Category — Uncategorized

You will hear many women say they are going to “try” to have an unmedicated birth. To me, “trying” connotes sheer effort and endurance. What I hear women say when they say “try” is that they are just going to see how long they can stand the pain. My dictionary defines “to try” as “to make an attempt or effort”. What happens when you try something? Either you can succeed or fail.

There’s a lot of derisive talk out there about birth plans and women who “plan” an unmedicated birth – or really plan anything about their birth at all. There is a lot of fingerwaving about how birth is unpredictable and you can’t PLAN anything. After seeing a lot of births, I have to say I agree. My dictionary says to plan is to “decide on and arrange in advance” – you can’t really do that with your birth. What happens when you plan something? Maybe your plans work out, and maybe they don’t.

What I wish more women would say, and take ownership of, is that they are preparing for an unmedicated birth. My dictionary says ” to prepare” is “to make ready or able to do or deal with something”.This sounds just about right! Someone who is prepared does not fail or have plans not work out – they meet what comes with their goal in mind. They have made themselves ready to handle birth and any twists and turns they might meet on the way. 

I encourage women to think of birth as a marathon – it is long, challenging, sometimes painful, sometimes exciting, and can be very rewarding. Many people regard having run a marathon as difficult, but very rewarding and a huge achievement. However, if you knew someone who told you that on Saturday they were going to “try” to run a marathon, you’d probably look at them a little askance. You’d start asking questions: “Have you practiced? Did you read up about marathoning and long-distance running? Do you know anything about the route?” 

What would you think if they said, “I’m just going to start running and see how long I can stand it. There will be people along the way to tell me where to go.” You might have some more questions for them. “Don’t you think that at some point you’re going to get exhausted and want to quit? If you haven’t prepared, how will you have the resources to keep going? Wouldn’t you like to know something about the course – where the steep hills are, where to save your energy, where to expect things will be tough?”

If this person then tried to run a marathon, and dropped out at mile 10, or had a miserable time, and then told their friends how horrible marathons were and how stupid someone would have to be to go through that awful experience just to prove they were “tough”…wouldn’t you be skeptical about their opinion? And yet that’s where we’re at in a lot of ways. Many women see unmedicated birth as some kind of test that you pass via sheer endurance and “feminist masochism”, as one doctor in “The Business of Being Born” puts it. There’s often a vague, generalized perception that drug-free is “better”, but without much clear understanding of the actual risks of drugs. If you “try” to have the unmedicated birth and “fail”, then you have a lot invested in trying to convince people that this “test” is silly and has no bearing on your strength, motherhood, or womanhood (a position I agree with completely). I think many of the birth horror stories and dismissive “just take the epidural, honey, you’re gonna need it” comments that pregnant women here come from that place.

On the other hand, if you approach natural birth with the mindset that this is a rare and challenging event that you would like to fully experience, with interventions available whose risks you’d prefer to avoid, you can prepare for it. You can take classes, read, and find good coaches and support systems. You can remain flexible and open to changes in the situation. Let’s ditch this whole “trying” thing and switch to “preparing”.

author unknown

A Doula’s Journey to Vaginal Birth after Three C-Sections

by Doula Dawn Thompson

I was 20 when I got pregnant with my first child. I made all the typical assumptions back then. I went to my primary doctor for an OB referral. I had no idea I had a choice. I thought that I went to the OB, he would tell me all I needed to know about birth, I would take the “Lamaze” class at the hospital and I would be on my marry way and  have a baby. Oh and don’t forget reading the standard “What to expect when you’re expecting”.  They talked about c-sections in that class, but I didn’t really listen because it was never going to happen to me. ..

I made all the typical first time parent mistakes too when it came to the birth. I ran to the hospital at the first sign of real labor. Was only 2-3 centimeters when I arrived and instead of heading home, which to be honest I don’t know that I knew was an option, they admitted me. Back then they monitored constantly and made me lay only on my left side. I had no idea that I was officially on some sort of clock. After laboring through the night, my labor had slowed down and not much change in dilation, the doctor said I needed pitocin. Ok, if he says that’s what I need, then I must. Epidural now on board, pitocin is started. Everything seemed fine at first. Then suddenly things were changing. The baby is showing signs of distress; we need to do a c-section right now. There are suddenly a lot of people in my room then running me down a hall to the OR. They saved my baby’s life! Your baby was just too big to fit. Or so they told me afterwards. I didn’t hear the phrase “pit to distress” until many years later. At the time, I hung on to that idea that they had saved her, that she may have died. I loved the drama of the story I had to tell and oh did I tell it.

