MIA but let's discuss Female circumcision

I haven't blogged in a while as I endeavored on grad school to become a midwife!  Now I have a wealth of information to share as I learn and I plan to start sharing it again.  The goal of this blog remains the same: education, information, and growth for us all.  So please read, share, and lets start some health conversations.

Please watch this video clip about Female Circumcision and share your thoughts in a respectful way.

Feasting Friday: Body Balance

Wednesday wisdom: midwifery in the US

Did you know that medicine aimed to eliminate midwives in the early 20th century to gain control of the "market" of birthing?! Midwives we blamed for the high infant and materna rates in the US, called illiterate and unclean.  However, research shows that the poor births rates increased directly with the increase in hospital and physician births! Midwives have a purpose and we need to be educated about their skill level, scope of practice, and benefits:

1. Midwives provide competent overall well woman care: gynecology, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, family planning

2. Nurse-midwives can usually practice in hospital, birth center, homebirth settings and have prescription in some states. Licensed and certifed professional midwives cannot do hospital births, prescribe, or give medical invertention.

3. Provide decrease in mortality rates, need for intervention, increase breastfeeding and postpartum benefits.

Monday Mood

I have been away for quite some time.  Much to my amazement actually.  Time passes so quickly, that we often don't realize how much we have missed until we look back.  I started running a Black womens birth circle at the beginning of this year in hopes to educate sisters about our bodies, options, and infant mortality in our community.  As I received a text the other day about another baby born into our circle, I had an epiphany.  We have been blessed by three amazing souls since the circle began, but I realized they all ended with a cesarean section.  While each one had a different "plan" or vision the result was the same.

With that being said, what am I doing wrong? Is the birth circle addressing the needs of the women?! Teaching is fundamental.  Some things are just circumstance in birth, but 3:3 is no bueno for me.  I have to start before pregnancy with the basics perhaps.  That is part of my journey to understand and figure out.  What are your suggestions for needed education to make the change?

Moody Monday: wisdom circle

Baby showers are the modern day form of a blessingway in my opinion, with a more capitalistic twist. For centuries, various cultures have always created a circle of support and education around pregnant women from elder women in the family/community.  Its a necessity to have this circle as a guide. If you sit at the feet of the elders you will gain much wisdom on motherhood: how to comfort a sick baby, teething, breastfeeding, postpartum healing traditions and more. Start creating traditions around what has already been done.

Moody Monday: Gratitude List

In lite of the current plight of the US economy, the world seems to be in a constant funk.  Every day is a challenge. We often wonder, what will happen next? Once we are in this negative space, its difficult to see our lives in other ways.

If we want CHANGE, we must be that change in words, actions, and emotion.  To start the process, I encourage you to create your "gratitude list" today: a list of all your blessings. Its an unspoken way of saying thank you to the universe, but also helps see life at its fullest.  Life is about LIVING, but we can't live fully when we are choking our spiritual/emotional joy.

Moody Monday: Vote

I'm currently taking statistics and its got my mind racing about all the research possibilities available.  I'd like to take a poll:

For those that have had a hospital birth, how many had not one intervention (pitocin, epidural, foceps, vacuum, cytotec, etc.). If you did please specify what you had.