenna. He suggested making sure the child's head can't fit between the side rail and any surrounding surfaces. If a parent is using a crib as a sidecar, make sure the two mattresses are on the same level and held tightly together, so there is no space that a baby could slip into. If a bed is up against a wall, ensure that there are no gaps in which a child's head can get trapped. Another option is to put the mattress right on the floor, so that side rails are not necessary to prevent a baby from falling off the bed.
Do not sleep on the sofa with your baby, or leave a sleeping baby alone  on a sofa.
Do not leave a baby unattended in an adult bed. The benefits of the family bed exist only when the parents are there with the child; if the parents want some adult time while baby sleeps, the child should be put somewhere else—such as a crib, bassinet, or mattress on the floor—until the parents are ready for him to join them, McKenna said.

If you are interested in reading more about co-sleeping, Mothering magazine is having a sale on all of their Sleep Resources. Wishing you and yours many a good night's sleep!

What Are You Carrying?

2010-03-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

Mother and Child, Marrakech by Greg Robbins

In honor of International Woman's Day I wanted to share this video from the New York Times. The women of the Congo outdo Nicholas Kristof in a hilarious lifting contest of sorts. It is a testament to both the sheer physical strength of women and to their emotional resiliency and grace in the face of much hardship.

Breastfeeding the Early Days

2010-03-07T23:00:00.000-08:00

Moeder en kroost by Inferis

Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated: Salamah, the wetnurse of Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet, peace of and blessings of Allah upon him, said, "O Messenger of Allah. You give tidings of all the good to the men and you don't give tidings to the women." He said, "Did your female companions induce you to [ask] this?" She said, "Yes." He said, "Will one of you not be pleased that when she is pregnant from her husband and he is pleased with her that she has a reward like the reward of the one who fasts and prays in the way of Allah? Then when she is in labor, none of the people of the heavens or the earth know what is hidden for her of [pleasures,] soothing to her eyes. And when she delivers, no mouthful of milk flows from her nor a [child's] suck except that she has a reward with every mouthful and with every suck. And if [her child] keeps her awake during the night, she has a reward similar to the reward of freeing seventy slaves for the sake of Allah."

-Related by Tabarani in his Mu'jam al-Awsat

Isn't that an amazing hadith?! The reality for most women is that breastfeeding does come easily and continues without much of a hitch. However, it is not true for everyone, and for some mothers, this can be particularly devastating. One of the wisdoms which I gathered from the conference on lactation* is that birth practices do affect and impact breastfeeding and its longevity. I wish most of us would have home births, where for the most part, optimal birth practices are in place to promote breast feeding, but alas, I know that is not the case. Although most hospital staff are in support of breast feeding, much of what happens in the first few hours is dictated by hospital policies and procedures, rather than a drive towards successful lactation. It's time we started looking at breastfeeding as a part of the birth experience, not a separate component. The following is a brief, brief summary of what I learned at this past week's conference, which can optimize lactation, breast milk production and bonding for mother and child in those most invaluable early days. All of these things can be included in a birth plan and discussed with your midwife and/or doctor.

Skin to skin contact has been proven scientifically to increase, among many other things, rates of exclusive breastfeeding in mothers and infants. As long as the baby is stable at birth, this is easily accomplished and accommodated in any birth setting. Request that the baby be placed on your abdomen or chest immediately after birth. Skin to skin contact is dose dependent, the more skin to skin in the early days, the better adjusted your baby is to this earth, and the more successful breastfeeding becomes. Anyone can do skin to skin contact, the father, grandmother, auntie. It is ideal if it's the mother, but the self regulating mechanisms of skin to skin can be accomplished with other adults. The other benefits of skin to skin are that it begins to colonize the normal flora of a baby's many developing systems, it regulates temperature and respirations of a baby (particularly important for a preemie), and amazingly reduces pain in the baby. Skin to skin contact also increases levels of oxytocin in the mother's blood stream, a hormone essential for a mother to let down her milk supply to the baby.

Infants are born with an instinct to find the breast and self attach. This video eloquently demonstrates this. The areola, the darkened skin around the nipples acts as a point of focus for the baby. The scent of amniotic fluid reminds baby of his intrauterine home and as he journeys to the breast, he is smearing this scent from his hands over the mother's body. This is both calming and a guidance to the infant. As you'll see one of the remarkable things about this instinct, is that it is influenced by pain medications used in labor, if used the instinct is dulled and disorganized. Epidurals are not without their place in the birth world. However, they are not without their side effects either. A recent study found that women who used an epidural with Fentanyl (a narcotic analgesic) had lower rates of exclusive breastfeeding at six weeks postpartum. Undisturbed, natural birth deserves more credit than it receives, it's benefits are subtle and vast, the self attachment of a newborn to its source of nourishment being but one.

Prolactin, the hormone required for breast milk production, rises with repeated stimulation of the breast. When babies are born, they are usually in a quiet, alert state. Priming the hormonal pump, by taking advantage of this state and initiating breastfeeding within an hour and half or so of birth, can help to increase and maintain milk supplies. The feeds should not be timed or scheduled in order for baby to continue stimulating the release of this important hormone in the first few days postpartum.This usually translates as: stay in bed with the baby and let the baby feed frequently!

