These pregnant mothers are sharing a cup of herbal tea after one of my yoga classes this week. A discussion began about the essential oil of Clary Sage, which is often called a ‘womb tonic’ and has also been called ‘natural gas and air’. One of them used it for the birth of her first
We recently received this lovely story from proud new father Phil. “Jasna and I attended the active birth weekend in March – I’m the guy with the dodgy back. This Saturday afternoon at 4.30 Jasna birthed our son Bertie, in the pool in our daughter’s bedroom. Everyone is well. Jasna had a show Friday evening, surges started
Before getting pregnant I never considered the sort of birth I would have. The media and popular culture had led me to believe there was only one way to have a baby – on your back, in hospital, drugged up to the eyeballs and in a lot of pain screaming and shouting. But as soon
Birth is intimate and I think, where possible, it’s important to honour that. My husband, Bruno has a son from a previous marriage who was born by caesarean. When I told him I wanted to have our baby at home he deeply respected my decision but was understandably concerned. We decided to do a preparation
Many of you reading this will be experiencing the early weeks and months with your new baby, while others will have your memories of this incredibly special but challenging time. For most of us, this is a period of great change and transition from an independent woman into a mother. This transition can be one
As soon as I found out I was pregnant I stopped using any perfumed cosmetics, nothing with any parabens or sulphates and cut out nearly all processed food. I knew I wanted my pregnancy and the birth of my first baby to be as natural as possible. I started going to Lynn’s antenatal yoga group
It’s high time the programme makers joined the birth revolution, writes Milli Hill On 4th April 1982, I was a carefree seven year old, and therefore totally unaware that, as I played with my Pippa dolls in my dungarees, six thousand women were marching in Hampstead Heath for a woman’s right to give birth in
Dr Michel Odent was recently reported in the Sunday Times and The Daily Mail to claim that that women are losing their ability to give birth and breastfeed naturally, due to a rise in caesareans and a tendency to induce labour. I agree with Dr Odent completely that current induction policies are having a devastating effect on
A new book of water birth stories has been published recently – (see below). Janet Balaskas has contributed her story of the birth of her 4th baby in 1988 to this book, which we include here, plus some rare personal pictures of Janet and Theo taken a few hours after the birth. Here follows the extract from
I have always marvelled at the way nature has provided the newborn baby with a double lifeline in the critical period immediately after birth. Moments after birth, the baby takes its first independent breath. It takes a few minutes for changes to occur in the chambers of the baby’s heart so that is begins to
