There are several options for midwifery care in the United States, during preconception, pregnancy, birth and postpartum; and there a variety of routes to becoming a midwife, with different types of education, licensing, and abbreviated titles that seem confusing to the public. Each midwife has her own personality, philosophy, standards, level of experience, and practice guidelines – even within the field of midwifery.
The Birth of Sienna Moon
A birth story doesn’t begin with the first contraction. (It also doesn’t end when the baby emerges, but that’s another day’s story.) To really grasp the scope of a conscious and powerful birth, one must know the history of the mother, especially in the pregnancy. Birth itself is a culmination of events leading up to it, and it is not merely a physical experience. Birth is primal, and spiritual.
Fertility Awareness
Fertility awareness begins with charting your cycle dates and fertility signs and your peak fertile days so you can either conceive or prevent pregnancy, noting what symptoms are normal for you, along with your typical cyclic changes so that you can also be aware of when something is off. So let’s begin learning how to chart our monthly cycle together!
The Birth of Annabelle
Around 6am Christmas morning I got up to pee and discovered traces of blood. When but in the ninth month of pregnancy is blood on the toilet paper a cause for joy? It was like Christmas morning! Wait, it was Christmas morning . . .
I started having contractions, but nothing so heavy that they might not just go away. I told my husband that we’d better get present opening going so we didn’t miss our chance!
The Birth of Ella
This sweet mama had her third baby born at home before the midwife could reach her! As we described in this month’s newsletter, rapid birth isn’t an emergency, it’s an emergence!
At 1:30 a.m. I got up to go to the toilet and ended up sitting there for about 40 minutes with diarrhea. I was a bit suspicious because both Sophia’s and James’s labors began with diarrhea as well, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up since I wasn’t even overdue yet. Soon, I started getting some mild contractions that were coming on every 5 to 8 minutes and lasting between 30 and 60 seconds.