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Nikia Debates Breastmilk vs Coconut Water

Submitted by Nikia Lawson

Recently I attended the Eat Pray Doula, DONA approved Birth Doula Training in Ubud, Bali facilitated by Katherine Bramhall, Debra Pascali-Bonaro, and Robin Lim. This week-long training included birth doula education, postpartum care, childbirth education and breastfeeding support. The skills to become an effective birth doula were definitely the goal of the training, but what I was not prepared for was the adventure of sisterhood and connection that would happen in merely a week.

This trip to Bail, Indonesia was filled with “firsts”: my 1^st international flight, my 1^st time using a passport, my 1^st time walking through a “monkey forest” and my 1^st time being on a global stage talking about the benefits of breast milk! Yes, the latter was a 1^st for me and I have had many opportunities to share the benefits of breast milk in various settings.

On March 22 several of the EPD birth keepers and I attended the 7^th Annual Bali Spirit festival. When we arrived, we settled in to watch the local entertainers. When they finished performing, the crew began setting up for the next performers. To pass time, the MC came to the on stage and began to share some “interesting facts.” He began his chatter with a statement about kids and parents and eye color….interesting, but nothing mind-blowing. Then the gavel landed and he stated his fact that coconut water had the same ingredients as breast milk minus one thing….breast milk contained magnesium! I gasped! The other birth keepers gasped! We immediately went into a frenzy telling everyone around us that that was not accurate information that that there is absolutely no comparison of breast milk and coconut water in terms of beneficial properties to a baby’s needs and development!

I quickly ran toward the stage and engaged him in a dialogue about how making a statement, as a fact, could have grave ramifications on the efforts to get indigenous women to breastfeed. If women feel that breast milk and coconut water are equivalents, then they may feel no NEED to BREASTFEED! They could simply contend with coconut water, which is in abundance in Bali. Also, I shared two (2) KEY/ESSENTIAL ingredients that are in breast milk that could NEVER be in coconut water. We exchanged some relevant conversation and he asked me if I would like to grace the stage and share the FACTS about breast milk that I had so enlightened him on.

After that exchange, I was introduced and I ran on the stage to share my knowledge about breast milk. Here are the 2 life-changing ingredients that I shared with him that urged him to take the stage and admit to the crowd, “I have been schooled by my friend Nikia…. and I stand corrected!”

First, breast milk contains antibodies. Any foreign object that has ever been in mom’s blood stream OR any bacteria or virus that she’s ever been exposed to, her blood and plasma cells created antibodies to neutralize them. Thus, those antibodies are present in breast milk and colostrum. Babies that get mother’s milk, get their 1^st immunization to help build a healthy immune system and strengthen their sensitive little digestive systems with enzymes and antibodies to fight infection and bacteria. Second, breast milk contains human stems cells. These stem cells are life-saving; and, can possibly repair damaged, little organs due to the replication of the stem cells to build tissue and new cells. Human embryonic stem cells are very widely studied for their limitless regenerative properties and the ability to have specialized function in the new cells they produce.

Well, since coconuts are not human and do not have a blood stream, these are 2 very distinct and useful properties (not to mention that there are hundreds of other ingredients with benefits in breast milk that have yet to be identified) contained in breast milk that can never be in coconut water.

I finished my enlightenment opportunity with a lively chant: THE BREAST IS BEST! THE BREAST IS BEST! Empower the women in your life to breastfeed, because coconut water just won’t do it!

Learn how you can join the magic in Bali for Doula or Advanced Birthworker Workshop at Eat Pray Doula!

Biography: Nikia Lawson is the owner/operator of Birth Blessings Professional Birth and Doula Services, owner/Project Director of The Natural Way Birthing Project ~ Ft. Worth, and managing partner of Tarrant County Doula Associates. Nikia’s goal is to empower women to know that they are divinely designed to give birth; to learn to trust their bodies and listen to their inner spirit as they embark on their birth journey.

Nikia is a DONA birth doula, a 2010 DONA International Doula of Color Fellow and a DONA International approved, birth doula trainer and is an experienced childbirth educator and has taught classes for various community groups and hospitals since 2007. Nikia hopes to return to school complete her post graduate studies in Naturopathy and open her own maternity home for pregnant women.

Learn how you can join the magic in Bali at Eat Pray Doula!

