The Sacred Placenta - Forgotten Knowledge

A short while ago I attended a workshop ran by the lovely Elizabeth Worley from http://www.barefootbirthing.co.uk where we explored the importance of the placenta in birth culture, it's history, taboos and traditional uses.

It was an interesting day with lots of discussion between us (mostly Doulas) about how to support the spiritual needs of women who aspire to experiencing the birthing process as a holistic and spiritual process for themselves, their baby and their family.

Lotus Birthing has become more popular as women are more informed and confident in making choices complementary to their life philosophy. It is becoming more recognised that the current birthing culture within the 'medical establishment' is often neglectful of the deeper spiritual needs of women and their desire to make the transition to motherhood a recognised and fulfilling rite of passage.

By making the choice to Lotus birth women are not only making a 'spiritual' choice, but also reclaiming their rights to their own birthing experiences, providing a wonderful platform to begin their mothering journey as confident and empowered mothers.

Lotus births are fabulous, but some families may chose that having the cord intact for an extended period of time is 'not for them' so to be able to explore what other options there are can help them work out what does suit them.

Sacred severance, or cord burning involves the separation of the placenta from the baby via burning the cord. it works best at a minimum of four hours post birth, and can be done anytime thereafter.. it is not a quick process.. often 15 - 30 minutes and is perfectly suited to a sacred and spiritual ritual to welcome baby earthside and the safe transition through labour for the new mother.

If the parents chose, the placenta can still be consumed, buried or made into remedies - such as a placental essence, or encapsulation.

I am very excited to now be able to offer my support to couples who wish to celebrate the birth of their baby with this gentle ritual. I have already have had the honour of doularing for mothers who have chosen lotus births, placental remedies, and burying ceremonies, and am really pleased that I will now be able to offer sacred severance rituals too!

Here is a lovely video..

Please support Robin Lim at the Bumi Sehat Birth Centre by buying her book: The Placenta, The Forgotten Chakra..

 http://www.bumisehatbali.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=46

.....Welcome to the world Beautiful Poppy!!!.....

Congratulations to Kerry and Cory for the beautiful birth of their little girl, Poppy born at tea time on 6th April after a peaceful day labouring at home. It was a wonderful moment to witness Poppy coming into the world and a privalage to have supported her fabulous parents as they became a family.

                                             
                                                               Gorgeous Poppy Jill

                                                                            X

.....Welcome Baby Elizabeth!.....

Welcome to gorgeous Baby Elizabeth, born last Thursday afternoon, 15th March :)

And huge congratulations to her amazing parents who used their well practiced hypnobirthing perfectly! well done to you both, you were an inspiration, and I thank you both for giving me the privalage of being your Doula, I have very special memories of your amazing journey to welcome your beautiful daughter to the world :) xxxxx

Beautiful Baby Elizabeth :)

                                                                   Very proud Dad...

                                                         And a beautiful new Mama!

                       And here's the wonderful belly mapping of Baby Elizabeth before her big arrival! :) 
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Spinning Babies!!!

The most lovely Gail Tully from Spinning Babies came to the UK recently to provide workshops for many Doulas, Midwives, Pregnancy yoga teachers and anyone else who may support women throughout their pregnancy and birth. I was fortunate enough to be on the last workshop arranged by Doula UK, even though it meant a 4am start due to travelling to Exeter it was well worth it!

The first thing which struck me was how NICE Gail was, so genuine, relaxed and friendly! She hosted the day with so much humour and a clear understanding of women and so, so much insight into how women can be helped to work with their bodies to help their babies be born.

We started the day talking about Belly mapping, here is a link to Gails article on her Spinning Babies website:

http://spinningbabies.com/baby-positions/belly-mapping

A lovely pregnant woman came along for the morning (due that day!) and Gail talked her through her own belly mapping to work out her own baby's position, which was marvellous and something I plan to teach my doula clients from now on! The mum left with a drawing of her baby on paper, but could so easily have been done on her tummy (see pics on Gail's website)

Gail talked in depth about posterior presenting babies and why and how they are in this position, and how it may affect labour and birth for some women. I say 'some' women, because I don't believe (and neither did Gail) that all women do have problems birthing their 'OP' babies. I know this from experience because two of my own babies were born this way, and they were not the typically long back labours that is generally expected, in fact they were the opposite of this. BUT for some women their babies may need to rotate around before the birth, and these babies and mothers were the focus of Gails workshop.

Pregnancy Routine

Gail showed us some techniques which we could encourage clients to use as a daily routine to help relax and gently stretch ligaments promoting a ' balance' in the mothers physiology. It is so easy in our culture these days to not have the mobility in every day life which promotes health and balance, and it is so easy for our bodies to have little twists and knots in them which can impact on our comfort during pregnancy and the birth of our babies. Gail asked our pregnant volunteer to try some of the positions, including the forward leaning inversion, and we all spent a long time practising different rebozo techniques for support and for 'release' exercises.

I particularly liked the myofascial release, and even though I have been a masseuse for many years had been unaware until now of the delicate movement and significance of the fascia alongside the joints of the pelvis, ligaments and muscles of the reproductive system. I also discovered new techniques to use with my Rebozo scarf, and have begun to question whether there is anything else a woman actually needs in her life other than one of these beautiful Mexican shawls! (I shall be attending a Doula retreat in June and one whole day is dedicated to Rebozo use - so I shall let you know!)

The three principles of Spinning Babies

1, Balance
2, Gravity
3, Movement

so, we now have techniques to achieve balance! Gravity and movement work so well together, and women will move into amazing positions during labour when in an environment to do so. The lovely Fynn Willis, a Doula colleague and friend in Somerset did some amazing belly dancing for us all to demonstrate the movements Gail was talking about (Fynn's video will be on you tube soon, I will post a link when it's up) and we had a marvellous afternoon of practising lots of different techniques to help babies engage and navigate the pelvis.

here is a link to the Spinning Babies website:

http://www.spinningbabies.com/

There were a few yoga teacher on the course that day, including Belinda Staplehurst from Yogaworks in Leamington Spa, her website is here:

http://www.yogaworks.me.uk/

Pics of Belinda, Gail and I together to follow.. (Gail has them on her camera and will send them to us :) )


As promised.. more photos................

                                              
                                                              Myself, Gail and Belinda
             

                                 
                                                                             XXX

Welcome Baby Lyra Loveday!!!

On Sunday 19th of February I had the honour of witnessing Baby Lyra's birth. Her mum had had an elective Caesarian section birth for her first baby, and chose to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarian) this time.
after waters breaking at 36 weeks (on holiday!) Clare went into labour naturally and birthed her beautiful daughter completely naturally! Well done and huge congratulations Clare and Mark, you really were brilliant and should be so, so proud of yourselves! you did it!!!!

Welcome to the world Beautiful Baby Lyra, and congratulations proud parents Clare amd Mark, and big brother Xander!! thank you for giving me the honour of being your Doula :D xxxxxxxxxx