The Sacred Birthing School ~ ​October 2018 Newsletter

Aloha Kakou,

    We, the Divine Feminine on Mother Earth, have the ability to transform life.  We have the power to birth from our wombs that which is good and right and just.  This birthing is more than the birth of a magnificent soul,  this is the birthing of hope, and courage, and compassion and a deep love for ourselves and all beings everywhere.   To do this we have to embrace the potential of who we are.  We are the Birthing Shamans.  We are remembering the wisdom of our grandmothers that is now being shared with the daughters of our future.  And, we need the loving, supportive, protective presence of the Divine Masculine.  Together, in the space of knowing who we truly are, we can move from chaos to a place of balance and loving kindness.  As each one finds this balance within it will radiate from the individual heart to the very heart of human kind.  Look beyond the chaos of the moment and you will see that kindness in every heart.  It is not lost, just buried under many layers of isolation and fear.
    Fear is one of the driving forces of birth, a force that brings many women to their time of birthing not knowing the true capacity that they were given as a Birthing Goddess.   We have gotten lost in the cloud of labor drugs and a medical model that has taken on the responsibility of assuring a healthy baby and healthy mother.  There are times when the medical model can do just that, but most often this model interferes with the intelligence of natural law and creates chaos and confusion for mother and baby.  We have forgotten that the Birthing Goddess can meet any challenge that may show up.  This ancient wisdom is in every cell of her body.
    In Pam England's new book Ancient Map For Modern Birth,  she explores the importance of following that ancient map, and being open to the wonders of modern medical technology.  So much rich and valuable ancient and modern wisdom is shared as she helps us explore the heroic journey each woman must take through her pre-conception, pregnancy, birth and beyond time.  Here is a sample of this wisdom.
   "Since the 1930's research has consistently shown that what mothers eat is the single most important factor in growing a healthy baby and placenta.  Recent research reveals irrefutable evidence that the mother's prenatal diet literally programs her baby's lifelong appetite, weight-gain patterns, and metabolism at a cellular level." (pg 63)  The ancient map has always directed pregnant women to eat that which supported the growth of a placenta, amniotic fluid, the increased demands on her liver, the expanding blood volume, a strong uterus and an appropriate weight gain of 28 to 40 pounds.
    One of the foods that can feed the pregnancy body is very ancient, it was cultivated by 4000BCE.  It is the date palm.  The amazing date contains 15 minerals and when a pregnant mom eats 6 every day in the last 4 weeks of her pregnancy her labor is more likely to start spontaneously, her membranes stay intact, there is more advanced cervical dilation and reduced bleeding postpartum.  This information is found in many studies. Two of them are, The Effect of Late-Pregnancy Consumption of Date Fruit on Cervical Ripening in Nulliparous Women and Comparing the Efficacy of Dates and Oxytocin in the Management of Postpartum Hemorrhage.
   She also explores the use of modern technology and how it is overused, especially ultrasound.  This was a tool used originally to diagnose  specific obstetric concerns, and not to be used routinely for every pregnant mom .  What we know about ultrasound is that babies experience the vibrations and heat of an ultrasound.  "Fetal ultrasound creates a rise in core temperature.  Ultrasound waves are converted to heat when absorbed by your baby's body." (pg 48)  The temperature continues to rise as exposure time is prolonged." (pg49).  And she notes; "The steady rise in incidence of autism and other neurological disorders began  after 1992 and coincides with the steady increase in the use of prenatal ultrasound." (pg48)
   This book covers the birthing journey from homebirth to cesarean birth, from preconception to postpartum, and from a place of the wise woman to the acceptance of the knowledge of the current medical model of birthing. We can embrace both and know when it is appropriate to be in the intuitive knowing of the wise woman birthing, and when the journey requires the assistance of the medical model of birthing.   Let us help all women be open to all the possibilities and detours a birthing journey can take her on.

The Sacred Birthing School Classes

• The Death Doula Class -  November  13 to December 11 , Tuesday evenings from 5:00 to 8:00 cost  $175.00
• The Sacred Birthing Community Doula/Preconception Course - January 11 to May 10.  The 18 week course - cost $1350.00
• The Level II Doula course - January 22 to March 12 - Tuesday evenings from 5:00 to 8:00 cost $300.00
• The Men's Role in Birthing - April 2 to may 21- Tuesday evenings 5:00 to 8:00 cost $300.00

E-mail me at barbaraessmandoula@gmail.com for more information and to get registration forms.  Don't wait too long as these classes to fill up and space is limited.

    I am ending this newsletter with a quote from the book Na Kaikamahine 'o Haumea - Daughters of Haumea Women of Ancient Hawaii by Lucia Tarallo Jensen and Natalie  Mahina Jensen, copyright 2005.   It will help us remember our roots, and the essence of our feminine being.
 
     "All flows from within the Female Awareness - the gift of life, death, and rebirth, the center of all organic creativity which has no parallel experience in man.  Because of this most prized and essential divine authority the very core of Maoli  philosophy, women has always held an honored and elevated place in Polynesian society.  It was impossible to have thought of Her as inferior for She was the Wahine Ho'aino, the Divine Companion, the Equalizer, the female balance in all male-oriented rituals - part of the United Whole.  The heresy of inferiority came later with the clash of cultures - misunderstanding and misinterpretation assisting in establishing a biased history and unrelated dogma." 
(Olelo-ha'imua - Preface page ii)
​
Many blessings to you all.
Aloha,
Barbara