Awakening the Doula Spirit

It’s hard to believe I have been a doula for 30 years. When I reflect back to how I began, there is not just one particular moment of beginning for me. Being with women in childbirth is in my heart, some would say a calling. I was fascinated with childbirth from an early age, my great grandmother, grandmother and mother’s story of power and joy prepared me to trust birth and to know I deserved more from our maternity care system. Although I had powerful, pleasurable, natural childbirths, with all I know now – I wish I’d had a doula.

It was after my own birth that I became inspired to be a childbirth educator, to help women and their partners understand the many choices they had or sadly were not being given. Before long people were inviting me to come to their birth to take pictures, and to offer encouragement. I was honored to attend a birth and would do anything to be present at such a sacred time. It was one day I’ll never forget in 1987 when my issue of Mothering magazine arrived in my mailbox. I prepared a cup of tea and sat down to enjoy the articles. One of the first articles that jumped out at me was about a Doula. I began to read and had to yell – I am a doula! I had discovered a name for what I was doing and soon a connection to the many other women that were having that same moment of realization. Before email we wrote letters, and before cell phones we called and left messages, and the very first doula meeting in the world was organized – to take place in my home state, New Jersey in 1987. In 1992, I was present at the very first meeting of DONA International in Boston, and became part of their very first Board of Directors for the first six years. Working with Penny Simkin, Marshall and Phyllis Klaus, John Kennell, Annie Kennedy and other amazing birth advocates and doulas on the DONA board was an experience that has shaped many aspects of my work today. The long hours of debates knowing that the models and processes that were developed were setting the foundation for the growth of doulas globally was both challenging and exhilarating!

As a doula trainer I have facilitated doula workshops in 30 countries and I have watched doulas grow in every region of the world. Each workshop opens my heart more to the power, passion and magic that happens when women connect with their deep intuitive wisdom and pass it on believing in, supporting, caring and nurturing women, men and families as they cross through the sacred gateway to parenthood and in the process nurturing each other.

For many years every time I told someone that I was a doula, they asked me “What is a doula?” I was determined to keep educating them, but I never thought in my lifetime I would see doulas spread around the world as they are, being supported by research as one of the only “interventions” in childbirth with only benefits and no harms.

What is a doula?

In the US two states, MN and OR have passed legislation to cover doulas under Medicaid. The recently NY Doula Report from Choices in Childbirth provides an overview of the medical evidence supporting the benefits of doula care, and goes on to say: ‘With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act comes an unprecedented opportunity to ensure that women receive quality, respectful maternity care throughout their pregnancy and childbirth experience. Doula Care in New York City: Advancing the Goals of the Affordable Care Act examines doula care within the “triple aim” framework to demonstrate how doula care can help to improve outcomes, reduce spending and improve the patient experience of care. The report also considers the powerful role that doulas can play in fostering greater patient engagement in health care decision-making and reducing disparities in health outcomes, additional goals outlined in the ACA.”

This fall I had the pleasure of visiting Marshall and Phyllis Klaus, two of the founders of DONA International, world renowned for their work in parent infant attachment as well as helping to re-discover the importance of female companionship during childbirth. Their work literally changed my life! Becoming part of DONA International and actively spreading the doula spirit and research wherever opportunity presents itself is only possible because of the Klaus’, Penny Simkin, Annie Kennedy and John Kennell. It was so special to me to have the opportunity to tell Phyllis and Marshall how much they mean to me and to thank them once again for dedicating their lives to improving the care that every MotherBaby receives and for teaching, encouraging and supporting me on my path. They have a place in the history of childbirth, neonatology, doulas, breastfeeding and more.

How will you pass along or re-discover the doula spirit within you?

If you would like to become a doula, join me at a workshop or a doula retreat.

If you’d love to know more about working as a doula, enjoy reading Naomi’s birth story where you will see me as a doula. Every birth is a blessing! Being with Naomi was so special and sacred and yet we only met via email the day before! When I entered her home during labor I could feel immediately how to join the circle of support and nurture her. When we open ourselves fully, allow our intuition to guide us and love from the deepest part of our heart it is easy to develop a deep connection. Women in labor are open to the core and doulas who can meet them their enjoy this divine connection that life rarely provides us in todays busy world. Giving is receiving! I have had opportunities to see 100’s of babies enter the world, women become mothers, men become fathers, parents become grandparents, children become siblings, we are all transformed by each new life and I feel so honored, and blessed beyond words to be a part of the circle of support, and the circle of life.

