Feelings of Fear

Posted on 3 September, 2013 by Judith Halek

Eyes of Hope stock photo

What do you do when you are sitting alone in your thoughts and all you can do is sit in fear? FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real. Which brings up the question, is what we are feeling fearful about really real? Or are we making up, misinterpreting, projecting from past unhealed experiences something that is not really true and keeps us spiraling in a circle? Another interpretation for FEAR is : Feeling Excited And Ready. When one experiences a ‘healthy’ fear such as the butterflies in the belly before going on stage or giving a speech can be a motivation to push forward into one’s power. Others say it represents: F*%#— Everything And Run! This appears to be the definition most people adopt, consciously and unconsciously in ones life. It’s easier to run away, leave, think, act, do something else which take away the feelings. The truth is, ultimately we can’t get away. Whatever it is will always come back in one form or another to offer the opportunity for growth beyond that which we are fearful about. Abraham Hicks says fear and trust cannot occupy the same space in time. So, we choose, moment to moment, hopefully taking full responsibility in that choice.

Neale Walsch, author of Conversations With God Says: “On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know……that your fears have stopped you before, but they need not stop you now. What’s the worst that can happen? And if that happened, what would happen then? And if that happened, then what? Now…if you give in to your fears, where will that leave you? Right where you are now? And if that’s where you want to be, why is the other option even a little bit exciting to you?”

Eckhart Tolle, Author of The Power of Now, says fear is part of the “pain body.” The “pain body” is “the accumulated emotional pain from the past and an aspect of the egoic sense of Self. It is not always active. There are dormant and active periods. When it is dormant, you can live with yourself and so can others. It is still problematic and you can be a nuisance to yourself and others. Yet, when that sense of Self becomes energized, active, it’s based on the accumulated pain of the past that everyone comes into the world with, genetically, collectively, personally through childhood and into parenthood. Fear, an aspect of the ’pain body’ is a field of alive energy, contracted, temporary life form, that lives in each of us.”

Maryanne Williamson, from the Course of Miracles says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you NOT to be? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us: it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

There is a wonderful book entitled, When Fear Falls Away, The Story of a Sudden Awakening, by Jan Frazier. Jan’s website is: www.whenfearfallsaway.com.

It is known, the fundamental emotion which creates havoc during pregnancy and labor is fear. Fear causes pain in the bodies; physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. The physical body is the grossest and densest of the bodies and the last to receive the information. (Unless you are putting your hand on a hot stove and it will be the FIRST of the bodies to receive the information!) When a woman or partner or birth caregiver is in a state of fear, adrenaline and catecholemines (fight or flight hormones) are being secreted which stop the flow of oxytocin (the love hormone) and endorphines and opiates (pain reducers).

So, when we are sitting in our ‘field of fear,’ is it only our own fear or everyone else’s fear in the collective field? Maybe it’s both, like Tolle says.

Whew…I am breathing it all off to the left. Remembering what I have forgotten which is I am so much more than all of it, including the FEAR.

Welcome Through Heart

Posted on 3 September, 2013 by Judith Halek

There is no more honorable work than assisting a newborn onto the planet. Since 1987 I’ve had the fortune of sharing my talents and skills as a professional Labor Assistant (doula) with parents as they birth their babies. We are ‘Heart Keepers’ as we ‘hold the space’ for semblance and symmetry. When someone in the birth team, (doctors, midwives, nurses, anesthesiologists, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, friends) become out of resonance with the core couple (mom/partner and baby), it’s up to the doula to help bring back the energy through communication, compromise and breath. I help the couple to look at their options and encourage them to make the final decisions. As a Heart Keeper doula, I am required to be patient, release my ego, calmly and quietly redirect the mother and/or partner into their bodies, breath and connection to their baby. “Doula” is a Greek word meaning, “woman assistant.” In Zulu, the word, “Dula” means “To Be.”

And now, in the Spring of 2011, I experience many individuals sharing their gifts and talents as the global heart awakens to a new potential human, like the newborn, reflecting the possibility of their greatest good. The planet is in a chrysalis state, moving out of the old paradigm of the caterpillar to the ultimate expression of the butterfly.

As a baby begins with the union of seed from father and egg from mother, new life emerges and forms in the aquatic chrysalis within the mother’s womb. The heart, the first organ to develop in the fetus, begins beating at 3 weeks and one day from fertilization. Here’s a cryptic play on the word EARTH: take the H and place it in front of the E and the new word is HEART. We are born onto a ‘heart planet’.

The latest Heart Coherence studies are discovering the heart has it’s own nervous system more powerful than the brain/spine nervous system. Scientists have measured and proven we have an emotional response before a thought. The emotions are indicators as to what we think, good or bad. Further studies show when a subject is looking at a series of images flashed before their eyes, there is an anticipated, precognitive feeling of the next image within seconds before it is flashed in front of them.

