One of three articles in this issue by Elaine Stillerman, this piece describes in detail different massage techniques and body positions to help a birthing mother make her way through the difficulties of back labor.
In this excerpt from her book, Nurturing Massage for Pregnancy: A Practical Guide to Bodywork for the Perinatal Cycle, author Leslie Stager makes a solid case for the benefits of nurturing touch and massage during labor.
Photo by Janko Ferlič
This article outlines possible solutions to a deflexed, posterior breech birth. The author makes the case that active birth is one of the most effective approaches.
Read more…. Breech, Posterior and a Deflexed Head! An Active Birth Solution?
Photo by Hush Naidoo
Reflections on how obstetricians have a tendency to choose the most medicalized interventions, rather than trying a simple fix first.
Read more…. Health Care with No Legs to Stand On: The Questions behind the Question
Photo provided by the author
The bond between midwife and mother is the subject of this essay.
Food recipes, manner of speaking, expressions in dress, body care and rituals – whether religious or mundane – are all elements of culture that remain strongly-rooted and cherished by family and community. Read more…. Tradition, Birth and the Kitchen to Cook It All In
Photo by Brooke Lark
Homeopathy is a system of medicine that can be used safely and effectively by a pregnant woman from the early weeks of gestation through the birth process and the postpartum period. The realization of a pregnancy often motivates women to make significant changes in their lives. Homeopathic remedies can assist women in making this transition. These changes may be mental, emotional or physical and all can be supported and encouraged through the use of homeopathic medicine. Some of the key issues for a woman as her pregnancy evolves are outlined below. Remedy suggestions are non-specific because like any other homeopathic case, the right remedy is different for each individual.
Read more…. Healthy Transitions: Pregnancy to Motherhood with Homeopathic Medicine
Photos provided by the author
Madeleine Grace, my posterior-, brow-, left asynclitic-presenting baby, turns two years old next week. After another year of reflection on that life-changing event, I’m more ready than ever to invite healing to my memories of that 70- hour labor and the difficult postpartum that ensued. It took 13 months of sitz baths, heat lamps, obstetrician/gynecologist visits and two trips to a proctologist to heal my jagged third-degree tear and 70+ stitches, but my perineum and anus finally healed. This year, I look forward to continued emotional healing from posttraumatic stress around the anniversary of Madeleine’s birth.
In an excellent but out-of-print book, Stepping Stones to Labor Ward Diagnosis, I read how to determine the obstetric type without doing an internal exam. The author was a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist in Australia in the 1950s and into the 1970s. During that time a link was found between bone cancer in pre-adolescent males and routine x-ray for fetal position, size and pelvic compatibility during the ninth month gestation. (Does this sound familiar for ultrasound exam today?) Further studies on x-ray exposure during pregnancy showed other links to fetal anomalies and led to warnings against such exposure.
Pregnancy should be a time of joy for the expectant mother. However, it’s also a virtually unparalleled period of rapid change in one’s morphology. The stresses placed on a human’s anatomy and physiology result in compensatory altered biomechanics and gait to perform even the most basic activities of daily living. These changes to an individual often result in the onset of a myriad of musculoskeletal issues that can develop during pregnancy. This article details the current explanations of these changes as well as the potential role of chiropractic therapy for the pregnant woman. Read more…. Chiropractic Evaluation and Management of the Pregnant Patient: An Update from Recent Literature
Learn about craniosacral therapy and how it can be used to prevent and health birth trauma. Read more…. Craniosacral Therapy in the Midwifery Model of Care
The happy little secret is that there are doctors throughout the world who either are already practicing in ways congruent with the midwifery model or are eager to learn how. I’m not wringing my hands over how few and far between they are, but rather exalting in the fact that some exist and that they are listening to what the midwifery world can teach them. Their presence doesn’t eclipse what midwives contribute, but enhances the birthing world by giving even more birthing women the opportunity to encounter a professional who will attend them with respect and patience. Besides, who among us couldn’t benefit from consultation with or backup from a supportive doctor?