I believe Doulas are on their way to becoming a covered benefit for all who want a doula in the U.S and that other countries will follow. It’s no longer a question that doulas do make a difference! As the late Dr. Kennell said, “If a doula were a drug, it would be unethical not to use it.” There are many ways we are beginning to understand that women affect each other’s physiology as you may know, when women live together, their menstrual cycles sync. Women help other women lower stress levels, creating tend and befriend instead of the flight or fight response and I believe we will continue to learn how a woman’s continuous presence and support in childbirth creates so many short and long term benefits for MotherBaby, Father, Partner and family.

May you pass along the doula spirit in all you do, nurture yourself and each other, bring more love, peace and acceptance to birth and our lives. Look for my two additional doula videos in the coming weeks!

~Debra Pascali-Bonaro

Naomi Ruth Fleisher’s Healing Birth

Photos courtesy: Ela Alpi

I introduce this birth first and foremost as my second birth, my healer birth.

On a Monday night it began. I recognized the sensation, the roots of my being were beginning to quake. I called my midwife who stayed that night across the hall with our wonderful neighbors. I felt safe knowing she was so close by. I sang my daughter Alona Maya to sleep through my surges, and with help from two glasses of red wine and a nourishing dinner, I slept relatively soundly. I woke up in the morning, took a shower and stayed quiet. I took light steps and spoke quietly. I wanted to keep the holiness and remain concentrated. I remembered that when labor starts to pick up speed, there is nothing left to do but ride.

After a nap, a little play with my daughter, some movement and deep breathing, the team began to arrive; my midwife Valeriana, soon her assistant Gayla, my doula Debra, and a documentarian, Ela. I had opened up my experience, this was Ela’s first time witnessing a birth. These powerful women held the space for me immediately. The attention and care was overwhelming, even intimidating, but they helped to foster my power and strength. Since things were slowing down, my surges farther apart though still strong and deep, they all agreed I should take a walk with my husband Isaac. My daughter was with our mother’s helper, and I felt safe letting her go for now in my mind, which helped me to release even more.

Isaac and I took a walk in the park a block from home. The fresh air, the breeze and the trees calling out to me began to ignite my body. It was quickly time to head home. With Isaac’s help, while I swayed and held on, we made it in the door. With surges sending me into the walls and doorways, I made it into my room. From the moment I walked in the door, Isaac and Debra were in my ear and by my side. Their words of encouragement and support were empowering and grounding. I rocked on the ball, went to the bathroom, crawled to the floor, and was thrown into it all at full force. The deep rocking of the surges, and shifting tides within me, all the more powerful and quick. Even still, I was present, calm, and able to work with it. The midday sun filled our room and my focus narrowed to Debra’s voice guiding me and helping me down from the peak of pain. All around me my team was setting up our tub, cleaning our home, getting everything prepared. Caring for me in ways I couldn’t see, but could feel.

I made it to the tub, by then I could only focus on breathing through and falling into the sensations that were quickly becoming fast and intense, bringing me to my deepest level of strength. All the while held by these incredible people looking at me and keeping me safe. I sang out “I can’t do this, I can’t” and Debra responded with certainty and through a smile, “You ARE doing it!” In the water I danced and sang through it, through the deep pain and pleasure of birthing my child, I gave birth to my Advah Lily. Through profoundly intense pushing and releasing, my daughter came into being. I am forever grateful.

Alona Maya napped soundly through the birth. When she awoke on her own Isaac brought her in, her eyes still heavy with sleep, to meet her new sister.

7 Keys to a Blissful Birth

By: Latham Thomas, founder of Mama Glow, author of Mama Glow: A Hip Guide to Your Fabulous Abundant Pregnancy

I remember the birth of my son like it was yesterday. Having the support of my midwife Stacy Rees and my boyfriend who both were keen on how to keep me comfortable, relaxed and in the zone was key! If you are pregnant or want to support someone in your life who is, please take these 7 tips to a blissful birth journey and add them to your arsenal. I was blessed to study under the tutelage of Debra Pascali Bonaro and as a birth worker Debra infuses love in to everything she does, she taught me that our goal is to really preserve the experience for the mother-to-be. Remember to practice what you preach and that will make you even more effective in assisting the mother-to-be.

Ways to Support the pregnant goddess:

1. Holding sacred space– a woman must feel safe in order to give birth, if the conditions are such that she is anxious or afraid, the progression of labor will slow down. This is often the case in hospital settings where the medical providers do not allow time, space, and ritual journey in birth to take place. If you are hooked up to monitors and getting poked and prodded under florescent light in a cool and sterile room, it’s not likely you would feel safe. Create a setting whether you are birthing at home, in the birth center, or in a hospital where the mother can relax and feel safe and carry out her birth ritual.

