Childbirth
preparation Classes for the Body Mind and Spirit
For the expectant mother, being prepared to give birth means
feeling confident and inspired. To us this means having a good
understanding of:
— your
body and the birth process
— the
choices and the challenges and you will meet
— your
personal strength
— trust
and how to generate it in yourself, your support people
and the birth process.
For the father/partner it means understanding:
— and
feeling confident in the birth process
— how
you can support your partner
— how
you might feel and your needs in the process.
Our aim is to have you complete the classes feeling truly prepared.
Teaming the knowledge you need with the wisdom your body already
knows
Childbirth
preparation Classes for the Body Mind and Spirit start this Monday
6 monday evenings
6.30 - 9.30
766 Riversdale Road Camberwell
$350 per couple (concessions available)
The
teaching of the International College of Spiritual Midwifery
is centred on returning women to the sovereignty of their own
bodies, and to the inherent power within. For as women, we
are part of a continuum, our ancestors live within in us, just
as we will live within our descendants....
The
more a woman is able to be herself as a woman, the more she
is able to be with other women as they travel the rich and
sometimes challenging landscape of womanhood. Hence the original
meaning of "midwife" - "with
woman".
Children who are born of and cared for by such women
and men grow strong in their own sense of responsibility. It
is in this that we create the future we wish for our children
and the generations to come.
Buckminster
Fuller (1895 - 1983) was a visionary
thinker who invented the geodesic dome. Throughout his
life, Fuller was concerned with the question "Does
humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully
on planet Earth, and if so, how?" Fuller said, "I
want you to think about this as individuals. An individual
will say to me, “What can I do? What can I do? I’m
just a little tiny guy.” And,
I say, what you can do ... that we are really in the
final examination... we are a function
in the universe. We’re here for local universe information
gathering, local problems solving in support of the integrity
of an eternally regenerative universe." Read
more.
Heart
to Heart Parenting Robin Grille's latest book,
Heart to Heart Parenting has just been released.
A passionate speaker and social change activist, Robin's extensive
research led him to feel improved attention to babies'
and children's emotional needs is the most powerful way to
move societies toward sustainability and peace. Listen
to the podcast of Robin discussing his latest book on ABC Radio's
Nightline here.
Visit your ABC shop to purchase the book or visit Robin's website http://www.our-emotional-health.com for
more information about his work.
Ani
DiFranco — "Birth is the epicentre of women's
power "I would definitely choose a
homebirth again despite the fear mongering of this patriarchal
society, which convinces women that they are incapable of
having babies without the intervention of men and their machines.
... to add tragic insult to injury women are numbed
through their great moment of revelation. I believe the act
of giving birth to be the single most miraculous thing a
human being can do...it is surely the moment when a lot
of women finally understand the depth of their power and
connection to all of nature. You think it can’t
possibly be done, you think you can’t possibly take
the pain, and then you do — and afterward you look
at yourself in a whole new way. Read
more.
Thai
police double as midwives When
Sergeant Pichet Visetchote transferred into a special
division of Thailand's traffic police, he assumed his job
would involve handing out tickets - not, as it's turned
out, delivering babies. The
most recent of the 14 babies he has delivered was
Rungarun - whose name means "morning" in Thai
- a girl delivered in a utility truck that was stuck in
one of Bangkok's notorious traffic jams on the way to hospital. "It's
the perfect job," said 37-year-old Pichet. "Giving
people new life is one of the most important things." Read
more.
Dave
Grohl from the Foo Fighters on changing dirty
nappies: "You
can't be afraid of sh*t. That's the number one rule.
And you have to be like a Nascar pit crew. When it's
time to do it, it's [mimes disposing of a diaper] Tisch!
Tisch! -- done. And the more fun you make it, the better..
Sing a song." Read
more.
Midwife
run birth centres safer than hospitals
Babies born in midwife-run birth centres had significantly lower death rates
than those born in hospitals, an Australian study of more than 1 million births
has found. Read
this Sydney Morning Herald article.
A
Hopeful Hospital Birth with Dr Wonderful
Needing to change to a hospital birth late in pregnancy,
my client was able to change to Dr. Wonderful who works at
one of the two Baby-Friendly hospitals in our city. His promise
to help her have a marvelous natural birth in the hospital
wasn't bulls**t; his words are Truth. Read
this awesome birth story here on a midwife's blog — amazing
photos too!
Katrina
Folkwell Photo Gallery
Katrina Folkwell has extensive experience in black and white photography. Her
major passion has been working sensitively and creatively with pregnant woman,
birth and children. She has worked as a birth supporter in the Byron Bay area,
where she lives, and has attended and photographed over 60 births as well as
hundreds of pregnant couples. View an online
photo gallery of her beautiful photos.(Requires Flash Player 8 or above) Download
Flash Player for free from here.
