Dar a Luz
Reflections on Birth
Issue
2
Fall/
Winter 2008
Dar a Luz
Reflections on Birth
Issue
2
Fall/
Winter 2008
Dar a Luz
Reflections on birth.
(Previously called "On Birth and Being
Born"
Is brought to you by
Anna Fernandez and
Mother Bloom Midwifery
Blue Hill, ME
207-326-4373
mother.bloom@yahoo.com
Dar a Luz is translated as "to give birth". Literally
translated as "to give to light".
This newsletter is a gift to all
women who are struggling with their choices (or lack there of) in pregnancy and
birth and to those who may be struggling with the after effects of a managed
birth. This newsletter is also a
gift to all of the babies who are just trying to be born in and into peace.
n
Welcome to the 2nd issue of Birth. The first issue was so much fun to put
together. It was defiantly a community-supported
event. I got to chat with lots of
birth activists in Maine, got to recruit folks to write articles, birth stories
etc. I could not have done any of
this without the enthusiasm and dedication of mothers and their families and
childbirth related community members.
Thank you to all who
participated!
I got a great response from readers after the first
issue and many questions of when the next one will come out. Here it is. I hope all of you birth junkies out there are able make a
nice cup of hot tea, sit by the fire and enjoy a moment of peace, inspiration
and stimulation.
My
greatest intention is that women from all political and social agendas will
pick this up, read it and become inspired and encouraged that there are
actually a wide variety of choices and support in childbirth and that no one
should feel vulnerable or afraid during pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
As we approach the coming winter and the season of
reflection, my intention is that all who read this will reflect on the state of
birth in the US and around the globe and realize peaceful birth is a milestone
on a road to a peaceful planet.
Articles
in this zine do not necessarily represent the view of the editor or Mother
Bloom Midwifery.
Contents:
Violette's Birth Story
by Emilie
Hermans 3
How to Work and Play Well with Hospital Back-up
by
Meredith Norris 5
First Breath Last Breath
Antler 7
Homeopathy in Pregnancy and Birth by
Edee Howland 8
The Closest We Get To Heaven
by Rebecca Bergman 11
Labor of Love
by Anna Fernandez 13
Resource Guide 16
VioletteÕs Birth
By Emilie Hermans
I will admit to being a bit
of an over-planner at times. So as soon as I became pregnant I started
thinking- Òhow can I have as pain-free and peaceful a birth as possible?Ó My
boss where I worked at the time told me how his wife had used a hypnobirthing
program for what ended up being a very difficult birth and how much it had
helped her to stay calm and focused. I thought it was worth a try, being a
great believer in the power of the mind over the body. I also believed my body
would instinctively know what to do in labor, if I could just turn off my brain
and not overanalyze what I was experiencing.
As soon as I made it through
the first trimester I ordered a hypnobirthing program called ÒHypnobabiesÓ and
started practicing. The program consisted of a book and CDs to listen to that
could be started any time before the seventh month of pregnancy, but I couldnÕt
imagine waiting that long! That seemed like cramming before a test to me, and
birth felt like the biggest test I was ever going to take- I figured I needed
all the studying I could get. I listened to my CDs at work while doing data
entry, at night before bed, in the car, and just about everywhere. They worked
almost too well- they were so relaxing I would usually fall asleep listening to
them (not while driving though!) and then wake up just as the soothing voice
was saying to open my eyes. Supposedly it didnÕt matter if I fell asleep, my
mind would still be absorbing the instructions for how my body would create
self-anesthesia and go to a Òspecial placeÓ of total relaxation. I did other things to prepare for the
birth too- I read stories about natural births, I did art exercises from Pam
EnglandÕs book, ÒBirthing from WithinÓ, and of course I saw my wonderful
midwives, Pam and Suzanne, with greater frequency as my due date grew near.
I finally felt ready, or as ready as I thought I could
be for something so totally unknown. My first real contractions started on a
Thursday night about three days after my due date. My husband Joe and I were
watching a movie and I felt a tightening of my uterus- this felt much stronger
than the Braxton-Hicks contractions I had been feeling for the past couple
weeks. The contractions were about 15 minutes apart and I called my midwives to
let them know what was going on. I was pretty excited, but I knew it could be
quite a while before the labor really got going (I didnÕt know just how long it
would really be!) and that I should try to rest. I slept a little that night
but every time I would lie down the contractions would get stronger and my
lower back was hurting too. Joe had rigged up a hammock inside for me and I
remember lying in it with lots of pillows and a hot water bottle behind my
back, listening to my Hypnobirthing CDs and trying to totally relax with each
contraction.
For the next two days the
contractions were intermittent but increasing in frequency and intensity. By
Sunday morning I had to use all my focus and hypnobirthing techniques to get
through them. I had been keeping my midwives updated via phone on my progress
and now I decided I was ready for them to come and check me out in person to
see how far along I was. Based on the intensity and frequency of the
contractions as well as the length of time I had been in labor I figured I must
be at least 4 cm dilated. When my midwife Suzanne examined me and told me I was
totally effaced and 2 cm dilated, I thought I might cry- two days of labor and
2 cm dilated! At this rate I calculated that it would take me about a week to
have this baby- I knew I couldnÕt go on like this for another couple days. I
would be totally exhausted by the final stage of labor when I needed all my
strength for pushing the baby out. And to add to my disappointment, as soon as
I called the midwives, my contractions slowed down from every 5 minutes to
every 10 or 15 minutes.
This was, for me, the hardest
part of the whole birth. When Pam and Suzanne told me I was in early labor I
had to readjust my idea of what this labor was going to be like. So this was
only the beginning? I was starting to understand why someone would want to have
their labor induced- it was such a mind game- all this waiting and not knowing
how long it was going to take. Our
midwives suggested that Joe and I stop watching the clock and timing
contractions and go on a vigorous hike up Blue Hill mountain instead. I thought
they must be out of their mind, how could I go on a hike when I could hardly
walk a couple feet without stopping for a contraction? I knew I had to change
my mindset though so I thought, ÒOk, IÕll humor them, weÕll get in the car and
drive to Blue Hill and then if we have to turn around and come home we willÓ. I
didnÕt really think I would actually be climbing a mountain while in labor- ok,
so itÕs technically more of a hill than a mountain as Joe likes to point out to
me, but it felt like a mountain that day.
At this point something
shifted for me. It was as if I had been standing on a diving board looking down
at the water and thinking about how deep the water was and how far I had to
jump, etc. Then I decided IÕm just going to do it, IÕm just going to jump. IÕm
going to have the baby today. IÕm not going to linger in this labor limbo any
longer. I told Pam and Suzanne I wanted to take whatever herbs they could give
me to crank things up a notch and really get my labor going. They gave me some
blue and black cohosh to take as I was climbing the up the mountain.
