The traditions surrounding birth include many different forms of ritual and ceremony. We can celebrate love, conception, welcoming the incoming soul, the woman’s pregnant state, and birth as a woman’s rite of passage.

After the birth we can celebrate the new arrival, hold a name giving
ceremony, baptise the baby, have a special burial ceremony for the placenta and also celebrate the woman as she takes on her new role as a mother. All of these occasions and more are worthy of such ritual and ceremony.

Candles, essential oils, smudge sticks, mandalas, chants, drums, music, special beads, cloth, crystals or gifts, are often used as ceremonial objects to help create the right energy for such an occasion.

A ceremony which is particularly enjoyable and becoming quite popular is the ‘blessing way’. This is held in the weeks leading up to the due date of birth. It is held to welcome the child and bless and honour the family that is bringing the child to earth. The family and circle of friends come together to welcome the baby in and show support for the parents by creating an environment of readiness, love and acceptance.

This is an excerpt taken from the ebook ‘Childbirth Preparation’, written by Faye Read, available at:
www.childbirthpreparationebook.com

To see the full range of Ayana Organics, visit:
www.ayanaorganics.com.au

Take back control of your own birth experience and learn all about the options available to YOU …leaving you feeling positive and empowered, as every new parent should be.

This newly released e-book titled “Childbirth Preparation” by Faye Read is the quickest and easiest way to holistically prepare for birth.

Inside this informative e-book you’ll get information about all the various choices available to you and what you can do to create the birth experience that you desire. Absolutely everything any birthing couple would need to know.

To find out more or to get your ‘Childbirth Preparation’ Ebook now, go to:

http://www.childbirthpreparationebook.com

As we come close to our ‘due date’ we become quite conscious of the position of our baby inutero. Is there an ‘Optimal position’ for the baby to be in?  Yes there is. Preferably we want the baby’s head to be down and bottom up (known as ‘cephalic’). Labour is generally quicker and easier too if the back of the baby’s head is towards the front of your belly.  We also look for the head to become ‘fully engaged’ by the time you are in labour (meaning, it has dropped right down into the pelvis). When the baby is in the optimal position, labour generally progresses quite well.

If your baby is not in the optimal position, there are several things you can do to move it to a better position.  These can include:

• Leaning forward or on all fours as often as possible to move it around to the front.
• Belly dancing can be a terrific way to help the baby move into the right position or to help it move through the pelvis with ease.
• Communicating with your baby and ‘asking’ it to move
• Gentle regular massage to the belly in the direction that you want bub to turn
• Reflexology, shiatsu, acupuncture, acupressure, homeopathics etc. There are many different types of natural therapies that can be used, depending on your preferences.  Always seek the advice of a professional practitioner though when using any of these modalities during pregnancy

There are many other things you can try.  I suggest  doing a google search.  A fantastic website to visit for this is:

www.spinningbabies.com

Also a great book to read on this topic, if you can find a copy, is ‘Understanding and Teaching Optimal Foetal Positioning’ by Jean Sutton and Pauline Scott.

Bellydancing is a safe and effective dance expression that supports women throughout pregnancy and labour providing a natural birthing technique that encourages active birth at its most feminine

Middle Eastern Dance has evolved over time, transversed many lands and has been labelled, restructured, extended, and fused with other dance styles. A predominantly woman’s dance it would have been passed from mothers to daughters to preserve its sacredness and honour its connections to birth and fertility.

Used with permission from:
http://www.bellydanceforbirth.com

Take back control of your own birth experience and learn all about the options available to YOU …leaving you feeling positive and empowered, as every new parent should be.

This newly released e-book titled “Childbirth Preparation” by Faye Read is the quickest and easiest way to holistically prepare for birth.

Inside this informative e-book you’ll get information about all the various choices available to you and what you can do to create the birth experience that you desire. Absolutely everything any birthing couple would need to know.