Healing
Early Childhood Tooth Decay
by Rami Nagel
I am a father of a precious 3.5 year old girl. We have successfully treated early
childhood tooth decay for 2.5 years, without drugs, dentists, or surgery. I estimate
we achieved an 85-98% reduction in the rate of tooth decay. Read More.
The
Webster Technique — For Pregnant Women by Debra Behi Most
women want a natural, easy and complication free birth
since this is what is always best for mum and baby. However,
sometimes due to other factors such as structural issues
it is hard for the baby to find the best possible position for
birth, resulting in breech, posterior or other birthing positions
that may complicate delivery. This is why a Webster Technique
check is recommended for any pregnant woman. Read
More.
DVD Review:
The First Breath
by Katrina Folkwell
Katrina
Folkwell has created a stunning audio-visual journey into
the ecstasy and intensity of pregnancy, labour, birth and
bonding. Her beautiful photographs capture the essence of
birth's power and beauty. The sound track enhances the voyage
invoking and deepening the emotional and spiritual experience. Read
On.
Mother's
Day Blessing Mother
of All, hear our prayer this day for the protection and blessing
of all mothers! You who hold the seed in warmth and darkness
till it knows to seek the sunlight; You whose winds carry
the rain across the vast, arching sky, spilling it down on
the thirsting soil; You in whose arms we rest at the end
of the day, in comfort and peace; we call you! Hear our words
of praise for the mothers of the world! Read
on.
Mother's
Day was originally started after the Civil War, as
a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who
had lost their sons. Here is the original Mother's
Day Proclamation from 1870. Continued.
Feature
Book:
My Brother Jimi Jazz
by Chrissy Butler
This
children's
book is a delight for the senses as it embraces you with
it's vibrant illustrations and the joy of a new baby
being born at home. Trinity is welcoming a new baby brother,
Jimi Jazz into the family. Continued.
Helen
Caldicott: Credo The Australian paediatrician was named by the Smithsonian
Institute as one of the most influential women in the world.
She is a fervent anti-nuclear campaigner.
I believe that women have the fate of the Earth in the palm of their hands. Some
53 per cent of us are women and we really are pretty wimpish. We don't step up
to the plate - and it's time we took over. I think men have had their turn and
we're in a profound mess.
I believe that money is the root of all evil. When people
start believing that materialism will produce ultimate,
lasting happiness, it is a sure sign that they will be
intensely unhappy. One third of Americans are on anti-depressants.
Instead, what they should be doing is lifting their souls,
not their faces. I believe that the most important job in the world is
parenting. Women need to be financially supported for it.
Their job is far more important than that of chief executive
officers at the head of huge corporations. I
believe the secret of happiness is a) serving our fellow
human beings and loving and caring for everyone. I don't
mean crappy Californian love; I mean really deep caring
for each other; b) to understand our own psychology in
a profound way, so we can be a more constructive human
being; and c) to care for this incredible planet of ours. Read
More Here
New
Breastfeeding Icon Have
you ever found it difficult to find a welcoming, comfortable
place to breastfeed while out and about? Mothering
Magazine recently ran a competition to design a new international
breastfeeding symbol which could be used for businesses
and communities to display to show they welcome breastfeeding.
It is designed to increase public awareness of breastfeeding,
provide an alternative to the baby bottle symbol and
can be used to indicate baby and breastfeeding friendly
facilites. Do you want breastfeeding mums to feel welcome
in your place of business or community? Download and
display the symbol. For
more info see Mothering Magazine here.
Feature
Book: Sleeping
Like a Baby- Simple sleep solutions for infants
and toddler Babies
need their sleep, but sometimes it seems like the hardest
thing in the world to get them to drift off. Parenting expert
Pinky McKay argues that controlled crying and other current
trends are restrictive and can add to the stress faced by
parents. A more natural, intuitive approach to settling
your child, Sleeping Like a Baby will help you understand
normal infant sleep at each stage of development, from birth
to three years. Continued.
Attachment
Parenting
by Dr Sarah Buckley
Parenting
in our culture is a struggle. Bookshops are overflowing
with advice to help us with crying babies, sleep problems,
feeding problems, toilet training, temper tantrums and discipline;
the same areas our parents had difficulties with, and probably
our grandparents too. But these are not issues for parents
in many contemporary cultures, and it is only in recent
generations that these have emerged as the norms of parenting
in western society. What has changed, and how do others
manage to avoid difficulties in these areas? Read
on.