Hand expression is another useful tool for a breastfeeding mom to learn. This is a video which beautifully explains how to do it. Hand expression after each feed in the early days, continues to stimulate your breast to make more milk, it also fully empties the breast when a newborn cannot, another important element in increasing milk supply. An empty breast signals the brain that it needs to make more milk. Hand expression accomplishes this beautifully and without a bulky pump. If done regularly after each feeding, it can also prevent engorgement of the breast. Save what you collect and feed to the baby with a spoon, small cup, or syringe.

This is just a small assortment of things to help you along in the first few days of your new child's life. Things like latch and positioning are immense and deserve much more time than a blog posting allots. As the above hadith states, with every mouthful and suck, a mother gets a reward. I hope that these tips increase your babies moutfuls and sucks and in turn your reward!

*I would like to thank the woman at Evergreen Perinatal for their dedication to breastfeeding and for an amazing conference. If any of you get the chance to attend on of their lectures, it is well worth it.

Midwives for Peace

2010-03-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

I love how in the first video, the Palestinian midwife demonstrates how the prostration of our prayer is a good birthing position. It does work doesn't it?!

Meanwhile in America, the CDC just released a report that home births here have increased by 3.5% between the years 2003-2004 and 2005-2006. I think the common thread in all three of these, is well trained midwives. The role of birth attendant is extremely significant, whether it's the midwife who stays with you through the entire labor, monitoring your physical and emotional well being, or the doctor who saves the life of a mother and baby; both must be respectful of the power and strength of women and their bodies as well as knowledgeable and skilled in regards to the labor and birthing process. In this country we would be much better off if they could work in sync with one another, rather than at odds.

Sorry for the light posting this week. I have been at a lactation conference, stay tuned for some exciting posts on breastfeeding. I never knew the lactating breast was so fascinating! Have a fabulous weekend!

Poem & The Sunnas of a Newborn Child

2010-03-02T21:31:00.000-08:00

Baby Song

From the private ease of Mother's womb
I fall into the lighted room.

Why don't they simply put me back
Where it is warm and wet and black?

But one thing follows on another.
Things were different inside Mother.

Padded and jolly I would ride
The perfect comfort of her inside.

They tuck me in a rustling bed
-I lie there, raging, small, and red.

I may sleep soon, I may forget,
But I won't forget that I regret.

A rain of blood poured round her womb,
But all time roars outside this room.

-Thom Gunn (1929- )

What an amusing poem! I love how the baby wants to go back inside. It seems like that sometimes doesn't it! Here are some links about babies:

There is a new website containing lectures by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller's esteemed wife Umm Sahl. Particularly pertinent to this blog is Lecture 5.1, the sunnas of a newborn child. It's wonderful and thought provoking. To hear this lecture and others visit www.raisingmuslimchildren.com.

"Do Toxins Cause Autism?" a recent op-ed by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff looks at the recent studies linking our chemical exposures to increasing rates of autism in children. He briefly discusses the new bill proposed in the Senate that strengthens the Toxic Substances Control Act. Apparently of the 80,000 chemicals in our environment the EPA only tests 200! Kristof's last paragraph contains excellent advice for pregnant women and parents. "The precautionary principle suggests that we should be wary of personal products like fragrances unless they are marked phthalate-free. And it makes sense — particularly for children and pregnant women — to avoid most plastics marked at the bottom as 3, 6 and 7 because they are the ones associated with potentially harmful toxins."

Birth Story - Rahma

2010-02-28T21:17:00.001-08:00

rain's romantic pour #316 by ashley rose

This birth story comes to us from a lovely mother of two. This is the story of her first home birth.

How did I subconsciously soak in the meaning of her name ever since she rested in my womb? Rahma. My whole pregnancy was spent in the type of inner turmoil that comes only with self discovery. She taught me to finally have some true compassion for myself. Rahma. She continued to teach me to overcome my fears, to reclaim myself, to strive for my dreams and to stand strong for what I truly believed in. Rahma.

I had no idea that in the last trimester of my pregnancy, she would teach me that a beautiful birth means an empowered mother. That the only way she wanted to enter this world was if I felt ‘at home’ enough to submit myself to one of the greatest tests of perseverance, birth. And that in return, I would experience spiritual ecstasy. Ahmad, my husband, realized the value of my personal choice and despite his doubt and fears, supportively agreed to have a home birth. Soon, I even heard him convincing family members of its success rate!

We hooked up with ‘Birth Awakenings’, the midwifery group that a couple of friends swore by. Dana, Deborah and Julie became a part of our lives when we most needed them. The cold, stark, specimen-like ‘pre-natal appointment’ as I had known with my first daughter’s pregnancy became an afternoon cup of tea at home. They carried out the heart beat and urine checks, discussed my fears, played with my oldest daughter and let her listen to the baby’s heart beat with their Doppler. Their prescriptions were nettle tea and protein shakes. They helped me to realize that the weight of inner turmoil might tip the scales against the success of a home birth; they urged me to establish harmony within prior to the birth.

Ramadan came and shone forth with its beauty as we sighted the moon with a few families. I fasted. In the evenings we took turns with our oldest while praying taraweeh.Then the surprise came that Ammi and Abba were flying in. Yet again, I was forced to stand strong yet maintain gentleness. I really wanted to have the baby before they arrived as we weren’t sure if they were comfortable with our plans to birth at home. I prayed and prayed to have the baby prior to their arrival date and took castor oil in the hopes of stimulating my labor - despite the caution of my midwives. We were a week away from their arrival and two days from the due date. I woke up every midnight interrupted by the stormy rain and whistling wind outside coupled with the false contractions within. As much as I hoped tonight would be the night, the contractions were as calm as the bright sunny day the next morning.

