“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

Pelvic Bone Commentary

Posted on 30 June, 2013 by Judith Halek

~ pelvis3-150x150 pelvis_birth-150x150 pelvis4-150x150 ~

Pelvises I Have Known and Loved – by Gloria Lemay (Midwife)

(© 2003 Midwifery Today, Inc. All rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, you’ll enjoy Midwifery Today magazine! Subscribe now! [Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Midwifery Today Issue 50, Summer 1999 and is also available online in Spanish.])

What if there were no pelvis? What if it were as insignificant to how a child is born as how big the nose is on the mother’s face? After twenty years of watching birth, this is what I have come to. Pelvises open at three stretch points—the symphisis pubis and the two sacroiliac joints. These points are full of relaxin hormones—the pelvis literally begins falling apart at about thirty-four weeks of pregnancy. In addition to this mobile, loose, stretchy pelvis, nature has given human beings the added bonus of having a moldable, pliable, shrinkable baby head. Like a steamer tray for a cooking pot has folding plates that adjust it to any size pot, so do these four overlapping plates that form the infant’s skull adjust to fit the mother’s body.

Every woman who is alive today is the result of millions of years of natural selection. Today’s women are the end result of evolution. We are the ones with the bones that made it all the way here. With the exception of those born in the last thirty years, we almost all go back through our maternal lineage generation after generation having smooth, normal vaginal births. Prior to thirty years ago, major problems in large groups were always attributable to maternal malnutrition (starvation) or sepsis in hospitals.

Twenty years ago, physicians were known to tell women that the reason they had a cesarean was that the child’s head was just too big for the size of the pelvis. The trouble began when these same women would stay at home for their next child’s birth and give birth to a bigger baby through that same pelvis. This became very embarrassing, and it curtailed this reason being put forward for doing cesareans. What replaced this reason was the post-cesarean statement: “Well, it’s a good thing we did the cesarean because the cord was twice around the baby’s neck.” This is what I’ve heard a lot of in the past ten years. Doctors must come up with a very good reason for every operation because the family will have such a dreadful time with the new baby and mother when they get home that, without a convincing reason, the fathers would be on the warpath. Just imagine if the doctor said honestly, “Well, Joe, this was one of those times when we jumped the gun—there was actually not a thing wrong with either your baby or your wife. I’m sorry she’ll have a six week recovery to go through for nothing.” We do know that at least 15 percent of cesareans are unnecessary but the parents are never told. There is a conspiracy among hospital staff to keep this information from families for obvious reasons.

In a similar vein, I find it interesting that in 1999, doctors now advocate discontinuing the use of the electronic fetal monitor. This is something natural birth advocates have campaigned hard for and have not been able to accomplish in the past twenty years. The natural-types were concerned about possible harm to the baby from the Doppler ultrasound radiation as well as discomfort for the mother from the two tight belts around her belly. Now in l999, the doctors have joined the campaign to rid maternity wards of these expensive pieces of technology. Why, you ask? Because it has just dawned on the doctors that the very strip of paper recording fetal heart tones that they thought proved how careful and conscientious they were, and which they thought was their protection, has actually been their worst enemy in a court of law. A good lawyer can take any piece of “evidence” and find an expert to interpret it to his own ends. After a baby dies or is damaged, the hindsight people come in and go over these strips, and the doctors are left with huge legal settlements to make. What the literature indicates now is that when a nurse with a stethoscope listens to the “real” heartbeat through a fetoscope (not the bounced back and recorded beat shown on a monitor read-out) the cesarean rate goes down by 50 percent with no adverse effects on fetal mortality rates.

pelvis5 Of course, I am in favour of the abolition of electronic fetal monitoring but it would be far more uplifting if this was being done for some sort of health improvement and not just more ways to cover butt in court.

