Choosing Waterbirth: Reclaiming the Sacred Power of Birth (23 page)

"I don't really get hurt," he told me last week, "I just like to crash because it gets me more attention." I'm not sure I Page 157

like his reasoning, but I give him two thumbs up and a mock applause, anyway. He grins, delighted, picks up his bike and heads to the top of the yard to do it again.

On the trampoline at the top of the garden, my eldest daughter, sixyearold Rani, dances and twirls, and waves when she sees me watching. With her hair and her dress bouncing in opposition to the rest of her, she looks so funny I have to laugh. I wave back. The broccoli washed, I take it back to the counter and cut it slowly.

The water is boiling, ready for the pasta. I pour it in, a few at a time, watching it slide beneath the water. In a few minutes, this pasta, inedible now, will be soft and pliable, ready to nourish us. Without boiling, it would be good for nothing.

I think about that. I am like that pasta. Hard and cold, I am good to no one. But if I let myself remember and be warmed by the love surrounding me, if I shed my "package of the day," the worries and cares that have cloaked me, and allow myself to be transformed by what is happening now, then I, too will become soft, able to nourish my children. I sigh and relax, the anxiousness has gone.

"Mama?" I hear again. I stop and turn around.

"Yes, little lady?" I say to Madhuri.

I love you.

I know, Cutiepie, I love you too.

So many evenings are stressful for me. Sometimes preparing a meal at the end of a long workday takes more energy than I think I have left. Into that weary exhaustion, my children act as a reminder, showing me again and again what is really important. They show me that every moment is precious, and every moment holds the potential for joy.

So, dinner is late again. Make it thirty seconds later. Take that time to stop and be with your child. Sometimes the only thing a child wants is thirty seconds in which to share a smile. Stop and share it with them. What our children really want from us is our time and attention, our love and appreciation. They want to share with us all that they see as wonderful
today
: a new game in a magazine, a song they learned at school, a

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story from their lives. Don't waste this time with them getting wrapped up in all of the work that comes with caring for children and missing the little things that make having children the joy it is.

You will face so many challenges raising your children: scraped knees, bloody noses, nightmares, wet beds, arguments, crying fits; everything you are and everything you know will be tasked by this process of creating the next generation. In the midst of this chaos, learn to stop and take the time to be there with them as they grow.

Don't let a day go by without hugging them and telling them that you love them. It is a wonderful journey that began with the birth of your baby. It will allow you to sit back and rediscover the world through a new pair of eyes. Don't lose the magic of this experience by being caught up in the physical demands of raising children.

Remember every day what a gift it is to be alive and to have been able to give life to another.

Remember that birth, as a gift, was not meant to be scary. It was meant to test you, to prepare you for this greater journey of caring for your young. It was meant as an exercise in honoring yourself and in learning to depend on your inner strength. It was meant to make you feel more powerful and more capable than you were before the experience.

Left to right in a clockwise circle: Rani,

Lakshmi, Sampath, Nataraja, Madhuri,

Nilakantan and Lalita in center.

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RESOURCES

Waterbirth Resources

Author's Website

email:[email protected]

website: www.choosingwaterbirth.com

Contains resources, information, and stories on water birth and natural birth.

Active Birth Centre

Janet Balaskas

25 Bickerton Road

London

N19 5JT

UK

Phone: + 44 (0) 1714825554

Fax: + 44 (0) 1712679683

email: [email protected]

website: www.activebirthcentre.com

The Active Birth Centre offers informative education to help with the emotional and physical preparation for birth and early parenting designed to empower and inspire women to have confidence in their ability to give birth and to aid them in choosing the right birth option for their particular circumstances. Provides information on waterbirth, prenatal yoga, and aromatherapy.

Aquadoula

PO Box 1132

110 9th Av. S.

Edmonds, WA 98020

Phone: 18882172229

Fax: (425) 7762157

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email: [email protected]

website: www.aquadoula.com

Provider of portable spas designed specifically for water labor and delivery. The spas are soft, yet sturdy, easy to set up, and lightweight and compact for easy shipping. Pricing and rental information available online.

Birth Balance

Judith Elaine Halek, Director

309 W. 109th St. Apt. 6D

New York, NY 10025

Phone: (212) 2224349

Fax: (212) 2228308

Birth Balance is the east coast resource center for underwater birth providing support and information including video and photo documentation of the International Waterbirth Conferences, a resource list of centers and practitioners offering waterbirth, and a newsletter.

Birth Center of the Blue Ridge

1380 East Rio Road

Charlottesville, VA 22901

Phone: (804) 9774757

Fax: (804) 9770411

Provides safe, sensitive, and specialized care in a warm and friendly, homelike environment for women choosing to experience natural births and waterbirths in Central Virginia. The birth center I chose when I gave birth to my fifth baby, Lalita Karensa.

Point of View Productions and The Waterbirth Website

Karil Daniels

2477 Folsom St.

San Francisco, CA 94110

Phone: (415) 8210435

website:www.well.com/user/karil

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Producer/Director of
WATER BABY: Experiences of WaterBirth
, award winning documentary that features four waterbirths and the world's top waterbirth pioneer doctors, and home of "The Waterbirth Website" providing a wealth of information about waterbirth including an extensive waterbirth resource list to help you locate a practitioner in your area.

