My Reflections On Labor And Birth

Posted on 25 October, 2013 by Judith Halek

By Judith Elaine Halek

Photos and Article Copyright @ 2000 Judith Elaine Halek

I was sitting at a dinner table with a group of women in their late thirties and forties. I, myself, am in my early forty’s, not married, been working in the birth modalities for the past twelve years and at present, am not seeing anyone in particular. I commented, “I don’t think it’s in the cards for me to have a baby this lifetime.””Really!” exclaimed a couple of the women. “How old are you?” inquired one woman. “Close to my mid forties.” I responded. “Oh, that won’t be a problem,” she said matter of factly, “You can always do invitro, or donor insemination.” I looked at her and then to other women around the table as all eyes were set on my response. I was surprised and disappointed that conception has become a casual ‘technocratic procedure’ in the minds of the public. I began to explain IVF and donor insemination requires massive douses of antibiotics, a large bank account, arranging one’s work schedule around clinic visits, undergoing countless invasive, often painful, always emotionally charged procedures, all for the chance that I might be the one of ten to be blessed with the news of a cyborg conception. Please understand, I am not judging anyone who chooses this path of conception. It is not my preference of choice and thank goodness, we still have a choice.

Or do we? When I reflect back on my experiences the past twelve years as a labor support specialist, childbirth educator, birth counselor, massage therapist, yoga instructor I’ve found far too many women who did not exercise their options of choice and gave their power away to the medical caregivers, especially in hospitals. After attending over 100 births in hospitals, birth centers and homes, I have had the opportunity to experience a variety of possibilities. It is my vision, that all labor and delivery nurses and obstetricians witness 30 home births or birth center births as part of their medical training.

I remember at one hospital, a nurse commented, “Having a baby at home is one of the most dangerous experiences a mother could put her baby and herself through.” I asked if she had ever attended a home birth, or studied the statistics of home birth practices. She admitted she had not attended a one or knew anything about recent studies on home birthwith midwife practices. I asked her, as I’ve asked many people who make blanket statements without any information to back up their claims, “How can you make such a definitive comment when you’ve not any experience with what you are judging?”

It’s rather ironic that we in our intellectual aspects, read, watch videos, attend classes, surf the internet, express our gathering feminine nature, becoming an ‘informed consumer’, yet when it all comes down to the real deal, one of my favorite mentors, Dr. Michel Odent states, “Forget the books, tapes, videos. Go to a quiet, dark place, private and safe, trust the process, surrender to your bodies and have your babies.”

I believe women have forgotten how to birth, trust, listen, go deep inside and communicate with their bodies and their babies. I also believe women can remember.

What are the choices, options, for non-technocratic pregnancies, labors and births? I have treeoflife been an advocate of midwifery for the past 12 years. After researching international statistical outcomes regarding midwifery vs. obstetrical care, midwives have far exceeded the lower infant mortality rates, fewer medical interventions and higher results in more empowering births.

Having a baby with an obstetrition in a hospital? Create a birth plan, a “guide line,” toward the ideal birth you would like to create. Birth plans are generally discussed in your childbirth classes. Look in various childbirth books early on in your pregnancy and begin to educated yourself. A few favorites are, “The Birth Book” by Sears and Sears, MD, “The Complete Book for Pregnancy and Childbirth,” by Sheila Kitzinger and “New Active Birth, a Complete Guide to Natural Childbirth,” by Janet Balaskas. To find out about midwifery based practices in your area, call American College of Nurse Midwives, (ACNM,): 202-728-9860 (general number), 1-888-643-9433, (toll free locator number). Or contact Midwives Alliance of North America, (MANA): 1-888-923-6262.

Bring questions to your medical caregivers, be attentive how they respond. If you experience not being heard or rushed through prenatal visits, go over in your mind and with your partner why you don’t feel supported. If you do your work early on, talking further or switching medical caregivers will not be as problematic.

Over and over I have encouraged women to trust your highly sensitized instincts, do research and own this birth. This labor and birth will only happen once and it’s vital to be with people you feel safe, listened to and trust. I believe, the only way change will take place among the obstetrical practices is through the public. By asking for what you deserve, you educate and introduce the medical profession to another possibility.

Another alternative is a labor support doula. A ‘doula’ is a Greek word for ‘woman assistant.’ She meets with a couple and gathers information prentally. She’s on call before and after the due date, attending to the parents needs during early and later stages of labor and birth, following up with a post-natal visit after the birth. Doulas have statistically proven to lower cesarean sections by 50%, length of labor down 25%, oxytocin use, down 40%, pain medications (narcotics) down 30%, forceps down 30%, and epidurals down 60%. A labor doula is by no means to replace the partner of the mother. No one can replace the relationship or connection of a woman’s partner. The doula helps to relieve the pressure and enhance the experience.

Since 1993, when Doulas of North America, (DONA,) began a certification program there are now over 8,000 certified. For referrals call, 206-324-5440. Book referrals for becoming a doula: “The Birth Partner,” by Penny Simkin, PT, “Mothering The Mother,” by M. Klaus, MD , J. Kennel, MD and Phyllis Klaus, M.Ed., CSW. If someone would be interested in setting up a doula program read, “Doula Programs: How to Start and Run Private or Hospital-Based Programs with Success!,” by Paulina Perez and Deaun Thelen.