When I got pregnant with my second child, there was no way I was not going to try to have a vaginal birth. I spent my entire pregnancy being told by my doctor that it was risky and I really shouldn’t do it. No one around me understood why I wouldn’t just schedule my c-section. It just didn’t seem right to me. During labor with him, the back labor was horrible. The nurse reminded me on several occasions that no one really ever has a vbac. It just doesn’t work. Why was I putting myself through this she would ask. After a few hours of back labor, I decided she and everyone else must be right. Go ahead, there must just be something wrong with my body, cut him out, and they did. Another big baby. That must be it.

Years later I would become a Doula and learn all the ins and outs of birth. I suddenly had to process my births all over again, but this time with the truth. My passion grew like a wildfire. I couldn’t get enough. I wanted everyone to know the truth. Why aren’t women being told these things, I would demand! The anger would come, the frustration and the desire to save everyone. Reality comes crashing in at some point. I can’t save them all, no matter how passionate I am. I can only help the ones that seek me out. I couldn’t talk to the random moms in the park about why the c-section they had was not because of something being wrong with them or their body. They didn’t get it, nor did they want to hear it. I realized quickly that they have to be ready and have a desire to know.

Like moths to a flame, the vbac mom’s started seeking me out. The universe works that way. You attract things. After awhile doctors who supported doulas started referring their vbac patients to me often. So I became to vbac queen. I loved helping those families have successful vbac’s. I wanted to be that cheerleader telling them they could, knowing they were being bombarded by people who said they couldn’t . It also helped me heal from my own pain.

The desire to have another baby became overwhelming. It took me three and a half years to talk my husband into having another child. I had married him with two kids and he had two kids. Four kids was a lot already. Eventually he would come around. After 6 years of being a doula I would finally get my chance. I would fix it all. Heal all the pain and disappointment. I would not only have a vaginal birth, but I would do it at home with no drugs.

It had been 12 years since my last child had been born. I had so much knowledge, this would be great! My daughter’s birth seemed to be going ok, except my back was really hurting. No matter how much prep work I had done to make sure she was in a good position, she never budged from way back on my right side. I didn’t care, I was going to do this, back labor or not.

Once active labor began I didn’t tell anyone about the sharp burning pain in front near my incision sight with every surge. I knew full well that I would be off to the hospital in no time because it was a clear sign that something wasn’t right. There was no way I was going to the hospital. Besides, I was progressing well. When my midwife arrived, I was already 6 centimeters, further than either of my other two births. I would progress to 8 only 2 hours later and the baby was very low. I kept feeling the urge to push. It would come and I would begin to push, but my back, oh my back. Then this sharp burning pain would shoot through me and I would have to stop pushing. It hurt too much. I would do this over and over again for 4 hours. Something wasn’t right. Eventually my surges would spread out from 2 minutes apart to 20 minutes apart. I told my midwife that something had to change, break my water or something. Out of the water and up the stairs to my bedroom we go so she can monitor the baby while breaking my water. She didn’t even have to; it broke on its own just as she was going to do the exam. When she did my exam, I knew something was wrong. In my head I was thinking “oh my god, I’m still the same”. To my dismay it was much worse than that. My baby had gone back up and my cervix had closed back down to 3 centimeters. I’m pretty sure my eyes bulged out of my head. I was so over it. They tried to convince me to stay and rest. I was getting good breaks in between. I knew it was time to share the sharp burning I had been dealing with. Needless to say, there was no more discussion and I was off to the hospital in no time flat.

I would tell all the hassle about what happened after we arrived at the hospital, but it seems pointless. The errors were ridiculous and it took from 9:30am until 3:30pm before my daughter was born. This time frame alone should give you an idea of how much challenge there was. Needless to say she was delivered by c-section. I wound up being in surgery for almost 2 hours because I had so much scar tissue. It turns out that this was the cause of the sharp burning pains I had. The scar tissue was so thick it prevented my baby from moving into a good position and also from allowing me from pushing her out.