Is this science fiction, or the ability to measure that which has always been within us? These are exciting times we live in. How do you share through the heart?

The Truth About Motherhood – Oprah 4/6/09

Posted on 3 September, 2013 by Judith Halek

Times have changed. My mother raised 5 children in the 1950′s, without a nanny, cook, housecleaner, or babysitter. When she was pregnant with me, she had 3 toddlers under the age of 5. Tired? There wasn’t a WORD for it according to my mother. She sat down one day at the table in the middle of the day with her mother and just started crying. Her mother was shocked, “What’s the matter?” My mother released, “Oh, I guess I am just tired, it all seems so overwhelming!” Of course my stoic grandmother came out with, “You dry up those tears. You have nothing to cry about. You have a house over your head, food on the table, a husband who doesn’t drink and run around with other women. You have nothing to cry about.” Ah yes, yet ANOTHER level of suppression.

Here we are in 2009, with programs allowing “voices to be heard.” My question is, by expressing one’s experience and focusing on the negative can this potentially keep people in the negative? Or is it therapeutic to ‘get it out’ and not keep it trapped in the body? I understand the rationalization of the expression is to ‘release’ the tension, ‘be heard,’ ‘allow one to vent,’ in order to move on. Yet on this particular show, “The Truth About Motherhood,” while there were funny moments throughout and interesting concepts to ponder, I wonder if we are setting up the women to get ready for the dysfunction before it might not happen?

Because I have not bore or raised children, most would say I am not one to even have an opinion. For the past 22 years I’ve counseled, assisted and helped over 1,100 babies come into the world. I speak not as your average woman without child. I am empathetic and have always encouraged my clients, friends and family members to ‘express themselves’ in order to release and move on. I don’t lie about the realities of ‘lack of sleep,’ needing to take care of oneself amidst the demands of the baby and/or their partner. I encourage coping tools, humor, support and expression to counter the extraordinary demands in this high paced society we live in today.

“The Truth About Motherhood” : Monday, April 6, 2009. http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090311-tows-mom-truth

Longtime friends Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile set out on the motherhood journey together. They had perfect plans—Amy would stay at work after kids; Trisha would have three children, set exactly two years apart. But, like so many best-laid plans, things didn’t work out like they thought. Motherhood, they say, was more overwhelming than they expected. “It was like a bomb hit us,” Amy says. “I didn’t feel I had permission to talk about how hard motherhood really was.” Eventually, Trisha and Amy say they reached their breaking point, and they set out to see if other mothers shared their struggles. After interviewing hundreds of women, they say they’ve heard all the dirty little secrets of motherhood. Their first book, “I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids,” was based on their findings.

One of the most poignant messages on the program that day from a, ‘Stay At Home Mom:”

Dee-Dee is currently a stay-at-home mom, but she was a working mother once too. “The competition is there because we create it for ourselves,” she says. “There’s really no reason to compete, because [stay-at-home moms] are just as busy as the working mom. The working mom is just as busy as we are. We just tend to sometimes put the focus on the wrong things. We’re all busy 24/7. I consider myself an at-home working mother.” Amy says these wars arise out of our own uncertainties as mothers. “We’re insecure about the choices we’re making—that’s why we’re judging each other,” she says. “We need to give ourselves a collective break.”

That is right everyone needs to give themselves a ‘collective break.’ People don’t these days, the ego runs rampant. The oxygen mask goes on the mother last and unfortunately everyone around her as well as herself is dead because she didn’t put it on herself FIRST. So often women have lost themselves and their relationship with their partner, in the details of everyday life. Family and children come first, work next, life next, maybe partner and then themselves. The last and most exhausted part of who they are. And so these women get sick. All the time they think they are being “strong” because they are able to “do it all.” This is not a reflection of strength, it is weakness.

Kids need to see that you are ‘real.’ One mother’s response to that realness was:

Now that Karen has learned the ropes of motherhood, she’s got some tricks she’s willing to share. “I think the best way to discipline is for your kid to think that you’re just a little bit crazy,” she says. “You’ve got to make them think that this might be the moment that Mom finally loses it.” Karen says she came up with her new method when she once threatened to take away all of her daughter’s toys. “Of course she didn’t believe me, so she [misbehaved] again and I didn’t even yell. … I went in and cleaned out her room. There wasn’t so much as a Lego left,” she says. A day later, Karen put the toys back, but she says those 24 hours did the trick. “Now, all I have to do is get that sort of wild I’m-gonna-take-all-your-toys-away look in my eye, and she straightens up.”