An aquatic analgesic alternative to medical pain medication or an epidural is water labor or water birth. As the east coast resource center for water birth, my organization, Birth Balance, has educated countless couples on this unique and growing approach. A shower is great during labor, yet, it can’t compare to submerging half to three quarters of your body in a tub of water. Advantages to water birth for the mother are: easier coping during dilatation of the cervix and the pushing stage, softening of the perennial tissues, bones, muscles so lacerations are minimal, ability to move in whatever position her body organically discovers, less interventions, faster labors and births. Advantages to the baby: a medium which softens the baby’s bones and tissues thus creating a softer birth experience, babies appear to be less traumatized, a drug free beginning and more immediate bonding with mother.

wavecave A concern regarding water labor or birth is infection. When in the water, bacteria is diluted. Unless someone enters the water with an infection of some sort offering foreign bacteria, there wouldn’t be problems with the mothers infecting herself or the baby. A study in 1996 of 1385 women with prelabor rupture of the membranes after 34 weeks gestation concluded a tub bath did not increase the risk of maternal or neonatal infection after premature rupture of the membranes and prolonged latency. (1)

Another randomized, controlled trial was with 785 women. The results were as follows: tub group required fewer pharmacological agents, fewer deliveries by forceps and vacuum, more likely to have intact perineum and an overall positive effect on analgesic requirements, instrumentation rates, condition of the perineum and personal satisfaction. (2)

Another concern people have is the drowning of the baby at birth. The baby is in a womb of water from conception and is born into an extended womb of water later. The baby receives oxygen from the umbilical cord which is attached to the placenta. As the baby is born, the placenta is detaching from the mother, thus the supply of oxygen becomes depleted and bringing the baby up to the surface as soon as possible is imperative. Another atmospheric pressure, such as air or gravity is what stimulates the babies chemoreceptors to take a breath. That is why, in water, the baby will not take a breath.

Water birth has been around for centuries. In the contemporary times the concept began in Russia in the 60’s,, spread to France, England in the 70’s and come to the United States in the 80’s. For further reading on the subject check out: (book and video) “Gentle Birth Choices,” by Barbara Harper, RN, “Water Birth, A Midwife’s Perspective,” by Susanna Napierala and “The Waterbirth Handbook, ” by Dr. Roger Lichy and Eileen Herzberg.

No matter what choices you make for this birth or future, each pregnancy, labor and birth will teach you what to do differently or the same the next time. Remember, everything is an opportunity for learning. Keep an open mind and heart and learn.

(1), (2): MIDIRS Midwifery Digest, (Mar 1997) 7:1.

Tokyo Dives In With Waterbirth

Posted on 25 October, 2013 by Judith Halek

  By Judith Elaine Halek
Photos and Article Copyright @ 2000 Judith Elaine Halek

YAquaHouse1

On February 12, 2000, Judith Elaine Halek, Director of Birth Balance and producer for a NYC cable program on underwater births, through the assistance of Japanese interpreter midwife, Yoshiko Niino, interviewed, Setsuko Yamada, a midwife of 20 years. Yamada, a calm, confident businesswoman is busier than ever despite Japan’s new plunging birthrates. Not only does she run “The Aqua Birth House,” located in the narrow back streets of Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, she is also the owner of a coffee shop in trendy Aoyama district. Yamada comments “The cafe is a welcome change of atmosphere from my job as a midwife which can become very tense.”

Her philosophy reflected through her two books she co-edited and wrote with a medical doctor on pregnancy and birth reflect a more ‘active birth’ approach. One is written in a comic book fashion with mostly illustrations making it easier for younger mothers to read. The other book has some illustrations but is mostly text covering topics on ‘initial pregnancy and birth.’

Midwifery work in Japan has a long history. The midwife has been included in social welfare work. “Many people use to have their babies at home because they felt pregnancy was natural and they can take care of themselves quite well. But nowadays the society has changed and so do the women. The women who choose a birth center are very educated and they want to eliminate drugs or medical intervention as much as possible,” Yamada comments.

Yamada’s practiced as a registered midwife in Japan first in a hospital, then as a teacher ybooks in a nursing school and continued until she got sick and decided to become an independent midwife.

Why Yamada became a midwife was not from a deep concept. When she had worked with the ‘American system of childbirth’ in the hospital where many of the women had anesthesia she realized, if she was pregnant, she wouldn’t want to have a baby that way. Along with those feelings and her belief about ‘childbirth naturally’ she became more interested in assisting the birth from the beginnings of life.

Almost 2 years as an intern at another birth center, after consulting with her CPA, Yamada decided to set up her own practice in 1995 under the original name, “The Birth House.” In late 1998, Yamada bought property, moved to a roomier location, opened “The Aquatic Birth House” and resides there as well with her husband.

Since 1995 Yamada has attended almost 400 births including the home births and half of these were waterbirths.

She believes the fact that one is 37 doesn’t mean anything if they are healthy and haven’t had any serious illnesses. “These women can birth naturally,” Yamada comments. Three of Yamada’s clients gave birth naturally after having a C-section at a hospital the previous time. “There were no problems,” she added.

There are no doctors or nurses, epidurals, episiotomies, or separate rooms for the newborns at her Aqua Birth House. Instead one is greeted with a waterfall, African carvings of a mother and her child, fresh flowers and a table of birth icons. There are sensitive and beautiful photos of natural birth throughout the House and slippers for everyone provided at the front door.

yoshiko The labor and birth area, downstairs, contains an aqua blue oval tub, covered with a sterile plastic cover, weighted down by sterling sliver dolphin, moon and starburst clips, keeping the tub clean and available to use at any time. The tub is next to a cluttered desk, a bed that rotates up and down, colorful bean bags to sit or lean on, a short low birth chair, a geriatric stool to lean over with a hidden foam pad which Yamada quickly retrieves from under the bed. With a press of a button a heat a toilet is seated. With a press of a few more buttons a genital area is washed and dried automatically. Ah, the wonders of another country. Yamada believes in low light levels and keeps the overhead lights off and the decorative side wall lights on. Midwives utilize an underwater doppler stethoscope to check the babies heart tones. The house includes steep staircases, a modest kitchen, an additional room with a jacuzzi tub, areas for weighing, bathing and checking the jaundice levels of the babies.