Now two days from my due date, we found ourselves greeting Ammi and Abba at the door. It was not as I expected. All that tension which I had dreaded was replaced with easy, light hearted warmth, and time spent together at home. There was almost no discussion regarding the birth except a motherly concern about whether the check lists were implemented and support for the big day. How Merciful is Allah? I slept that night and woke up as usual around midnight, but this time the contractions were slightly stronger and then the instinct that this was it. I woke Ahmad up to give him a warning and he reminded me that Dana, our midwife, had said to go back to sleep to conserve energy for when the real thing begins. I bore the slightly uncomfortable intermittent pain as he hugged me snug. Before I knew it I had fallen asleep. A few hours later I woke up again and told him that they’re getting stronger. He got busy getting the pool ready. The sound of the gushing water reminded me about the contractions coming full force now. He lit our favorite incense to welcome the angels as they awaited the coming of our baby. He timed the contractions and realized that they were getting close so I called the midwife.

Dana told me to hang in there and that she would be there shortly. I went to stand under the hot shower since that had really helped me with my first birth. Ahmad played my labor cd and went to inform Ammi. As I quietly sought some strength from listening about my Prophet (peace be upon him), my mother entered the room. She hadn’t been there at this stage with Aisha’s birth and I realized for the first time how much it meant to have a line of support from her. She said in a broken voice “Be patient, it’ll all come together soon”. It meant so much to have my mother’s duas and to know that she had just finished reading Surah Baqarah prior to coming in to meet me.

My labor cd continued as I sat on the chair making dua for everyone that I could think of. Dana sat at eye level with me as the intensity of the contractions peaked and then Ahmad brought in Aisha. My gaze fell upon her and I wept. There she was, my big girl, who I had nourished in my womb just yesterday. I recalled the gratitude I had felt at her birth. And here I was welcoming another. Of course you can do this, I thought. Don’t you remember what it felt like when Aisha made her way out? It helped me move along and soon I was close enough to pushing. Dana signaled for me to gain some relief from soaking in the pool. The relieving power of water, what an immense blessing! Ahmad pulled out the Wird al-Latif and sat at eye level in front of me as our lips moved together in the chanting of those empowering duas, interrupted every now and then by the intensity of the contractions - a reminder about the need for intense submission to my Lord. After hardship surely comes ease! Indeed, hardship is surely followed by ease! I reminded myself about these ayahs which a friend had recommended to read during the labor.

Recharged a bit by the relief in the water, I was now up-right on the birthing stool requesting help from gravity. I never remembered feeling the urge to push with Aisha’s birth so this was all new to me. The contractions were peaking without any breaks now and I just wanted to get this baby out. But the midwives kept insisting to push when the body signals for it, not when I wanted to. And I’m thinking, what?! What’s the difference? Then Deborah, the other midwife, said, “Lubna, just submit to the will of Allah! Listen hard, work with your body! We don’t want you to tear.” That’s all it took. I realized that I had to stop focusing on the pain of the contractions, but rather just completely give up my body to its natural course as designated by Allah. I understood, that I had to know my limits, and with perseverance, to go beyond them. Feeling completely overwhelmed by the intensity, I kept telling myself to focus on the baby that wants to make its way out. Tempted to push even when it wasn’t the right time, Dana knew right away and said, “Just a little big longer, honey”.

Then I heard it, the rain outside. “Open the windows!” I declared in my weakened voice. They opened the one right in front of me. I became teary and bathed in the tranquility that the sound of the rain evoked. This rain that has just been with Allah, brings with it such mercy as it brings to life the earth.

Just like my Rahma. “Ok, the head is out, pussshhhhhhh!!” Dana announced. I grunted with all my strength, and gave one hard push that sent a sharp burning sensation through me. And then that same relief I had felt with the coming of Aisha, followed. After hardship surely comes ease! Indeed, hardship is surely followed by ease! “Ya Allah, protect my baby from shaytan,” I begged. Then she made a slight whimper as they announced, “A beautiful girl with a full head of hair!” I wept and declared, “My baby! My baby! My Rahma!” Ahmad, my companion in life, shared the joy, teary eyed.

Soon I realized that Ammi and Aisha had come in and were leaning over the baby. “Daikha Aisha tumharee chohtee behan!” Ammi cried and told her, “Baby Rahma’s hair is wet, Ammu!” Aisha smiled in amazement and approval. Then Abba ran in weeping and hugged me tight and gave me a bunch of kisses out of relief saying, “Shukr hay, sub kuch teekh ho gaya!!” Then it was just time to sit back as I nursed and enjoyed all the immense blessings that stood right before me. Aisha Aapi, Babajaan Baju, Ammi, Abba and now, my Rahma. How Merciful can Allah be?

Second Trimester - The Budding

2010-02-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

Ija's Maternity Sideshot by SHOfrE3zE

"...then We made the drop a clot, then We made the clot a lump of flesh, then We made the flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, and then We produced another creature from it. So blessed is God, the best of creators."
Qur'an (23:14)

The glories of the second trimester! The foundation for your baby's rapidly growing body has been laid, and now as Allah miraculously details above, it is time for building upon that structure. Bones begin to ossify, fat forms, rapid eye movements begin, and the baby grows in length. As for mom, the nausea has for the most part passed, and you can feel the fluttering affirmations of life within. Your energy has likely returned. That little bump is starting to grow and you are starting to glow! Your appetite is increasing in proportion to your baby's needs. Blood volume is continuing to expand now and you may notice some of its signs; swelling, distended veins, shortness of breath. The increasing weight of the baby may also begin to show up in backaches. After taking a back seat in the first trimester nutrition and exercise, now reappear. Each subject deserves its own post, but I'd like to briefly discuss each below.