Now let’s get back to pelvises I have known and loved. When I was a keen beginner midwife, I took many workshops in which I measured pelvises of my classmates. Bi-spinous diameters, sacral promontories, narrow arches—all very important and serious. Gynecoid, android, anthropoid and the dreaded platypelloid all had to be measured, assessed and agonized over. I worried that babies would get “hung up” on spikes and bone spurs that could, according to the folklore, appear out of nowhere. Then one day I heard the head of obstetrics at our local hospital say, “The best pelvimeter is the baby’s head.” In other words, a head passing through the pelvis would tell you more about the size of it than all the calipers and X-rays in the world. He did not advocate taking pelvic measurements at all. Of course, doing pelvimetry in early pregnancy before the hormones have started relaxing the pelvis is ridiculous.

pelvis11 One of the midwife “tricks” that we were taught was to ask the mother’s shoe size. If the mother wore size five or more shoes, the theory went that her pelvis would be ample. Well, 98 percent of women take over size five shoes so this was a good theory that gave me confidence in women’s bodies for a number of years. Then I had a client who came to me at eight months pregnant seeking a home waterbirth. She had, up till that time, been under the care of a hospital nurse-midwifery practise. She was Greek and loved doing gymnastics. Her eighteen-year-old body glowed with good health, and I felt lucky to have her in my practise until I asked the shoe size question. She took size two shoes. She had to buy her shoes in Chinatown to get them small enough—oh dear. I thought briefly of refreshing my rusting pelvimetry skills, but then I reconsidered. I would not lay this small pelvis trip on her. I would be vigilant at her birth and act if the birth seemed obstructed in an unusual way, but I would not make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. She gave birth to a seven-pound girl and only pushed about twelve times. She gave birth in a water tub sitting on the lap of her young lover and the scene reminded me of “Blue Lagoon” with Brooke Shields—it was so sexy. So that pelvis ended the shoe size theory forever.

Another pelvis that came my way a few years ago stands out in my mind. This young woman had had a cesarean for her first childbirth experience. She had been induced, and it sounded like the usual cascade of interventions. When she was being stitched up after the surgery her husband said to her, “Never mind, Carol, next baby you can have vaginally.” The surgeon made the comment back to him, “Not unless she has a two pound baby.” When I met her she was having mild, early birth sensations. Her doula had called me to consult on her birth. She really had a strangely shaped body. She was only about five feet, one inch tall, and most of that was legs. Her pregnant belly looked huge because it just went forward—she had very little space between the crest of her hip and her rib cage. Luckily her own mother was present in the house when I first arrived there. I took her into the kitchen and asked her about her own birth experiences. She had had her first baby vaginally. With her second, there had been a malpresentation and she had undergone a cesarean. Since the grandmother had the same body-type as her daughter, I was heartened by the fact that at least she had had one baby vaginally. Again, this woman dilated in the water tub. It was a planned hospital birth, so at advanced dilation they moved to the hospital. She was pushing when she got there and proceeded to birth a seven-pound girl. She used a squatting bar and was thrilled with her completely spontaneous birth experience. I asked her to write to the surgeon who had made the remark that she couldn’t birth a baby over two pounds and let him know that this unscientific, unkind remark had caused her much unneeded worry.

Another group of pelvises that inspire me are those of the pygmy women of Africa. I have an article in my files by an anthropologist who reports that these women have a height of four feet, on average. The average weight of their infants is eight pounds! In relative terms, this is like a woman five feet six giving birth to a fourteen-pound baby. The custom in their villages is that the woman stays alone in her hut for birth until her membranes rupture. At that time, she strolls through the village and finds her midwives. The midwives and the woman hold hands and sing as they walk down to the river. At the edge of the river is a flat, well-worn rock on which all the babies are born. The two midwives squat at the mother’s side while she pushes her baby out. One midwife scoops up river water to splash on the newborn to stimulate the first breath. After the placenta is birthed the other midwife finds a narrow place in the cord and chews it to separate the infant. Then, the three walk back to join the people. This article has been a teaching and inspiration for me.

pelvis21

That’s the bottom line on pelvises—they don’t exist in real midwifery. Any baby can slide through any pelvis with a powerful uterus pistoning down on him/her.

Gloria Lemay is a private birth attendant in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

Maternity Mortality In USA

Posted on 30 June, 2013 by Judith Halek

Maternal Mortality in the USA

A Fact Sheet

• The World Health Organization reported in 2007 that 40 other countries have lower maternal death rates than the United States.

• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that there has been no improvement in the maternal death rate in the United States since 1982.

• The CDC estimated in 1998 that the US maternal death rate is actually 1.3 to three times that reported in vital statistics records because of underreporting of such deaths. (1)

• The CDC reported in 1995 that the “magnitude of the pregnancy-related mortality problem is grossly understated.” (2)

• The rate of maternal death directly related to pregnancy or birth appears to be rising in the United States. In 1982, the rate was approximately 7.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. By 2004, that rate had risen to 13.1 deaths per 100,000 births. By 2005, the rate was 15.1 deaths.

