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You’re not pregnant. You don’t know anyone who is. And, you might not even be a woman. Then why is this information about pregnancy and birth important for everyone to read?
 
Because whether you run into a pregnant woman at the gas station or your daughter is pregnant, the way you interact with her will help her to become the mother she will be. 
 
How members of society view, treat, speak to, and receive pregnant women sets a tone for who they will become. 
 
This goes for babies, too. How we are born and how we are cared for helps to create a healthy society from the very beginning. Babies change women into mothers, men into fathers and couples into family. Families create society. Families create community, one by one.
 
Dr. Gayle Peterson, author of “Making Healthy Families,” writes: “Research shows how a woman experiences her birth impacts her...

 
Getting In Touch with Your Breath
 
By Laurel Wilson 
 
Every woman knows how to breathe.  Breathing is as much a part of every human’s life as thinking.  We do not believe that teaching women “techniques” or “patterned” breathing will help them significantly in labor.  Teaching woman patterns of breathing causes laboring women to engage their parasympathetic nervous system, or use the “thinking” part of their brain.  This distracts laboring women from surrendering to their instinctual processes and can actually cause anxiety and inhibit the release of endorphins.
 
The following exercises are created to help women become aware of how they breathe.  Most people breath high and tight, engaging only their lungs as they breathe throughout the day.  This sometimes called shallow breathing, and is indicative of tension and stress in the body.  The body works best when deep breathing is utilized, as it stimulates not only the lungs but the diaphragm, pelvis, and abdomen.  This is the type of breathing we encourage women to use throughout pregnancy and labor.  If practiced regularly, deep...

When I think about human values in birth, I think about the 'word' in Spanish for giving birth, which is dar la luz.  I have never thought about the actual meaning for it in English- to give the light, until recently when I began to ponder cultural differences and perspectives in birth. 
I find it fascinating that in this country, we associate birth with hospitals, doctors, fear, pain, and cesareans, but...

Excerpts from a paper on Beyond the Breast-Bottle Controversy by Penny Van Esterik (Rutgers, 1989)

 
The breast-bottle controversy goes far beyond boycotting a product or its manufacturer.  In her book Beyond the Breast-Bottle Controversy, Penny Van Esterik examines the controversy from every possible angle and brings up many points to consider, such as the environment in which many women live, medicalization of infant feeding, turning infant feeding into a status symbol, and breastfeeding as a feminist issue.  As to existing studies, Van Esterik says: "What is significant is what does not get researched, what questions are not asked" (16).
It is easy to question people's choices when they have everything available to them and all resources at their disposal.  However, when people live in poverty with limited resources, if any at all, questioning their decisions would be unfair and inappropriate. Many people, especially in developing countries, have no choices available to them.  There are women who breastfeed because that's the only choice they have, while others 'choose' not to because of physical and emotional constraints.  I have seen families living in the streets of Lima, Peru – a mother sitting on a dirty old tarp, selling lemons, while her children take turns at her breast.  Children as old as nine or ten were nursing, probably the only 'meal' available to them that day.  That mother may have had no choice but to breastfeed when her babies were born; she most likely could not afford not to.  On the other hand, there are women who have to earn a living and cannot afford to stay with their babies and breastfeed (I am referring to women, in developing and developed countries, who will die of starvation if they do not earn a living).  There are also women who are so malnourished, due to poverty, that they are unable to produce milk.  All of these situations are not a matter of choice, but harsh realities of many women around the world.  Some women live in such inhumane conditions, that they lack the spirit it takes to protect their infants and do what is best for them.  As Van Esterik wrote:  "The cold, damp mountain air blows through the flimsy walls of the shack, chilling Rosa's body and soul and reducing her will to struggle for her infant sons " (36).
Although technically countries are separately governed, they are part of the "world system" (55-63), which Van Esterik describes as a "unified hierarchical system" (55).  As long as economy and politics continue to influence all parts of the world, breastfeeding mothers will face many challenges in their decision-making.  "Certainly, …women have some choices as to how they participate in the world system, but they cannot choose not to participate in it" (62). 
One of the world system's effects is that women living in poverty are not only influenced by their poor living conditions, but by the...