As the blood volume is expanding nutrition plays an increasingly important role. The quantity and quality of our dietary intake now can help to keep the placenta perfused for the entire pregnancy, allowing baby optimal nutrient intake and preventing complications of pregnancy down the line such as pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction. I would like to just offer a few basic principles, more on the quality of food rather than the quantity. Divvying up the food into vitamins and minerals is important, but that is too detailed of a subject for this post.

Nutrient dense foods such as whole grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, offer the maximum benefit per bite. Say you have the choice between a donut, or even four saltine crackers, and an apple or a cup of carrot slices. The donut and crackers probably have more calories, but the nutrient dense choice would be the apple or carrot. The latter choices also have more fiber and will be more filling. Fiber is important in pregnancy to keep you from becoming constipated or acquiring hemorrhoids.
I really like broths. They are easy to make and so nourishing. For busy moms on the go, broth is a life saver! Just heat up a cup at a time and you have a cup full of protein, vitamins and minerals! Here are some easy ways to prepare broth.
Getting lots of good fats in pregnancy is essential to your baby's brain growth and development. You also need fats to help you absorb the fat soluble Vitamins A, K, E, and D. It is also important to avoid trans fats and maintain a good balance of Omega 3's 6's and 9's. I like this fish oil, it is cheap, pure and tasteless! Salmon is another great way to get in Omega 3's, just limit your consumption to once a week.
Iron deficiency, or anemia, can occur in pregnancy. The blood volume expansion that occurs, occurs mostly in the plasma part of the blood. This essentially 'waters down' the red blood cells. Some women can tolerate this better than others. For all women it is a good idea to add a little extra iron into the diet. Good iron sources are lamb, beef, greens, dried fruits, and oysters. If you find yourself anemic, Floridex is an easy to digest iron supplement. Iron is always better absorbed when taken with Vitamin C and should not be taken with Calcium.

Exercise has many benefits in pregnancy...contrary to what your aunties may tell you! It has been proven to make for a more comfortable pregnancy, shorten labor and reduce interventions in labor It can also make for a quicker postpartum recovery. In pregnancy our bodies undergo vast physical changes in order to accommodate the baby; muscles stretch, ligaments soften, and joints loosen. In order to keep up with those changes and to recover from these changes, exercise is necessary. Here are some recommendations for moving your budding body!

Get your heart rate up at least three times a week for half an hour. Stationary bikes, swimming, and hiking are good ways to do this. Walking is good exercise, but your heart rate has to be accelerated while walking.
Yoga is a fine exercise and feels good while pregnant. Attend a pre-natal yoga class or find a good DVD to follow at home. It's best if you have some experience with yoga before becoming pregnant in order to safely practice whilst pregnant.
Avoid laying in the supine position, raising your temperature above 102F, and any contact sports. It's best not to begin new exercises while pregnant, but continue with what you have done in the past. Be sure to hydrate well and to add 150-300 extra calories on the days you work out.
Kegel exercises should be done throughout the pregnancy. They prevent urinary incontinence, can help avoid tears, can speed recovery postpartum, and maintain sexual function.
Dancing is a joyous expression and quite suited to pregnancy. Turning on some music and moving your body to it for half an hour is an easy and satisfying way to get some exercise in. Belly dancing is particularly suited to pregnancy and a great tool in labor. Please check this website for more details and stay tuned for an upcoming interview with the founder.

The second trimester is a joyous time for most women. It can be an intense time full of fruitful dreams and creativity. Relish in it. It's also a time where the realities of becoming parents, whether for the first time or fifth, can lead to some tension between husband and wife. Keep the lines of communication open and be honest about any fears or expectations you have. It is a time for immense closeness between partners as well. Many blessings on your growth and your baby's!

Poem - Woman to Child

2010-02-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

Young Mother by Charles Fred

Woman to Child

You who were darkness warmed my flesh
where out of darkness rose the seed.
Then all a world I made in me;
all the world you hear and see
hung upon my dreaming blood.

There moved the multitudinous stars,
and colored birds and fishes moved.
There swarm the sliding continents.
All time lay rolled in me, and sense,
and love that knew not its beloved.

O node and focus of the world;
I hold you deep within that well
you shall escape and not escape -
that mirrors your still sleeping shape;
that nurtures still your crescent cell.

I wither and you break from me;
yet though you dance in living light
I am the earth, I am the root,
I am the stem that fed the fruit,
the link that joins you to the night.

- Judith Wright (1915-2000)

I love how this poem illustrates the beginning of the lifelong mother - child bond. It does start with the mystery of conception and pregnancy doesn't it?

Here are a couple of audio links for your listening pleasure:

A new book on the history of childbirth has just come out entitled,"Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank" by Randi Hunter Epstein MD. You can listen to an interview with the author here. Many of the callers have had home births. The author presents compelling historical evidence for change in maternity care brought about through women themselves. Something to ponder!