I was devastated. My previous c-sections would come back to haunt me after all. I never imagined this could happen. Here I was the vbac queen. I had all the knowledge. How could this happen to me? No one doubted for a minute that my homebirth vbac would happen.

My birth industry family all looked on the bright side. Now all that scar tissue is gone, when you have another baby it will be different. Only 4 months later I would find out I was pregnant again. Had enough time passed for my scar to heal? Everyone supported me and loved me into believing I just had to try again. I wouldn’t just throw in the towel. I would be better prepared for the possibility and the likelihood of another c-section this time. I just had to try.

On my due date, surges started, but I knew it was early and my instinct told me it would still be a couple of days. The next day the surges were still there, stronger but pretty far apart. I went to the movies and got my toes done with my mom. That night though I knew it was going to be a long one. I was able to sleep for about an hour when it was obvious that sleeping was no longer on option. I relaxed with my hypno-babies cd and rocked in a chair for a couple of hours alone in the dark. They were still 10 minutes or so apart. 3am came and suddenly they were rocking my world. Strong, powerful and 6 minutes apart. It was time to call in the troops. My husband woke up and called my doula. She lives close by so she arrived less than 20 minutes later. My husband explained how far apart they were, only to have 4 surges in the first 12 minutes she was there. Things were rocking. The next call went out to my midwives, who would come about an hour later. Everything seemed perfect. I was not having any of the same feelings I had had with my last birth, except my back was beginning to hurt. I knew the baby was in a great position. This must just be because the baby is moving down. I still worried I would only be 3 centimeters or something crazy like that. At my request, my midwife checked me right away. I was almost complete! Just a small lip! Oh joy! I cried, I was so happy, there were no words. Back in the water I went. Wait for the urge to push comes. I did, but it just didn’t come. 3 hours would pass. The back, my damn back! It was really seriously hurting. All the feelings from my last birth came crashing in. I felt like I was on this horrible roller coaster ride and couldn’t get off. I was doing the same loop over and over again. Maybe if I just try and push, Oh God no, that hurts even more.  Let’s check again.  My midwife said, I think I feel scar tissue. Seriously? Scar tissue? Wasn’t I the one who just got all this attention for writing an article about scar tissue and the issues it can cause during labor for my clients? Not considering I had any myself. 

I’m pretty sure my exact words were, “well, rub the crap out of it then!” She explained that it wouldn’t feel very good. I expressed that it couldn’t be worse than what was going on already. There was some cursing and homeopathic involved and off I went, trying different positions and then eventually off to the water again. I’m pretty sure from this point forward I used up a good year supply of curse words. My favorite being the F word. I don’t talk this way normally but for whatever reason the F word was the only thing in my vocabulary that seemed strong enough of a word to express myself. It had power. Lots of whining commenced as well. “I can’t do this you guys”. “Seriously, I can’t”. I would say this to anyone that would listen to me. I would change people hoping that one of them would take my side. They all just kept saying I could do it. I needed to stop saying that I couldn’t. This is what you wanted. The “F” I did. I didn’t sign up for this shit! Then I would change and start chanting during the surge “I can do this” then about halfway through, I would say “no, no I can’t”. Please take me to the hospital! It’s not working, just cut him out. Forget it!

I did start feeling pressure a bit so I tried pushing a little. It hurt like hell, but I had to just try. I pushed and pushed, nothing seemed to change. I’m back to whining and cussing again. Let’s go inside and check again. See if the baby has moved down more. My response is no! I’m done, this baby is not coming out. I have been pushing with all my might and he is not budging, oh yeah and it hurts like a Mother F-er! I mean, come on, I had been in transition for 5 hours now!  Up the stairs I go anyway, whining all the way. I was ready to drive myself to the hospital, call a cab, whatever it took to get there. Let’s push past this lip, you can do it! Everyone is chanting, come on Dawn. My husband, come on honey, you can do this. I’m pushing and screaming, because OH MY GOD it hurts.