Amazingly, I found myself
charging up the mountain, striding through each contraction with a new burst of
energy. The day was foggy and the air felt nice and cool on my sweaty face. The
view from the top was beautiful and best of all we didnÕt see a single other
person on the whole hike. When we returned home later that day my contractions
still hadnÕt picked up so Pam and Suzanne and apprentice Penny went home with
instructions for us to call when things picked up.
After the midwives left Joe
took a nap, but I couldnÕt get comfortable lying down so I went outside to be
alone with my thoughts and contractions. I did a lot of walking and moaning
while our dog looked at me strangely, like ÒWhatÕs wrong with you?Ó I began
moaning more and more loudly as my contractions started to get more intense and
I remember thinking, Òwhy did I want to have a baby anyway?Ó I had stopped
listening to my hypnobirthing CDs a while ago and was not consciously using any
techniques- I was just in the zone, trying to get through each contraction. In
retrospect, I see that I was making the shift to Òactive laborÓ, but at the
time I kept thinking that I didnÕt want to have Pam and Suzanne come back and
find out that I was only 3 cm dilated- I couldnÕt take the disappointment. I
decided to wait until there was no doubt that I was really in full-on labor.
A little later I noticed some
blood while going to the bathroom and couldnÕt remember if this was anything to
be concerned about- I thought that I better call the midwives. When Pam asked
me if I thought they should come I wasnÕt really sure, then I started to have a
contraction and handed the phone to Joe (now awake). Pam heard me moaning in
the background and decided that they would be on their way over. That was very
insightful of her, because about 45 minutes after we talked my water broke and
I felt ready to start pushing almost immediately. All of the sudden, it finally
dawned on me (and Joe) that I was actually in very active labor and was
probably going to have the baby soon! I said to Joe Òthe midwives better get
here soon!Ó because I knew I did not want to have the baby without them.
Thankfully Pam, Suzanne, and Penny arrived about 15 minutes after my water
broke and went about setting up their equipment very quickly. I asked if I
could get in the tub now and Suzanne told me to go for it. Once in the tub, I
went primal and started bellowing with each contraction, causing our dog (who
was outside) to bark as if he was hearing a wild animal. My sister Deirdre
arrived as I was bellowing in the tub and took some pictures- not of the
bellowing thankfully, but of me looking pretty peaceful in between
contractions.
The pushing was a great relief after all the days of
contractions and I felt so glad to know the end was in sight. As I was hoping,
my body just took over and my mind was along for ride. Though I wasnÕt
consciously using any hypnobirthing techniques I think they were working on a
subconscious level because I felt very calm and focused. I wouldnÕt describe
what I was feeling as being painful, just extremely intense and powerful.
I loved being in the tub, but
I had to get out after a while because Violette wasnÕt moving down. I tried all
kinds of positions- going up and down the stairs, using a birthing stool,
leaning on Joe and lying on the bed to name a few. After a couple hours of
pushing, Pam and Suzanne realized that my bladder was full and preventing
Violette from fully descending, so they catheterized me and about a liter of
pee later it was full speed ahead. I got down on the floor on my hands and
knees with one leg up and my head resting in JoeÕs lap and started to push the
head out. I would push out her head until she was almost crowning, then it
would slip back in. This happened a number of times until I realized that I had
to keep pushing even after the contraction was over if I was going to get her
out. I used every last ounce of energy I had and pushed and pushed and finally
her big old head crowned and kept going (that did burn!). A couple more pushes
and out came the rest of her head with her body following quickly. The next
thing I knew I was sitting on the floor next to Joe with a big (8lb 14oz) baby
girl in my arms. Luckily I missed sitting on Violette by a good couple inches
as I flopped myself down on the floor, exhausted. She looked at me very alertly
as if to say, ÒDonÕt I know you from somewhere?Ó, then turned her head and
looked all around the room checking out the scene.
The placenta come out pretty
soon after and then I was back on the bed for a couple stitches- I had a small
tear, but I donÕt even remember feeling much of anything after that- I was on a
total high. The labor was over (finally!) and Violette was here and she was
beautiful.
How
to Work and Play Well with Your Hospital Back-up
by
Meredith Norris
Contrary to what some of
the homebirth books will tell you, not all hospital-based obstetrics providers
are waiting at bedside with a scalpel in one hand and an enema in the other,
and many of us, especially in Maine, support homebirth as a safe and sane option
for some pregnant women. Be that as it may, some medical people do approach
childbirth from a place of fear, and some will let that attitude show up in
their dealings with homebirthers. Similarly, some of them came by this attitude
due to genuinely bad experiences with homebirths gone wrong. And although it is
illegal for any hospital to turn a woman away when she is in active labor, the
time to find out which doctors or midwives have issues about homebirth is not when you are in the middle of
a crisis.
I had all three of my
children at home, in a birthing pool, attended by CPMs, although my husband
physically caught the babies. I also trained in a rural hospital where
technology was scarce and emergency resources far away, so I learned a comfort
level with a minimal intervention approach. Some of my colleagues who trained
at big urban centers have never seen an unmedicated birth and, with a NICU
right down the hall, are so used to relying on the neonatologists every time
something goes awry that they never get to learn the value of waiting and
seeing, and that many things that look scary at first actually turn out just
fine. I am fortunate enough to work at a hospital now that is a lot more like
the place where I trained than the places where my friends trained, and my own
clinical approaches are informed both by my own births and the births I
attended during residency. Because I've known so many doctors at other places
who haven't had my good fortune, and who bring those more narrow attitudes into
the delivery room with them, I feel an increased obligation to represent my
profession as one of the goodguys.
Just as some midwives or
mothers in labor have only encountered doctors who just don't get it, it's
important to bear in mind that some doctors first and/or only experience with
homebirthers may have been a homebirth that was managed by an incompetent
midwife, or a mother who chose to have a home birth out of ignorance and
control issues and not as an informed choice. For some of my colleagues, their
entire view of homebirthers is seen through the lens of battles with the
hostile midwife, or the laboring mother who refuses possibly life-saving
interventions based on poorly researched but dogmatically held beliefs, Most
homebirths turn out just fine, but for obvious reasons, hospital employees
never have any reason to meet those people. If the only liberal you ever met
was a person who believes in firebombing administrative buildings, you might
have a negative impression of the whole left wing. Likewise, if the only
homebirth midwife you ever meet comes in and has a septic baby or a
hemorrhaging mom, it is not unreasonable that you might view homebirth with a
jaundiced eye.
My agenda is that I want to keep homebirth a safe and
legal option in Maine, and for that reason, I want to keep the lines of
communication open. You don't even need to choose a hospital-based back-up,
because your midwife probably knows one, but I'm assuming that you are
interested in homebirth because having choice and respect is important to you.