And to illustrate the above author's point, we have an interview from a Portland, Oregon radio station KBOO with two birth advocates from South Dakota. South Dakota is in the midst of a grassroots movement to legalize midwifery care and home birth in their state. They discuss midwifery and the politics of birth. The issue is framed and presented as a reproductive choice, similar to the abortion debate. It's fascinating!

Sayyida Fatima az-Zahra

2010-02-17T22:55:00.000-08:00

The following is an inspiring and rare account of the birth of Sayyida Fatima az-Zahra (May Allah be pleased with her). I'm not sure of it's authenticity, but still, from it there are a couple of wisdoms which can be distilled. You can read the entire account here.

When the time of the delivery of Sayyidah Khadijah (Radhi Allahu Ta’ala ‘Anha) was near at hand, she sent for several of her relatives to aid her on that occasion; but as she incurred their displeasure by marrying the Holy Nabi (Sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallim), they would not comply with her request, so that she was much distressed. Nevertheless, four women, resembling those of the tribe of Bani Hashim, suddenly made their appearance, and Khadijah was afraid of them. One of them, however said: "Fear not, for Allah the Most High has sent us to you. We are your visitors. I am Sarah; this is Maryam, the daughter of Imran; the third is Kalthum, the sister of Musa; and the fourth is Asiyah, the wife of Pharaoh. They will be your companions in Paradise" Then one of these women sat down on the right and another on the left of Sayyidah Khadijah (Radhi Allahu Ta’ala ‘Anha), the third in her front, and the fourth in her rear until Sayyidatina Fatimah (Radhi Allahu Ta’ala ‘Anha) was born. When this took place a light shone from that infant of laudable end, which encircled the houses of Makkah from the east and west, so that there was no spot in any house which was not illuminated by that light.

It's striking how Khadija (May Allah be content with her), in this story, had the desire to have companions during her birth. A natural, human instinct, and perhaps one we have lost. In parts of the Muslim world, birth is still a female, communal event. Women come together to read sacred poetry and Qur'an for the laboring mother and her child. They support her with their hearts and their physical presence. I wonder what kind of community we would have here in the West, if we were to draw near to one another and our Creator in that spirit? Women here largely birth alone, with just their husbands, and often with strangers. It would be nice to see Muslims bring back humanity to the birthing process.

Similar to how we might imagine that the contraction is a wave we are riding, or a mountain climbed, I think that the image in this story, of being surrounded by righteous women can also be a powerful visualization for labor. Imagine their purity, righteousness and faith surrounding you as you labor, not leaving your side until the baby is born. When the contractions begins to crest, imagine yourself surrounded by the strength of Sarah, Maryam, Kulthum, and Assiya (May Allah's mercy be upon them all). What serenity there is in that image. May it bring you serenity!

Vitamin D in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

2010-02-16T00:12:00.000-08:00

Heavenly Sunshine by mammamia

"And have we not built over you the seven firmaments, and placed therein a Light of Splendour?"
(Qur'an 78:12-13)

Besides the warmth, light, and joy that the sun provides, researchers are now discovering even more benefits to sunshine. Vitamin D. Once thought of as a vitamin in the traditional sense, is now beginning to be thought of as much more than that. It is believed that Vitamin D is actually a group of fat soluble prohormones, really pre-cursors to hormones. These hormones are influential in many of the body's functions, building bones, regulating mood, quelling inflammation and more. Recently, Vitamin D has been touted as a prevention and possible cure, to everything from schizophrenia to the swine flu. Vitamin D can be consumed in our diet, and obtained from the sun. In the past it was believed that we only needed a little for bone health and to prevent rickets, but now it is being looked at in a new light, so to speak.

Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy has some surprising results. Dr. Anne Merewood discovered that women with low Vitamin D levels were four times as likely to have a cesarean section. Pre-eclampsia, a metabolic disorder of pregnancy characterized by protein in the urine and high blood pressure, is also affected by Vitamin D levels. It can lead to problems in utero for the fetus and life threatening seizures in the mother. Dr Lisa Boden found that in women with low levels of Vitamin D, their risk for developing this disorder was five times higher than women with normal levels of Vitamin D. Gestational diabetes, a form of diabetes specific to pregnancy, can also be prevented by adequate amounts of Vitamin D. One researcher found that inadequate amounts of Vitamin D in early pregnancy resulted in three times the risk of developing gestational diabetes.

And if that's not enough to have you running for the sun, there's more. Women who are low in Vitamin D deliver babies who are as low or lower in their own stores of Vitamin D. This can have a wide and dizzying range of effects on the baby. It can cause or contribute to low birth weight, an increased incidence of asthma, small for gestation age babies, weak bones, autoimmune disease and may even contribute to schizophrenia. Unfortunately, Vitamin D is not transferred through breast milk very well. The American Academy of Pediatrics and others now recommend supplementing exclusively breastfed infants with 400 IU of Vitamin D per day. Generally, however, babies exposed to a little sun each day should have sufficient Vitamin D levels. If a woman's intake during pregnancy was less than ideal, she should consider supplementing both for herself and her baby while exclusively breastfeeding.

Muslim women who cover and women of dark skin are at more at risk of deficient Vitamin D levels. They require longer periods of sunlight exposure and often due to either modern lifestyles, which limit outdoor time, or to cultural considerations, or both, they are not likely to get it. Researchers in Australia found that 80% of veiled or dark skinned women had clinically low levels of Vitamin D. It is difficult to say how much sun exposure is adequate to raise Vitamin D levels as there are many factors, cloud cover, smog, season, that affect how much actually gets absorbed into our skin. Under ideal conditions it has been recommended that just 5-30 minutes of sun exposure on back, face, hands, legs during 10a.m. - 3 p.m. twice a week would be sufficient.