Waterbirth International

Global Maternal/Child Health Association

Barbara Harper

PO Box 1400

Wilsonville, OR 97070

Phone: (503) 6823600

email: [email protected]

www.waterbirth.org

The Global Maternal/Child Health Association and Waterbirth International Research, Resource, and Referral Service is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting women and their families discover the benefit of laboring and giving birth in water. The website has a waterbirth store, a frequently asked questions section, information on locating portable pools, and a referral service to aid in locating a practitioner.

Natural Birth and Midwifery Resources

The American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM)

818 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 900

Washington, DC 20006

Phone: (202) 7289860

Fax: (202) 7289897

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.acnm.org

Providing research, accreditation for nursemidwifery programs; administers and promotes continuing education Page 162

programs; establishes clinical practice standards; and creates liaisons with state, and federal agencies and members of Congress.

International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA)

PO Box 20048

Minneappolis, MN 55420

Phone: (952) 8548600

Fax: (952) 8548772

email: [email protected]

website: www.icea.org

Offers professional certification programs, childbirth educator workshops, and an annual international convention. Website provides a bookstore, a membership roster of over 8,000 members, certification and childbirth education information for those interested in childbirth educators, Doulas, and labor support people.

Lamaze International

1200 19th Street, NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 200362422

Phone: 18003684404

Fax: (202) 4295112

email: [email protected]

website: lamazechildbirth.com

Through education, advocacy, and reform, Lamaze International seeks to promote normal, natural, healthy, and fulfilling childbearing experiences for women and their families. Website has a bookstore and media center and information for childbirth educators, health care providers, and parentstobe.

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Magazines

Birth Gazette

42 The Farm

Summertown, TN 384839626

Phone: (931) 9643798

email: [email protected]

www.birthgazette.com

A quarterly magazine published by Pamela Hunt and Ina May Gaskin, author of the bestselling
Spiritual Midwifery
, concerning midwifery, childbirth, and the politics of health care.

The Compleat Mother

PO Box 209

Minot, ND 58702

Phone: (701) 8522822

email: [email protected]

website: www.compleatmother.com

A quarterly magazine of pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding for the purpose of promoting natural, enjoyable birth and extended breastfeeding.

Midwifery Today

PO Box 2672350

Eugene, OR 97402

Phone: (541) 3447438

email: [email protected]

website: www.midwiferytoday.com

A quarterly journal about pregnancy, labor, and birth for midwives, nurses, doulas, childbirth educators and practitioners, and parentstobe.

Mothering

PO Box 1690

Santa Fe, NM 87504

Phone: (505) 9848116

email: [email protected]

www.mothering.com

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The natural family living magazine released monthly containing information on birth and pregnancy, motherhood, and child rearing.

Nurturing Magazine

#373,91816th Ave. NW

Calgary

Alberta Canada

T2M OK3

email: [email protected]

website: www.nurturing.com

A monthly magazine whose primary goal is the discussion of the importance of the family unit and child raising with articles on home schooling, breastfeeding, home birth, and more.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In writing about waterbithing for prospective parents,
Lakshmi Bertram
found a way to combine her two passions—mothering and yoga—in one helpful expression.

A mother of five and a student of yoga for years, Lakshmi lives in central Virginia with the Yogaville spiritual community, founded by Sri Swami Satchidananda, who also developed the style of hatha yoga known as Integral Yoga. Lakshmi frequently lectures on the benefits of yoga during pregnancy and natural birthing techniques, and continues to write about childrearing and motherhood.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER

All of the pictures in this book were taken by one very talented photographer: Stephanie Gross. She posesses the skill, talent, and the ''eye" to capture visually the essence of what I wanted to say, and had the added benefit of being unassuming and authentic, making her energy perfect for this project. Working with her was a pleasure in all ways, and I couldn't have been more pleased with what she brought to this book through her photographs.

Stephanie is a freelance photographer. She lives on a farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband Charles, two cats, and four dogs. She has a BFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design, and spent ten years as a newspaper photographer. Her pictures have appeared in the
Washington
Post
, the
New York Times
, and
Glamour Magazine
. You may contact Stephanie through email at [email protected]. Or you may write to her at 795 Falling Rock Dr., Amherst VA 24521.

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INDEX

A

abdominal muscles, value of hip circles and hip rocks, 61

active labor, 3637

adrenaline, negative impact of, 19

afterbirth, 2728

amniotic sac, breaking of, 36

ankles, relieving swollen, 69

aromatherapy, 89

awareness

of body, 47, 7173

of posture, 5960

B

babies

benefits of waterbirth for, xvxvi, 2225

connecting with, 6869, 98

don't keep, 140142

keeping immersed in birthing tub, 27, 39

sleeping with, 149151

stimulating colon of, 153

suctioning, 102

welcoming, 25, 138139

"baby blues," 146147

back pain, relieving through yoga, 67

basics, of birthing, 3340

bathing, analogy to, xiv