Ways to create sacred space include: lighting candles, burning incense, playing soothing slow music, run a warm bath, chanting, kissing your partner, putting a sign on the door- knock before entering.

Listen to Latham at the Orgasmic Birth Virtual Conference https://www.entheos.com/orgasmic-birth/Debra-Pascali-Bonaro

2. Encourage Sound– we spend so much of our lives focused on being quiet, in school, in church and places of workship, at work, in transit. We are constantly being told to shut up. When are we ever given permission to make noise- during sex and birth. It is every important for a pregnant woman to make sounds to connect with what is happening in her pelvic bowl. Sound amplifies sensation and really helps during labor. The hardwiring for our mouth and throat is directly connected to our pelvic floor and sacred passageway (birth canal). When you open and relax the muscles in the mouth and throat and make low and deep bellowing sounds, you also relax the muscles of the pelvic floor and make birth easier for both mom and baby. Conversely, if mommy tightens her jaws, scrunches up her face and closes her throat, the pelvic floor muscles will follow. Sound is a gift so use it.

Ways to incorporate sound include: taking deep breaths and sighing long on the exhale, deep Ahhh sounds, Oohhh sounds, the birth sound- Om can be chanted as well.

3. Practice Deep Breathing– your breath is an amazing bridge between the conscious and unconscious because the respiratory system is both voluntary and involuntary. You don’t have to remind yourself to breathe, it just happens. But when we are mindful of our breathing we can tap into an energy in the unconscious realm. What ever state you are in, your breath will follow. If you are anxious your breath will be quick and shallow, if you are calm and relaxed your breath will be long deep. You can also breathe to encourage different states. If you want the breath to take you to a relaxed state you can start breathing long deep full breaths and it will send signals to the brain to calming you down. This is so helpful for birthing women because the deep breath along with the sound enhances the trance state during labor. Women can not journey into their labor in a Beta brain wave state, or regular consciousness. They must enter an altered state of consciousness for the cascade of hormones to descend and the primal state to turn on.

Ways to incorporate deep breathing include- bringing soothing familiar scents into the room and taking long slow deep full inhales through the nose and exhaling through the mouth (as it releases some of the internal heat energy)

4. Get Moving– Staying in a static position is a sure way to slow down the labor process. Moving around during labor is normal and it’s primal. Its part of how we manage the intense surges of energy in the body. Finding ways to move the body to promote comfort and and opening is key during labor. All of those prenatal yoga hip opening exercises, spinal flexions, rolls. Movement not only encourages the baby to move down it feels good for mommy too. Walking and hip swaying are especially helpful as women create more wiggle room in their pelvis and squatting increases the pelvic opening by 30%, which doesn’t sound like a lot but when you are pushing out a baby, it’s tremendous.

Helpful ways to get moving include: slow dancing, belly dancing, walking, hip rolls, cat/cow, squatting, showering

5. Practice Visualization Exercises– Visualization exercises are a part of every major spiritual practice as a tool to support entry into an altered state. I mentioned that women can not give birth in a normal state of consciousness- when thinking about their dry cleaning, their phone bill, or whether or not they look fat, etc. This sort of jumpy linear thinking is our brain operating on beta waves and when we are in that state we are not producing the cocktail of hormones that we need to progress in labor. The mundane has to be transcended for a mother to begin the ancestral ritual journey that takes her into her birth trance. This also includes fear. Fearful thoughts will shut labor down, so powerful visualizations are key. The shift from Beta waves to Alpha waves where the mother enters an altered state is much like when we enter into meditation, or a good daydream, that’s the place where labor begins and from there the brain waves can lead to deeper altered states. Why this is important to know is because there is so much distraction around women these days no matter where they are birthing. Having a set of tools to transcend the mundane and the fear will help labor progress naturally.

Tools for visualization exercises- practice envisioning the baby moving down the birth canal at each contraction, find a few symbols that can help anchor you into the space ie, lotus blossoms, the ocean, candle light

6. Offer TLC through Touch– Touch transmits feeling and intention. If you can place loving hands on a woman and also know when to not touch her it is a huge asset. At certain stages of labor touch is very helpful. Caressing while sharing calming and affirmative words of support are very helpful at certain stages of labor. Be observant and see what the moment calls for: foot rub, massage of her sacrum, caressing the forehead, etc. Our emotional energy field will transmit what we are experiencing onto others. Pregnant women are so sensitive in labor and can pick up on any frenetic, or ungrounded energy around them. Make sure to calm yourself and be prepared to learn and serve.