Here are my recommendations for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers:

Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers supplement with 1000-2000 IU of Vitamin D.
I recommend Biotics Research Bio-D-Mulsion.
Eat salmon, other oily fish, eggs, fortified milk, mushrooms
Sun exposure for babies of 20 min per day, this is with clothes on. With just a diaper, five minutes per day is enough.
You could supplement breastfed babies as the AAP recommends with the same supplement mentioned above, but in the 400 IU dosage
Cod liver oil contains an immense amount of Vitamin D, one teaspoon a day per 50 pounds of body weight is the recommendation. So, for an infant that weighs 20 pounds that is half a teaspoon. This is a great supplement for breastfeeding mothers.
Daily sunlight exposure for adults.
Supplementation should be looked at in balance with the day's total sun exposure. On sunny days where you and your family were outside for awhile , or you ate salmon for dinner, think of skipping the supplement, or diminishing the dosage.

Visit these links to learn more about Vitamin D and Muslim women, or Vitamin D in general. Vitamin D levels can be tested. The above links will give you information on this and much more.

Birth Story - Baby Khadija

2010-02-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

Birth Night by Onur YILDIRUM

The following is a birth story from a mother who had had two previous hospital births, this was her first home birth. Sara is a new mother with a full home schooling schedule,which doesn't leave her much time to write out her story! Therefore, we have decided to collaborate on this birth story, which is written from my perspective with encouragement and permission from Sara. Sara’s impressions about the differences between her hospital birth and her home birth are below in italics.

Having a home birth was such a beautiful experience for me. Before my home birth I had two hospital births. Having a home birth for me was relaxing. I didn’t have to deal with all the needle poking that you do in a hospital. I was able to have everything natural, no drug interferences. Being at home I can be free to do what I want, to be comfortable. In labor, I was able to get into any position that was comfortable for me. There is a special bond that you feel with your baby when you have it at home. This bond I didn’t feel with my other two. I feel this extreme attachment to my baby. My husband experienced the same feeling as well. I felt secure in my house, not having any disturbances, being able to eat my own food and to have my family with me.

On Thursday night Sara called. She said her contractions were every 15 minutes continually throughout the day. This was her third baby, first home birth. And of course, this labor was shaping up to be completely unlike the first two.

“Take a nice, warm bath. Relax, unwind, and then try to get some rest,” I told her. “You could have your baby on jummah” I said, “or on Sunday. It’s best to just ignore these types of contractions. They often happen the more babies a woman has. They could go on for days, or you could have your baby tonight. We never know, but it’s wise to conserve your energy for whenever the hard labor arises.” Sara sounded reassured and so we hung up. I slept a full eight hours. In the morning I called Sara to check in.

“I had the best nights’ sleep I’ve had in months!” she exclaimed. I asked her if it was the shower. Sara explained that after her shower she laid down on the bed, not expecting to sleep. Her husband was reading the burda and she lay quietly, turning inward, and listening. Soon, it’s notes and cadences lulled her into a blissful, uninterrupted sleep. She didn’t even wake to readjust her pillows, something she had been doing for months! What baraka our Prophet (peace be upon him) has!

A sunny Friday came and went, and that night I called to check back in with Sara. She sounded discouraged, not like her normal cheerful presence. When I enquired about her state, she said she was frustrated and had had the same on again off again contractions all day. She just didn’t know what this was, it was so different than her other labors. We talked at length about never being in control of the process of labor, and that each labor is different just like each child is different. Although I think that the most reassuring advice to Sara was that, all of this was not for naught. That something was happening with every contraction or cramp she was feeling. It was maybe not measurable progress, but a sign that her hormones and their receptors were working just fine and that her uterus certainly knew how to contract, a sure reminder of the perfection of the process.

Now, I had the best night’s sleep! The trilling of my phone did not punctuate my sleep! I was sure it would because I had something I really wanted to do the following day. We had planned a nice hike for the day. Alhamdulillah we were able to go and it was beautiful, long, and muddy.

At 7:56 Saturday night, my phone rang. Before I picked it up I knew that this was it. “Shannon, my water just broke!” Sara said. We celebrated over the phone. Now this was like her other labors, she was on seemingly familiar territory. Eat, sleep, and be happy I advised. Call when you need me or when something changes.

3:45 a.m. Sunday morning Sarah calls to tell me her contractions are now 4-5 minutes apart and that she is calling her doula over. She doesn’t need me yet she says. I listen through a contraction or two, she sounds like a professional, no tension or anxiety, just pure acceptance. It sounds like it’s on the early side of labor as well, so I stumble back to bed, proud, and reassured by Sara’s new calmness.

5:00 a.m. Sarah’s doula phones me. She sounds excited and explains that Sara’s contractions are now 2-3 minutes apart lasting for a minute! That was so fast. I throw on my birth clothes and jump in the car. It’s beginning to drizzle and Sara lives 20 miles down the highway from me. I don’t want to speed, but her labor has already flown through it’s ‘stages’, and the calls keep coming.

“She’s singing through her contractions now.”

“She’s feeling pushy at the peak”

“Drive careful, but are you almost here?”