Of course motherhood, with the baby on the outside, creates lessons of surrender:

Melinda Roberts, a mom of three, says she had to learn on her own that motherhood is like a 12-step program. “You’ve got to take it one day at a time sometimes,” she says. “You feel like: ‘If I can get out of bed and get breakfast on the table, I’ll be happy. If I can get them to school, I’ll be happy.’”One major motherhood realization that Melinda says she had with her first child was that she could no longer control everything in her life. “You can no longer choose your activities, your down time, when you get to sleep,” she says. “No matter what you do or where you go, you’re always tethered to this other human being in this unbreakable, incredibly fragile way. Anything you do will affect this child potentially for the rest of their life.”

No program would be complete with out discussion of “Is there Sex after babies?”

One popular topic on Heather’s blog (http://www.dooce.com) is sex and how it changes when you are a mom. “It took seven months [before I had sex after giving birth]. No one had told me that it was going to take that long after what the baby did to me,” Heather says. “Any guy who wants to have unprotected sex? Seven months without it. Just think about that for a minute. Let that number circulate in your head for a little bit.” Karen says the definition of intimacy has changed for her marriage since her child was born. “Intimacy in our house nowadays is my husband and I touching ankles below my daughter’s sleeping form between us,” she says. “It’s really hard to get that loving feeling when you’ve got a 40-pound kid between you.”

No wrong or right, good or bad, a forum for reflection, discussion and support. Where do you stand in YOUR truth about motherhood?

Water Birth Anyone?

Posted on 3 September, 2013 by Judith Halek

So you’ve decided to have a water birth…have you asked crucial questions about this choice? Are you willing to let go of the possibly of birthing your baby in water? Are you willing to let go of the fact you may or not even want to be in water during the labor or birth? Would you be open to actually listening to your body and your baby moment to moment and if the insight moves you to ‘get out of the tub’ at the moment of the birth, would you be willing to listen to that? What if you’ve been in the water for over four hours and it’s time to get out, and you don’t want to?

Becoming attached to outcomes is the greatest saboteur. Whether it’s deciding to have an epidural or birth your baby in a tub of water, let it go and see what happens. It’s a great lesson to relinquish the ego and trust whatever unfolds to the highest good of you and your baby. Now, this doesn’t mean you don’t rent the tub, do a trial set up and follow through with your plans. It’s about keeping things in perspective and releasing the attachments.

After teaching childbirth education for the last 22 years, I advise people to keep options and possibilities open; from having a baby in the kitchen 1/2 hour after the membranes rupture to ending up with a cesarean section. Labor is a mystery. Being aware of thoughts and emotions each moment keeps one tuned in and tapped into the intuitive reservoir of information and hormones. Choices become effortless, clarity prevails and mothers and babies move through the ancient rite of passage called birth with less resistance and releasing control.

Because this planet, our bodies and babies are predominantly water, most people have an affinity to be in water. Whether it’s a shower or bath, the experience of water, absence of gravity, brings a sense of softness, openness, pliability to the skin, bones, ligaments and tendons, not only in the mother, also in the baby.

So, enjoy the stories, the research, the photographs in this website and dream of welcoming your baby into the world with a sense of connection, ease and love.

If you would like to see some videos on waterbirth from the Birth Balance Website, go to:

http://www.birthbalance.com/videos/waterbirth.asp

The Photograph- Hand From The Womb

Posted on 3 September, 2013 by Judith Halek

Please read before viewing picture – it’s worth it!

A picture began circulating in November. It should be ‘The Picture of the Year,’ or perhaps, ‘Picture of the Decade.’ It won’t be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother’s womb. Little Samuel’s mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner’s remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon’s finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, ‘Hand of Hope.’ The text explaining the picture begins, “The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother’s uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.”

Little Samuel’s mother said they “wept for days” when they saw the picture. She said, “The photo reminds us pregnancy isn’t about disability or an illness, it’s about a little person.” Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful. Now see the actual picture.

Don’t tell me our God isn’t an awesome God!!!!!

Samuel Alexander Armas, Picture of the Year, Hand of Hope

The Future of Our Children

Posted on 3 September, 2013 by Judith Halek

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TO ALL WHO “SURVIVED” THE 1950′s, 60′s and 70′s…

Jay Leno, Television Talk Show Host

(February 2009)

We were born to mothers who smoked and drank while they were pregnant. They also took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and they didn’t get tested for diabetes. We were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors of cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we wore baseball caps and not helmets on our heads. We rode in cars with no infant car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, and riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm sunny day was a sumertime treat for every kid and teenager and family dog.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one died from it. We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and things cooked with bacon grease. We drank Kool-Aid made with real sugar and rarely ever were any of us overweight. Why? Because we were always outside playing… that’s why! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back by the time the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day and we were O.K.!