If you choose a backup physician*, in the rare situation that you might need a
hospital, you are more likely to have the birth experience you want, rather
than whatever the random doctor on call dishes out. So here are a few things to
bear in mind when you are choosing a backup plan for your homebirth.
1) Set up an introduction.
Most people will never have
a heart attack, but for those who do, it's always nice to have met your doctor
before your chest pain started. Even though you will probably never need my
obstetrical services, you'll have a better experience if you know who I am and
what I am likely to do. I will also do a better job if I know who you are, who
your midwife is, and what things are important to you. Most physicians who
support home birth will be happy to have an interview with you, so you and she
can figure out if your mutual expectations are realistic.
2) Don't show up with your
sword drawn!
If a doctor is willing to
be a hospital backup for homebirthers, she is probably not a control freak and
she probably already realizes homebirth is a safe choice. Therefore, a five
page birth plan that sounds more like a list of demands in a hostage crisis is
not only unnecessary, but it will create a defensive relationship that is in no
ones best interest. Most hospital-based OB providers don't do routine
episiotomies, enemas, or rush everyone off to c-section, yet I have actually
had women yell at me about things they have read in 20 year old birth books
that I had no intention of even suggesting. I have also had a woman angrily
insist (during her first trimester) that she needed to be informed of every
possible procedure and have the option to refuse any or all of them; this
seemed a little extreme to be telling me, since informed consent is my legal
obligation to everyone, even when they haven't told me I'm supposed to practice
that way.
3) Know what you plan to do
with the results of any tests.
If you don't plan on doing
anything about that Group B Strep test or that screen for birth defects,
consider skipping them entirely. There is no such thing as a bad opinion, but
there is such a thing as bad science, and it is possible to review tests and
figure out which ones have been shown to change outcomes, and how often that
happens. Neither the doctor nor the midwife should be ordering tests on the
basis of just to make sure everything is ok
- we don't have tests that will tell you that everything is ok. An ultrasound
won't even tell you that, even though we have become accustomed to thinking of
them as routine. And some tests make you more likely to have an intervention
done to you, but not more likely to have a healthy baby.
Those are the kind of
questions to ask the doctor: does this test really measure what it says it
measures? Does it make a difference in the long run whether or not I had this
test? What kind of things could I do if the test is abnormal? What
interventions have been shown to work? What might happen if I don't get the
test? Otherwise, you are just collecting a data point that puts everyone in a
bad place; it makes you worry about your baby, and puts your midwife and doctor
in a tough position of knowing there is a potential risk factor that they are
not acting on. On the flip side, some people spend hundreds of dollars on complete
blood panels that have never even been validated or shown to improve anyone's
situation, but they do tend to lead to people buying high dollar supplements
from the person who ordered the test.
4) Be prepared to listen to
new points of view!
It's just information, not
an attack on you. Whether this person shares all of your opinions or not, she
does have a lot of training and has seen a wide variety of possible problems
occur, problems that your friends or family may not be aware of, or which your books
didn't mention. Don't assume your midwife is the only person in the world who
knows anything about birth, or (as I've seen some people do!) that information
retrieved from the internet is comparable to years of clinical education. Your
job is to make an informed decision,
and you can't really be doing that if your mind is closed to some angles of the
issue. As soon as the doctor starts discussing the things that can happen with
untreated high blood pressure, don't shut your hearing off because you are too
busy thinking, A-HA! The book TOLD me that the doctor wouldn't support home
birth! when that's not even what her point is.
5) Give your midwife
permission to discuss you with the doctor, and vice versa.
We learn from each other
and if we hit a snag, it's really helpful to brainstorm together. I don't have
all the answers and I don't think I outrank
a homebirth midwife. And I think most midwives would agree with me when I say I
don't like nasty surprises, so the more we can think ahead, the better a job we
can do for you. The reality is that philosophically, a midwife and a doctor who
supports her are probably more alike than they are different, and there is no
reason to create an adversarial relationship by limiting how much access we
have to each other. And if there are any big crossroads (positive Group B
culture, gone way over the due season, etc), let both of us know what you have
decided to do about it.
6) Tell me when you
deliver!
The state of Maine holds me
to a much tighter standard than it does homebirth midwives. This may not be
fair, but it's true. The moment you name me as your physician, you are creating
a
medical relationship, and
all that that legally entails. You may not realize it, but you have just made
me ultimately responsible for any possible bad outcome, even the ones I didn't
know about because you didn't tell me. This means that I can lose my license,
get sued for colossal amounts of money, and/or lose the right to practice
obstetrics at my hospital. Once I have met you and know your name and the
approximate day of your delivery, I consider you one of my OB patients, even
though I probably won't be anywhere near the birth. This means I am staying
close to home around the time you are due, the OB floor is checking in to find
out if I have heard anything, and I have no way of knowing how things are
going. Your midwife may have 3 or four clients due at any given time. I have a
patient population of about 600 people, to say nothing of my partners patients
for whom I cross-cover. In other words, I am already very busy and if you keep
me tied to my phone for the weeks around your due season and I find out about
your delivery because I run into a mutual friend at the Food Co-op, I think I'm
justified in being a little irritable. And I'll be even more than irritable if
suddenly I need to drop everything because I wasn't kept in the loop about a
progressing emergency, and now there's a crisis I'm being expected to fix and
take the blame if I can't.
A last point -get a doula!
Sometimes one of your midwives will be in a doula role in the event of hospital
delivery, sometimes you may have a designated doula regardless of your birth
location, but having an advocate in any environment is never a bad thing, and
my hospital staff, at least, wishes people used them more. She will know the
word on the street as to which hospitals are supportive, which physicians will
be respectful, and will know what questions to ask when you and your partner
are too overwhelmed/tired/freaked out to think of them.
All this said, have a
wonderful birth! Of all the things I've done in my life, motherhood is without
a doubt the most gratifying and the most worthwhile. I have no doubt you'll
feel the same way.
* For the purpose of this
article, I will use the term physician when
speaking of hospital-based practitioners, to avoid the confusion of midwife who might be in either the home or hospital based
role.
Meredith Norris is a
mother, MD, and fabulous belly dancer and is a cornerstone to the community on
the Blue Hill Peninsula.
Homeopathy in Pregnancy and Birth
by
Edee Howland
In this article IÕd like to
provide you with some introductory information about using homeopathy during
pregnancy, at delivery, and in the first weeks after giving birth.
Homeopathy is wonderful to use because it is natural and safe. It fits in
well with the holistic approach to health care that emphasizes prevention and
restorative practices, treating the whole organism, not just isolated symptoms,
and addressing the root causes of any disease or imbalance.