Here he comes, you are doing it!

No I’m not! He is not coming! I don’t feel him coming. You are all just saying that! I’m gonna be here for 2 more hours pushing and he won’t come! I’m not gonna do it! (I’m still pushing my guts out while saying all this.)I hear my husband beside me, honey I see his head.

No you don’t!

Come on Dawn, push! Why would we lie to you? Look, touch his head.

I didn’t feel it!

Push again! Oh my God the pressure suddenly! Ok, maybe he is coming.

Dawn he is crowning, feel his head again.

Holy crap, he really is there! I feel his wrinkly head. Wow that ring of fire is for real and serious.

Come on Dawn, nice and slow now. Ease your baby out. Slow, Slow, Slow, now stop.

The relief of his head coming out was fabulous but now, what about the rest of him. Is he stuck? What’s up with that? Come on, seriously? I just wanted the rest of him to slip out. I pushed every inch of this guy out. I should have known he was big.

Dawn, reach down and pull your baby out. Dawn, get your baby.

And I did. I reached down and put my hands under his arms and pulled him the rest of the way out, on to my chest with pure disbelief. Only 20 minutes had passed since I was calling that cab to come get me and here he was, in my arms, on my bed at home. Bigger by 9 whole ounces than my previous kids. So much for that theory.

It has taken a full day for me to process and wrap my brain around what I accomplished. I think I made it very clear in this story that this would have never happened without my birth team. It turned out that I was the only one in the room who didn’t believe I could do it. Thank God for that. I find it ironic, the doula, who is always the cheerleader, never imagined she would need that for herself. If it had been left up to me, I would be miserable lying in a hospital bed recovering from a c-section. Not sitting here in my bed feeling a little sore just a day and a half later sharing this story. God bless the passionate people who love birth and loved me and my baby enough not to let me give up.  There will never be enough words to express my gratitude.

 I have always shared sympathy with my doula clients especially the vbac mamma’s, but now it will be on a whole new level.

Doula Dawn has been a labor and postpartum Doula for the past 7 years. Having supported over 100 families through the journey of birth. Dawn can be contacted through her website at www.douladawn.com.

Rite of Passage Workshops, A Few Ideas? 

By Nicole Morales

            As I get older and my daughter gets older, I see the importance of passing down what history I have left to her of connections to our bodies.   History or her story, it is the body’s story that has etched its markings in time, markings that can only briefly be shadowed by hormonal birth control or other pharmaceuticals.   The memory is still there, for the body has an amazing memory both cellular and instinctual.    The paths of how the brain has been formed over time shapes generation after generation and through this pathway is one way that we can actually discover what many women believe we have lost.  We can actually find the hints and connections of the past like piecing together a mystery one clue at a time. 

            As a culture at large, we have ignored and relegated menstruation to advertisements for tampons or pads or jokes about PMS.  But what do we have to gift future generations that highlight the power of women, young and old, throughout the life cycle and throughout their menstrual cycle?    I feel, as in birth, that the bodies of women have cycled for thousands of years.  Women have walked the path knowing their power at that time in the month, knowing where and how to re(source) as well as how to support other women on this road.  The footsteps of the path have been worn so that the prints are still tangible but unseen.  Throughout different cultures there have been groups of women who taught other women or girls this information.  Some of them such as the College of Hera and in medieval society were secret, others especially in indigenous cultures were revered.  So, how can we backtrack to finding the secrets of our inner world and its relationship to our outer world?   Finding pieces to a puzzle can be difficult if we don’t know what the puzzle looks like.   However, ideas I have of how to piece together lost information of women’s power include: looking at metaphors of nature that reflect changes that we already know occur in the body and extend them to ourselves, looking to old myths and folk stories for the hidden knowledge of all the parts that make us whole, documenting our own experiences inside our body as feeling, sentient beings curious about what is going on around them, and creating practical and empowering models for embodying empowerment. 