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, got a few broke bones, and there were no lawsuits from these incidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out everyone’s eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that! And the idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law- and the law actually sided with the PARENTS.

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors in history. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with ALL of it. If you are one of the lucky ones who were fortunate enough to grow up in America BEFORE the lawyers and the government regulated childhood out of existence, congratulations! Try not to cry today when you look at your grandchild’s smiling sweet face, try not to think of what a pittiful excuse for a childhood they’re going to have compared to yours. Cry when you think of THEIR children.

“With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe storms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?”

The Birth of the Blog

Posted on 3 September, 2013 by Judith Halek

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January 20, 2009: A day of hope, tears, change, inspiration, humility, new found freedom and possibilities of something different, than what has been before. What better day to begin my blog, my dreams, my rockets of desire for change within each woman and partner preparing to carry a child, change within each woman and partner carrying a child, change within each and every medical and/or birth caregiver. Changes that release the fear, embrace the trust and create the opportunity for redefining childbirth. We can choose a different history. We can plant healthier seeds. A mutual investment of energy, understanding and knowledge, by starting with ourselves.

What are we feeling? What are we thinking? What are we saying? Most importantly what are we DOING with those thoughts, words and feelings, moment to moment? Everything carries energy and emits a frequency. How will we step into the future to inspire the world with each and every child’s potential whether in uetero or out? We must work together in this time of awakening toward a better age. Emotions birthed by the sacrifices of those who came before, teach us there CAN be another way. How?

Through taping into human energy potential and available resources inside and outside each and every one of us. May we realize it is not one person who will make the change. It is the change that has been sparked in each one of us to do it better and collectively ripple out to the planet. We are indeed experiencing a shift of consciousness.

How will you ride the wave?

Placenta Medicine- The Tree of Life

Posted on 3 September, 2013 by Judith Halek

So why would one want to do anything with a placenta other than grow a baby in one and discard it after the birth? That’s a question I get far too often when I bring up the possibility of doing something with the placenta after the birth.

Some people plant trees or bushes over it, other’s bury it in a garden to enrich the soil and celebrate the new life given to them. It is a dedication of the placenta back to the earth in honor of the child coming into their lives. A year later, a tree, flower, bush is planted in the same spot to allow the placenta to nourish it’s growth. The waiting of a year is to assure the growth or a new seedling because the nutrient rich placenta can potentially kill anything planted before a year. There are what reader Judy Pfeifer calls “birthing bushes” across the city: flowering yews, almond trees, lilies, camellias, raspberry canes and tomatoes. Roses are popular bushes to plant atop a child’s placenta – and they flourish, I’m told. Magnolias, not so.

Actor Matthew McConaughey brought this ritual into news when he announced he planned to plant the placenta of his son, Levi, in an orchard. If you are planning to plant the placenta, you can freeze it until you are ready to plant. After a year in the ground, the placenta breaks down in the soil and delivers nutrients that will produce a beautiful tree, bush or flower. You can even put together a ‘placenta planting party’ and turn the event into a big celebration honoring your child on their first birthday. A tender suggestion from Loreen Lee: “I think this calls for a garden burial, then above the spot a sandbox and playhouse with a little plaque, `Noah’s place – enter here.’” Jeanne Mott’s grandsons’ placentas are planted beneath trees that bear flowers and berries in spring, she writes, and a tree with heart-shaped leaves that turns rich shades of golden-orange for her October-born granddaughter. “(The children) all refer to the trees as `my tree,’ and it has become part of their personal identity in their yard, cementing their sense of place perhaps. Just a little thing, but rather sweet.”

To make a placenta print, you take a piece of watercolor paper and lay the placenta on it, along with the cord attached. Let it dry and then choose paints to add color to the piece. Hang it in a boxed frame because the ‘ink’ is a blood born base and it protects the art as well as others being exposed to the material, or store the piece for safekeeping. I was at a birth recently for twins where they were NOT allowed to remove the placentas from the hospital, so I brought in 4 large pieces of art paper and when most of the staff had left the OR (operating room), the head nurse allowed me to make some placenta art for the parents to take home. They had a vaginal birth with the twins! This placenta print here is by Patience of Art of Patience. You may see her other work at: http://artofpatience.ourprairie.net

Still, placentophagy, eating a placenta cooked or not cooked, isn’t something recently dreamed up by crunchy granola types — it’s been going on in many parts of the world for centuries:

In parts of Indonesia, the Czech Republic and Morocco, new mothers once believed eating the placenta guarantees future fertility.
Once women in Hungary had tired of the whole child-bearing business, they believed that by burning the placenta and placing the ashes in their husband’s drink, he’d soon be shooting blanks.