Homeopathy can be used for both short-term ÒacuteÓ
conditions, for chronic conditions, and as an adjunct to support other care
such as surgery. It can be used to help conditions as first aid, and it
can be used in a more thorough way to understand and heal conditions that have
deep-seated causes. Homeopathy is used for treating physical symptoms and
for restoring emotional and mental health. Learning to use homeopathy
helps us to understand many of the subtle, complex ways our physical and
emotional symptoms are connected. A wonderful aspect of using homeopathic
remedies for healing emotional strains is that they do not numb or dull our
awareness. They stimulate a process of healing that is altogether natural
for the mind and body.
Homeopathy works by
providing a slight boost to your bodyÕs own healing capabilities. The
remedy is in your system very briefly. It doesnÕt impose anything on you
or create side effects. It starts a process of self-healing.
Homeopathy has a long
history of being used within the family to maintain health. One of its
benefits is that the longer you treat your health with homeopathy, the greater
the sense of vitality you experience. The immune system strengthens and
balances. You feel more resilient. Our bodies respond to our
seeking to understand why a particular condition developed. Often people
describe feeling more ÒthemselvesÓ after taking a good homeopathic
remedy. ItÕs also intriguing to observe that with ongoing use of homeopathy,
people seem to naturally gravitate towards healthier lifestyles. People become
more conscious of when theyÕre asking a lot of themselves. They learn to
rest when they find themselves overly tired, dismayed, or under an excessive
workload. This awareness helps people stay healthy. Sometimes, with
homeopathy, the condition you are treating is still there, but the person is
not bothered by it nearly as much as they had been. This can be helpful
in labor: the woman feels a degree of patience and tolerance even as
contractions intensify.
What is homeopathy? A
little definition and background: homeopathy is a scientific method of
healing developed over 200 years ago by a German physician, Dr. Samuel
Hahnemann. Hahnemann felt the standard medical practices of his time were
often too harsh. He found that a tiny, highly dilute dose of a medicine
worked very well to stimulate the body to heal and balance. He also used
a principle that had been touched on in herbal medicine, that "like cures
like". In homeopathy, the medicine, called a "remedy",
that will cure a condition, would begin to produce that condition if it were
given to a healthy person. When a person who has the symptoms takes the
remedy, healing occurs.
How does one use a remedy to treat a short-term condition or for first
aid? Using one of the reference books and choosing a remedy, take one
dose. This is about 3-5 pellets. Observe whether there is
improvement. Often after a well-chosen remedy, the person will feel like
resting or sleeping. If there has been improvement and then the symptoms begin
to return, take another dose. Depending on the situation, if there isnÕt much
improvement after several hours, reconsider the remedy choice and take a dose
of the new remedy. You may have heard mention of a Òhomeopathic
aggravationÓ. Sometimes the condition you are treating will become more
apparent after you take a remedy. This happens because the remedy
strengthens your vitality and you have more strength to produce symptoms! This
is brief, followed by improvement. Often it is barely perceptible or
doesnÕt happen at all, but itÕs good to know about. When you are treating
a severe condition, the correct remedy leads to improvement without the brief
worsening of symptoms.
Learning to choose the best
remedy is a skill, and we all gradually become better at it with
experience. Most remedies will give considerable benefit even if the
choice of which remedy is somewhat general. One of the things I love
about homeopathy is that intuition does play a strong part in remedy
selection. There are specific observations to take into account and using
homeopathy helps us to become observant. The emotional and mental traits
of a person are important guides to choosing the remedy, even if the symptom
you want to alleviate is a physical one. For example, in treating a breast
infection, you may find that in addition to some physical symptoms, the woman
has had an interesting dream, which illustrates how sheÕs feeling
emotionally. Each remedy has a cluster of characteristic symptoms. You
learn, through observation and talking with the person being treated, the
characteristics of the person's condition and to match these carefully with the
known characteristics of a particular remedy.
An important principle in
homeopathy is that each person is considered very much as an individual.
Even with well-known symptoms, if you become attentive, you see that we each
develop and exhibit these symptoms in our own rather individual way. It
is the unique characteristics of symptoms in each person that guide the
practitioner to the selection of the remedy that will bring healing in the most
gentle and expedient way. An example might be an itchy skin developing
during pregnancy: Does it feel red and swollen, or is it more of a
burning sensation? The details guide us to particular remedies.
Different people will need different remedies for what seems superficially to
be the same symptom.
I'll describe a few remedies that are particularly well known for some
particular aspects of pregnancy and birthing. Homeopathy can support a
delivery that is going along very well, helping to keep the labor as
comfortable as possible. It can also be used to address conditions that
are dangerous. My intention is to provide you with knowledge of some
remedies that address a range of symptoms you might encounter. Here are
some of the conditions homeopathy can help with: infertility, tendency to
miscarriage, morning sickness, fatigue, mental clarity, cystitis, constipation,
hemorrhoids, pre-eclampsia, position of the baby as the birth draws near.
During delivery homeopathy can help alleviate pain, strengthen confidence,
maintain the pace of contractions and dilation, reduce hemorrhage, and assist
healing after the birth. Homeopathy can help with nursing, milk supply,
mastitis, sleep deprivation, and general emotional well-being. For the
newborn it can help with difficulty breathing, with nursing, with colic, diaper
rash, insufficient weight gain, promoting peaceful sleeping, and fretfulness or
fearfulness. As the baby grows, homeopathy eases life very much in
soothing teething and healing earaches.
Arnica Montana is a
remedy used for bruising, for Òtrauma to soft tissueÓ and for shock. It
can have a place in helping sore muscles heal after delivery. I would
like to add, though, that homeopathic remedies are best used only when there is
a real need, and not so much for conditions that will heal well on their
own. Everyone can use their own best judgment on that. Arnica is
very helpful if surgery has been needed, for caesarean section. It
promotes healing, reduces pain, reduces bleeding, and reduces swelling.
Sepia is one of the
remedies for nausea in early pregnancy. One of its keynotes is nausea at
the odor of food. There may be irritability and depression.
Pulsatilla can be
useful in helping labor progress. Pulsatilla is described as Òlike a
summerÕs dayÓ – the moods can change quickly. The sensations and
symptoms can shift rather quickly. Pulsatilla wants to be comforted and
reassured. Pulsatilla usually feels warm and desires open air.
Phophorus is a
remedy for bright red hemorrhage. The person wants company.