• The CDC estimates that more than half of the reported maternal deaths in the United States could have been prevented by early diagnosis and treatment. (1)

• Autopsies should be performed on all women of childbearing age who die if there is to be complete ascertainment of maternal deaths.

• Numerous studies have found that in 25 to 40 percent of cases in which an autopsy is done, it reveals an undiagnosed cause of death.

• In the 1960s, autopsies were performed on almost half of deaths.

• The United States now does autopsies on fewer than 5 percent of hospital deaths.

• Reporting of maternal deaths in the United States is done via an honor system. There are no statutes providing for penalties for misreporting or failing to report maternal deaths.

• In the United States, the risk of maternal death among black women is about 4 times higher than among white women. For 2005, the rate was 36.5 deaths per 100,000 live births.

• Most countries with lower maternal death rates than the United States use a different definition of “maternal death”, which, unlike the United States’ definition, includes those deaths directly related to pregnancy or birth which take place during the period between six weeks postpartum and one year after the end of pregnancy.

• Complete and correct ascertainment of all maternal deaths is key to preventing maternal deaths.

• The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland), which has functioned since 1952, is the system believed to have achieved the most complete ascertainment of maternal deaths while guaranteeing utmost confidentiality. See www.cemach.org.uk

• The maternal mortality rate for cesarean section is four times higher than for vaginal birth and is still twice as high when it is a routine repeat cesarean section without any emergency. (3,4)

• There is currently no federal legislation mandating maternal mortality review at a state level.

• Fewer than half of the states conduct state-wide maternal mortality review.

• Hospitals do not release reports of maternal deaths to the public; hospital employees are required to keep such information to themselves.

• The Healthy People 2010 Goal is no more than 3.3 maternal deaths per 100,000 births. This is a goal that other nations have achieved.

Notes

1. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, September 4, 1998, Vol. 47, No. 34.

2. Atrash HK, Alexander S, Berg CJ. Maternal mortality in developed countries: Not just a concern of the past. Obstet Gynecol 1995;86:700-5.

3. Petitti D et al. In hospital maternal mortality in the United States. Obstet Gynecol, Vol 59, pp. 6-11, 1982.

4. Petitti D. Maternal mortality and morbidity in cesarean section. Clin Obstet Gynecol,Vol. 28, pp. 763-768, 1985.

5. The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths in the United Kingdom, www.cemach.org.uk

Prepared by Ina May Gaskin, MA, CPM, Coordinator for the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project, 149 Apple Orchard Lane, Summertown, TN 38483, www.rememberthemothers.net, www.inamay.com

Conscious Parenting

Posted on 14 June, 2013 by Judith Halek

~ “The children desire freedom! And every particle of their being from their Source says, ‘You are free. You are so free, that every thought you offer, the entire Universe jumps to respond to it.’ And so, to take that kind of knowledge and try to confine it in any way, defies the Laws of the Universe. You must allow your children to be free, because the entire Universe is set up to accommodate that. And anything you do to the contrary will only bring you regret. You cannot contain those that cannot be contained. It defies Law.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Atlanta, GA on Sunday, September 19th, 1999 #400

~ “The little ones still remember how to use the power of their imagination. They are still engaged in the utilization of their imagination — that is one of the reasons that keeps them so exhilarated.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Spokane, WA on Wednesday, July 7th, 1999 # 394.

~ “Babies Are Thinking and Attracting Before They Are Speaking… Even though you are only months old in your physical body, you are a very old and wise creator focused in that baby’s body. And you came with powerful intentions to experience contrast and to launch clear rockets of desire into your Vibrational Reality for the purpose of expansion. People often assume that because a child is not yet offering words, the child could not be the creator of its own experience, but it is our promise to you that no one else is creating your experience. Children emanate Vibrations which are the reason for what they attract – even from their time of birth.” – Excerpted from the book, The Vortex, Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships # 333.

~ “Parents don’t want their children to make the wrong decisions, so they don’t allow them to make the decision. And then the child becomes dependent, and then the parent resents that, and it gets off into a blameful thing early on. If you are encouraging children to do all that they can do — and not squelching the natural eagerness that is within them, so that they can shine and thrive and show you and themselves how good they are at adapting to physical experience — then everyone wins.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Dallas, TX on Saturday, March 13th, 1999 # 393.