Ways to incorporate touch- use therapeutic essential oils and rub your hands together, place firm hands and offer warm touch

7. Practice Affirmations– Courage is feeling the fear and rising to the occasion anyway. When we encourage with loving words we help others move beyond fear, inspire them to keep the faith, and keep on moving. Affirmations are positive phrases. Speak in this love language of encouragement to help support the mommy-to-be. Trust me, it really helps.

Ways to incorporate affirmations- write them on cards, say them aloud, record them and play in the birthing room.

Latham Thomas: Mama Glow

Latham Thomas is a maternity lifestyle maven, wellness & birth coach, and yoga teacher on the vanguard of transforming the maternal & women’s wellness movement. A graduate of Columbia University & The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Latham is the founder of Mama Glow a holistic lifestyle hub for women to explore their creative edge through wellbeing. Her practice provides support to pre/postnatal women along their journey to motherhood offering culinary and nutritional services, yoga, and birth coaching services. She lives in New York City with her son Fulano and their turtle Climby. Latham’s first book was just published in November- “Mama Glow: A Hip Guide to Your Fabulous Abundant Pregnancy”, foreword by Christiane Northrup, M.D., with Hay House. Latham is helping to green the planet one belly at a time.

Link to: www.mamaglow.com

Twitter: GlowMaven

Overshare Show: An Orgasmic Conversation about Orgasmic Birth

The OverShare Show recently interviewed Debra Pascali-Bonaro about her film “The Orgasmic Birth,” and the subsequent social movement in her wake. Debra is an advocate for women taking back their birthing process, and her documentary is a revolutionary look at birth that explores the pleasure, love, joy, and empowerment women can experience. Birth should not be viewed through a lens of fear, and it is time to break open the cultural dependence on the medical process. The notion of an “orgasmic” birth perhaps may be provocative, but Debra’s impassioned and well-informed view point is not only convincing, but seductively logical.

Download it HERE or jump on over to the Overshare Show to listen!

Enjoy this and want more?

Orgasmic Birth launches a FREE Virtual conference October 13-17, 2014.

20+ experts, including health professionals, doulas, midwives, and other birthing gurus, pull back the curtain and tell you everything you always wanted to know about birth. Learn how you can have a safe, joyful, orgasmic birth!

What You Need to Know

When: October 13-17, 2014
Where: Online!
Cost: Sign up FREE HERE

10 Things I Wish All Pregnant Women Knew About Labor & Birth

By: Aviva Romm, M.D.

When I was pregnant, I seemed to be a magnet for birth war stories – cords around the neck, emergency cesareans, and more. It took a lot of inner conviction to believe in birth as a natural, beautiful event that my body was capable of, rather than a “disaster waiting to happen,” as one obstetrician warned me it was.

But inner conviction I decided to have, and my four children were born at home, peacefully, and without drama or trauma. I made sure I was in awesome health throughout my pregnancies, eating an organic, plant-based diet. I did yoga daily, spent time in nature, and meditated on the type of birth I wanted to have.

And then I surrendered to the forces of nature. The power I experienced as a woman has given me confidence in so many areas of my life and I so wish this for other women.

Sadly, however, natural birth is becoming endangered! About one in three women in the US will have their babies by cesarean section. Maybe that sounds like no big deal – but actually, it’s major abdominal surgery and increases your risks of complications over natural birth.

Cesareans are grossly overdone in US hospitals. And they often make recovery and breastfeeding much more challenging. They expose your baby to an antibiotic (all moms having a cesarean are given antibiotics at the time of surgery) before she or he is even born. And most of the ones that are performed turn out to be unnecessary.

Also, many more women will have their labor induced or experience some form of obstetric intervention. The downturn in natural birth is so significant that a group of researchers wanting to study the natural course of labor couldn’t find a large enough group of women birthing naturally in any one place to study them!

But we can’t let natural birth go extinct because it’s way more than just a romantic ideal. Babies born vaginally (and without medication) have many health advantages. For example, just being exposed to mom’s flora on the way out of the birth canal decreases the lifetime likelihood of developing digestive problems, allergies, and even obesity.

While we can’t fully control what happens in our births, and of course, sometimes interventions are necessary (though often they aren’t!), you can embrace core beliefs that will increase your chances of having the birth experience that is optimally healthy for you and baby.

