"zee hormones of love are zee hormones of birth"

    When I was a nursing student back in the early nineties, I had the great fortune to spend a couple days with Michel Odent, .  He is the French obstetrician who revolutionized birth in his country and helped spread the ideas of undisturbed birth, waterbirth, and peri-natal psychology worldwide.   In the 1970s, he was tired of seeing so many births in his hospital ending in forceps deliveries or cesareans.  Clearly, the standard procedure of the time, the take-a laboring woman -and -strap her to a table on her back-and -drug her heavily- and pull the baby out with forceps- method was not optimizing the birth for mother or baby!  He redesigned the labor rooms to be like private, dark warm caves, with a tub of warm water and a bed on the floor in the corner.  He instructed the midwives to  just sit, rocking and knitting.  When a woman came in, in labor, she was given complete freedom to do whatever she wanted.  Most women gave birth in upright positions in the corner of the room or in the tubs.  He coined the term "fetus ejection reflex" to describe the spontaneous, powerful reflex that occurs when a women feels her own urge and pushes her baby out without a cheering squad to yell "push" and count, and tell her how to do it.  No one told these laboring women ANYTHING.  Just nods and smiles of reassurance.  The result of this experiment? 

Happy Holidays; Birth in a Barn

    I have always enjoyed working on Christmas;  welcoming a new babe into the world seems the perfect Christmas gift for me.  The years I spent working as a labor and delivery nurse or hospital midwife, I gladly took the Christmas shift.  Growing up Jewish, and marrying a Buddhist, Christmas is not a big family event for us.  Rather, Thanksgiving is the time our family gets together.  But the story of Christmas does touch my heart deeply;   it reminds me to pay attention to this truth :  each baby born is a holy child. 

We are Mammals

   Today I want to write about something truly obvious, but often forgotten.  We, the tech-savy, brilliant, analytical, adapted to extreme-comfort living,  humans,  are actually MAMMALS.  Mammals, yes,  same as our dogs, cats, horses, and yes, apes.   In so much of life, the fact that we are mammals does not play a real significant role.  Attorneys, computer experts, managers of companies or businesses, salespeople, etc do not need to remember they are mammals in order to do their best work.  Midwives, however, do.
   

The Midwife's Desk: An introduction

  Welcome to my blog!   This will be a space for sharing  pregnancy and birth stories, discussion of current research on the health of mothers, babies, and families, and updates on birth politics, both local and global.  I am delighted to meet you in this cyber-space and I hope I can share some wisdom and information that may be valuable to you.  Please feel free to email me with questions or queries.

Client Testimonial, October 2010

It is impossible for me to think back on my two births with Dena without bursting at the seams with pride and a sense of well-being. Above and beyond the leisurely pre-natals and on-call care that are routine with homebirth midwifery, Dena combines professional support with a respect and reverence for the very special rite of passage the mother is on. She would travel with us through the ups and downs of typical pregnancy fears, as well as educate us and empower us to make our own best decisions along the way. It was especially wonderful to have her as our midwife for our second birth, as we already had an established rapport and she knew how my body birthed. It is a joy for our boys to get to see their midwife around town and to have her glowing face in our baby albums. Should we have another child, we would choose to have Dena guide us on the journey again.

T.L., October 2010

Client Testimonial, February 2010

Thank you so much for guiding us through a wonderful home birth. One thing that really sticks out in my mind is the memory of Dena, Serra, and Jessica sitting around me during labor. Whenever I said that it hurt I would hear all three of them acknowledge my pain in unison with a loud "Unhun."

Now when Collin is crying I sometimes find myself holding him and saying the same "Unhun" to acknowledge that he is sad.

Tim says:  You turned childbirth from something that I was afraid of into an event that I anticipated, and this allowed me to play an active and supporting role in Collin's birth. Thank you so much.

Thank you for all your love and support.

-- Stephanie, Tim and Collin

Client Testimonial, March 2009

When I reflect upon my 9 month transformation, I recall the largest catalyst to my growth, my midwife. Dena knew exactly what I needed. She was gentle when I was emotional yet honest when I needed reality. She helped me discover my inner courage. She guided me through the greatest transformation in my life. For this she will never be forgotten. She is a part of my son's life story forever. His story begins with the miraculous adventure of a 10 lb baby, vbac homebirth." 

-- J.M., March 2009