~ “If we had a child, or anyone, and we caught them doing something inappropriate, we would not amplify it with our words. We would identify what it is we do not want, and then out of it would come the rocket of desire of what we do want, and then we would just visualize, visualize, visualize, until we find peace within our vision. When you make someone and their action the heart of a vision that you’ve spent time on — your relationship improves, your experience is better, and they receive the benefit of the experience. But if you catch them, and see them, and worry about it, and put mechanisms in place to prevent it, now you have not only amplified it, you have now made a commitment that is hooking you both into that, until usually it gets big enough that you break apart, and then you attract others to fulfill that role.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Chicago, IL on Sunday, April 25th, 1999 #588.

~ “The reason the grandchildren will benefit by the launched rockets that you’ve set forth; is because they’re born with no resistance to the rockets of desires that you’ve launched forth… You’ve seen those little ones on computers? They have no problem with that. They were born with computers in their life; they’re born cable-ready. They’re already up to speed with what you’ve launched into the vibrational future. And that’s one of the reasons that it’s nice when the old ones croak and the new ones come in, because it sort of dilutes the resistance factor that’s going on on this planet.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Tarrytown, NY on Saturday, May 14th, 2005 #504.

~ “Relative to our children or any children with whom we would interact, our one dominant intention would be to give them a conscious understanding of how powerful and important and valuable and perfect they are. Every word that would come out of our mouths would be a word that would be offered with the desire to help this individual know that they are powerful. It would be a word of empowerment. We would set the Tone for upliftment and understand that everything will gravitate to that Tone if we would maintain it consistently.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Chicago, IL on Saturday, July 19th, 1997 #469.

~ “Child of mine, I will never do for you that which I know you can do for yourself. I will never rob you of an opportunity to show yourself your ability and talent. I will see you at all times as the capable, effective, powerful creator that you’ve come forth to be. And I will stand back as your most avid cheerleading section. But I will not do for you that which you have intended to do for yourself. Anything you need from me, ask. I’m always here to compliment or assist. I am here to encourage your growth, not to justify my experience through you.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Seattle, WA on Sunday, July 4th, 1999 #453.

~ “Nothing is more debilitating than to care about something you can’t do anything about. And you can’t do anything about your adult children. You can want better for them, and maybe even begin to provide something for them, but in the long run, you cannot do anything about someone else’s vibration other than hold them in the best light you can, mentally, and then project that to them. And sometimes, distance makes that much more possible than being up close to them.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Ashland, OR on Saturday, July 19th, 2003 #437.

~ “Children coming forth today have a greater capacity to deal with the greater variety of information that is coming forward than you did. They deliberately are coming forth into this environment where there is more to contemplate. This generation gap that you are talking about, it has ever been thus. Each new generation, every new individual, that comes forth, is coming with you having prepared a different platform for them to proceed from. There is this thing that gets in the way of that that says, ‘I’m the parent. I got here first. I know more than you do.’ From the children’s perspective, and from the purity of their Nonphysical Perspective, what they are saying is, ‘You’re the parent. You got here first. You prepared a platform that I am leaping off from — and my leap will be beyond anything that you have ever known.'” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in San Rafael, CA on Saturday, February 27th, 1999 #395.

~ “The child is thinking, and receiving vibrational thought from you on the day that he enters your environment. That is the reason that beliefs are transmitted so easily from parent to child, from parent to child, from parent to child. The child is vibrationally receiving your fears, your beliefs, even without your spoken word… If you want to do that which is of greatest value for your child, give thought only to that which you want, and your child will receive only those wanted thoughts.” Abraham, excerpted from “The Law of Attraction, The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham” #385.

~ “The most important thing that you can teach your children is that wWell-being abounds. And that Well-being is naturally flowing to them. And that if they will relax and reach for thoughts that feel good, and do their best to appreciate, then they will be less likely to keep the Well-being away, and more likely to allow it to flow into their experience. Teach them the Art of allowing.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Milwaukee, WI on Wednesday, July 5th, 2000 #363.

~ “Parents can’t choose the mates of their children or the behavior of their children. You actually can’t choose anything for your children without disempowering them.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Syracuse, NY on Thursday, October 17th, 1996 #347.