Here are the Top 10 philosophies that helped me have my babies naturally and that I have used to support thousands of women in their birthing experiences, and that can help you have an optimal birthing experience – maybe even the birth of your dreams!

1. Birth is a spiritual journey; it’s also primal.

Birth is, to say the least, an intensely physically and emotionally demanding experience. Approaching the challenge as a spiritual journey can help you dig deep into your core for the resources to persevere, and to learn about yourself and your innate strength and power.

Though a spiritual journey, it is not all incense and candles. It asks us to call upon our primal instincts – and sometimes even to get primal – making animal sounds, assuming poses that have us buck naked on our hands and knees, moving our hips in deep sultry belly dancing undulations.

Planning to take a deep dive into your subconscious and intuition to let your primal self emerge can allow you to open and birth your baby with a raw strength and power you might not now even realize lives within you.

2. Birth should not be taken lying down.

Lying down simply doesn’t let gravity do the work of helping baby come down and out! Walking, moving your hips like a belly dancer, and generally staying active facilitates a more physiologic process for baby than lying on your back in a hospital bed, which increases your chances of a cesarean.

3. Contractions are amazing sensations that get your baby born.

During my own births I used my imagination and awareness to dive deep into the sensation of my muscles working to help my baby get born. This focused awareness transformed by perception of the pain of birth into the power of birth.

I even used the term expansions rather than contractions to help me think about the sensation in a new way. It did not make them less intense, but it made the sensation my ally rather than my enemy. As I welcomed each new wave of labor, I knew I was closer to bringing my baby into my arms.

4. Fear stops labor.

Mammal mommas have powerful instincts that allow us to keep our babies safe from harm. For example, momma giraffes on the savannah will spontaneously stop labor if they sense a predator in the area, rather than dropping a helpless newborn to the ground. We too, have hormones that can stimulate labor (oxytocin) and those can stop labor if pumped out early because of fear (adrenaline).

So learning to transform fear into power and confidence is essential for a smooth birth. How is this done? Make sure you feel safe where you are birthing, that you have good support in labor, and that you have talked with your birth provider about any fears you are harboring or repressing about your health and safety, baby’s health and safety, or the birthing process. Being educated and informed can help you to dispel fears.

5. Question Authority (or Nice girls can ask questions – and say, “No”).

Obstetrics practices are not always based on the best science. The September 2011 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the official publication of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), reported that only one third of all obstetrics guidelines in the US are based on good scientific evidence, one third are based on limited or inconsistent evidence, and the remaining third are based on expert opinion, which is “subject to bias, either implicit or subconscious.”

So just because a doctor (or midwife) tells you something is required (lying down in labor, having a vaginal exam, wearing an external fetal monitor for your entire labor, having an IV drip routinely), doesn’t mean you have do it unquestioningly — or at all. As girls and young women, many of us learn not to question authority — just be a “good girl,” and don’t be the geek who asks questions. Many of the procedures done in hospitals are done “just because” they are routine but often not necessary.

So if something is recommended or expected that makes you uncomfortable or you’re not sure of the reason, ASK! And if you’re not comfortable with the explanation, you can decline. Having an advocate there who can help you sort through decisions, especially when you are otherwise occupied doing the work of labor, is especially valuable.

6. Women should eat and drink during labor.

Current scientific evidence has demonstrated that low-risk women who eat and drink in labor are not at significantly increased risk of food aspiration in the event of a cesarean, which has been the much-feared reason for keeping women on an ice-chips and fruit-pops-only regimen in labor for the past few decades.

In fact, keeping up your energy with light and nourishing fare has been found, by many midwives and mamas, to facilitate labor and reduce the likelihood of labor petering out, or needing Pitocin or a cesarean.

7. Your body is a marvelous, perfectly crafted force of nature.

Believing in yourself is powerful medicine! Yet most of us go into labor believing our bodies might be lemons – the reject in the batch that just doesn’t work properly and needs to be sent back to the factory on a recall!

The reality is, nature is amazing at creating powerful systems that work. Setting intentions and learning to have confidence in the birthing process – and your body – are among the most powerful tools you can use to go with the natural flow of labor and birth and gain some self-enlightenment in the process.

8. Obstetrics is BIG Business.

There is a whole system of medicine out there, called obstetrics, making a fortune off of your body! In fact, there is enormous financial incentive for obstetricians to do ultrasounds (in my community, a doctor’s office charges the insurance company $700 per ultrasound), offer endless tests, and big bucks when it comes to doing a cesarean rather than supporting a natural, vaginal birth.