As you become more
interested in homeopathy, you may want to learn about constitutional
remedies. During pregnancy is an especially good time to be treated
constitutionally. For this, you work with a practitioner, beginning with
an interview lasting about two hours. Using the information from this
interview, the practitioner selects a remedy for you. After taking the
remedy, you meet again with the practitioner a month or two months later, in a
shorter interview, to evaluate your response to the remedy. The process
can continue over six months to a year or more. During this time you meet
occasionally with the practitioner. Constitutional treatment, though a
gradual, gentle process, leads to significant and often profound change. Some
of the changes you might
experience are better
sleep, improved digestion and reduced food sensitivities, feeling more
adaptable – comfortable in a wider range of temperature, for
example. These general changes set the stage for much healing to take
place, because your entire organism is functioning better.
Most homeopathic remedies
are made from plants, minerals, or animal substances. The preparation of
the remedy at a homeopathic pharmacy dilutes the original substance to minute
amounts. Thus, homeopathic remedies are completely safe and may be used
during pregnancy and while nursing. These remedies are available at most
health food stores, and at our local co-ops. Often you will see their
remedies from the Boiron pharmacy. They can also be ordered online or by
phone from several different homeopathic pharmacies. Two excellent ones I
use are Helios, in England (remedies arrive in the U.S. within a week by Òquick
dispatchÓ), which is www. helios.co.uk or the Hahnemann Pharmacy in San Raphael, California,
1-888-427-6422, www. hahnemannlabs.com. ItÕs a good idea to have at home a remedy
kit. These contain some of the most commonly needed remedies. Homeopathic
remedies keep for many years.
Several of the best-known
introductory books for beginning to use homeopathy to treat yourself and your
family and friends are Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines, by
Stephen Cummings, M.D. and Dana Ullman, M.P.H.; Homeopathic Medicine at Home,
by Maesimund Panos, M.D. and Jane Heimlich; Miranda Castro's The Complete
Homeopathy Handbook; and Homeopathic Self-Care by Judith
Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman. The Patient's Guide to
Homeopathic Medicine by Judith Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman helps
describe what you experience as a patient. A general overview, with some
history, of homeopathy and all it offers is Impossible Cure, by Amy
Lansky. The National Center for Homeopathy publishes an informative
magazine for the general public, ÒHomeopathy TodayÓ, and has a website, www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org. The website for the Maine Association of Homeopaths
is www.homeopathyinmaine.org.
Some of the books on
homeopathy for pregnancy and birthing would help to educate a person new to
homeopathy, to gain an overview, but might be a bit overwhelming without a more
experienced person providing some guidance. IÕd recommend reading or
looking through one of the introductory books first. One little handbook
is Homeopathy for Birthing by Jana Shiloh. She has a later book, Homeopathy
and Its Uses in Pregnancy and Childbirth. Three other books are Homeopathy
for Pregnancy, Birth and Your Baby's First Year by Miranda Castro, Homeopathy
for Pregnancy and Childbirth by Rosemary Tayler, and Homeopathic Medicines
for Pregnancy and Childbirth by Richard Moskowitz, M. D.. A good source for
books is The Minimum Price Books, www.minimum.com
I hope this introduction
will encourage you to learn more about homeopathy. It can bring a lot of
ease and joy into all the experiences of childbearing and parenting.
Edee Howland is a
professional practitioner of classical homeopathy, with an office in Blue Hill,
Maine. She is a graduate of the Pacific Academy of Homeopathy in San Francisco,
California and continues to study with the best current teachers in the
field. She has been in practice since 1995. She can be reached at
207-374-8990. She is a member of the Maine Association of Homeopaths, www.homeopathyinmaine.org.
Knowledge is nothing
if it does not make us more human.
-Survivor
of Auschwitz
First Breath Last
Breath
- Antler
When
a baby boy is born
and
the midwife
holds
him up
as
he takes
his
first breath,
Place
him over
the
Mother's face
so
when the baby exhales
his
first breath on Earth
the
Mother breathes it.
And
when the Mother dies,
her
middle-aged son
the
baby grew up to be-
by
her side,
his
head next to her head---
Follows
her breathing with his breath
as
it becomes shorter,
and
as the dying Mother
exhales
her last breath
her
son inhales it.
The Closest We Get To Heaven
by
Rebecca Burgman
It's not yet midnight when
a twinge awakens me. I refuse to open my eyes, letting it grow into a
cramp. It may stop if I acknowledge it. But then it subsides and I'm not
relieved. 12:30 comes while I doze. Another sharp tightness creeps
across my stomach. I'm worried and excited.
With great effort I
sit up which sets off another cascade. Delicately, I cross squeaky
floorboards to the stairs. I gauge the intensity and decide I can do this
alone for a while. It isn't contractions yet. There's no rhythm.
They aren't deep. I can still carry on a conversation.
I pace the house, pausing at heater vents to warm my feet. Sitting makes
the tension build. Standing is strange in my foreign body. I didn't
experience "warm up labor" with my other two, so I'm convinced that
this is the big event, but with three and a half weeks to go, I'm apprehensive.
With hands resting on
my enormous self I chant, "Not yet ok? Just not yet."
Around four, I return to bed, willpower quelling the spasms. I remember
I'm not really in charge as I slide into exhausted sleep.
Morning brings a mixture of disappointment and satisfaction. I want to
cry at my cumbersome girth, but smile because I get to spend another day in
this royal limbo state. I am starting to like it. Relived of
household duties, I watch the world continue around me. I'm removed from
normalcy.
I'm not a bath person, but many evenings lately I take a soak, warming the tub
several times; two can play at this game of hiding in wet confined
spaces. I enjoy listening to my breath under the water.
Then one day, without conscious recognition, I'm more lethargic and
tight. I'm so heavy I want to crawl except I can't get down to the
floor. I'm not hungry. I've read all my books. I spend the
day sighing. There hasn't been much internal activity today either, and
I'm a bit concerned. A friend observes that it's probably the calm before
the storm. Lord knows it's been building.
It is the middle of winter and I fantasize about thunderstorms. I miss
daily humidity that breaks during the night with heat lightening. It is a
surprise even though it isn't. This summer I stood on the porch feeling
the air stir, waiting for the first steady drops to fall. I conjure that
image as I sink into another warm bath, driving the cold from my toes.
Today I thank my body
for doing its work. I encourage the baby, with an edge of desperation,
that NOW it IS time. Please?
Warm and pink, I'm in bed by 8. My beloved comes to bed at 10:30 and we
are restless. He tells me later that he sensed something different this
evening and he'd called in the angels. I'm feeling twinges and pangs
again, but hold off telling him just to be sure. It's subtle how the
adventure draws towards completion. The choreography of the ancient dance
is graceful. It may sound absurd given the grunting and hollering
involved, but a laboring woman is a work of art.
Shortly after 11, I nudge Rob and request that he turn up the heat and could he
get the phone? He's in the doorway before there is a knowing "OH!"
in the shadowed darkness. His footsteps echo down the stairwell.