~ “When a child has a dream and a parent says, “It’s not financially feasible; you can’t make a living at that; don’t do it,” we say to the child, run away from home… You must follow your dream. You will never be joyful if you don’t. Your dream may change, but you’ve got to stay after your dreams. You have to.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Asheville, NC on Sunday, May 1st, 2005 #330.”Most people don’t think that new-born children could be the Creator of their own reality because they are not even talking yet. But the Universe is not responding to your language, anyway. The Universe is responding to your vibration — and your vibration is about the way you feel.” – Excerpted from the workshop in Seattle, WA on Saturday, June 20th, 1998. Jerry and Esther Hicks (Abraham).

~ “Your child is naturally joyful. Your child is naturally tuned in to Source Energy. And as he is diving through and digging through contrast, it is natural that there would be some things that might disconnect him. Just don’t let his disconnection then inflame your disconnection. Many parents have discovered that their children, for the most part, feel good when they do — and the ornerier you are, usually the ornerier your children are. They are a strong reflection of the way you are feeling much of the time.” – Excerpted from the workshop in San Antonio, TX on Saturday, January 26th, 2002. Jerry and Esther Hicks (Abraham).

~ “If you encourage your children to stay connected to Source Energy, they will remain clear-minded; they will remain optimistic; they will remain enthusiastic. They will remain balanced; they will remain flexible. They will remain in a state of grace. They will remain in a state of Well-Being. And they will make wonderful choices.” – Excerpted from the workshop in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday, May 12th, 2005. Jerry and Esther Hicks (Abraham).

~ “The little ones still remember how to use the power of their imagination. They are still engaged in the utilization of their imagination — that is one of the reasons that keeps them so exhilarated.” – Excerpted from the workshop in Spokane, WA on Wednesday, July 7th, 1999. Jerry and Esther Hicks (Abraham).

~ “The most significant thing for a parent to contribute to anyone, is their own Connection and their own stability. An effective parent is a happy parent. An effective parent is a parent who laughs easily and often, and who doesn’t take things so seriously.” – Excerpted from the workshop in Albany, NY on Monday, October 1st, 2001. Jerry and Esther Hicks (Abraham).

~ “Life is a flame that is always burning itself out, but it catches fire again every time a child is born.” – George Bernard Shaw

~ “The question is, ‘Well, what about the little ones? What about the (unhealthy) babies?’ And we say they’ve been exposed to a vibration, even in the womb, that caused them to disallow the Well-being that would have been there otherwise. But once they are born, no matter what their disability, if they could be encouraged to the thought that would allow it, then, even after the body is fully formed, it could be regenerated into something that is well.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Ashland, OR on Tuesday, May 16th, 2000).

~ “There are three reasons for breast-feeding: the milk is always at the right temperature; it comes in attractive containers; and the cat can’t get it.” – Irena Chalmers

~ “Parents often think that they are here to guide the little ones. When – in reality – the little ones come forth with clarity to guide you.” – Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Orlando, FL on Saturday, February 15th, 1997.

~ “A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years and in your heart till the day you die.” – Mary Mason

~ ”A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination, prepared to be herself and only herself.” – Maya Angelou

~ “Who you are and what you know when you are born is everything that you need to know to thrive. You are born with a sense of self and a sense of wanting self to feel good, and the mechanisms to bring it about.” Abraham, excerpted from the workshop in Kansas City, KS on Wednesday, September 17th, 2003.

Colony Collapse Disorder – The Tipping Point

Posted on 15 May, 2013 by Judith Halek

We have heard of ADD, (Attention Deficit Disorder) ADHD, (Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder) PIT, (Pitocin, an artificial oxytocin to get labor contractions started) ROM, (Rupture of Membranes, breaking of waters during labor), VBAC, (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) but have you heard of CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder? I hadn’t until I read the recent issue of Yoga + , (Spring 2009) Lorrain Dusky’s article on “The Future of the Bees”. Without the healthy cross-pollination of 25 million flowers per day…we can kiss many simple nutritional pleasures in our lives goodbye. Melons, apples, coffee, blueberries, cherries, cucumbers…shall I go on?

As I read the article, I began to see many correlations between the world of bees collapsing and the world of birth at a critical mass. And who is responsible for both? Of course, we humans.

Industrial beekeepers scratch their heads and wonder what the possible cause of CCD could be? Medical caregivers scratch their heads and wonder what the cause of the rise of inductions/epidurals/cesareans/infirtility could be?