Want to avoid unnecessary medical interventions? Then make your body your business by getting educated. Read about birth. Some good places to start: Ina May Gaskin’s Guide to Childbirth, Henci Goer’s The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth, and my book, The Natural Pregnancy Book.

9. Birth is something you do, not something that is done to you.

Whether you dance, groan, or hypnobirth your way through labor, it ain’t called labor for nothing. It takes work, focus, and sweat to get a baby out. Powerful muscles move a 6 to 8 pound being (on average) a short distance through a relatively small space. This means EFFORT is required.

Just as with any hard task, being realistic about what’s involved, setting your mind and heart to it by getting psyched ahead of time, and then having strategies to call upon when your energy or determination wavers will get you to the other side of the finish line with power and pride.

10. Birth can be ecstatic.

While there might be some huffing and puffing, grunting and groaning, and even a holler or two if you need to vocalize the intense energy moving through you as you bring your baby out into the world, birth can be an ecstatic experience, particularly when you appreciate yourself for the accomplishment of a hard job done with determination and experience the ecstasy of holding your new baby in your arms.

As you get closer to your baby’s birth, and even in labor, here’s a simple mantra to tell yourself, “I’ve got this!”

Wishing you an ecstatic birth,

For more of Aviva’s wisdom visit her at http://avivaromm.com/

Heart Led to MotherBaby Sanctuary

As a spiritual person, I feel been blessed to learn and experience so many different religious practices and am always moved by the opportunity to pray, meditate and feel the divine around and within us all and honor the traditions that each culture has created to honor their own connection to divinity and love. Here is one recent experience that I want to share with you.

The Path of the Gods from Agerola to Positano is world famous for its views and inspiration but even with all I had read, I was not prepared for the experience that it provided me, (and my husband Jimi, my cousin Graziella, and her daughter Angela). We began our walk high in the mountains of Agerola with the clouds swirling around us. The fog provided a gentle breeze that felt good and cool as I knew the bright hot sun would soon be upon us. The cliffs of Agerola are unique- the views beyond anything words can describe and the smells of the wild mountain flowers, honey suckle, jasmine, lemons, rosemary, other herbs, and grapes are intoxicating. Every sense is stirred as you careful place your feet on rock pathways and stairs that date back to the 9th and 10th centuries. Homes built into the rock like caves that are still in use today, fill me with wonder as the only way to them is to walk these steep and narrow mule paths. We pass one beautiful well maintained home with a huge garden of sunflowers, vegetables, herbs and grapes to learn an 80 year old couples lives here. Three times a week they take the 30 – 45 minute walk up hill to get their supplies and other groceries. What a place to live, it feels like I am on top of the world, seeing further than I can ever see in the U.S, and where the sky meets the glistening Mediterranean Sea below, a feeling of infinity fills me as I can no longer see where one ends and the other begins the circle of sky, water and earth go on and on.

I am reminded of the song I sang with Angelika and the doulas of Austria Round and round we dance, we hold each other’s hands, we weave our lives in an circle. Our love is strong and the dance goes on…. For some reason the circle of life felt so powerful to me here.

We soon find a note that someone left to caution us for mating viper snakes ahead. Half way down we can see an old monastery on the side of the cliff, it looks like another canyon away, but in a short time winding down the trail we come to an archway and enter into the sacred gardens. The sun is glistening, birds are singing, the winds gentle breeze feels like a nice caress, calling us into silence and sacred space. Before us are two tables on a terrace overlooking Priano below with blue table clothes and 4 chairs, as if someone was waiting for us to arrive, but we don’t see anyone. I feel like I have stumbled into another time, quietly we walk and see the door to the Monastery is open; we enter into the old section from 1436 with Fresco’s still visible on the wall. I immediately feel a sacred presence and we move deeper to hear the chanting of monks, could it be? On closer observation we see it is a cd player calling us into the main chapel that has been renovated. Here candles are lit, and incredible fresco’s and art bring me to tears. I am called to the one red pew to pray in front of what I later learn is the Madonna de Grazia, the Madonna of grace and gratitude and thankfulness. As I sit before her, the alter is full of MotherBaby images, the whole cathedral is full of MotherBaby images and the circle of women.