            The relationship with the earth and moon leads us into discovering ourselves through the world around us and through metaphor.  It is through cycles that we can learn much about our body.  Recently I was mentoring a class on the menstrual cycle and the title of the class was “Living the Seasons.”  This in itself seemed a great metaphor for cyclic activity and although it wasn’t always consistent with menstruation and the body, it definitely played out most of the time.  Winter became menstruation.  Fall became the proliferative phase.  Summer became the ovulatory phase.  Spring became the follicular phase.  Of course, the seasons, we have all experienced those, even while living in San Diego!  But through some mindfulness about our experience with the seasons, let us think about what menstruation and winter have in common.  For instance, temperatures go down.  Leaves, if they haven’t fallen already, fall.  The nourishment for what is living comes from deep within the earth absorbing through their roots.  The animals hibernate. The inner world is incubating.  This is not unlike the emotions and the physical traits during menstruation when the body sheds the uterine lining; the uterus empties itself and becomes barren.  At the same time, this part of the cycle is essential for the seasons to come.  It is essential for renewal.  Emotionally a woman can look deep to see how she incubates her inner world.  She can look to see where her roots are established and what is already there to nurture deep inside.  The earth can then begin the rebuilding of spring just like the uterus begins to prepare a bed for new life.  Estrogen acts almost like sunlight in its anti-depressive effects.  The woman usually feels more social and interactive.  Soon summer comes and flowers are blooming and going to seed.  It is a time of heightened arousal, a time of fertility.  Soon comes fall and the flowers die and leaves begin to change color.  This is a time ruled by progesterone, a natural sedative.  And yet, if implantation does not occur in a woman, she continues on to breaking down her hormones so her body can return to winter.  The leaves have dried up and have fallen; emotionally this might be a time of retreat.  We can go through similar scenarios using lunar cycles which are quite appropriate due to the fact women’s cycles on average last 28 days and have traditionally correlated with the moon. Life cycles can also be used as well.  For every month outside of pregnancy, the woman experiences renewal, possibility, recession, and death.   Natural cycles in the world around us hold potential for us to piece together more clues to our empowerment puzzle.

            Old myths, stories and folklore also use the cycles of nature and creativity as templates, but they also have different ideas and connections to offer. Jungian analysis of the story moves beyond the direct narrative.  One can see the individual psyche in Jungian analysis as being multiple characters in the story.  That means that in “Little Red Riding Hood”, the young girl is part of you, the wolf is part of you, and the grandmother is part of you.  Together these components make a whole psyche.  The development of these parts of you interacts in relationships with meaning.  Many stories including “Little Red Riding Hood”, which derived from “Little Red Cap”, have been changed along the way and have many variations due to generational interpretation.  At the same time, clues to the initial lesson or intention of the story still exist.  Looking throughout different cultures, stories have deep meaning.  Through stories, the psyche is more likely to learn and be less defensive.  Stories use metaphor and archetypes that our brain recognizes and opens to in a different way than a lecture or didactic lesson.  Other stories that have to do with creative cycles of life include the story of Demeter and Persephone, Innana, and even La Loba.  Although La Loba does not seem like a life cycle, it does describe the transitional journey out of the labyrinth from winter to that of the wildness of summer and rebirthing the wild feminine.  There are so many others that I have still to discover.  This is where we turn to the keeper’s of the stories and cultures with live oral traditions for connection.

            Documenting our own experiences is also key to piecing together history.  History is living in how our body and our neural networks have developed. History is alive in the changes that occur in our body monthly and over a lifetime.  Documenting the individual also provides the unique perspective on variations of people/s and environments.  The Wise Wound encouraged journaling of a menstrual mandala for daily recordings of cyclic changes.  Even just a diary of moods and tendencies could yield hints of patterns in one’s own life, and it is through curiosity and intimacy of this information that women could choose to use it to get to know how and when they can achieve a sense of power in the day to day.  During one’s cycle, we already know that mood, memory, sex drive, temperature, mental focus, energy, dreams, carbon dioxide concentration, ability to absorb food and nutrients, cervical color, cervical position, cervical size, vaginal discharge, adrenal function,  water retention, breast changes, platelet counts, pain thresholds, blood sugar, pH, visual and auditory acuity, and psychic activity vary.  This list doesn’t even include the many variations of emotional tendencies and instincts a woman may feel throughout her cycle. Dreams in themselves can link one to their unconscious life and yield clues to learning about aspects of the self that may not be so obvious.  In work by Robert Bosnak, dreams and memory can be interchangeable in how they are recalled and elicited.  Dream work may be one other piece of the puzzle that links us unconsciously to empowerment.  Journaling or just becoming aware of oneself throughout this process not only adds to information for this puzzle to be whole, but it also contributes to the collective consciousness in terms of variations and trends. 