In Rowan Jacobsen’s book, Fruitless Fall, he takes a look at how far the bees have been taken from their natural environment, where they ate a varied diet, and now attempt to thrive on the monocropped fields of industrial farming, where they struggle and die. Sound familiar? So what is this ‘industrialized agriculture disease?’ Chemically fertilized fields of single crops: no biodiversity, not local pollinators, no curbs on diseases than can spread across countries through the packing and shipping. Hmmmm…not only is the care in a disarray, the stress levels put on bees is outrageous: trucked around countries to do their pollination duties, viral infections on the rise mites, chemicals to kill the mites, exotic pathogens, antibiotics and on and on. Sound familiar? Diets of CORN SYRUP, for DECADES. As Jacobson states, “GIving them corn syrup is like giving us nothing but soda when we are sick.” As Dusky mentions in her article, “Migrant labor, bee style, One job to the next, no vacations and lousy food to boot.”

Queen bees are dying off in 6 months instead of a couple of years! The baby bees are weak and subject to all sorts of viruses. Forager bees are listless and exhausted, a perfect breeding ground for the mites. Bees die off in the fields. Not only is this happening in the United States, but Canada, Asia, South America and China. Sound familiar in the birth world?

Jacobson even suggest, “If the bees lived a life they evolved for, staying in one place, having a variety of flowers to visit, which would give them the different nutrients they needed, the corn syrup addition might be okay.” Dusky continues with, “But when a cheap diet of sucrose comes at the end of a long list of stressors, you get a tipping point and …CCD.”

So what is our ‘tipping point’ in the birth world? The fact that in 3 decades cesarean sections have gone from under 7% nationally to 35+% today. Faster, easier, more convenient and financially profitable procedures. Why waste the time on letting a woman’s body go into labor naturally when the drugs and pharmacuticals exist today to expediate the process. Step away from nature, at what cost? The World Health Organization (WHO) states that no region in the world is justified in having a cesarean rate greater than 10-15%.

“Inductions and epidurals?’ Another ‘tipping point’ in the field of birth. All creating more opportunities for us to distance ourselves from nature and our own natural chemicals and allow the ‘machines’ to determine, when, how long and how much time.

I remember seeing a birth film by, David Sotnik, “Fate of the Earth, Fate of Birth,” (1997) where midwife Candace McCracken stated, “I’m worried that natural childbirth is becoming an endangered species.” Birth and cultural anthropologist, Robbie Davis Floyd draws a line between women who choose to ‘drop down into biology’ and those who do not choose to ‘drop down into biology’, thus creating two completely different cultures. One that tunes in and trusts the nature of their bodies and the other that sees and experiences their bodies to be a ‘vehicle’ and the baby to be the ‘end result’. A culture of a mechanistic, detached society that does not choose to be in their bodies by even breastfeeding. Where do you draw the line?

There is hope for the bees though, with a Buddhist, Bee Mystic, in Vermont, Kirk Webster. Instead of opting for chemicals to kill his crop of mites, he allowed the bees to die, took the survivors and bred them with each other and introduced hardy Russian bees into the hive. Patience was the key, because he had to wait a decade without income. (OH HORRORS for the industrial world of bees). The result was developing bees largely resistant to mites and letting the bees build their own V-shaped organic hives. No bad diets…only a variety of apple blossoms to feed off of. Staying local, no trucking around the country. The Bee’s needs were met.

As with any collapse or disorder, there is a silver lining. Colony Collapse Disorder opended the world’s eyes to the fact that agriculture depends on honeybees. Biodiversity is what we humans crave and need for survival.

So, what is our silver lining in the birth world? What are we going to do to bring back our connection to nature, our natural secretion of hormones, healthy vibrant food sources and trusting the process of labor and birth? I put it in your hands, your words, your actions.

If the bees can make it with the help of one small farmer at a time, remembering it takes patience, trust, good strong genes and getting back to nature…it might be a helpful formula for the birth community to regroup, realign and tip the point in another direction.

Becoming the ‘Dreamer of the Dream’

Posted on 25 January, 2013 by Judith Halek

When people ask you if you remember your dreams or not, what do you say? ”Oh, I never dream…or I don’t remember my dreams…I don’t believe in dreams…I use to remember my dreams and now I don’t…I dream all the time in technicolor!” Well, let me tell you, there is more to dreaming than dreaming. Meaning, dreams don’t just happen when you are asleep…they are happening right now, as you are reading this. You are in a ‘waking state dream.’ You might have daydreams in the waking state dream, and dreams when you sleep. The crucial question is, are you ‘awake’ or ‘asleep’ in any of your dream states? What does it mean to be awake? What does it mean to be asleep?