There is an antiquated ultrasound machine available if Yamada needs to check the position of the baby. She rarely uses this machine and never charges extra if she does. (Tell that to an American hospital!)

Yamada proudly displays how the ‘regular bed’ not ‘delivery bed’ in the room with the tub has a vibrating massage feature as well as the head reset and the end of the bed rotate up and down. Between the bean chairs, birthing stool, kneeling on the floor, “many positions for the mother,” becomes one of Yamada’s trademark

During the summer, an option in the House for women who want to labor longer in a pool, is the smaller jacuzzi tub in an adjoining room. As a result of longer periods of time in this pool, some women and babies are content to birth here instead of the main tub. During the winter, this room is not available because it doesn’t have the appropriate heating. Yamada’s plans for next year to redesign and install a heater in the space will make this room available year round.

In another area of the cozy Aqua Birth House is a small bathtub set on a ledge near the sink for bathing the baby. There is an external heater on to keep the temperature safe for the baby.

It is the practice of the Birth Center to incorporate the father as the main person to practice YAquaHouse3 washing the baby in the bath before they leave the House. Yamada teaches only the father how to bathe the baby, not the mother. This is a way to establish a special commitment from the father in his assistance and caregiving for the child. The bath is not given the first day of the birth, only the second day after. Every day Yamada checks the babies jaundice with a small, handheld portable machine.

Under the sink where the water source is, there are two different colored tubes. Yamada explains, “One of the most important aspects of a waterbirth is that the water should be very clean.” Therefore she has one tube indicating, clean water in and the other, contaminated water out. She also has a water pump she only utilizes after the mother and baby is out of the tub.

There is also a rather primitive tabletop scale to weigh the baby. Yamada comments, ” This is a scale for the baby. All babies get their mother’s milk and don’t have to be checked after each feeding. It is important to check the weight when the baby is first born.”

We ascend the narrow winding stairs to the postpartum rooms. There are three adjoining rooms with soji sliding screens made of a blonde wood and simulated rice paper. In actuality the paper is the farthest thing from fragile, light rice paper. It is a plaster fibrous material that is actually quite strong to the touch. Futons on the floor with brightly colored linen create a cozy haven to nest in after the arduous miracle of birth. Yamada states, “Some women have their babies in this bed, but not many. Always after the baby is born he/she stays with the mother and the father can stay here too. So the parents and babies sleep together in this bed.”

Yamada continues, “The purpose of placing the rooms so close together was planned. It is our belief when a baby cries and the other people can hear this, they can join in on learning to raise a baby in ‘a family way’ where crying is normal. Sometimes other babies will cry when one baby cries.” There is also a rather large hole in the handle of the sliding door. “The purpose in the planning of this,” Yamada demonstrates “is to keep open to everybody what is going on. For example, those inside the room need to see what is going on outside and those outsides the room can see in so they don’t feel a necessity to go in and interrupt so often. A closed door, not know what’s going on inside or outside needed to be eliminated. This is the way we do that.”

mwass Yamada’s assistant and midwife in training, Ms. Megumi Tanaki was seven months pregnant when I did the interview. Tanaki’s background as a nurse for many years in a private hospital and University Medical Hospital left her feeling limited as a nurse. Tanaki shares, “When I worked as a shift nurse and the Hospital became bigger and bigger, I wasn’t able to manage what I wanted to do as a nurse because it is institutionalized and I had to work as a group organization.”

Tanaki continues, “In the older days, midwives were called ‘sambas.’ They could ork even if they became aged. I felt it was a worthy position, so by the age 30 after I graduate school, I decided I wanted to work with midwife, Yamada.”  Tanaki’s greatest happiness comes from assisting the births. “I don’t have any conflict with what I am doing. I have been married for 6 years but my period was not so regular. Since I have worked with Yamada and the parents and YAquaHouse2 babies, my physical balance is quite good. I believe my hormones become more balanced when I assist the births with the mothers and babies. I work in good circumstances so this is my happiness,” concludes Tanaki.

Judith Elaine Halek is the Founder and Director of Birth Balance, the East Coast resource center for underwater birth, which she began in 1987. One of the original labor support doulas in New York City, she has pioneered alternative choices in childbirth throughout the tri-state area. A birth consultant and counselor, massage and fitness therapist, writer, educator, speaker, photographer, videographer and producer of Birth Balance Presents: Water Birth, a Manhattan Educational Cable Station, Judith is airing her third thirteen-part weekly series on underwater birth and midwifery related issues.

If you would like to contact Judith directly by email she’s at: Judith@BirthBalance.com.
Her contact numbers are: 212-222-4349 (phone/fax) and mailing address: Judith Halek, Birth Balance, 309 W. 109th St., Suite 6D, NYC, NY 10025.

There is a beautiful Photo Documentary by Shin. Sawano, narrator Chara, Music Naoko Etoh, produced by TELEMAC video and CD format available entitled, “Born To Be Loved,” Yamada is featured assisting water births, as well as other professionals and parents labor and birthing in more traditional settings. To purchase a copy of the video or CD, contact: www.LEMITON.com and click on Family Ties. If you would like to contact the Yamada you may write to: The Aqua Birth House, Midwife Setsuko Yamada, 4-16–21 Sakuragaoka, Setagaya Ku, Tokyo, 156-0054, JAPAN. Phone: 03-3427-1314, Fax: 03-3427-1314.

