Comments for Midwife: Sage Femme, Hebamme, Comadrona, Partera

Comment on third baby syndrome by Amy

Amy — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:45:55 +0000

Hellooooo. Been there, done that. Every bit of it.

It’s so nice to read your thoughts about birth. I miss it.

Amy

Comment on third baby syndrome by Trish

Trish — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:45:21 +0000

That is *so me* right now. It’s a good reminder for me to embrace this new pregnancy for how different it is. I actually brought up the fear of twins at my first midwife appointment the other week. I keep showing my husband my belly and relating how shocked I am that it could be so big at 13 weeks. I’m glad I’m not alone in my neuroses!

Comment on third baby syndrome by LanaTron

LanaTron — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:58:08 +0000

I learned that lesson well with my 4th birth! My biggest fear in that last pregnancy was dealing with the pain of contractions…I was so fearful, that I had panic attacks, even. And in reality I had no problems dealing with my very painful first three labors, so that was quite an irrational fear.

So, in my fourth labor, I had no pain! At all! It was amazing! I didn’t even believe I was in labor, even though my ctx were <5 minutes apart, and the midwife told me she was coming to my house. I felt a lot of discomfort as my pelvis was opening to let baby through, but no actual pain. I was high on the endorphins from that birth for weeks and weeks afterwards. I wish every woman could experience that.

Birth is so amazing.

Comment on Looking for a new apprentice by Twyla

Twyla — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:03:56 +0000

Keep up the good work.

Comment on University Presentation by pampered_mom

pampered_mom — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:38:22 +0000

Ditto what durafemina wrote. My son (not quite 3 yrs old at the time) and I would watch it. Everytime he saw a baby he’d say “baby born”. He would want to watch it over and over again. To this day he still loves to watch it. At the time, as a two be HBAC it was exactly what I needed to see. Thank you for bringing it to mind again…so may fond memories.

Comment on pictures of ovulation by eddy

eddy — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:51:10 +0000

Hmmmm It’s great. All my students in midwifery Academy should know it. thanks.

Comment on University Presentation by Gloria Lemay

Gloria Lemay — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:17:11 +0000

Very nice job on the video, darling Pam. What an interesting topic to speak on, comparing U.S. customs to Japanese. I took a course this a.m. with Marilyn Milos from NOCIRC and one of her Powerpoint slides was a Japanese priest holding a flag that portrayed an intact, erect adult male penis. Marilyn was making the point that in countries where the males are intact, they celebrate and honour the beauty of the penis. I’ve sure never seen a flag like that in N. America.

Love you, Gloria

Comment on the stomach for hospital birth by Sara

Sara — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:12:39 +0000

I appreciate what you wrote, but at the same time frustrated that you see hospital birth and natural or unhindered birth as so completely incompatible. For many women, they do not have a choice whether or not to be in the hospital. I have had complicated pregnancies and delievered my sons prematurely. I was too high-risk to deliver out of the hospital setting.

What I want to get across is that there are some midwives, nurses, and even obs who do go out of their way to make birth in a hospital setting as natural and beautiful as possible. This was not the case with my first birth. Despite the doula, we were bullied into most of the interventions you described in your post.

But with my second, we had a lovely experience. Yes, we had to fill out a lot of paperwork and jump through a lot of hoops, but with the support of an experienced CNM, my son’s birth was amazing. The midwife encouraged me to wait as long as possible to check in to the hospital and then was with me through my entire labor. She taped paper over the lights so it was dark in the bathtub. She played music, brought balls and bean bags and other things to help me get comfortable, let me eat (and puke), let me walk, sleep, dance. She checked me once and then caught our baby without gloves as he almost landed in the toilet. Was it perfect? No. We had to fight battles with the neonatologists, especially after our son was born. But when you have such a negative attitude about hospital birth in general, I feel like it leaves many women stuck. Not everyone can pick a birth center or home birth and for those of us who must make the best of a hospital birth, the right hospital and the right provider can make a world of difference.

Comment on Transitions by Joyce N.

Joyce N. — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:17:52 +0000

Oh, I *adore* ANTM! I’m rooting for Marjorie to win AND fall in love with Analeigh (Marjaleigh forever!)

Comment on hands on birth by Steph

Steph — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:12:38 +0000

Hi-I was just wondering ,as a hands off midwife, what (if anything) you do for compound presentations. Thanks for your blog-I love it!!!!!!! Steph