Today, more than ever, there is a growing awareness of the negative impact childbirth may have on many women1, which has brought attention to the way women experience birth and what implications this experience may have on their lives.  They enter the realm of childbearing with a romantic idea of what it would be like and float in a bubble of euphoric anticipation2.  For many of them that bubble bursts when reality sets in and they realize that birth is nothing like they imagined it to be.
When a woman becomes pregnant she, most often, begins to imagine what pregnancy, birth and mothering would be like.  These fantasies create certain expectations that may, or may not, be realistic.  Women with history of abuse or a negative previous birth experience may have negative expectations of the birth itself.  They may anticipate pain and fear based on their past experience3.  Most women, however, develop high hopes and expectations of a romantic nature.  A study conducted in Taiwan4, found that expectations were related to the following categories: the environment of caregiving, labor pain, support by partner and medical staff, and the ability to participate and have control.  Other studies conducted in the United States and in the United Kingdom, had similar findings with an emphasis on control as a common expectation for may women2,5.  Having control means being informed and having an active role in decision making throughout the pregnancy and birth5.  The Taiwanese study also showed that those who attended childbirth education classes appeared to have higher expectations of the birth experience4.  Another study, conducted in the United States by Dr. Susan Lynn Highsmith6, based on the finding of a large study by Green, Coupland and Kitzinger (1998) that “pregnant women tend to get what they expect”6, examined the subconscious expectations of childbirth along with the conscious ones. She found that the study participants’ actual birth experiences were different from their conscious expectations, and concluded, “that these women [may have] actually experienced what they unconsciously expected”6.
Unfortunately, there is a gap between women’s expectations of childbirth and the actual birth experience2,5.  Many women enter the birth room expecting to be treated with individual attention, but instead they find an “uncaring [and] cold” medical staff.  Some even describe their experience as “drive-thru medicine”5, and as “being processed through labor and delivery like factory food on a conveyer belt”2.  These women often times feel humiliated and undignified by the attitudes of the attending staff2,7: “They kindly left me in stirrups with swabs hanging out of me while they scrubbed up and someone let the cleaners into the room, who complained bitterly about the ‘bloodbath’ they had to sort out.  Stupid, but that memory is for me just so humiliating… I felt… that any dignity I had was gone”7.  Childbirth is a time when others, usually complete strangers, are allowed to enter a woman’s sacred intimacy, which puts her in a very vulnerable place; her private areas are open for all to see and touch.  When this is treated with an ‘as usual’ attitude, the woman may feel violated and disrespected by her caregivers3.  Birth attendants, whether doctors, nurses or midwives, should feel honored to attend such intimacy as childbirth, and shift practices, or attitudes, from “taken for granted”3, to a sacred service.
Post-natal anger appears to be the most prevalent emotion for many women.  A study conducted in 2002 by professors at the College of Nursing of the University of Tennessee, investigated women’s...

 
While babies all over the world share their parents' sleep space (Thevenin, 7), babies in the Unites States and in other western societies, sleep on their own.  James McKenna, Director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Norte Dame in Indiana, points out that solitary infant sleep is a recent phenomenon that exists mostly in Western societies.  He goes further to call it a "cultural experiment" (McKenna3). Co-sleeping has been the norm since the beginning of time, and still continues to be in most parts of the world (McKenna2).  Despite that, doctors and other medical professionals advise parents to avoid co-sleeping in the pretence that it is dangerous (Person).  Besides the fear of suffocation and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), western families worry about harmful psychological effects of co-sleeping (McKenna1).  The Israeli Kibbutz went to the extreme of infants and children sleeping in 'children's houses', in total separation from their parents.  This practice, however, was in light of the time and no longer exists.    As an experienced co-sleeper of eight years, I can see only the benefits of sharing my bed with my daughters, and fail to see the danger in it.
In the time I spent in South and Central America, the one thing I found most striking about the people was the simplicity of their lives.  While we, in Western countries, debate and try to regulate personal issues of family living, they just live their lives. I visited many small homes that had only one room for the whole family to sleep in.  Whether they slept together due to lack of space or because of other reasons was never questioned - it just happened.  It was the norm.  It has been a norm "throughout human history" (McKenna1) that has been breeched by western societies just about one or two hundred years ago (McKenna2, Thevenin, 7).  The new western norm is to have infants and children sleep in a room separate from their parents, with their siblings or on their own.  With modern life came modern thinking and independence became a priority in childrearing.  People began to believe that independence was to be learned from a very young age to insure independence later in life (Thevenin, 58). Western life has evolved into an independence 'school' for infants and children – many new mothers nurse their babies for only a few months, if at all, babies cry themselves to sleep, crying babies are not picked up and cuddled immediately, and many infants are more familiar with their day-care staff than with their parents.  It is now known that "independence cannot be forced," (Thevenin, 49) but needs to develop within a person through having his needs met.  Doctor William Sears, a renowned pediatrician and author, advises that co-sleeping, or bed-sharing as he calls it, does not develop a dependency but fulfills the need for security and love (Sears, 38).  Having those needs met is what develops independence later in life (Sears, 38-39, Thevenin, 49).  Another concern many parents and healthcare professionals have in regards to co-sleeping is suffocation and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  Although SIDS could not be entirely explained by research, it was curiously attributed to co-sleeping.    Laws were passed preventing parents from sleeping with their infants, disregarding other factors which may have contributed to the increase in SIDS numbers, such as giving infants sleep aides and sleeping in unventilated smoky rooms (McKenna1).  McKenna1,2 also suggests that not only is co-sleeping safe, but perhaps it can even help prevent SIDS.  He points out that in other cultures where co-sleeping is traditionally practiced, such as Japan, SIDS incidences are "among the lowest in the world" (McKenna1).
In order to understand the connection between SIDS and co-sleeping, one must understand infant sleep patterns.  Like adults, infants experience sleep cycles that include states of REM (active) sleep and non-REM (deep) sleep, however, infants' cycles are much shorter than those of adults.  Infants spend about half of their total sleep time in active sleep (REM) (which is twice as much as adults do), a little less than half of their sleep time in deep sleep (non-REM), and the remainder in transitions between the two states...