A Labor of Love

Posted on 25 October, 2013 by Judith Halek

By Judith Elaine Halek
Photographs © Judith Elaine Halek

Women In Photography debuts an photographs and an article on
photographing water labors and births in the No. 8, Fall Issue,
October 1, 2001 Issue. The following is a rendition of the
article written by Judith Halek that appeared in this issue.

To view the website of Women in Photography, click here.

Archive 8 – WIPI News Article 3

Documenting births has been an obsession of mine since 1987 when
I assisted the first homebirth, waterbirth in New York City. Over the past fourteen years
I have slipped in and out of one of the most intimate experiences known to life.
I’ve had the privilege of documenting three separate environments;
homes, hospitals and birth centers. My specialty is underwater birth.

Waterbirth takes place when the baby is actually born from the womb of water inside the mother, to an extended womb of water, which could be a bathtub, a portable birthing pool, a jacuzzi, a water trough, or an ocean.

On my first contact with a couple, I give them a package of information and refer them to my website. After they have received the package and reviewed the site, we discuss what they like, what more they want and if whether there is a preference for a specific format, i.e., transparencies, and negatives, black/white, color.

Personally, I prefer to shoot with color negative because it offers more advanced emulsions. The additional color layers give better control in Photoshop. Black and white is the heart of photography, and from the purists point of view, film is superior to digital, yet, in the last three years technology has changed this. Today printing from a digital file with the special small gamut or monochrome black and white inks, creates a cutting edge print as acute as the traditional print from a darkroom.

The first thing to establish is the due date. One can be on call
approximately three weeks before the due date and two weeks after, unless it will be a home birth where the post dates could last up to four or five weeks. We discuss whether the couple wants me to be at their home before they go to the hospital or birth center.

It’s imperative to have permission to photograph from the hospital or birth center. Put something in writing and submit it to the medical facility before hand. One doesn’t want to become an intruder and sometimes medical personnel can be security conscious. When parents create their birth plan, photographic permission ought to be included as part of the labor/birth.

I work with the available light. Because of its invasive nature, I rarely use a strobe. I find available lighting creates a truer, softer,
journalistic reflection. I work with the fastest film for the camera:
Ilford and T-Max 400 and 800 for black and white and Fuji color (I find the skin tones are truer with Fuji). Sometimes I’ll be creative and shoot 1600 and 3200 when I’m at a home where candles are the only light source. I then utilize a monopod.I take anywhere between 5-8 rolls of film. I participate quietly in the labor and birth dance by making myself as inconspicuous as possible and shoot further away rather than close up. I work with the Canon EOS, SLR system; two cameras at a time with the Canon Elf as a third back up if we are transferring to the hospital or birth center. I use a EF 50mm f1:4 and EF 70-200 f1.2.8 lenses. I advise taking along a wide-angle lens such as a
21mm or 28mm for the confined areas.
When shooting, it1s important to focus on the details. Focus on becoming a Zen photographer and capture tender moments of father comforting mother, a gentle touch on a belly, a reflection in a mirror, a flower floating in water.If you are fortunate enough to be invited into the OR in a hospital,
you’ll wear their sterile gowns. Pay attention to where you can and cannot be, and don’t touch anything! Take a small fanny pack for your film. In a birth center you can wear comfortable clothing to move around in, climb on top of tables, beds, chairs, or edges of the tub. A home birth environment is the most relaxed. Wear clean clothes, shoes that slip on and off easily, take time to use the bathroom, eat and hydrate yourself with something other than caffeine.Labors and births can take from 25 minutes to 18-20 hours. Patience and vigilance are the keys. It’s like covering a sporting event. You have no idea what’s going to happen minute to minute. Conserve your energy by breathing in such a way as to stay in a calm, neutral state, both mentally and physically. Most importantly, enjoy… the miraculous experience.

Judith Halek is the director of Birth Balance, the east coast resource center for under water birth. Judith is now in the process of moving her 15 years of photography out to the public. She has been published in numerous birth journals such as Midwifery Today, The Journal of Perinatal Education an ASPO/LAMAZE Publication as well as New York Magazine. She will be debuting her first solo show at a prestigious birth center in New York City this winter.

Her website is www.birthbalance.com
Her email is Judith@BirthBalance.com
Phone and Fax: 212-222-4349

*Judith Halek is among the photographers of
WIPI’s 20th Anniversary International Tea Time exhibit

A Doula’s Waterbirth Toolbag

Posted on 25 October, 2013 by Judith Halek

By Judith Elaine Halek

Published by Midwifery Today in 2000
Photos and Article: Copyright @ 2000
Judith Elaine Halek