            Finally, creating practical models of empowerment from a young age through puberty and adulthood can be part of a work in progress.  There are two types of models that seem important as far as structures or containers (and I’m open to many more).  First, using models of the cycle or of the journey can link today to the past.  For instance, the labyrinth encompasses both the cycle and the journey and embodies the physical, emotional, mental and even spiritual experiences of an individual  Having used the labyrinth in Birthing from Within classes,  I’ve found it to be a powerful tool for familial and personal transformation.  It also lends itself to mindfulness which mentors the individual in self-awareness.  It is a transition that can only be completed upon reflection and integration of the new situation or new self.  Once one walks the labyrinth to the center, they must also walk or ascend the labyrinth to exit and rebuild their transformed self.  The second type of model that seems important for self-discovery and piecing together information is through community interaction.  Community models could include celebrations of rites of passage/s, acknowledgement and celebration of changes, and grassroots community or collective forums for exchanging experiences.  At the same time, I envision groups of mothers and daughters sharing their journeys with one another acknowledging, celebrating and finding their power within. Such sharing also builds communication and promotes awareness of other possibilities and experiences. 

            So what are the benefits to all of this?  Why does it even matter?  As we move through life, a person usually chooses to communicate in ways that are reinforced by others around them.  In western culture, much of the reinforcement is reflected in interactions with a commercial culture that is heavily inundated with media.  Yet, many women do not feel supported by this model, and statistics show increasing levels of depression.  Modern medicine attempts to “normalize” women with drugs and / or psychotherapy.  While this approach may give a woman what she needs to get on her feet, in general, prevention and support can go a long way to better health especially if it supports the whole woman.  Yet, even in this model we are looking towards solving problems for women, when in fact, solutions and proactive connections exist within.  When someone is guided to access or pay attention to themselves and to be present with their body in the moment, it has found that not only can someone rewire the brain through mindfulness, but they can find new methods of coping and even better, flourishing.  

  If someone is interested in attending a rites of passage circle with their daughter ages 11-14, we are currently gathering names for the San Diego area.  Contact nicole@artofopening.com if you are interested.  Ideas and suggestions are welcome.

Works Cited and references that I find interesting and influential for future workshops, circles and discussions

Cameron, Anne.  Daughters of Copper Woman.  Harbour Publishing Ltd., Madiera Park,         Canada, 2002.

England, Pam.  Birthing From Within.  Partera  Press, Albuquerque: 1998.

Estes, Clarissa Pinkola. ” The Creative Fire”.  Sounds True, Boulder, 1991.

Estes, Clarissa Pinkola.  Women Who Run With the Wolves.  Ballentine Books, New   York, 2003.

Gardiner, Colette.  Nourishing the Menstrual Cycle with Herbs, Nutrition and Ritual.      Blue Iris Botanicals, Eugene, 1997.

Sturges, Cassandra George.  “Unleash the Power of Your Menstrual Cycle,”     Ezinearticles.com, 2010.          

Wechsler, Taking Charge of Your Fertility:  the definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control            and Pregnancy Achievement.  Harper Collins, New York:  1995.

Written by Kayti Ricker, VP San Diego Birth Network

On a rainy night last week in Encinitas, Jenny West put little pinky-sized bits of recently birthed placenta into 4 plastic cups of apple juice and blended them with a little hand-blender.   Those of us who were willing to believe her claim, “You won’t taste it.  Really!  You don’t believe me, but you really can’t tell it’s in there!” took our first tentative sips as we peered into the forbidding cup of “tree of life,” still red and meaty, in our smoothies.  She was right.  I could not taste it.  All I could taste was the sweetness of apple juice.  I could see it, and feel a little stringy bit at the bottom, but it was enough to convince us that it wasn’t the craziest damn thing we ever did.