The German word for placenta is Mutterkucken and the Dutch word for it is Moederkoek. Both words mean “mother-cake.”

Among the Hmong culture of Southeast Asia, the word for placenta can be translated as “jacket,” as it’s considered an infant’s first and finest clothing. The Hmong bury the placenta outside. They believe that after death, the soul must retrace the journeys undertaken in life until it reaches the burial place of its placenta jacket.

Buddhists liken the unfolding of the lotus petals to the unfolding of the divine within the human self. The closed bloom represents the heart with its infinite potential for enlightenment. The open blossom represents the enlightened self. Lotus jewelry is a cherished keepsake for the new mother after a lotus birth.

Among the Navajo Indians of the Southwest, it’s customary to bury a child’s placenta within the sacred Four Corners of the tribe’s reservation as a binder to ancestral land and people. New Zealand’s Maoris have the same tradition of burying the placenta within native soil. In their native language, the word for land and placenta are the same: whenua.

The indigenous Bolivian Aymara and Quecha people believe the placenta has its own spirit. It is to be washed and buried by the husband in a secret and shady place. If this ritual is not performed correctly, they believe, the mother or baby may become very sick or even die.

The Ibo of Nigeria and Ghana treat the placenta as the dead twin of the live child and give it full burial rites.

Filipina mothers are known to bury the placenta with books, in hopes of a smart child.

Other cultures place a symbol of their people with the placenta when burying it, as a kind of heritage insurance.

Gossip blogs have said Eva Longoria keeps her baby face by using EMK Placental Face Cream, an $85 product which uses placenta protein extract. Tribes in the Ural Mountains in Russia thought of the placenta as a caretaker for the child — and as such, it deserved a warm welcome. Along with carefully knitted clothes for the infant, they’d create a tiny shirt for the placenta. Some Maori women in New Zealand believe the afterbirth must be buried immediately, and that disposing it in any other way will harm the child.

One group of Siberian people believed when the baby laughed in its sleep, it was because the soul of the placenta had visited it. In parts of Norway, mothers would stab the placenta with a knife, believing it was a horrible monster that must be killed.

“It’s an organ. So, just like any organ meat, if it wasn’t kept well — if it wasn’t frozen or kept at a cool temperature — you have a danger of bacteria or something growing,” Schorn says. “But there’s nothing inherent about placenta that would make it more dangerous than any other meat.”

There are recipes for cooking placentas such as, placenta stew, placenta lasagna, power drinks and others. Some choose to eat the placenta raw. Consumption of uncooked human placenta carries risks associated with other human blood products. There is the risk of hepatitis B,C, and HIV infection. If you eat your own placenta, it does not carry these risks. There are many reasons for eating the placenta after a birth. It helps the womb to contract. Many animals eat their own placenta as a means to hide the scent from predators.

The placenta is a living organ, filled with natural oxytocins, attached to the mother’s womb where it draws nourishment and oxygen from the mother and delivers it to the baby via the umbilical cord. The placenta joins the mother to the baby and the baby to the mother. It is truly the baby’s “life support” system during the pregnancy. It is about 1/6th of the baby’s weight. It acts as an endocrine gland, producing estrogen, progesterone and gonadotrophin. The womb and the placenta have a fine membrane separating them. Surprisingly, the blood of the mother and the baby do not mix.

Placentas have a life and mind of their own, connected energetically and physically to the mind of the baby and the mother. Sometimes the placentas register in the womb in an anterior or posterior, low lying (placenta previa) or high lying position. If the placenta is low-lying, near the cervix, there is an imagery exercise one can do to help “raise up the placenta” so a vaginal birth is possible. Placentas can also be attached too deeply into the womb wall, (placenta accrete) which might cause problems with the removal after the birth of the baby. Imagery can be helpful here as well.

Preparing the placenta for consumption by mothers is considered traditional among Vietnamese and Chinese people. The Chinese believe a nursing mother should boil the placenta, make a broth, then drink it to improve her milk. Traditional Chinese Medicine consider the placenta a powerful and sacred medicine full of life force, Qi. Chinese women thought a bite of dried placenta would speed up labor. They make medicinal capsules and/or herbal – homeopathic tinctures out of it. Some consider it cannibalism, others find it extremely helpful to ward off ‘baby blues’ experienced in about 80% of women in the first few days or weeks after the birth. Some situations become more severe and post partum depression, (PPD) may evolve. The placenta medicine has been known to; ward off both the blues and PPD, shorten the post bleeding time, restore lost hormones, nourish the blood, replenish depleted iron, reduce the overall recovery time from labor and birth for baby and mother after the birth, increase energy, boost the immune systems and enhance milk production. Placentophagy, or consumption of the placenta has been around for centuries.