‘Awake’ is when you are ‘aware’ of what is going on around you moment to moment. You live in a state of responding vs. reacting. You let go of attachments to things, comments, ideas, whether positive or negative. ‘Asleep’ is when you take things personally, believe in victimhood, attach yourself to comments, ideas, your body, things, and spend time reacting to everything.

In a world which is basically in a state of madness and fear, (asleep), staying awake can be a bit of a challenge. There is that ray of hope and change still permeating the atmosphere, globally from the Inauguration activities. And how long will the ‘glow’ last in your life, whether you are awake, daydreaming or sleeping?

Where do you live? How do you integrate with your environment? Where are your thoughts? Do you even believe it’s possible to be living, eating, breathing ‘awakeness’ in your life? If you don’t believe, you won’t receive. That’s the way the energies work. When you become aware of the subtleties of life and where your mind is based on what you feel, good or bad, is the key to what you draw into your life.

After 25 plus years has taught me, during labors and births, the team leaves the planet and goes to the moon. My waking state dream and few sleeping state moments, during the labor become filled with clear, strong important images. I have learned to listen to the clear inner voice coming through as I tune in and let go of anything that might impede my resistance to the moment. And magic happens.

“Awakened Birth,” You Are Already There!

Posted on 25 January, 2013 by Judith Halek

This is it! This is the time to be alive. To REALLY be alive. We are potentials of unlimited powers, capacities to love, serve, share and support ourselves and each other during this new and revolutionary time in our history.

As the world becomes Awakened, new paradigms in childbirth are emerging: Awakened Birth, Dreambirth Imagery, Calm Birth, Birthing From Within, Birth As We Know It, Gentle Birth Choices, reflect powerful body/mind paradigms. New words such as, sustained energy, green, recycle have become common phrases in our every day lives and media. There are breakthroughs in medicine, science, ecology and technology. What we think, feel and consume affects the whole, individually and globally.

People ARE becoming more awake and aware. In the past three years, the films; “Orgasmic Birth”, “The Business of Being Born,” “Pregnant In America,” have flooded the market, waking people up to choices and knowledge. For our sheer enjoyment, “BABIES,” a visually stunning documentary follows four babies around the world from their gestation, first breath to first step.

“The Secret-Law of Attraction,” or “What the Bleep,” have opened the doors encouraging awareness as to how we live our lives today. Dr. Oz, Oprah’s physician, Dr. Phil, Oprah’s OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network debut 1/2011) has brought television to another level through it’s ‘mastery classes,’ Oz educates and inspires people to become more aware of their bodies as their best healers. Preventative medicine is the ticket to a healthier you.

In 2008, Echart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey shared the largest internet class to date, covering 10 chapters in Tolle’s book: “A New Earth-Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose.” The enrollment for the first week was so large, the systems crashed. By the end of the 10th week numbers reached as high as 8 million people!

Futurist and evolutionary Mother of the planet, Barbara Marx Hubbard, develops tools for visions of a Universal Humanity. She is a leader on the growing edge of the women’s movement, supporting the emergence of the Evolutionary Woman the Feminine Co-creator who is calling for the next level of creativity and partnership between women and men to guide our world through our current challenges and opportunities.

“Consciousness” raising websites, inspirational films and you tube presentations are popping up all over. Even reality shows are presenting people processing their lives right in front of millions. It’s not going to stop. It’s just going to become more.

To become a 21^st century teacher to yourself, your baby, in and out of your womb and to those around you, Awakened Birth, guides you how to be an inspirational role model, by living a life of purpose, clarity, joy, integrity, trust, fulfillment, aliveness and connection.

What got me started on my ‘awakened’ path was an editorial a few years ago in Mothering Magazine, by Peggy O’Mara. The words at the top of the page screamed out, “WAKE UP! Women in birth WAKE UP!!! I didn’t initially understand what she meant by the words but my body felt a sense of urgency and truth with them.

The synchronicity of the editorial and my life took on a new meaning. I noticed the women I was working with at the time seemed to have ‘fallen asleep.’ The emails on my yahoo groups supported my similar observations. Women give their power over to medical caregivers, birth caregivers, machines and drugs. I wondered where their sense of connection and communication with their bodies and babies went? When I would talk about the ‘biology of birth,’ eyes would glass over in classes. Women WANTED to drop down into biology and attempt a natural childbirth and/or breastfeed, but when push came to shove, literally, something happened. They went ‘asleep’. They shut down. Exhaustion and fear became the dominant emotions, mindset and body breakdown. I realize we are at a critical mass, a tipping point in childbirth.