I'm perched on the edge of our claw foot tub talking to the midwife. The
twinges have become tight moans already. Given the three hour labor of my
second child, it seems likely that this one is following suit. Luckily,
she lives ten minutes away and is probably grabbing her bag before we hang
up. Her arrival is quiet and reassuring. She listens with the
Doppler, kneeling before me, not interrupting the contact I have with
Rob. I am unsure where I want to be or what I want to do, so I just wait
for the next rush.
I don't vividly
remember the other two midwives coming to the house. One will arrive in a
half hour, peeking at me from a corner and writing things down. The third
comes five minutes before I deliver, blazing up the stairs with her jacket
still on, billowing cool air.
But for now, I hang between the sink and tub, shoving my head into Rob's chest,
pulling on his shoulder. His neck is sticky against my face. Then
again, maybe it's the other way around.
My eldest wakes up.
She slips under Rob's arm and checks us out. I smile at her presence;
seven years old, but so aware. The next time I open my eyes she is gone.
I think she helps the midwife find things.
It is about this time
I ask Rob if he remembered to put the soup away after dinner. Then I am
thrust inside myself again. I pop in and out of this world, not thinking
or reacting, just being taken over by muscles and nature.
The bathroom is filled
with neon blue glow from our borrowed space heater. It whirs back and
forth while I shuck my fuzzy robe. My arms are tired from leaning on the
tub. My knees are trembly. When I come up for air, I back up to sit
on the throne for a rest. Royalty indeed! I arch as another wave
clamps onto me and my waters release. It is a wild and familiar
smell. I think I laugh.
I've been waiting for
this. My membranes were artificially ruptured with my other two and this
surging burst is hysterical and gentle at the same time. I remember the
splat sound and the slippery feel under my feet when I stand again.
My midwife suggests we move to the bedroom. It is a long walk of feeling
my way along the wall, contracting and pausing, leaning back against Rob.
I am pulled toward the comfort of my bed, knowing this is almost over and
wanting it to last. I will never be pregnant again. The mystery of
this third baby will be revealed soon and my unique relationship with him will
be over.
I collapse beside the
bed, knees sliding on the blue pads that are spread on the floor. I take
handfuls of blankets and pull them each time I begin to growl. I am
delighted to see that my son is up now, sitting on the bed, beside his
sister. The children are intensely calm as they stare at me.
There are a lot of forensic details that seem to constitute a birth story (NO,
I didn't need stitches and YES the placenta is in the freezer) but it isn't
cataloged in my memory that way this time. I don't watch the clock. No
one checks my dilation progress. I tap into a primal connection with
every mother before me. I float in surreal sacred space following my
body's lead. Numbers have no place in this story.
When my second son hears about the night he separated from me, he will hear how
the women held juice to my mouth and that in the middle of things my four year
old went to fetch his baseball hat. Had we been at a hospital and forgotten his
hat, he would have been crying. But our choice to be home was reinforced
each time the convenience of our house embraced us.
A tender voice
encourages me to feel for a head. Here I get my first impression of this
unseen being: slimy and lumpy. I thought I might catch the baby myself,
but there's no way I can rearrange my body to do so now. I keep saying "I
can do this! Oh God! Oh God! I know I can do this!" I feel the bulge of
his skull slide through my fingers. I take a deep breath and brace for
his shoulders. Somehow I'm convinced they will be worse than his head.
Then the slippery bundle is passed under my body and into my arms. I laugh and
cry and look to everyone at once. I can't seem to catch my breath or see
enough. I am overwhelmed, triumphant and relived.
But it is weird to be
so suddenly empty.
Isaiah is a beautiful eight pound boy with dark hair, a sneaky dimple, wide
hands and crazy hair. He is complete and pure.
I know the cord is cut and I am helped onto the bed. Delivering the
placenta proves to be a bit difficult. I'm bleeding quite a bit, but
never feel panicked because my midwives work together in a language of half
sentences and gestures. I think I rubbed my stomach and know that I
repeatedly thanked the placenta, hoping that this would help it release.
Then there was the soft plop as it slid into a waiting bowl.
I am eased into a comfortable position and my baby comes back to me. He
hasn't cried much and latches on right away. There is an electric buzz in
the room as everything settles down. The older kids drift back to
bed. The midwives have tea downstairs. Rob bursts into Proud Papa
Glow.
In our "bed
womb" that first week we receive visitors, take naps and wonder at every
squirm and sigh. I'd forgotten that babies can dream with their eyes
open. I cannot adequately describe the deep gratification of nesting in my
bed. When asked how a homebirth compares to my previous hospital
experiences, I can only say WOW. My recovery is super fast. I have
food from my kitchen. It is totally stress free and marvelous to have my
kids bouncing on the bed.
Birth is a majestic process and I'm honored to have
done it three times. It is astounding to be so changed overnight and then
learn our new place in the world. Looking into clear newborn eyes?
Well, it's the closest we get to heaven.
Dar a Luz is taking submissions for the third edition.
The deadline is somewhere around
February 1st.
Articles, Birth Stories, Interviews, Poetry, Artwork, Photography etc. are all
very appreciated!
To submit work, please contact Anna Fernandez (Mother
Bloom Midwifery) at
207-326-4373 or email at mother.bloom@yahoo.com.
Labor of Love
by Anna Fernandez
Birth
is unlike other aspects of life.
Though very much a part of life, it is set apart in that it is most
often accompanied by two things that we try to avoid at all costs during the
rest of our lives; blood and pain.
The blood that accompanies birth - if not in excess - is, in my mind
good blood, lifeblood. Like menstrual blood, birth blood has a beneficial
purpose- giving life. It's different from blood from a cut, scrape or accident.
The same, I believe is true for pain in labor. It's good pain, as opposed to the pain from a trauma. I
know, I know- telling a woman in transition that "its ok -its good
pain", is not really going to fly, but preparing oneself ahead of time
about the benefits of pain in labor as well as the drawbacks of pain relief in
labor can help women face the pain and accept it for what it is.
The
pain of birth is functional. Most
often, labor begins slowly.
Sensations are felt mildly but consistently letting a mother know its
time. This time allows her to
hunker down, make preparations and historically as well as presently, get
herself to a safe place, away from harm. As the pain increases, it allows a
woman to work with her body as well as with her baby to ensure the smoothest
birth possible. A laboring woman
shifts her body constantly trying to move away from the pain. As she moves, a mother makes room for
her baby to shift, wiggle and turn in a way that permits him to reposition,
rotate and descend in an optimal position ensuring a straightforward birth.
Though once thought to be passive participants in their own births, babies are
now recognized to be active participants.
(My son once told me when he had just learned to talk that when he was
born he pushed with his feet and came out the hole.) Babies work with their
mothers, following the path of least resistance on their journey.