The Science of Placenta Medicine (from www.placentabakery.com)

The known ingredients that give the placenta its healing properties are:

Gonadotrophin: the precursor to estrogen, progesterone and testosterone,

Prolactin: promotes lactation,

Oxytocin: for pain and bonding; produced during breastfeeding to facilitate bonding of mother and infant. In pharmaceutical form this is a very addictive drug because it promotes a feeling of connectedness with others,

Thyroid stimulating hormone: boosts energy and helps recovery from stressful events,

Cortisone: combats stress and unlocks energy stores,

Interferon: stimulates the immune system to protect against infections,

Prostaglandins: anti-inflammatory,

Hemoglobin: replenishes iron deficiency and anemia, a common postpartum condition,

Urokinase inhibiting factor and factor XIII: stops bleeding and enhances wound healing,

Gammaglobulin: immune booster that helps protect against postpartum infections.

So, as you can see, the placenta is full of feel-good hormones and healing chemicals,

Clinical Research: (from www.placentabakery.com)

“It has been shown that the feeding of desiccated placenta to women during the first eleven days after parturition causes an increase in the protein and lactose percent of the milk… All the mothers were receiving the same diet, and to the second set 0.6mg of desiccated placenta was fed three times a day throughout the period. Certain definite differences in the progress of growth of the two sets of infants are to be observed. It is evident that the recovery from the postnatal decline in weight is hastened by the consumption of milk produced under the influence of maternally ingested placenta.” McNeile, Lyle G. 1918. The American journal of obstetrics and diseases of women and children, 77. W.A. Townsend & Adams, original press: University of Michigan.

Powdered Placenta Hominis was used for 57 cases of insufficient lactation. Within 4 days, 48 women had markedly increased milk production, with the remainder following suit over the next three days.” Bensky/Gamble. 1997. Materia Medica, Eastland Press, 549.

“All patients were given desiccated placenta prepared as previously described (C.A. II, 2492) in doses of 10 grains in a capsule 3 times a day. Only those mothers were chosen for the study whose parturition was normal and only the weights of those infants were recorded whose soul source of nourishment was mothers milk. The growth of 177 infants was studied. The rate of growth is increased by the ingestion of placenta by the mother… the maternal ingestion of dried placenta tissue so stimulates the tissues of the infants feeding on the milk produced during this time, that unit weight is able to add on greater increments of matter, from day to day, than can unit weight of infants feeding on milk from mothers not ingesting this substance.” Hammett, Frederick. S. 1918. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 36. American Society of Biological Chemists, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, original press: Harvard University.

“Giving…placenta to a new mother following birth has become standard protocol among a growing number of midwives in the United States. By nourishing the blood and fluids, endocrine glands and organs, Placenta will …reduce or stop postpartum bleeding, speed up recovery, boost energy and relieve postpartum blues.” Homes, Peter. 1993. Jade Remedies, Snow Lotus Press, 352.

This is the LONGEST umbilical cord I have seen in my 23 year career: 38.5 inches long. Normal is: 20ish”

Then, there’s the not-so-ceremonial use of it, the commercial use of “placenta extract” found in some cosmetics, such as facial cream sold in France. In 1994, Britain banned the practice of collecting placentas in hospitals from unsuspecting mothers, after it was learned that 360 tons of it were annually being bought and shipped by French pharmaceutical firms. They used it to make a protein, albumin, for burns and to make enzymes to treat rare genetic disorders. Did you know that many beauty products contain placenta? (Jodome Organic Placenta Soap)

Freezing the placenta is not suggested unless it is for a short period of time. (up to 3 months) If you do freeze your placenta, it is best to double zip-lock it in gallon sized bags with all the excess air squeezed out within an hour or so of the birth. Refrigeration for any ‘length’ of time will result in ‘spoiled meat’ and the placenta will not be viable. If you are having your baby in the hospital you must speak with your medical caregiver ahead of time, before the labor and birth about taking it home with you. Most hospitals have a protocol to bring your placenta to pathology, keep it for five or more days and then discard it. It will not be refridgerated and probably put in formaldihyde. You must not use the placenta at this point. Make special arrangements with the hospital staff to either release it right away or have it immediately frozen rather than refrigerated if they insist on keeping it for a period of time. Legally the placenta is your property. They may require you to sign forms upon admission regarding the after birth. You may just write, “I do not consent” on the form.

It must be in your birth plan at the time to delay cord clamping and cutting until the cord has totally stopped pulsing. Early cord clamping leaves the placenta engorged with blood and the baby is deprived of up to half of their blood volume and vital stem cells.