 
When I had my first child, in a hospital, I expected my husband to be with me the whole time.  I needed him there to support me and to "protect" me from the hospital.  It had never occurred to me to ask him what he wanted to do.  Having the father at the birth was the unquestioned norm at the time.  After all, if he wasn't going to be with me, who would?  The concept of a doula was unknown to me and I was scared of being left alone.
After the birth he looked like a train had crashed into him.  He also seemed withdrawn and distant.  I couldn't understand what happened; I thought that experiencing the birth with me would bring us closer.
As we prepared for our next birth, almost six years later, I asked him what was our first birth like for him.  He did not care at all for his role as my only support person.  The pressure was more than he felt he was able to endure.  He worried about me and felt the need to protect me against unwanted...

Women in Birth
Childbirth holds the potential to be the most powerful, life-changing event in a woman's life, but unfortunately only few women today actually experience it that way.  Many women do not feel the power of birth, and feel that it is not theirs to embrace.  Birth today belongs to doctors and anesthesiologists.  For many women, birth no longer holds any magic and is just something they need to get through, in order to have a family. When birth belonged to women it was a celebrated event with a spiritual and sacred air to it.  Magic and rituals were a natural part of birth (Arms, 1996, p. 38-40, Williams, 2005, chapter 6).  Birth was an integral part of community life, and the community, in return, was an integral part of birth.  Like everything else in life, birth carried its own risks and did not always seem as incredible, as some women today may describe it.  However, with the help of the divine (and of the local midwife) birth continued to play an important role in women's lives.
This paper will discuss the changes in childbirth from the perspective of women.  It will examine spirituality and empowerment as they relate to birth, and will look at birth today and in the future.  Change doesn't just happen to us; we allow it to happen.  If we allowed birth to change once, we can certainly allow it to change again.
 
