The Spiritual Art of Birth
Midwifery, Pregnancy, Natural Birth and Parenting Articles
The process of conception and pregnancy is not only a physiological process, but primarily a psychological journey. The psychology of this journey into being for the unborn baby is dependent on the conscious awareness of the parents who create him, and in particular their conscious awareness of the baby in the womb. Preborn babies are …
The forces and feelings driving our behaviour are located largely in three different brain systems or three levels of consciousness, namely: the brainstem or 1st level of consciousness, the limbic system or the 2nd level of consciousness and the cortex or 3rd level of consciousness. The brain is also divided into two hemispheres which serve different functions.
Today I bumbed into a client whose births I attended a few years ago. Karen happened to be driving past the gate as I stepped out of my Cape Town home. Seven years ago in Cape Town, Karen birthed Teano, her firstborn son, in hospital and was home a few hours later. Second time around, Karen gave birth …
How does a midwife explain a slow labour or a long ‘second stage’? The fact that a woman may be fully dilated does not mean she is ready to expel her baby from the womb. Midwives and obstetricians make this mistake all the time, as if the woman were a mechanical engine that should fire it’s pistons at the turn of a key. Midwifery is both an art and a science and part of that art, in the present climate, seems to be to prevaricate in order to align ourselves with what obstetric theory advises we should be doing.
More than ever, we need a new spirituality which embraces all the practical aspects of our lives. As we struggle with disasters, both natural and man-made we are beginning to understand our impact and that we might well be on a path of self destruction. Unless we examine ourselves and the way we live and cease damaging the environment and each other, we may well not survive or flourish in our universe.
Lack of nourishment may retard fetal growth, it may also lead to an increase in the production of cortisol, a hormone produced in response to stress, which in prolonged concentrations may affect brain cell differentiation (3). Effects in the first three months of pregnancy may be harmful to the development of the brain, including memory centres and areas of emotional responsiveness, such as the hippocampus
Ainsworth (1974) commented that infants who have been responded to sensitively and held frequently and affectionately during the early months, cry less towards the end of the first year and are able to play happily and explore their environment…