Over two long nights, a few of us took a course on Placental Encapsulation.  I had been half intrigued, half dismissive of the whole “Eat your placenta like a big piece of liver,” idea, and had broached the subject with my clients like, “ah, SOME people DO eat their placentas after birth, but most of MY clients just bury them under a new tree, or let them go.”  I mean really, I didn’t want to SCARE my poor new parents to be.  I was VERY CAREFUL not to upset my clients’ dispositions by even SUGGESTING that they should take this thing and fry it up with some onions and parsley.   I mean, really, nobody does this, right?

And then I had a homebirth client who had her placenta encapsulated, and she was beaming, even though her baby was the “not-sleeping type.”   And THEN Jenny West, the midwife from New Mexico was giving a workshop called Placenta Encapsulation right here in Encinitas and I just had to go.  Call it intrigue into the big mystery of the organic mass of pregnancy.

Turns out, women who ingest their placentas after birth get much energy back into their systems, and feel better.  They actually feel more energized.  They have more breastmilk, and they suffer much less from post-partum blues and depression (maybe even ZERO ppd).  AND, (wait for it…) it actually can help with MENOPAUSE.  Holy Mother.  “Bio-Identical” takes on a whole new meaning!  Half the encapsulated pills are saved for MENOPAUSE, to replace the hormones the body is losing.  In other words, there’s something in those rich red veins that puts something back IN when life has taken so much!!!  We don’t know for sure what it is, because apparently medical science hasn’t really looked into this too much yet,  but whatever it is:  hormones?  life-energy?  nutrients?  baby goo? It means momma’s happy.  “And when mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

So now I’m sold on Placentas.  One of my clients had donated her placenta to be encapsulated during our workshop, and a week later told me she thought it might have helped.  She said, “I’m not sure, but I think I have more energy.   It might be a placebo effect, but I don’t care.  I just wanted to feel better.”  (She was driving her car around town, and to me, she sounded COMPLETELY different than she had a week earlier.  She had energy in her voice.)  She said, “I really didn’t care about anything a week ago.  I didn’t want to see anyone, or do anything.  And now, I’m starting to want to see my friends, and do some things.  So that’s good.” 

I think women should ingest some of their placentas right after birth, raw*, (a pinky’s worth, okay, not a hunk of meat) and do some more raw in the days following birth, and then have most of it encapsulated.  It’s that good for you.  It’s that miraculous, magical, mammal, mundane, organ which sustained life inside the body, and is MEANT for the mother mammal to eat after the child is born to restore HER energy and to protect her from U.S. society’s incessant intrusions after birth.  They are the visits to the pediatrician, the many calls from well-meaning friends, the stay in the hospital, the running-around to get things, and the lack of community around the new (or renewed) family that make women tired.  It’s the superwoman image and lack of understanding about the need for rest and total support post-partum.  But that’s another article.  Eat your placentas.  See for yourself.  What have you got to lose?

*Placenta eaten raw after birth can stop a hemorrhage.  Tell your doctor.

In my first year of being a birth doula, I had this client. She desperately wanted a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). She told me how in her first birth that she was in labor for hours. Waters broken, Pitocin, epidural, tubes and wires coming from every direction. During her extremely long ordeal the only change to her cervix was the effacement (the thinning of the cervix). Her cervix never opened at all. I assumed at the time that this was because her baby was just not ready to come out. This time could and would be different. She would wait for labor to start. We would stay at home and labor where she was comfortable. When the day came, that is exactly what she did. Her labor seemed to be moving right along. When we got to the hospital I expected they would tell her that she was 4-5 cms. Instead what we got was, 100% effaced but only a finger tip dilated. I think I may have even gasped out loud. I immediately started beating myself up in my head. How could I have read her labor so wrong? 6 more hours would pass with her, her husband and I working hard. Moving from the birth ball to the shower and I swear every inch of that hospital room in between. After 6 hours, still a finger tip dilated. Obviously there is something wrong with her cervix, but what. No one seemed to know. Not the two different nurses that we had the pleasure of getting to know or the doctor who we saw just once when he was coming to explain that she would be having yet another c-section. This is one of those moments in my career that I really wish I knew then what I know now.