So what is the proper way to prepare an encapsulation of the placenta? Every website will explain it a little differently. It is best to encapsulate within 2-3 days after the birth. I find when I steam the placenta before I dry it, there are fewer pills than when I just rinse the placenta with cold water, cut it into thin slices and dehydrate it. The ‘energy’ put into the preparation will go into the capsules, so healing prayers, music and laughter is best when preparing the medicine. One can pay someone to do the procedure, which can take from 12-18 hours to do, or research and do it yourself. I can get between 130-250 pills per placenta. If I do not make an herbal tincture with part of the placenta and the sheath or sacs, I can get more pills. Contrary to what many people say, I actually DRY the amniotic sacs and pulverize with the rest of the placenta parts. I also add a bit of dried lemon grass, echinacea and garlic to help boost the immune system to the mother and the baby. Lemon grass treats problems with digestive systems and is useful for relieving muscle spasms. It also balances the nervous system and provides a gentle boost when exhausted. Echinacea stimulates the immune system and promotes T-cell activation. It helps white blood cells attack germs. Garlic is well known as the “wonder drug” for boosting the immune system. By adding a small amount of each of these herbs to the capsules, the color of the pills may change from a darkish black to a lighter brown.

After the capsules are made they suggest a postpartum course of 2 capsules at a time with white wine. The wine is suppose to disperse the energy of the placenta throughout the body. This dosage can be taken up to 3 times a day until the mother feels balanced out. The remaining medicine can be taken homeopathically for the times when one’s child may be undergoing separation anxiety, or first steps, weaning a baby, etc.

I also make herbal ‘tinctures’ with different parts of the placenta. I gestate the parts for 6 weeks in one hundred proof vodka in a glass jar. I put the name of the mother/baby and birthdate on the outside of the glass jar along with a particular word that will carry the vibration the mother would like to infuse in the medicine. Afterward I drain out the excess birth matter and give the client a quart jar of pure mother placenta tincture. She can put 10 drops in a small amount of water and drink it during the times of transition for her baby or herself after the capsules are finished. This becomes a remedy for her and the family for many years. If one chooses to break down the mixture 10, 20, 30 times, etc., in a mixture of 80% distilled water and 20% alcohol, they can have a homeopathic remedy for the rest of their lives!

Jeanine Parvati-Baker, a shamanistic midwife, taught me to cut the umbilical cord from the placenta, lay it out flat on a piece of wax paper overnight to dry and in the morning, roll the cord partially dried into a circle and let dry completely. Then I put the cord, a placenta capsule and some sage leaves into a small animal skin medicine bag I have made by a woman in Florida: Charlotte Litton Bryant, charlo721@yahoo.com /Email. I encourage the parents to take the cord out each year, take a photo of it and observe how it changes as it dries every year. Jeanine would do a ‘reading’ each year for her children, just by looking at the changes in the cord.

There is a wonderful book called, “Placenta: The Gift of LIfe,” by Cornelia Enning. The book covers the rituals from around the world, and the historical use of placenta remedies used throughout the ages. There are recipes for ointments, essences and other remedies. This is a groundbreaking book and the only guide to using placenta currently on the market. To order go to: http://www.midwiferytoday.com/merchant2/merchant.mv? Store_Code=MT&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MB01

Another book about placenta medicine hot off the press: ”The Natural Healing Power of the Placenta” by midwife, Jenny West, LM, CPM. You may reach her to order a copy at: 505- 294-4359 or info@tubsntea.com or http://www.albuquerquehomebirth.com/contactJenny.htm

The placenta is a rich source of blood stem cells. ”Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report a surprising finding about embryonic development: the blood system begins to form not only in the embryo itself, but also in the placenta, the organ that nurtures the baby in utero.” To read more, go to: http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news/Placenta-Is-A-Rich-Source-Of-Blood-Stem-Cells-178-1/

Discarded placentas deliver researchers promising cells similar to embryonic stem cells. ”Routinely discarded as medical waste, placental tissue could feasibly provide an abundant source of cells with the same potential to treat diseases and regenerate tissues as their more controversial counterparts, embryonic stem cells, suggests a University of Pittsburgh study to be published in the journal Stem Cells and available now as an early online publication in Stem Cells Express.” To read more, go to:http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news/Discarded-placentas-deliver-researchers-promising-cells-similar-to-embryonic-stem-cells-1575-1/

This is an article put out by Search Time.com, partners with CNN on Friday, July 3, 2009. It’s entitled, “Afterbirth: It’s What’s For Dinner” By Joel Stein, an LA journalist. A professional placenta chef comes to Stein’s home to prepare his wife’s placenta into pills. There is a video included in the article: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1908194,00.html

A wonderful site to gather information and possibly order your own kit to encapsulate your placenta is: Placenta Benefits.info with Jodi Selander. There is an article in The Compleat Mother, Issue Number 87, 2008, $3, “Placenta For Postpartum Wellness,” by Jodi Selander, North Las Vegas, Nevada. To get a back copy of the issue: contact: Jodi McLaughlin, editor of The Compleat Mother at Jody@minot.com. If you would like to download the article from a URL, please go to:http://www.compleatmother.com/pdf/no.87-Fall’07.pdf. The download will take about 15 seconds with a fast connection and longer with a slower connection.