Finbarr
O'Reilly's first prize photo shows an African mother,
touched by her daughter's hand, at an emergency centre
in Niger.
Photo: Finbarr O'Reilly
Eyes
of the children:
Review of the World Press Photography Exhibition
The
eyes of the children, the soldiers and the mothers follow
me around the room. Their hope, their despair, judgement
and love reaches out from the frames and touches me as I
wander through the echoing hall. The tumultuous events of
the world brought to my peaceful city. Continued.
Andrea’s Story
After
the swift and beautiful birth of my daughter Raania, my midwife
challenged me to explain and define the aura of peace he experienced
on entering our home shortly after her birth (she flew in
like a bird, my midwife arrived 20 minutes later!). I remember
Pete giving me a thoughtful challenge after the birth of my
son…would I have done anything differently, he asked?
I enjoyed writing my thoughts and feelings and recollecting
my first birth experience in the little book I created for
Jahnu before his entrance into the world. This time my midwife
wanted definition of the nature of things! How, he asked?
Why, he asked? How and why have your experiences of birth
been so peaceful, so inspiring and seemingly so much fun?
My midwife is a bit of an intellectual. My midwife is also
a man, which almost meant he might not have been my midwife!
Continued.
Digital
Natives, Digital Immigrants
Today’s
students – K through college – represent the first
generations to grow up with this new technology. They have
spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers,
videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones,
and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Today’s
average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of
their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games
(not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games,
email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are
integral parts of their lives. It is now clear that as a result
of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their
interaction with it, today’s students think and process
information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.
Continued.
Raising
Media Savvy Children
tv...advertising.....video...playstation...net
nanny...palm pilots..DVDs...SMS advertising.........OVERLOAD!!!!
Our
children consume a daily diet fed to them by marketers, advertisers
and media designed for the lowest common denominator. How
can we, as parents guide them how to ration their daily consumption
and teach them how to consume it consciously with awareness
and a questioning mind? "We are all wired. Caught together
in a web of resonance... joined to everyone else on the planet
by cables, lines, signals and satellites.. the air waves crackle
with billions of invisible forms, realities that buzz across
the sky..the world mind broadcasts through all of us."
wrote Scoop Nisker in 1977. Continued.
Mothers
Are as Total as the Sky
Mothers Are as Total as the Sky
Older than the earth, and more enduring,
They’re rooted in our hearts like ancient trees,
Halfway down to seething lava seas;
Emblazoned on our sail, and on our mooring.
Returning home, we dwell within their sigh:
So maddening, so rich, so reassuring.
Young
Australians ask "how can it be right to lock up children?"
Children
and young people from around Australia express their concern
about the government policy of detaining asylum seeker children.
When the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC)
announced its Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention,
the United Nations Youth Association (UNYA) sent out a request
for young people to send their opinions on this issue.
The young people who wrote to UNYA and Amnesty International
were unanimous in their belief that children who have committed
no crime should not be detained. A girl from St Michael's
College in Brisbane wrote "As young people we feel accountable
and guilty for the young people so similar to ourselves. Why
should we be the lucky ones born outside the fence?"
Continued.
Midwives
to deliver without doctors
According
to the Sydney Morning Herald, Midwives at a NSW hospital are
expected to get permission to assist women to deliver their
babies when there is no doctor on duty, in a state first that
may herald a shake-up of public maternity services. Justine
Caines, the Maternity Coalition's NSW president said, "When
midwives have one-to-one care of women, their results are
stunning."
View
some of Catherine's
beautiful photography here
Babywearing
- ancient wisdom embraces the present.
In
touch with the natural rhythms of life, tribal and other more
communal peoples knew - from experience! - the value of baby
wearing. A state childhood experts call "quiet alertness"
replaces crying and fussiness. A sling distributes the broad
weight from shoulders and hips, aligning the baby's center
of gravity close to the wearer. Many scientific studies now
show how a carried baby receives the exact essentials of pressure,
motion, pleasure, warmth, security, sound. Read
on.
Robyn
Smith's Photography
I
have learnt to watch, to be with .. to watch the light on
their skin, the way they walk, the way they hold themselves.
It is the same with labouring women too.. to watch ..I have
been with so many labouring women in hospital where everyone
watches the goddammed machines, ugh. to follow my instincts
to be silent and encouraging, being there for them.. to trust.
Continued. or
visit Birth Support Bendigo at http://www.bsb.bendigo.net.au
Photo
Copyright Robyn Smith. All Rights Reserved.