I have never stopped thinking of her. There has always been this part of me that wanted to call her and say “I know what it is now, can you have another baby so we can fix it?” I just know this would not make her feel any better. Instead, I keep her close to me whenever I ask the question now during each and every prenatal visit, “Have you ever had any procedures done to your cervix?” Every single birth professional that is assisting clients should be asking this question.

Look, I’m not a scientist, researcher, doctor and anything else that would know how to study this stuff. What I am is a doula that has had the pleasure of attending over 100 births. I know that the client I mentioned above was not the only one who had a c-section because of scar tissue during my earlier days. I can look back and think of all the clients that seemed to be in transition (7-10 cms) but when checked were still only 4cm. Stuck there for hours and hours. Then wondering for days after their c-section if there was something I could have done differently to help.

A New Day!

The day that changed my life as a doula forever, my very own sister was having a baby. She was having her second baby. I told her how great it would be and it would be so much faster than her first. When she started having surges just a few days before her due date, we were excited. I went to her home (3 hrs away) and stayed the whole weekend. She had surges off and on all weekend but nothing really steady. I went home after three days and decided that maybe my being there was freaking her out. For the next week, she had surges every day. I kept telling her it was going to be great. All this work would get her cervix open slowly and gently.  Then she visited her midwife. She was just a finger tip dilated. I chalk this up to my sister being a big drama queen. All the surges have been Braxton Hicks! The next weekend comes and I find myself making the drive because this time her water broke. Now we know this baby is coming. She has mild labor, 7 minutes apart for 16 hours. Nothing is changing. I suggest we head in. Something is just not right. We get to the hospital and a different midwife she has never met comes to check her. 100% effaced but only a finger tip dilated. What?! Are you kidding me?! Then the words that changed my life. “Have you even had any procedures done to your cervix?” My sister says “yes, I had cryo surgery done a couple of years ago to remove pre cancer cells”. Midwife “ok well that makes sense, you have scar tissue on your cervix, and I can feel it.” Huh? Scar tissue on the cervix? Why had I never heard of this? My client from before comes rushing back to my head. Of course! The midwife proceeds to explain to my sister that she is going to try and massage the cervix and break the scar up. With some discomfort for my sister, she went from a finger tip dilated to 3 cms in a matter of minutes. An hour later she was 4 cms and an hour after that my nephew was born. Once the scar tissue had completely released, she flew to 10 cms.

As you can imagine, I asked that Midwife a ton of questions. I wanted to know all I could about this scar tissue stuff. Besides “massaging”, what can you do before hand? She shared her knowledge with me. Told me that HPV is so very common and more and more women are having these  standard procedures done, but are never informed that it most likely will leave scar tissue. Although less common, this includes women who have ever had a D & C after a miscarriage or abortion.

Once I was armed with the knowledge, my successful VBAC rate shot up as did my vaginal birth rate in general. I would ask the question and if the answer was yes, I would tell them what I knew. I would suggest that they mention it to their doctor so that if anything came up during labor, would he or she be willing to massage the cervix. Also I learned from that Midwife that evening primrose oil taken orally and vaginally would help break up the scar tissue before labor. (Orally taken the entire pregnancy and vaginally each night only after 36 weeks).

Since this very important day 3 1/2 years ago, I know I have prevented c-sections. Several times in the hospital I have asked the doctor to please, when he is checking mama to feel for scar tissue.  Almost every time the doctor has said “oh yeah, I feel some sort of knot here” or some other variation of that statement. This then leads to a question of; can you try and rub it out?

Why Doctors aren’t talking about this is beyond me. I honestly think they don’t know that it is an issue. I don’t believe it is something they are being taught in medical school. We all need to start talking about it because unless women are being asked the question, they just don’t know.

Written by: Doula Dawn Thompson

San Diego Birth Network is a group of dedicated professionals that support mothers, babies, and families during the prenatal, birth and postpartum period. Pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period are milestone events in the continuum of life. These experiences profoundly affect women, babies, fathers, and families, and have important and long-lasting effects on society.Our mission is to create a place that allows families the confidence that the professionals listed believe in the normalcy of the birthing process and empower families with knowledge so that they can make educated decisions about their care.