Check out the following video by Dr. Stuart Fischbein: Delayed Cord Clamping:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-WWCOzkSe85M/dr_stuart_fischbein_delayed_cord_clamping/

British designer Alex Green had grander ambitions – he made a teddy bear out of one, which has caused a stir in England, where it’s still on display in art galleries. His point was to provoke thought about Western society’s disdain for an organ that sustains life. “I was trying to give the placenta a bit of PR,” he says. The name of the article about this is: “Placenta Teddy Bears, Meals Sier Debate, Revulsion. Inventive Uses for the Afterbirth Include Placenta Pill, Objects, Trees.” By Lauren Cox, ABC News Medical Unit, November 10, 2009:http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/placenta-teddy-bear-turns-heads/Story?id=9043347&page=1

MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE PLACENTA CONTROVERSY:

Placenta pizza? Some new moms try old rituals, By Melissa Dahl MSNBChttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22087790/

Ingesting the placenta: Is it healthy for new moms? By Steve Friess http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-07-18-placenta-ingestion_N.htm

Afterbirth: It’s What’s For Dinner, By Joel Stein Timehttp://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1908194,00.html

New Moms Pop Placenta Pills, By Valerie Hauch, The Toronto Star, May 5, 2011 http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/article/985974–new-moms-pop-placenta-pills

Placenta Pill Makers Turn Afterbirth Into Nutritional Supplement For New Moms, By Michale McLaughlin, Huffington Post, Weird News, December 2, 2011 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/20/placenta-pill-maker-nutritional-supplement_n_886420.html

Placenta Encapsulation – CTV National News, August 7, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBfhXMKdREY&feature=youtu.be

The Rise of the Afterbirth Empire: Placenta Eating Gains Traction, Huffington Post, Video, Posted 08/23/11 and updated 10/24/11 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/23/placenta-its-whats-for-dinner_n_934141.html?ir=Parents

Encapsulation Brooklyn – Placenta Eating in NYC, Brooklyn Mamas Netowrk, August 26, 2011 http://brooklyn.mamasnetwork.com/baby/encapsulating-brookyln-placenta-eating-in-nyc/

Placenta’s Hidden Health Benefits. Placenta Stew Anyone? By Mummy Buzz with The Ummy Mummy Club, August 24, 2011 http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/placentas-hidden-health-benefits

Placenta Pills To Beat Baby Blues? Women Say Consuming Placenta Helps in Postpartum Recovery, with ABC 7 News, TheDenverChannel.com, Ana Cabreara, Posted, August 2, 2011, updated August 5, 2011 http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/28738890/detail.html

Hospitals May Ban This… Find Out Why Every Woman Really Needs And Is Entitled To Her Placenta After Birthing, Health and Fitness Magazine, August 2011 Edition.http://issuu.com/healthfitness.us/docs/h_fm_august_2011_lr/26

Would You Eat Your Placenta? Anderson Cooper, Wednesday, September 21, 2011 http://www.andersoncooper.com/2011/09/21/placenta/#c2366

Placenta Pill For Baby Blues, CTV News Calgary, October 25, 2011, http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111025/CGY_placenta_encapsulation_111025/20111025/?hub=CalgaryHome

The concept of a many-branched tree illustrates the idea that all life on earth is related to science, religion, philosophy, mythology and other areas. A tree of life is a mystical concept alluding to the interconnectedness of all life, a metaphor for common descent in the evolutionary sense and a motif in world theologies, mythologies and philosophies.

The tree of life is a powerful, life affirming symbol in almost every culture. With the branches reaching out towards the sky, roots embedded deeply in the earth, it dwells in three worlds: heaven, earth and underworld. It unites above and below. It symbolizes wholesome truth, stability and nobleness. When you are in need of stability and strength, imagine the tree of life.

Nature knows how without even thinking about it. From ‘mother’s milk’ to the ‘tree of life,’ both nourishing the baby inside and out. Can we ever marvel enough at it’s wonders and perfect design?

Disclaimer
The information on this page has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The services I offer are not clinical, pharmaceutical, or intended to diagnose or treat any condition. Families who choose to utilize the services on this page take full responsibility for researching and using the remedies.