The
intensity of labor, for most, necessitates the presence of at least one other
person and often of several. A
woman in labor, while sometimes wanting to hide away from everyone in a dark
corner, almost always wants to know that someone is near by, available if and
when she needs something or something needs to be done. I believe this has helped historically
to ensure the presence of skilled, caring and supportive childbirth attendants
who, across cultures and continents have allowed women to labor with more peace
of mind, which in turn simplifies the birth process.
A
mother, who has experienced the intensity of labor, finds herself worn out
after such hard work, which works to an advantage. A tired mom and baby will
stay tucked in bed together, connecting, bonding and nursing; building the
foundation of their relationship that is so important to survival - both
mentally and physically.
Women
who give birth naturally, are supported by a whole array of hormones including
oxytocin - the love and attachment hormone, beta-endorphins which are hormones
of pleasure and transcendence and are released during stress, especially
painful stress. In her 2003 "Guide to Childbirth, Ina May Gaskin explains,
"endorphins are nature's opiates, a blessing because they actually block
the reception of pain. When we expend a lot of physical effort, endorphin
levels rise correspondingly." Epinephrine and nor epinephrine
(adrenaline and noradrenalin) are catecholamine hormones that are released
during fear and excitement. If a
mother feels anxious, fearful or overly stressed, these hormones come into play
and slow labor down so that a mother can change the situation. Prolactin is the
mothering hormone. Most people know this hormone as the milk producer yet it
plays a roll in the ability of a mother to put her baby's needs before her own
as when she nurses her child. The
intensity and stress of labor can be viewed as the foundation for the proper
release of hormones that encircle birth, allow it to progress and unfold and
allow the mother to love her baby immensely. The rush of oxytocin that a woman gets just after the moment
of birth makes her feel ecstatic yet peaceful at the same time and without it,
women may not feel the same sense of accomplishment and empowerment at the
great task they just completed. It is powerful enough to assist mothers in
seeing themselves as great and very capable of rearing this young, dependant
life that they created. Weather a child is born vaginally, by cesarean, without
help or with great assistance, women who have experienced the intensity of birth
tend to show greater enthusiasm in their foreseen ability to raise a
child. And that is always a good
thing.
Feeling
the aches and pains of giving birth in and of itself has a great amount of
benefits some of which are noted above. Yet one of the greatest benefits of
feeling them is the freedom from the negative effects of pain medication. According
to the 2006 Listening to Mothers II Survey and Report, 86% of women polled
across the nation used some form of pharmacological pain relief during
childbirth (This includes the 31.5% of the population that had a cesarean
section).
While
I believe that there is a time and a place for everything, and that there is a
time and place for pain medication in labor, I believe that women should have
full knowledge of the risks they are taking with themselves and their babies
when consenting to taking pain medication during labor for no medical
reason. All drugs have side
effects, and many times, the benefits to using them outweigh the risks. But for the vast majority of birthing
women, the benefits do not outweigh the risks since pregnancy and birth are not
an illness, but a normal part of life.
It
is important for women to be knowledgeable about the possible negative effects
that local anesthetics can cause. Women should not be presented with the notion
that these drugs are completely safe.
Only by knowing both sides, can a woman make an informed choice for
herself. True informed consent requires that the mother knows all of the
benefits AND the risks involved BEFORE taking the medication.
An epidural contains Caine-derivative
anesthetics. Caine derivatives block nerve impulses. The epidural used in childbirth specifically focuses on the
sympathetic nerve fibers in the lower spine area to anaesthetize blood vessels,
causing them to relax and dilate. Some commonly used Caine derivatives are
Bupivacaine, Chloroprocaine and Lidocaine. Other Caine derivatives not used in epidurals that we are
more familiar with are Novocaine and Cocaine. Narcotics such as fentanyl, sufentanil
or demerol are often combined with Bupivacaine for added effect. In some cases, epinephrine is added to
decrease absorption, allowing a higher dose of to be given. Other times an
anti-hypertensive drug Clonidine may be added.
The
Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) states "Local anesthetics rapidly cross
the placenta (by passive diffusion) and when used for epidural blocks,
anesthesia can cause varying degrees of maternal, fetal, and neonatal toxicity.
Adverse reactions in the mother and baby involve alteration of the central
nervous system, peripheral vascular tone, and cardiac function." It then
goes on to list the following possible maternal and fetal side effects for
Caine derivatives: "Hypotension, urinary retention, fecal and urinary
incontinence, paralysis of lower extremities, headache, backache, septic
meningitis, slowing of Labor, increased need for forceps or vacuum delivery,
cranial nerve palsies, allergic reactions, respiratory depression, nausea,
vomiting, and seizures."
According
to a report called Medical Risks of Epidural Anesthesia During Childbirth
by Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD and Morgaine Mehl-Madrona 70 percent of women
receiving an epidural during labor experience side effects. "The most
common include postpartum urinary retention, severe backache, loss of motor
power, prolonged first- and second-stage labor, malpositioning of the baby at
the end of second-stage labor, hypotension, and in their babies, poorer motor
organization."
Besides
not knowing these possible side effects, a mother who desires an local
anesthetics in labor may not realize that by accepting, she will be required to
have IV fluids, continual fetal monitoring, frequent blood pressure checks and
likely a urinary catheter all of which will confine her to the bed where she
will be completely dependant on hospital staff and will have cords and tubes
running all over the place. In
addition, the introduction of local anesthetics often causes the need for other
interventions. Epidurals effect the pelvic floor muscles of the mother by
relaxing them and, though pain is no longer felt, these muscles, which play a
major roll in maintaining flexion of the fetal head, are no longer playing the
pro-active roll that they are meant to and the fetal head more often descends in
a non -optimal position. Because of this and that fact that these mothers are
for the most part immobile, babies whose heads are not well flexed or
asynclitic (not descending straight) tend to require vacuum extraction, forceps
delivery and even cesarean section much more often. All three of these modes of delivery pose an increased risk
of injury to baby as well as to the mother.
Almost
one third of women whose previous baseline blood pressure was normal will show
a drop in blood pressure after receiving an epidural. An epidural blocks the
nerves that regulate blood pressure causing changes that lead to a decreased
output of blood being pumped by the mothers heart, causing less blood and
oxygen reaching the baby. Fetal
distress may occur. Often other drugs are necessary to raise the woman's blood
pressure.
Some
women feel that they can't breathe while on an epidural due to loss of feeling
in their diaphragm region. Others
develop a severe headache sometimes for several days often resulting from the
epidural being placed improperly.
Women with epidurals have difficulty moving around, even getting up to
urinate can pose a problem due to the relaxed pelvic floor muscles and
inability to feel the urge to pee.
