My four-year-old said the following things, mostly overheard during independent play, during my first year as a birth worker. Here is a picture of me wearing an ergo. Clearly her verbal skills have eclipsed her drawing ability. “Let’s build a little town. Here is the birth center.” On anatomy:“This is the fanciest cervix I’ve ever […]
Emotional Preparation for Childbirth
I had the most incredible birth. I’ve been mulling over why this is ever since. I think that preparation, dedication, and education had a big part. I worked hard for this birth. But I think my emotional state going into the birth was even more important. Three tiny birth stories and the moral My first […]
Not The Cord’s Fault, Either.
Fairly regularly you’ll hear someone tell a birth story that includes the dramatic climax “And the cord was wrapped around her neck!” Or there’s the many cesareans that turned out to be necessary because “The cord was around his neck TWICE!” Cord wrapping is very common. Some babies are born with the cord wrapped all […]
“Even Grammar Bows to Surgical Authority”
Who would you believe, if they told you you needed a cesarean? An episiotomy? A hysterectomy? In his book All Natural, Nathanael Johnson points out that people often fail to see clearly when it comes to their own decision-making in the face of a surgeon’s perspective. We tend to bow to the authority of doctors. As he says, “America […]
Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics
Here’s something I’ve learned to be afraid of after spending a lot of time looking at them: Numbers. Oh they can be very useful. But they can also be very, very misleading. Our highly-evolved human brains with these gigantic neocortexes, living in a society where technology, science, and progress are revered, have us subduing […]