To find out more or to get your ‘Childbirth Preparation’ Ebook now, go to:

http://www.childbirthpreparationebook.com

If you want to keep your birth as natural as possible then practice regular relaxation, listen to your intuition and trust your body! Listen to what your body is telling you, not what other people are telling you. No-one knows your body like you do. If you feel comfortable with this and trust what your body is telling you, you will know if everything is okay, or if you need to make changes.

Avoid interventions wherever possible, otherwise you may start the ‘cascade of intervention’, whereby one intervention leads to another, then another and another. Work with your body’s natural endorphins and oxytocin.  They are there for a reason and make labour so much more comfortable, as long as you don’t block them out with artificial substitutes. Find out more ideas on what you can do in my eBook on ‘Childbirth Preparation’.  Available at:  www.childbirthpreparationebook.com

Did you know that animals in the wild usually birth easily and naturally without any problems?  Their biggest concern is predators! If an animal is attacked during labour, the surge of adrenaline will allow them to expel their baby quickly and flee to safety.  Otherwise, if they are still early on in labour, contractions will cease while they get to safety.  Labour will not recommence until they have reached safety and created the right environment again.  This is no different in humans, except we’re not generally being hunted!!  We do however, release adrenaline in response to other stressful situations.  So think about your current environment…whether you feel relaxed or stressed.  This will determine how well you birth your baby.

To see some beautiful births of animals in the wild…when left undisturbed to just ‘get on with it’, visit ‘You tube’.  There are lots of amazing videos on there to check out. It even shows how animals clean up the afterbirth…yum, yum!!  We can learn a lot by observing nature!!

The birth environment needs to be such that it allows the most natural birth to take place. It should allow you to relax, feel comfortable and safe so that you can release endorphins naturally in this environment, allowing for a good flow of energy and a natural, positive, empowering birth experience.

So how do we re-create an environment similar to one you had when you first got the baby in there? Try to think about how you would like a room to be or to feel during conception. Do you like a room to be nice and quiet, dark and intimate, with candles burning, nice music playing, comfortable cushions or bed linen, or anything else you would like to have in the room to help you feel comfortable and relaxed? This is what you need to have in your room during birth in order to help you become relaxed. We want to prevent the fear/tension/pain syndrome and the “adrenaline” reaction. We want to increase endorphin release, so it is really important to have a relaxing birth environment in order to do this.

You are able to move furniture around and create the environment you want. If you are birthing in a hospital, you may not be aware of this. You can actually move the room around to suit yourself and bring in things from home to make you feel comfortable. You are perfectly within your rights to create whatever you like that is going to make you comfortable. This may change however, if you have a high risk pregnancy where you need to be monitored more closely, and will probably need all the equipment around. Otherwise, you should be able to push the bed to the side and place the mattress on the floor if you so desire. This is a good way of preventing you from feeling that you have to lie on the bed. Just push the bed to the side and put your bags on top of it. Then it is really difficult for anyone to come in and ask you to get on the bed for an internal examination or for any other reason. These can be done (if needed) with you in any position.

Most labour rooms these days have dimmer switches so you can dim the lights. You cannot actually use candles in the labour ward because of the oxygen on the wall, but you can usually ask for a vaporizer, which is kept in a storeroom. So you can bring in your own oil blends from home if you like and use the hospital vaporizer, or if they don’t have that you can always put essential oils on a handkerchief so that you have got some nice aromas from home as well. You can also bring in photos and flowers, your own pillow, your own doona if you want. You can also bring in your own CD’s from home. Most labour wards have a CD player now, so all you need to do is bring your own music from home so that you can put it on and listen to that during labour or bring your own MP3 player, whatever suits you. You can play the music of your choice because music makes a huge difference to how well relaxed you will feel.

Just remember that, however the environment is, you can change it around and create whatever space you need because BIRTH IS A SACRED EVENT so you really want a nice SACRED SPACE for the baby to be born into. Create whatever suits you!

It helps to write a list ahead of time too, of all the things to take to the birth so that when you go into labour, it is just a matter of gathering them together and taking them with you. It is your birth, so create the birth experience that you want to have by starting with the environment. Create the environment that you want on this special day.