Taking Birth Away From Women
As the world changed, so did birth.  It slowly shifted from a natural process of life to a medical procedure.  It went from being woman centered to male managed.  Midwives, who with their simplicity were once the obvious choice for a birth attendant, were replaced by machines and complicated apparatuses.   Birth turned into a business that no longer belonged to women, but to major corporations, also knows as hospitals.  Women lost their belief in their ability to birth and turned to doctors for help.  The term 'natural birth' has become obscure and today means different things to different people (Wagner1).  Birth has turned into a sterile, isolated event in a woman's life, that the community no longer shares.
Years of false beliefs have led us to where we are today.  History has taught us that with the increase in the church's power and the shift of medicine into the hands of men (Arms, 1996, p. 38-44), women have lost their sense of pride, dignity, and power.  When childbirth became the domain of men, it was taken away from women, and with male dominated obstetrics, women have lost control over birth.   Most women have come to believe that they need a doctor to 'deliver' their babies, because they cannot do it on their own, and that birth must take place at a hospital because it is too unpredictable and therefore, potentially dangerous.  The sad reality is that "most health care providers no longer know what 'non-medicalized' birth is" (Wagner1).   Natural birth in a hospital is something women 'attempt' to have, but most likely will experience some form of medical interventions (Wagner1).  The language used in hospital maternity wards, clearly describe the general attitude toward birth.  Phrases like 'trial of labor', 'attempting natural birth', 'failure to progress', 'incompetent cervix', 'unpredictable uterus', 'inadequate pelvis', etc., all contribute to the powerlessness women feel in labor.   It is sad to hear women describing their birth, using this terminology.  Those women are usually thankful for the epidural and the doctor that 'delivered' them.  When women ask me who delivered my babies and I reply that I did, they usually look at me like I'm crazy. The question most likely to follow is: "No, really, who delivered your babies?"
Cesarean section is the ultimate 'taking power away' from women, since in such a birth the mother relinquishes all control over to the doctor.  The sad thing is that there are women who choose a cesarean when it is obviously not medically necessary, as in most first births, believing it to be an easier option.  Even sadder is the fact that doctors do not deny these women that option, and may even encourage it (Wagner1, ICAN2).  With the whole freedom of choice movement, women are encouraged to choose whatever birth they want.  This becomes an ethical question- should this freedom include unnecessary medical surgeries that may endanger the mother and/or baby (Goer, 1999, p. 16)?  How can doctors, who know the risks of any surgery, support such a choice?  "It is hypocritical for OBs to support a healthy woman's right to choose major surgery while denying her the right to informed refusal of unnecessary major surgery… There is a difference in making a choice and making an informed choice," says Tonya Jamois, President of the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN2).  Feminists have fought for ages over the freedom of choice for women, but how can it be true freedom if they don't know what they are choosing?  Allowing women to choose a cesarean or other medical interventions for their birth, is freedom in disguise; once they receive what they have asked for, a medicated birth, all freedom is taken away from them and placed in the hands of doctors.
 
Spirituality in Birth
When birth was taken away from women, it was robbed of its spirituality, ritual, and emotion.  It has gone from a multi-facet experience, to a "one-dimensional physical act" (Smith).  In her fascinating article Reclaiming Birth for Our Daughters, Leslie Smith, a Melbourne mother, compares birth to a funeral:  "A funeral reduced to the mere clinical disposal of a body would offend our sensibilities.  Yet we accept these terms for a new soul entering the world?"
In traditional times birth was surrounded by ritual and magic.  Ceremonies were carried out to bless the mother to be and her home, where the birth was to take place.  Ceremonies and rituals were carried throughout the birth to ward off the fairies and other evil forces, and ceremonies were held after the birth, to celebrate the new arrival (Williams, 2005, chapter 6, 11, 14). ...

Partner or No Partner? That’s the Question.
The Role of A Birthing Companion in HypnoBirthing.
Article
By Morrin Bass, PhD, MBA, NGH BCH, CI, CHBE
www.NewYorkAwareness.com/HypnoBirthingNewYork.asp
 
 
I met Carrie (name changed) in a spiritual bookstore at a friend’s gathering for pregnant moms. Carrie had a shy smiling demeanor and was on her 29th week of pregnancy. Carrie was very happy about her pregnancy, except …she did not have a husband. She made a decision to go on having a baby all by herself, she knew she wanted a baby. She was struggling to make piece with the fact that she has no partner to bring to her HypnoBirthing class.  
HypnoBirthing
HypnoBirthing classes are structured to involve a partner. And there is a great valid reason for doing that.
First let’s look at a concept of hypnosis.
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a natural state of focused attention to the exclusion of anything else. In hypnosis, a person finds comfort in various stages of physical and mental relaxation following positive suggestions given by her guide. If she listens to a hypnotic recording, she is following a voice of her hypnotic guide on the recording.
However, a hypnotic guide isn’t just any person. It must be a person with whom she has deep rapport, agreement, trust. Such a person is traditionally her husband.
Many modern husbands realized that birth is a natural and normal event in their new family life and is not a medical event. So if there is no emergency, they tend to want to participate and are interested in assisting their wives in the birth of their child. They feel that there is something else they can do, other than just help conceive.
Hence, we invite a husband to be present in a HypnoBirthing class to get familiar with the techniques she is learning, in order to better assist her in her birthing.
If it is not a husband, father of the child, who is going to be a birthing partner, for the sake of this article, I am going to refer to the partner as father. This will invite non-traditional relationships to become open to the concept of partner in HypnoBirthing as well.
HypnoBirthing Techniques
HypnoBirthing Techniques are simple and easy. Just like with any techniques, the key to success is practice. In order for a HypnoBirthing mother to have a successful HypnoBirthing birth, provided all other areas check out as healthy, first of all, she needs to be open to the opportunity that it is possible.  And then practice. At home, in class, instilling the habit of using hypnosis for creating her future, creating relaxation, creating unchallenged and peaceful birth. She also...