In my tool bag as a water labor or birth labor assistant,
I include extra equipment besides the standard labor assistant accoutrements:

rubberized thong slippers
a one piece swimsuit or body leotard (in case I have to get into the water; first I take a shower)
a short terry cloth robe
a water bottle for myself filled with part juice or tea mixed with honey and water
an underwater watch to check a second hand during contractions
Rescue Remedy (a Bach flower remedy) for all attending the birth
one or two sterilized small inflatable pillows for the mother to lean against in the water
an infusion of raspberry leaf tea, a spoon and honey for the “drizzle” mentioned earlier
a bag of bendable straws for the mother in the shower or tub
an extra set of clothing if something gets wet
a green sixty-five centimeter birthing ball for birth attendants to sit on while the mother is in the tub or for the mother to use while in the shower
two rolls of soft toilet paper wrapped in a clean plastic bag o a small box of soft Kleenex
lavender essence oil (5 to 10 drops in the tub, great antiseptic); I also like to keep on hand a spray bottle of lavender: using a small spritzer bottle filled with purified, filtered or distilled water, I add 10 drops of lavender essence oil (I buy a large supply bottle then put into a smaller dropper bottle), ice chips to make it cool, and spray on the mother when she¹s in the waterbirth tub (I make sure ahead of time that lavender does not make the woman nauseous‹so far, all women like it)
hand lotion that is not greasy
lip balm because the water tends to dry out my lips and hands
three books: Water Birth, A Midwife’s Perspective by Susanna Napierala16; The Waterbirth Handbook, The Gentle Art of Waterbirthing by Dr. Roger Lichy & Eileen Herzberg17; and Water Birth, The Concise Guide to Using Water during Pregnancy Birth and Infancy by Janet Balaskas and Yehudi Gordon.18
thermometer: If I am attending a homebirth, I usually include a thermometer to check temperature of the mother if I suspect she might have a fever. It is amazing how many people do not have a thermometer in their homes. Generally a doula does not perform any medical procedures, and taking the temperature is such a procedure. I have the father take the mother’s temperature to see if it is high.
scooper: I also suggest to the parents that if the pool rental does not supply a scooper for scooping out fecal and birth matter released in the water during labor or birth, they purchase one from a local pet store, sterilize it and wrap it in a plastic Ziploc. Urinating in the water is fine. Urine is sterile and clearing the bladder will make room for the babies’ head to dip down. I suggest, however, that all labor attendants in the water use the bathroom facilities.
stainless steel or plastic bowl: Birthing the placenta under the water is medically safe. Generally it is up to the medical caregiver and his or her comfort level and experience in supporting this. Whether birthing at a home, birth center or hospital, I suggest parents bring a clean, large stainless steel or plastic bowl to place the placenta in if birthed in the water. A small bowl floating on the water will sink with a good size placenta.

“Doula Unto Others…”

Posted on 23 October, 2013 by Judith Halek

Yoga

This is Judith Elaine Halek’s response to:
“Doula unto others – Forget the trendy labor coaches and
midwives – give me doctors and drugs,” an article written
by Martha Brockenbrough at Women Central.
The original article has since been removed from the web.

Martha:

Tribal conditioning has been a powerful imprint for you. It’s obvious you have been indoctrinated into the medical model mentality from utero.

I can’t tell you how many times in the past 14 years I have walked into a hospital and found pubic hair in the showers, (someone’s other than the woman I am with), dried blood under the beds, dry, caked, diarrhea under the toilet lid…sterile? Hairy back seats of cars? I would rather birth my baby in an environment and bacteria my body was USE TO being around.

“..back in the days when hospitals treated pregnancy and childbirth like a disease.”

What century are you living in? THEY STILL TREAT pregnancy and childbirth like a disease!!! As one of the largest industrial nations on this planet, we have one of the HIGHEST c-section rates, 31.5% in the world. This is because women are allowing the “medical experts” to tell them whether their bodies WORK or not.

That’s why so many hospitals have created comfortable birthing rooms (I refuse to call them suites) that simulate a homey environment. Just because a hospital rooms had facelifts…it doesn’t mean there is inner beauty. If the medical model philosophy of “delivering” vs. “birthing,” “drugs” vs. “alternatives such as: water, trust or assistance,” then it doesn’t matter what the room looks like, the treatment will continue to be the same.

“…mother who charges money for their services.”

I am a certified hypnotherapist, childbirth educator, certified labor support specialist, certified bodyworker, herbologist and nutritionist.

As an editor of the world’s third largest web site on waterbirth and labor support doula’s, I must say, like the television program “ER,” your lack of research reflects ‘pontification journalism’ as opposed to ‘legitimate, journalism that indicates intelligence and integrity.

My advice to someone who has such an overt disdain for ANYTHING on the level you do with Doulas is, if you haven’t experienced it, don’t knock it…you speak with false authority on the subject other than your own opinion which for me, as stated above lacks credibility.

In favor of respecting choice that is well informed.

Judith Halek
Director of Birth Balance
NYC, NY

HeartKeepers™: Teleconference

Posted on 27 June, 2013 by Judith Halek

To purchase an mp3 and PDF’s of the Course, click here:

Why:

I am looking for a new and important school of thinkers. I would like to co-create like two peas in the same genetic birth pod, a new story about humanity’s future while focusing on the potential of our greatest good. Join me as you learn to do this by going beyond the traditional brain neurological science research and move into the pioneering study of heart coherence science and practices, related to the dynamics of birth.

As birth caregivers, pregnant women and their partners say “yes” to their inner wisdom, by remembering what they’ve forgotten, an actual change in DNA occurs as it is initiated from the heart and then travel to the brain.

When this voice reaches critical mass, a planetary “100th monkey effect” will occur as each “evolving self” changes the world. The influx of birth movements, organizations, films, methodologies, books, birth teleseminars and conferences are building the collective voice to an “Omega Point”: a synergistic awakening together in the “mind sphere” in consciousness.