It’s always better not to speed, to arrive in one piece, but it’s so hard when the adrenaline is rushing and you really, really don’t want to miss the birth. I had already phoned the midwife who is assisting me and told her to leave as soon as possible. I am making urgent du’a that it all goes well, and that I’m present for the birth. Sara’s exit had never looked so good to me.

I had her husband come and meet me. I brought up one bag which has an emergency delivery kit, just the basics you need to deliver a baby, which in reality, is not that much. What a contrast Sara’s birthing space was. It was an oasis of calm to my rushed frenetic pace. I took a deep breath and exhaled to attune myself to her birthing energy. I said hello, gave her a hug, and asked if she felt like pushing. She said that she did and so I told her to go for it… after I got my gloves on and listened to the baby's heart rate!

Alas, there was no need for the rush after all. The night became day. We opened the blinds, snacked on bagels and dates from Medina, and drank Zam Zam. Meanwhile, Sara went through second stage, all two and a half hours of it. For all of that pushing, not once did Sara utter a complaint, not once did she ask when it would be over, not once did she grumble even. She took each contraction as it came, she took our suggestions with grace and compliance, and when the miraculous moment of birth came, she was fully present to receive her little bundle. All of those days of contractions did make a difference after all, maybe not in the length or speed of the labor (or maybe so!), but in Sara’s willingness and preparation to take each contraction as it came, and not to anticipate anything. By the time the hard part of labor found her, she was ready.

It was a joyous birth, still and hopeful. Sara’s older daughters were milling about downstairs. And the rain was just beginning to pick up. Little Khadija had arrived and brought with her the rains. Which was just fine with her family, because all they wanted to do was stay indoors and adore her anyhow. Welcome little Khadija!!

Touch

2010-02-11T21:38:00.000-08:00

One way to describe the difference between hospital birth and out of hospital birth is high tech vs high touch. Working with my hands is one of the greatest joys of being a midwife. It's shocking to me to witness birth occur in situations where the one who delivers your precious baby, has little to no physical interaction with the mother other than to deliver the child. Sometimes all it takes is a light touch on the points of tension, shoulders, brow, fist, for a mother to realize where she is holding the tension with her contractions. From here she can work internally to dispel the tension and flow with her labor more fully. At other times a mother needs two strong hands applying counter-pressure to her sacrum with each contraction. This is hard, but essential work for her birth attendants. Mostly, laboring women just need to feel loved, supported, and understood and often the most effective way to communicate that is through touch. Naoli Vinaver is a Mexican midwife who has recently written an article in Midwifery Today about touch and midwifery care. Her description of the significance of touch in labor is poignant, "This is why touch and massage for pregnancy and birth can be especially important, as women in labor need to move a lot of energy through themselves, give themselves into a lot of energy, and allow a great many changes in their souls and bodies in order to open up to give birth." An excerpt of her article can be read here.

Your baby's DNA

2010-02-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

Midwives, like hospitals and pediatricians, offer newborn screens to their clients. Typically, these state mandated tests are performed on the second postpartum visit in the family's home within the baby's first week of life. The procedure is to poke the baby's heel and fill five circles on a lab slip with the baby's blood. Now it appears as if more than just the blood is being scrutinized by the state as the above CNN report details.

It is not a fun test to perform. Often the baby is a little dehydrated as the mother's milk may not be in yet, or just coming in. This means less blood, and more squeezing and often re-poking the baby's little heel. The test is a screening test, not a diagnostic test, so if anything comes back positive, the baby requires further testing. Most of the fifty disorders tested for, if caught early enough can be prevented through various treatments, hormones, dietary changes, nutritional therapies, etc.. The March of Dimes provides a list of the diseases and disorders being screened.

Informed consent is a cornerstone of midwifery care. In this case, it means not only offering the newborn screen to our clients, but informing them of the risks and benefits of the test. We also must offer them the opportunity to decline the test. Each state offers a form for refusing the test. Everyone's circumstances and health history should be considered when making the decision about the newborn screen. But from now on, I hope that all care providers inform moms and dads what really happens to the baby's DNA in the decision making process. I know I will.

Poem - To a Ten Months Child

2010-02-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Still Pregnant After all These Weeks by Hexodus

This is for all of you mothers who have had the distinct pleasure of going past your due date. Enjoy!

To a Ten Months Child

Late arrival, no

One would think of blaming you

For hesitating so.

Who, setting his hand to knock

At a door so strange as this one,

Might not draw back?

Certainly, once admitted,

You will be made to feel

Like one of the invited.

Still, because you come

From so remote a kingdom,

You may feel out of place,

Tongue-tied and shy among

So many strangers, all

Babbling with a strange tongue.

Well, that's no disgrace.

So might any person

So recently displaced,

Remembering the ocean,

So calm, so lately crossed.

-Donald Justice (1925- )

Also please head over to Rickshaw Diaries to read her post on her upcoming labor. She is extending a lovely gesture.