I see a picture of a monk carrying flowers and a scroll in one image and learn he is Saint Dominica the patron saint of Priano where my Great Grandfather was from. He is the patron Saint of Astronomers and Astronomy and if you could see the night sky here you would know why they choose him to preside over these mountains that meet the sea. The twinkle of the stars are so vivid you feel as if you can reach out and touch them. Agerola celebrates a night in August each year with the stars are falling/shooting from the sky so much the village sleeps atop the mountain to see them and a band plays as the sun rises to honor the sky, the moon, the mother earth and all the incredible wonders of nature. I can only imagine how special this would be to attend, but today I can feel my own wonder with what is before me. There are so many hidden secrets in this region that are just asking us to take the leap of faith and allow ourselves to experience them. I am truly overcome with energy, emotion and the reverence that I feel in this sacred space.

I join my husband and cousins outside to have the lunch Graziella had prepared for us. Still no sign of anyone, but this entire Chapel, view and terrace just for us. We are offered the most beautiful lunch view. As we finish two other hikers come by, we learn from them that we had left the Path of the Gods and entered onto the Path to Priano- so without our knowledge we had been led to this sacred space. I walked between Agerola the village where my Great Grandmother, Angelina Milo was born and Graziella and my family still live, to the village my Great Grandfather, Louis Fusco was born in. In the middle I have been swept back in time to this sacred space with music, art, divinity and feminine grace and the wisdom of the Holy Mother fills me in a way I can’t explain and yet the feelings were so strong like nothing I have felt before. I am reminded how birth and life are one. When we trust our inner wisdom, when we allow ourselves to be guided by nature, to be lost in the music of our soul, this is a place that magic happens and in childbirth where we birth our babies and the part of ourselves that begins to understand the beauty and connection we have to nature as we are all one.

I am so grateful that I found the Madonna De Grazia and she deepened my connection and daily attitude of gratitude continues to l lead me to amazing discoveries.

Bring More Love (to birth)

Ibu Robin Lim and Gentle Birth at Bumi Sehat Bali teach us how to Bring More Love to Birth #bringmorelove

Imagine you are a young women, living in a one-room hut with dirt floors with 20 people, barely enough food to cut you hunger pains and not enough money to travel to access prenatal care. On the night your labor begin you get a ride on the back of scooter and arrive to a maternity birth center clinic Bumi Sehat that you heard of where midwives will care for you. You are greeted with a warm hug and someone looking in your eyes to say I love you!

You enter your small cozy labor room and a tub is soon filled for you and flower petals sprinkled around you. When your baby’s head begin to emerge the midwife, her assistant, other midwives who are not busy enter and join the circle to sing the gayatri mantra, a sacred Balinese song to sing your baby into the world.

Bali Flowers in Bath — At Bumi Sehat, the birth tubs are filled with water & sprinkled with flower petals.

Your placenta is greeted into a bowl and more flowers are placed around it so you can rest in bed with your baby skin to skin, and when you are ready be a part of the sacred cutting of the cord, of if you want you can have a lotus birth.

Baby Naming Ceremony — Ibu Robin Lim often asks groups of midwives in Indonesia to together say the following three words, I love you.

This is the care Robin provides as every MotherBaby and family is greeted with love. With little resources she is rich with caring and has greatly lowered both maternal and infant mortality in Bali with her gentle midwifery knowledge, skills and love. Think of how we greet women in our hospitals today? How about women with no documented prenatal care?

Imagine if every woman in childbirth was greeted the way Ibu Robin greets every women- with gentleness, love and understanding.

It is this same type of care and love I believe we must also bring to the caregivers who don’t have the benefit of the midwifery training and knowledge you have on how to keep birth safe and low-risk. Many physicians, nurses and administrators are struggling now to find the way in our dysfunctional technocratic system. They too need your midwifery wisdom and care. We must show all caregivers that regardless of their training they can embrace a midwifery model of care. That together we can reclaim the her-story of birth with the wisdom and nurturing techniques that midwives have handed down through the ages.

Robin Lim often asks groups of midwives in Indonesia to together say three words, and I will ask you to say them, I love you.

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Bring More Love (to birth)

I love you….

How do you bring more love to birth? Please share with us.

Visit Bali for the Eat Pray Doula Gentle Birth DONA Doula Workshop.

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Learn how you can join the magic in Bali for Doula or Advanced Birthworker Workshop at Eat Pray Doula!

Learn how you can join the magic in Bali at Eat Pray Doula!

By: Latham Thomas, founder of Mama Glow, author of Mama Glow: A Hip Guide to Your Fabulous Abundant Pregnancy

I love you….

How do you bring more love to birth? Please share with us.

Visit Bali for the Eat Pray Doula Gentle Birth DONA Doula Workshop.

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