A catheter then becomes necessary. Epidurals often cause a woman's
temperature to rise after 3 or 4 hours of use. The practitioner in attendance
will not be able to rule out infection causing the fever because tests take
several days to get results, so the mother and consequently the baby will often
receive IV antibiotics unnecessarily and the baby may receive a "septic
workup" after birth which includes a spinal tap and is to say the least,
traumatic for the newborn. Epidurals are often shown to increase the length of
labor, both the active phase as well as the pushing stage, sometimes stopping
labor all together which then necessitates the need for pitocin to augment
labor. Pitocin has its own share
of risks to both mother and baby.
During
pushing, a mother with an epidural may not feel the urge to push or may not
feel much at all causing a long and difficult pushing stage with the likelihood
of more intervention increasing. The rate of forceps or vacuum extraction as
well as cesarean section goes up considerably, all of which have their own
serious risks.
One
of the most difficult to digest effects of many pain medications is the effect
on the babies. Babies are completely vulnerable to the choices of their parents
and have no say in the matter. Because these drugs cross the placenta, a baby
born exposed to these drugs has a higher chance of experiencing respiratory
difficulties and may need breathing assistance at birth more often. These babies often exhibit poor sucking
causing a delay in nursing, sometimes taking up to a week or more to get the
hang of it, which in turn causes frustration to both mother and baby. In
addition, these babies tend to have slower reflexes at birth. Babies born to women who give birth
without pain medication are able to crawl up to their mother's breast and begin
to suckle and latch on with absolutely no assistance. Babies born under the influence do not demonstrate this
ability due to their lack of coordination from the pain medication.
These
are all short-term effects of these drugs. Studies of long-term effects are
lacking though a report from Sweden (Acta Obstet. Gynecol. Scand. 67, 1988) found that among young drug addicts there
was a correlation between the drugs they preferred and the drug their mothers
received in childbirth. The authors suggest that this can be explained as an
effect of imprinting.
Other
effects of pain medication in labor are cultural and political. Using drugs in labor increases
healthcare costs. Professional
liability of health care providers goes up when any sort of intervention is involved
and the number of doctors who are willing to catch babies is declining because
of liability. The need for other
medical interventions including IV's, continuous electronic fetal monitoring,
the use of additional drugs, bladder catheterization, oxygen use, forceps and
vacuum extraction and episiotomies all go up, which may be making money for the
hospital, but adds to the continuing decline of the state of health care in the
United States. The high usage of
pain medication in our country also gives birth a bad name. The increased need for other
interventions, when using these medications, encourages women to believe that
without the help of doctors and technology, they would never have been able to
give birth on their own, when it was the inclusion of intervention to begin
with that became the root of the problem.
Why
do we tell our kids, "Say no to drugs" when the majority of them were
born on them? Its ironic that the government spends incredible amounts of money
trying to control drug use in the United States, most parents work hard to
prevent their children from using drugs yet at the same time, 50- 86% of babies
born in the US are born under the influence of drugs and it is very much
encouraged! I believe that if women were told the true risks of local
anesthetics during labor, many more would think twice at using them. I think as
a culture, it's time to save the pain medication for when it is necessary and
re-consider our approach to childbirth. Women are very capable of this
exceptional aspect of their lives.
The more the dominant culture tells women that childbirth is too
painful, too difficult for them; the more women will believe it and turn to
pain medication. Instead, lets
remind birthing women that they are here today because of the superior birthing
ability of their ancestors. Let's encourage women by giving them our
confidence, our support and our respect as a culture and let's work together to
allow babies to take their first breath in the way it was intended rather than
under the influence of drugs.
-Anna Fernandez is a
homebirth midwife, herbalist and mother and lives on the Blue Hill Peninsula.
Resource Guide
for
Downeast and Midcoast Maine
(all phone numbers are 207 area code)
Breastfeeding
La
Leche League
Ellsworth Contact - Charlene
667-7245
Meetings-
1st Monday of the month -10-11 am
at
St. Josephs Parish Hall
Deer
Isle - Contact Patty 348-2602
Meetings
3rd Wednesday of the month at 36 Lindsey Ln
Mariaville
- Mary
537-2560
Bangor
- Aimee 827-4364
Melanie 942-2362
Cindy
886-2177
Meetings
– 1st Wednesday of the month 10 am
Lactation
Consultants/ Counselors
Dawnella Sutton Freedom 382-3126
Evelyn Conrad -
Bangor 945-9804 www.yourbirthconnection.com
Nancy Graves, CLC - Bar Harbor 288-1122
Pam Houston, RN, IBCLC Bangor 973-8742
Eastern Maine Medical Lactation
Consultants Bangor
973-8673
Classes:
Breastfeeding
Nancy Graves Bar
Harbor 288-1122
Childbirth
Christina Kennedy www.birthingyourbaby.com
Nancy Graves Bar
Harbor 288-1122
Early
Childhood Programs
Nancy Graves Bar Harbor 288-1122
Natural
Birth Control
Fertility Awareness -
Anna
Fernandez Blue Hill 326-4373
Yoga
Sally Clinton Blue
Hill 374-3800
Counseling/
Hypnotherapists
Evelyn Conrad Bangor 945-9804
www.yourbirthconnection.com
Rebecca Burgman MDI 244-7257
Doctors
Merideth Norris, DO Blue
Hill 374-2311
Doulas
Anna Fernandez Blue
Hill 326-4373 www.motherbloom.com
Crystal Gamet
Blue Hill 479-7940
Dawnella Sutton Freedom 382-3126
Evelyn Conrad Bangor 945-9804
www.yourbirthconnection.com
Julie Havener MDI 276-4109
Nancy Graves Bar Harbor 288-1122
Herbalists
Anna Fernandez Blue Hill 326-4373 www.motherbloom.com
Homeopathy
Edee Howland Blue
Hill 374-8990
Hypnobirthing
Nancy Graves Bar
Harbor 288-1122
Evelyn Conrad Bangor 945-9804 www.yourbirthconnection.com
Massage
Christina van Duijn Blue
Hill 374-3877
Fiona Young, RN LMT Ellsworth 266-3069
Midwives
Anna Fernandez Blue
Hill 326-4373
Donna Broderick Belfast 322-6464
First Light Midwives
Belfast/MDI 276-4109
Holly Arends Penobscot 522-6043
Jill Breen St.
Albans 938-2094
Pam Dyer-Stewart Winterport/MDI
244-0167
Naturopaths
Penelope Houghton, ND Ellsworth 664-0780
Pregnancy
and Birth Photography
Evelyn Conrad Bangor 945-9804 www.yourbirthconnection.com
Reiki
Roberta Barns Windsor 445-5671
Supplies
Belly
Casts
Evelyn Conrad Bangor 945-9804 www.yourbirthconnection.com
Herbs
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