Birth Movie Screening Event

So, guess what? You know how I wanted to try to do a screening of Orgasmic Birth? Well, not only did I secure Orgasmic Birth for a screening, but I also secured the movie's producer AND we'll also be screening The Business of Being Born and Pregnant in America! It's sure to be an amazing event. We haven't even started putting out the official advertisement yet and we're already getting inquiries! I hope, hope, hope that you can join us for this extraordinary day! Below is the information. I'll update the blog with new information as the event gets closer. (The flier is hard to read here, see text beneath it)

All registrants are entered in drawings to win free
DVD's, Books, and Chocolate from Raw Melissa!!

Details in a nutshell:

Date: June 13, 2009
Location: Towne Cinema Theaters in American Fork, UT
Cost: $25
What: Screening of Orgasmic Birth, Pregnant in America, The Business of Being Born, Special Guest Speaker, Debra Pascali-Bonaro
Email: moviescreening@rawmelissa.com if you have questions

Email us if you would like to have postcards mailed to you to hand out.

What are we Teaching Our Daughters?

I've been thinking a lot about that question lately. Are we teaching them that their bodies are strong, or are we teaching them that they need to hand their bodies over to the the authorities: plastic surgeons, diet centers, medicine, hospitals?

I have a twelve-year old. She was present at the birth of her brother when she was three. I was laboring in a nice sized labor tub, leaning toward my partner, my head on his shoulder, when she stripped to her underwear and got in with us. She wrapped one arm around her father's neck, and one around mine and leaned her head into both of us. She didn't say a word, just "held the space" as if to tell both of us that it wasn't so long ago she made the same journey and it was going to be all right.

A couple weeks ago, I attended a birth where the mom's five-year old little girl, Violet, was present. The birth took place in a birth center, so to Violet, it just felt like a home-away-from-home. I was fascinated as I watched her get glasses of water for her mom, lay her head on her mom's shoulder, and generally encourage her throughout the event without a hint of fear. Toward the end, just before her mama started pushing in the labor tub, she took turns with me dipping a large cup into the tub and slowly pouring the water over her moms contracting belly.

My daughter has been present for about six of the doula workshops I've taught. She's a pro at the techniques we use in labor to ease pain and facilitate progress. She's practically memorized the birth videos I show. I'd dare say she knows more about labor and birth and the female body than most adult women. At my last doula training, (which I taught in my home) I caught her and her friend sneaking peaks at the participants and the birth videos. On one of our lunch breaks, we watched them leave the house with balloons stuffed in their shirts to simulate pregnant bellies. Just after the training was over, I took this picture of them giving each other hand massages with the massage oil I had used.
In her memoir, Labor of Love, Cara Muhlhahn, the midwife featured in The Business of Being Born, has this to say:

"Many midwives recognize the value of the psychological inheritance that is the result of a birthing mother's own mom having birthed successfully. Story after story reveals that daughters of women who gave birth vaginally or breastfed bring a certain inner confidence to childbirth that is handed down from their mother's experience."

And what of sons? Today my nine-year old son took one of my business cards, put it in his wallet and said, "Mama, I'm going to keep this wallet until I get married so that I can give my wife your business card and you can help her have her baby."

What are you teaching your kids about the normal physiological process we call birth?

How to Give a Great Hand Massage to a Laboring Woman (or anyone else)

Before you start: Grab some olive oil, coconut oil, almond oil, or massage lotion and lather some on your hands and the mama's hand.





Step One: Place your pinky fingers on either side of the laboring woman's middle finger.















Step Two: Interlace the rest of your fingers with hers.



















Step Three: Grasp her hand and move in circle or stroking motions over the palm of the hand while pushing upward from the bottom to create a good stretching of the laboring woman's hand.







Why this works: Stretching is one of the most readily recognized stimuli in the body. The brain recognizes the stretching sensation almost before it recognizes pain. We do this (and many other techniques) to flood the pathways to the brain. In a sense, we're blocking some of the pain messages, or at the very least, lessening them significantly. OH, and it feels great, thus inducing relaxation! :)

Try it on someone you love today!