What:

Learn simple, practical exercises to increase resiliency and bring your heart to a coherent state.
Find out what a meme is and how you can create your birth meme.
Become knowledgeable how our electromagnetic field affects others and is a critical component of the collective “Field” of energy around us.
Utilize developed technologies that help us stabilize ourselves in heart-based living.
Understand how challenges become “evolutionary drivers.”
Discover what comes first, thought or feeling and how science has proven this is an integral connection in the law of attraction.
Experience a revolutionary methodology; DreamBirth Imagery™, for self healing and increasing your practice by attracting clients from the inside out.

PDF’s:

Extensive Bibliography of books, films, websites which include heart coherence studies and conscious fertility/pregnancy and birth.
3 DreamBirth Imagery™ Exercises:
- Blue Vase – energizing and detoxification exercise for you and your clients
- Solar Plexus – building self confidence, enhancing personal power and bringing in clients and work
- Duality – taking two opposing perceptions and dissolving the illusion of separation into oneness.

Who:

This class is for:

Labor and Post Partum Doulas, Childbirth Educators, Midwives, Nurses, Doctors, Lactation Consultants, Baby Nurses, Body workers, Massage Therapists, Pre/Post Natal Instructors, Acupuncturists, Herbalists, Birth Counselors/Social Workers/Psychologists, Nutritionists, Homeopathic Specialists, Nannies, Babysitters, Grandmothers, Grandfathers, Sisters, BFF’s.

Instructor:

Visionary, maven, leading edge thinker and DoulaTographer™, Judith Elaine Halek, Director of Birth Balance™, synthesizes 26 years of experience as a labor doula, childbirth educator, body worker, Calm Birth and DreamBirth Imagery™ practitioner, birth photographer, writer, speaker, filmmaker to 39 “alternatives to childbirth” documentaries.

When and Where:

March 27, 2011, 12pm – 3 pm EST. Telephone, from the comfort of your home.

Payment Fee: $60

(When registered, you will receive an email with details and a special code to participate in the teleseminar.)

Further Contact:

Judith Elaine Halek, Director of Birth Balance

212-222-4349 /Office 646-391-8308 /Cell
Judith@BirthBalance.com /Email www.BirthBalance.com /Web

“HeartKeepers,” Birth Caregivers for the 21st Century

Posted on 25 January, 2013 by Judith Halek

HeartKeepers™

by Judith Elaine Halek and Sondra Wynne Fields

& the Foundation for Conscious Evolution)

One-heartedness occurs when every single life form lives in harmony and balance with every other life form. It’s our true nature…encoded in our DNA. – John Kimmey (Last Carrier of the Hopi Prophesy, founder of The Sustainable Native Agriculture Center in New Mexico and author of Light On The Return Path.)

Introduction

The archetypal Wise Old Woman can be seen as the ultimate Heart Keeper as she is the mid-wife of both birth and death. She issues the beating heart of each Being into the world and when the time of the beating heart has ceased, she assists each Being on its evolving journey.

Prior to ten years ago, there was a group of Balinese men called ‘tukang kandung’ which translates as a ‘womb worker’. They assisted hundreds of babies using massage techniques and traditional herbs. These men received information about the traditions of this work from their fathers on their deathbeds. So generation after generation, only the male lineage would receive this sacred and privileged information.

These men could be seen as co-creating with the wise old woman as heart keeper by tapping into this most ancient of feminine archetypes.

Delving into the mystery and intrigue of the heart, take the word earth, put the ‘h’ at the beginning of earth and the new word is heart. Earth and heart are one.

The first peoples of Turtle Island, also known as the United States, honor the beating heart at all ceremonies. For them the beating of the drum represents the heartbeat of mother earth; the heartbeat of the people. For many indigenous people at the center of mother earth and her drum resides the hearth, (earth and heart combined) the center of nourishment brought forth by grandfather fire.

The Virtual SynCon must have a hearth that warms the heart and sustains it’s bright burning fire.

Labor Support Doulas assist women and their partners during labor and birth as Heart Keepers. They ‘hold the space’ for semblance and symmetry. This is done when someone on the birth team, (doctors, midwives, nurses, anesthesiologists, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, friends) becomes out of resonance with the core couple (mom/partner and baby). It is up to the Doula to help bring back the energy through communication, compromise and breath. Doulas help the couple to look at their options and ultimately encourage them to make the final decisions. A Doula, Heart Keeper, requires an inordinate amount of patience, ability to release ego, keep calm and quietly redirect the mother and/or partner into their bodies, breath and connection to their baby. ‘Doula’ is a Greek word meaning, “woman slave.” In Zulu, the word, ‘Dula’ means “To Be.

Doulas and Heart Keepers are ‘Be-ers’ in the group.

Definition and Duties

The Heart Keeper, female or male, attuned to the this ancient feminine energy, welcomes each beating heart into the group heart and stands available to assist each individual as they come forth to contribute and share their gifts. In this way the heart beat of the group is sustained and nourished. Likewise, if a heart no longer is willing or able to beat with the whole, it is the Heart Keeper who helps with the transition out of the group.

The heart is the first organ to develop in the fetus. It begins beating at 3 weeks and one day from fertilization and a group of organs called the circulatory system is the first body system to reach a functioning synergistic state. There are three basic components to the circulatory system. The heart serves as the pump, blood vessels carry the blood throughout the body and the lungs and the heart supplies oxygen.

Like the heart in the physical body, the Heart Keepers become the primary force within the body of the group. They pump support toward the life energy of each of it’s members by reminding everyone to ‘breathe’ when the supply of oxygen has become depleted. Oxygen depletion is indicated through a lack of individual or group resonance. How the Heart Keeper might implement is mentioned below.