Getting a Good Night's Sleep- another perspective.
by Dr Sarah J. Buckley
Advising
parents to ignore the cries of a distressed child, for however
long, does not produce a loving and trustful parent-child relationship.
I wonder how many of us would want our partners or friends to
treat us this way, if we were alone at night and feeling upset
and frightened. But it is not only the hard-heartedness of these
suggestions that concerns me. All of the scientific and anthropological
research that I have read supports my instincts and experience.
Read On.
Is
it a Cheetah?
by Stephanie S. Tolan
It's a tough time to raise, teach or be a highly gifted child.
As the term "gifted" and the unusual intellectual capacity to
which that term refers become more and more politically incorrect,
the educational establishment changes terminology and focus.
A cheetah metaphor can help us see the problem with achievement-oriented
thinking. The cheetah is the fastest animal on earth. When we
think of cheetahs we are likely to think first of their speed.
It's flashy. It is impressive. It's unique. And it makes identification
incredibly easy. Since cheetahs are the only animals that can
run 70 mph, if you clock an animal running 70 mph, IT'S A CHEETAH!
Read On.
Healing
Birth, Healing the Earth
by Dr Sarah J. Buckley
Birth, She is dying.
This primal and unspeakably powerful initiation, the only road
to motherhood for our ancestors, has been stripped of Her dignity
and purpose in our times. Birth has become a dangerous medical
disease to be treated with escalating levels, and types, of
technological interventions. What is worse, perhaps, is that
the ecstasy of Birth- Her capacity to take us outside (ec) our
usual state (stasis)- has been forgotten, and we are entering
the sacred domain of motherhood post-operatively, even post-traumatically,
rather than transformationally. Read
On.
Breastfeeding New
studies have confirmed that breastfed babies are smarter.
The study, published by the Journal of the American Medical
Association, showed a link between the duration of breastfeeding
and intelligence in young adults. Continued.
Cathy
Smith's Photography
Cathy Smith & Nigel Duncan have launched their new
business, Concept Images. Cathy recently photographed
Lara Feltham & Pat Rafter with their new son, Joshua.
View some of Cathy's beautiful photography and Nigel's
vibrant paintings. Read Cathy's story about her life as
a mama, midwife and a photographer. Continued.
They're
singing your song When
a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant,
she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together
they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child.
They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that
expresses its unique flavor and purpose. When the women attune
to the song, they sing it out loud. Then they return to the
tribe and teach it to everyone else. Continued.
The
Year of the Fire Pig in Chinese Astrology
by Kristine Gibson
The Year of the Fire Pig is going to be a fantastic year for some, a year of
celebration for many and a few challenges for others. This year is Fire, the
colour is red, and so, a Red Fire Pig is very powerful indeed considering the
gentle Yin energy that usually encompasses the Pig Year. The Pigs fixed ruling
sign is Water, so we have a Year of Fire over Water. There is a power behind
this association that can get out of control. Even though the gentle Yin energy
of the Pig denotes harmony, the opposition of Fire and Water can and will transform
into volatile situations if you allow it.
Read More of the Overview of the Fire Pig Year. Read Kristine's Chinese Astrology
Predictions for all the Chinese Animals
Previous
Articles
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A
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for her inspiration and assistance in the creation
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of earth friendly pregnancy, baby and children's
products available from her website www.natureschild.com.au.
Unless
otherwise indicated, Black and White photography on this
site is courtesy of and copyrighted by Katrina Folkwell.
All Rights Reserved. Katrina specialises in pregnancy
and birth photography and she works in the Northern NSW
area. See Katrina's
page
for more photos and information about her work.
"From
the most ancient of days,
women have worn a wreath upon their heads.
With this wreath they are said to have pronounced
the most sacred incantations.
Is it not the wreath of unity?
And this blessed unity,
is it not the highest responsibility and beautiful mission
of womanhood?
From women one may hear that we must seek disarmament
not in warships and guns
but in our spirits.
And from where can the young generation hear its first caress
of unification?
Only from mother.
To both East and West, the image of the Great Mother -
womanhood, is the bridge of ultimate unification."
Ani
DiFranco — "Birth is the epicentre of women's
power
Thai
police double as midwives
Dave
Grohl from the Foo Fighters on changing dirty
nappies: "You
can't be afraid of sh*t. That's the number one rule.
And you have to be like a Nascar pit crew. When it's
time to do it, it's [mimes disposing of a diaper] Tisch!
Tisch! -- done. And the more fun you make it, the better..
Sing a song." 
DVD Review:
Finbarr
O'Reilly's first prize photo shows an African mother,
touched by her daughter's hand, at an emergency centre
in Niger.
