The placenta is a mediator between the life flow of mother and baby. It is rich in nutrients, hormones and immune builders (stem cells too!); indeed, it helped build a body. This article presents a few small ways we affirm that our lives and the lives of other women matter. That birth matters.

 Read more…. Placental Rituals, Placental Medicine

Sue says the words I will never forget: “There is a foot!” Then, continuing: “It’s twins!” I look down at the little foot kicking out of Maiko’s body. I stare at Sue, Sue stares at me. Ten seconds of complete bewilderment, and then we act automatically. We clamp and cut the cord of the first baby and call an ambulance.

 Read more…. “There is a foot!”

I have observed babies being birthed with the placenta detached and following right behind them for over 20 years.Throughout that time I have kept mental notes, observing, recording, pondering. Then one day, finally, it all added up. The explanation is a short umbilical cord, a phenomenon that requires us to allow time for the baby, the cord and the placenta to descend slowly through the birth canal, in the wisdom of nature, for a healthy and natural birth.

 Read more…. The Cord and the Strength of Life: Something Extraordinary

Hands are a gift—their intricate workings, the sensitivity in the fingertips. Hands can convey so much, do so much. The activities that hands undertake daily are numberless, and to be without one or both can make life a great challenge. (Try using only one hand for a day, and you’ll see what I mean!)

 Read more…. Hands of Life

Water has flooded the new century, nosing her way forward with overwhelming power, washing away outmoded methods. It seems that destiny, rather than coincidence, led me to waterbirth. When I was a child, my home in Berlin faced the first university hospital (Benjamin-Franklin-Uni) offering “water cures,” an invention by Professor Schweninger of Berlin, who called himself a “naturopath.” His “Schweninger cures” were offered in Berlin as well as in Baden-Baden.

 Read more…. Waterbirth: Contemporary Application for Historic Concepts

One cause of placenta accreta and placenta percreta is the placenta’s embedding in the caesarean scar. But no one has published research showing a correlation between these conditions and single-layer repair. Before this repair is blamed for an increase in placenta problems, an association must be established.

 Read more…. The Many Ways to Sew Up a Uterus: “Single-layer” vs. “Double-layer” Cesarean Repair: What’s Best?

We mothers must do what is necessary to create trust, regardless of the immediate rewards. And then we must let go and allow our babies to come to us in their own way, in their own time. Our job is to bury deep within them the knowledge that they are loved. This is what creates an everlasting bond.

 Read more…. Bonding: Through an Adoptive Mother’s Eyes

What to do when faced with the issue of whether to allow your asymptomatic, big, healthy baby to be tested for hypoglycemia? Confidently tell the nurse that testing of large-for-gestational-age babies is not supported by the evidence. Then put the baby to breast, knowing this is the best place for a baby to be.

 Read more…. Preserving the Breastfeeding Relationship: Hypoglycemia in the Breastfed Infant—Fact or Fiction?

I have been a midwife for 21 years. Midwifery and motherhood have defined my adult life. I was 24 and in nursing school, pursuing an interest in women’s health and what was known then as “preventive medicine,” when I witnessed my first midwife-attended birth. Lightning struck.

 Read more…. Meet the Practitioner

Phosphorus is a major ingredient of not only bones and teeth, but also the human brain. It facilitates permeability of cell membranes, helping nutrients pass in and out of cells. As one of the five elements of DNA, it is a building block for our genes. In metabolism, phosphorus mediates energy.

 Read more…. Bearer of Light— Homeopathic Phosphorus

The woman my candle burns for tonight has been in labor for 46 hours. She had studied and prepared. She is in surgery now. The birth that she wanted didn’t happen; maybe it never will. I gingerly carry the candle to my room, careful not to smother the flame. Maybe she needs it lit now more than she did before.

 Read more…. A Candle

During the last few days of my second pregnancy I began to experience severe itching. Being the tough cookie I am, I did not complain to my doctor.
Five years later I became pregnant again. When the itching returned, I did some Internet research. Almost instantly I read about Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy.

 Read more…. ICP—the Mystery Itch