In labor and birth when a woman chooses not to cut the umbilical cord and allow the natural uninterrupted detachment from the baby to it’s cord, it’s called a ‘lotus birth.’ The lotus bud blossoms on a flower and offers it’s pure beauty. The ‘lotus mudra’ in yoga represents the awakened heart initiated by Divine Grace. The Heart Keeper is like this lotus blossom. They quietly and succinctly like the flower, respond to the energetic exchanges of sound, breath, air and quiet.

What has been referred to as the Vagus Nerve Breath is a helpful breathing technique for increasing the flow of oxygen and relaxation into the body. This is a recommended tool for Heart Keepers to use and teach other group members:

Take a deep, deep breath into your belly

Let the breath out with an enjoyable, audible sigh…ahhhhh.

You will automatically smile

Your being will begin to open and relax

Breathing in this way activates the vagus nerve, a part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which releases the “cuddle hormone” oxytocin. This breathing technique could be utilized at the beginning of the meeting lead by the Heart Keeper and/or implemented throughout the meeting when the Heart Keeper deems it necessary.

Look at the core word in both heart and earth; ear. It has been said that “the eyes are the window to the soul yet, it is through the voice that we touch the soul.”

One of the duties of a Heart Keeper is being attuned to the individual voices within the group.The Heart Keeper listens to the underlying messages found between the words and underneath the expressions as guides to understanding

When a voice(s) is out of resonance a Heart Keeper will gently and lovingly bring that voice back into resonance if she/he feels this is a disruption to the group resonance.

The heart is the core, the center, the beating pulse. The Heart Keeper could begin and/or end a meeting with a beautiful drum beat after the resonance has been established reminding us all of the importance of keeping the heart of our group in its rhythmic beat.

The Heart Keeper is one who ‘holds the resonant heart space’ for the group to express individually and collectively. To accomplish this the Heart Keeper must be attuned to the heart pulse of the group using their highly sensitized antennae.

How to Sensitize The Heart Keeper Antennae

http://www.heartmath.com/Personal-Growth/Quick-Coherence-Technique.html

The Quick Coherence® Technique helps you create a coherent state, offering access to your heart’s intelligence. It uses the power of your heart to balance thoughts and emotions, helping you to achieve a neutral, poised state for clear thinking. It is a powerful technique that connects you with your energetic heart zone to help you release stress, balance your emotions and feel better fast.”

The Quick Coherence Technique takes–One Minute.

1. Step 1: Heart Focus–Focus your attention on the area around your heart, the area in the center of your chest.

2. Step 2: Heart Breathing–Breathe deeply but normally and feel as if your breath is coming in and out through your heart area.

3. Step 3: Heart Feeling– As you maintain your heart focus and heart breathing activate a positive feeling. Recall a positive feeling, a time when you felt good inside and try to re-experience the feeling. One of the easiest ways to generate a positive, heart based feeling is to remember a special place you’ve been to or the love you feel for a close friend, family member or treasured pet. This is the most important step.

Suggested Methods for Reestablishing Resonance

• First, use breath techniques, your own or those presented here, to bring yourself into coherent resonance and connection with the Divine Source within.

• Through the heartbeat of the drum — in the beginning, middle or end of the meeting — tune into Divine Source, the heart center of each in the group and establish energetic connection.

• Sound the drum for 30 seconds, pause in silence for 30 seconds and take the group through Quick Coherence Technique at the beginning of the meeting. This technique could also be used throughout the meeting requested by the group facilitator or initiated by the Heart Keeper.

• The Heart Keeper communicates with the group with gentle comments or questions to help empower people to speak their truth.

• Observe and witness the group as children in their fascination, curiosity and joyful discoveries.

• Recognize coherent and incoherent feelings in your body at the beginning, during and after the group gathering.

This will help to:

• Create a safe and secure environment for all individuals to speak and be heard.

• Generate a sense of belonging and connectedness.

• Set the tone for honoring each person’s place in the group.

Purpose

The Heart Keeper is here to sustain the group field of energy. The following is a story of how an indigenous culture in Mexico keeps their community in a healthy state by allowing the ebb and flow of life to unfold naturally.

The Huichol Indians of Mexico have access to a kind of genetic memory called the Iyari that connects them with all that has ever been and always will be. Traditionally, “Huichol people remembered this memory and acknowledged it daily.” The Iyari is described by some as being like a cord of light or energy that emanates from a person’s heart connecting one to this ancient memory, not unlike the core of the evolutionary spiral of which Barbara Marx Hubbard speaks. One can “know” or “remember” when the heart is open.

Huichol men still following the traditional way of life have soft feminine faces. Their “feminine side,” psychologists in this country would say, is well integrated; they find great joy in their children, are gentle, firm

Preparation (Before)

The Heart Keeper prepares him/herself by creating an intention to be keeper of heart communication. Space is made conducive to ‘attentive listening’ by closing the door, turning off disruptive rings, knocks or interruptions to create a quiet uninterrupted place.

Helpful Skills for a Heart Keeper to Cultivate

When there is peace within the heart, there is resonance. The Peace Keeper and Heart Keeper share the common goal of creating a peaceful harmony that nurtures creative growth. The following skills were inspired by the teachings of peace keeper, James O’Dea.

Preparation (Before)

Elemental Concepts and Skills to Remember:

1. Everything is frequency–vibrating resonance. Everything is pulsing.

2. These frequencies synchronize with the universe in both qualities and quantities. It is helpful to strive to become a precise interpreter of energy.

3. With energy and consciousness patterns are created.

out and help to find resolution regarding the suggestion or conflict.