When I first started in 1987, vaginal breech births were being done routinely in hospitals. Labor doulas were not a common addition in the room, yet there was an interest and welcome by the medical staff for the ‘extra help’ for the mother and her partner. A woman was given an IV only if she medically needed one. Women were allowed to walk around much more during labor. Group b strep tests and early admissions were not routinely administered. Cesareans and episiotomies were used only when medically necessary. Women were not induced regularly for low amniotic fluids and or big babies. I attended the first ‘walking epidural’ at Roosevelt Hospital. The Doctor who invented the procedure administered it and the woman actually walked through most of her laborIt was amazing. Yet, times have changed.

It’s 2011, the scales have tipped and we are in a state of critical mass. Generations are being drugged, cut, strapped to machines and gurneys and losing all sense and connection with their hormonal potentials, their babies and bodies. Fear has become the dominant driving force in childbirth. I am not only experiencing this in hospital births but also in birth center births and home births. While I advocate a woman to choose the place she feels safe and supported, it is important whatever the choice, ask questions up front, make sure your needs are being met and nothing is done to you without your knowledge and or permission.

So why ‘Awakened’? Why not Awake, or Awaken or Awakening Birth? The choice of ‘awake’ is a state of doing on the physical plane. ‘Awaken’ is a state of unfolding to a potential. ‘Awakening’ is a process of trying and trying to get there and not necessarily succeeding.

AWAKENED is state of already ‘being there.’ Awakened Birth isremembering what we have forgotten; our bodies know how, our babies know how, without even thinking about it. All the necessary tools, insights, possibilities, potentials and hormonal pharmaceuticals are inside each woman, man, child, waiting patiently to be accessed, remembered and given permission to be released.

What happens when you’re ‘awake’ in life? Actions, words, thoughts, feelings, colors, sounds, smells and experiences are brighter, stronger, clearer and flow more readily. There is no ego involved. There is a sense of connection with Source, guiding, assisting and participating in the miracles of life. ‘Awake’ can happen when you are awake during your day and also when you are sleeping at night. Remember the last time you awoke from a dream with a desire, passion or message to do something, call someone or create something? When you are sleeping, your dreams can potentially become ‘lucid’; you are aware of what you are dreaming and able to SHIFT the actions in your sleep state or receive important information.This is also an example of being awake.

When you’re ‘asleep’ in your day and night time, you may be restless, confused, hyper, worried, doubtful and fearful. You are disconnected with Source and your ego is the driving force behind all your words, thoughts, feelings and actions. The intention behind your action could be judgement, criticizism, to defend, which is really attacking self, or having an attachment to a person, idea or thing. Eckhart Tolle, author of, “The Power of Now,” calls this behavior our “pain body.” Debbie Ford, author and seminar leader, calls this “The Shadow Process.” Nightmares keep one stuck in this experience of resistance. Carolyn Myss, medical intuitive, calls it the ‘wounded soul.’

When women ovulate or are pregnant, their senses become more acute. Everything is exaggerated. (Sometimes pleasantly and some times not so pleasantly.) The intuitive senses are triggered like a fine tuned antennae waiting to receive, and transmit information. Day dreams, intuitive sensations, night dreams are vital. They are pathways of reception and avenues of clarity. Abraham Hicks says everything is vibrational energy and all we need to do is, “tune in, tap in and turn on.”

How do you know if you are ‘awake’ or ‘asleep’? Most people are not able to access what they are feeling. Many are more in touch with their thoughts and your body never lies. Your physical body will let you know. It is the grossest, densest of the bodies and the last to receive information.

The first step is to breathe out. What are you feeling emotionally? Good or bad? Check what you body feels like: comfortable, light, easy flowing or painful, uncomfortable, heavy and blocked. Check your mind. What are you thinking? Are you judging or surrendering? Feelings are indicators and thoughts are the power behind those feelings. Thoughts are triggered by heart felt feelings and emotions. Are you angry or trusting? Moment to moment, staying present and aware of what is happening in your emotions, physical body and mind is the FIRST step toward being Awakened. Small baby steps will bring rise to giant, consistent reminders of your Awakenedness.