1st Trimester - The Seedling

2010-02-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

First Trimester Tulip by Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton

O humanity, if you are in doubt about the resurrection, remember that We created you from dust, then from a drop, then from a clot, then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed, in order to edify you. And We keep in the womb those We wish, up to a designated term; then We bring you out as infants, and enable you to reach your maturity: but some of you will pass away, and some of you will be kept here until the age of senility, such that they know nothing of what they knew before. And you see the earth lifeless, but then We shower water on it, and it stirs and swells and produces every beautiful species."
(Qu'ran 22:5)

That sums it up doesn't it? What a beautiful verse. The first trimester is an exciting time. The promise of a new life, a change, can be both exhilarating and overwhelming. A meeting of the sperm and the egg, traveling deep and burrowing into the muscle layers of the uterine wall, begin a cascade of hormonal changes in the mother's body. This is the beginning of placentation, and a foundational moment for the rest of the pregnancy. From here it is a continuous miracle of cell division and organ formation, forming the "lump of flesh, formed and unformed" which Allah refers to in the verse above. In this entry I want to talk briefly and generally, about some of the physical and emotional symptoms that these changes can bring and offer a holistic approach to alleviating any discomfort they might provoke. Please comment on what has helped for you during these precious first three months.

The most notorious symptom of these hormonal changes is the dreaded nausea! Women experience nausea in varying shades and degrees. Some have nary a flip of the stomach to others who vomit so intensely that they must replace the lost fluids with an IV. Most women fall somewhere in the middle. One of my teachers insisted that the more out of touch a woman is with her body, the worse the nausea is. Here is what I recommend.

I love red raspberry leaf tea. It is a nutritive herb, providing minerals in an easily absorb able form. I recommend buying the herb in bulk. You can make a tea pot of the herbs and drink from it throughout the day. Steep for at least twenty minutes. Strain and enjoy. You can let it steep for as long as you like, the longer it steeps the more medicinal it is. It does taste a bit like hay, so it can be sweetened with honey or lemon. Drink throughout the pregnancy.
Some nausea can be attributed to low blood sugar. I find that a lot of women, when not pregnant, don't eat consistently throughout the day. It is hard to adjust to the body's increased caloric demands during pregnancy. Eating small, frequent meals throughout the day can help alleviate any nausea due to low blood sugar. Carry food with you at all times!
Get plenty of fresh air, exercise, and breathe deeply. The increased intake of oxygen can help to increase circulation which can help to decrease the greater levels of acids and carbon dioxides now accumulating in the blood.
Homeopathic remedies can be phenomenal in their abilities to turn nausea around. Each remedy has different indications, so please read more into their unique properties. The ones which I've seen work most consistently for nausea are Nux Vomica, Sepia and Pulsatilla.
Ginger tea, peppermint tea, and/or anise with fennel teas are all soothing to the digestive tract.
Aromatherapy also helps if you have nausea worsened by smells. Try a warm bath with lavender, sweet orange, or sandalwood essential oils. Also try a couple of drops on a cloth and sniffing it throughout the day.

Cramping and/or bleeding can be a frightening experience during pregnancy. In some cases though, it is a reassuring sign of pregnancy. As the uterus rapidly expands in size and weight it goes through toning contractions. The ligaments which suspend the uterus in the body have to stretch along with the pregnancy. This can cause round ligament pains which can often be quite sharp and crampy. Bleeding, usually spotting, can occur with implantation of they embryo, it may also occur around the time you would expect your period, and after sex. If you experience heavy bleeding and cramping contact your midwife or doctor.

Use a hot water bottle or take a warm bath to alleviate round ligament pains
Stretching and/or massage can also alleviate these crampy sensations.
Make sure you are hydrated as dehydration can also cause cramping.
Make sure you are emptying your bladder as a full bladder can also cause cramping!
Turn inwards and locate a place of deep knowing and trusting. Remember Allah’s words above, “And we keep in the womb those We wish, up to a designated term”. Remind yourself of the power, bounty, and generosity of our Creator. Submit to the mystery of the process.

Your baby’s liver, kidneys, heart, lungs and much more are rapidly developing during the first weeks of gestation. As you can imagine this is a very sensitive, yet crucial window of time. It is affected by everything around us, and everything we put in our bodies. Here are some suggestions to get their organs off to the best start:

Stick to organic, high quality foods. If you can’t afford to buy organic everything, here is a link to the dirty dozen, the foods most contaminated from pesticides.
Clean your air. Open a window to air out any indoor air pollutants that may have accumulated in your house and/or car.
Check with your midwife or doctor regarding any herbs, or medicines before you take them.
Stay away from parabens. These are mostly found in lotions and cosmetics. They are carcinogenic.
Try to switch to natural cleaning products. Chemicals from standard cleaning products can be harmful to fetuses and adults alike. Vinegar and baking soda do wonders around the house!

The prospect of becoming a mother, whether it’s your first or fifth time can bring a flurry of emotion. One can feel anxious about the added responsibility, shy about the noticeable changes in ones body, as well as excited at the prospect of a baby. It’s good to be honest with yourself and your family about these feelings. They are normal. As our bodies make way for a new life, so must our psyches. Sometimes there is more of a struggle than others. Be kind to yourself, soon you will feel the fluttering of new life within, bringing with it a new slew of feelings and excitement.

Lastly, it is also a time of soul development! The baby’s sustenance, deeds and ultimate destiny before Allah will be decided sometime around the end of the first trimester, beginning of the second. It is recommended to keep our internal houses clean as well. Mothers should try to stay in a state of wudu, read Qur’an, be in a state of dhikr, and generally prepare for the arrival of angels. They are bringing gifts from the heavens insha’Allah. May this time be a reminder to us as well, for as Allah states in the verse above, “…if you are in doubt about the resurrection…” , and then He advises us to reflect on this miracle occurring right inside of us! What an awesome way to draw near to Allah.

Please leave your advice and best solutions to any of the above in the comment section.