1. A non-judgmental mind allows one to see the pattern.

2. Lead from your center, your ground of being.

3. Negative energy is transformed when you speak from your core to the core of another.

4. Use Spiritual Akido. Go around the dissonance by going to the heart or soul of another. Using Spiritual Akido you act to transform the problem, to awake a solution.

5. Find common ground. Breath in new energy.

Energy does not go away: it waits to be transformed. When out of sync energy is present, a Heart Keeper can either step into it in a way that disarms the discordant aspect or step away from it, breathe and become the observer. Either approach will potentially place you in the center of the vortex where stillness and clarity abound.

Procedure (During)

At the beginning of each meeting the Heart Keeper requests everyone to set an intention to proceed with open hearts. While intentions are being initiated, a soft drumming could be sounded for 1 minute, followed by 1 minute of silence, broken by the sound of one drum beat.

SyncCon Pub

As stated in the introduction, every SynCon must have a hearth, (earth and heart) where people can come to kindle and rekindle the warmth of the group heart. That heart center is the SynCon Pub as illustrated in the story below.

In a little mountain town there was once a pub that came to be known as the “town womb.” Much like the pubs in J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic, The Lord of the Rings, this pub was a place where folks came to meet, share good food, drink and laugh together. In this little pub, in this little mountain town much heartfelt news was shared over the years. They celebrated births, graduations, promotions, mourned deaths, supported each other through crisis and generally made it possible for all to remain in this rather rough and sometime difficult climate. Rich, poor, town officials and day labors, educated and uneducated, religious/nonreligious, it didn’t matter; all were accepted for who they were.

At this time in the history of this mountain community there were those who swore that the heart of the town kept beating because of this all inclusive meeting place. Spats and disagreements somehow got worked out and the town maintained it’s integrity. Things were down home, out in the open (it’s hard to hide in a small town) and real.

In a virtual SynCon community, it is paramount as proceedings unfold to openly voice and reinforce the understanding that differences are not just allowed; they are welcomed and embraced. No one need fear being the “odd man out” or the proverbial “rotten apple” disrupting the resonant field of the group. The intention is not to seek out conflicting thoughts, but to allow, accept, appreciate and make room for valued truth and honesty that is inherent in feeling free to voice differences. Differing ideas are welcomed. Questions about orchestration or implementation of group happenings are considered a vibrant and vital element of healthy community building.

SynCon Pub Follow Through

If a situation is too complex or involved to go into depth at any particular meeting, then the SynCon, Heart Keeper Pub is the next step, the safe place for the person(s) to go to express themselves. So often groups shy away from discord because they don’t know how to handle disagreement in a productive manner. They don’t have a pub to go to or a heart keeper to listen.

The Heart Keeper Pub is a virtual forum open 24/7 where members can go to safely have their voice heard if they felt not heard, start a dialogue regarding a disagreement or make suggestions to enhance certain procedures. With permission from an individual, the Heart Keeper can share with the group in the next meeting, what came up and out and help to find resolution regarding the suggestion or conflict.

Malcom Gladwell wrote the book, “Outliers”. Outliers is noun with the definitions: 1: Something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body, 2: a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample.

In the introduction to “Outliers,” Gladwell writes about a community of people, migrating from Roseto Valfortore, one hundred miles southeast of Rome in the Italian province of Foggia. In January of 1882, a group of Rosetans, ten men and one boy, migrated to New York. They relocated to ninety miles west of New York City to the town of Bangor, Pennsylvania. In 1883, fifteen Rosetanas left Italy and joined the original eleven. In 1894, twelve hundred Rosetans migrated to Pennsylvania and left their old village abandoned.

In the 1950’s, studies were conducted by physicians and sociologists on the Rosetan’s and the results were as follows: there was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction and very little crime. No one was on welfare, no peptic

The Heart Keeper Pub is a virtual forum open 24/7 where members can go to safely have their voice heard if they felt not heard, start a dialogue regarding a disagreement or make suggestions to enhance certain procedures. With permission from an individual, the Heart Keeper can share with the group in the next meeting, what came up and ulcers or heart attacks before 65 years. People were dying of old age. So why were these people, this community considered outliers? And what initiated or supported these kinds of statistics? Was it diet, exercise, genetics, water or location?

After much investigation it was reported the single most crucial element for the health and well being of these people was the fact they lived, related and functioned as a community. People of all walks and economic status ate together, socialized together, and helped each other

There were no divisions or separations. It did not matter if there was someone acting as a Heart Keeper. They were Heart Keeper’s to each other. This community is a key example of how Heart Keeper Resonance is infiltrated within a large group of people where the health of the individuals and the community is influenced.

We can postulate what keeps a community healthy and vital is a strong shared purpose or desire. The Huichol People were bonded together by the spiritual path they walked. The Mountain People were bonded together by their love for the mountains and the environment in which they lived. The Rosetan People shared a deep cultural bond that literally migrated them as a whole community to a new country that offered a potential their country didn’t. Barbara Marx Hubbard, with her visionary eyes of an evolving humanity is the cohesive factor in attracting and holding together like hearted people that compose the SynCon.

“Harness the energies of love, and so for the second time in the history of humanity discover fire.”- Teilhard de Chardin

Closure

• Records any notes needed for further reminders and situations of attention.

• Closes the space energetically.

• Creates a gratitude prayer.

• Is available if an individual is needing a compassionate listener after the program is concluded.

Multi Media Presentation

1. http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=21409

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eFn8Cgcx8g

By Judith Elaine Halek Photographs © Judith Elaine Halek

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By Judith Elaine Halek
Photographs © Judith Elaine Halek