MALE SENSITIVITY....

My hubby sent this one to me this morning and it was to good not to pass along. As a childbirth educator I have never received this question before...yet. :-) Enjoy!!!

"The room was full of pregnant women with their partners. The class was
in full swing. The instructor was teaching the women how to breathe
and was telling the men how to give the necessary assurance to their
partners at this stage of the pregnancy.

She said "Ladies, remember that exercise is good for you. Walking is
especially beneficial. It strengthens the pelvic muscles and will make
delivery that much easier." Just take several stops and stay on a soft
surface like grass or a path.

She looked at the men in the room, "and Gentlemen, remember -- You're
in this together -- It wouldn't hurt you to go walking with her".

The room suddenly got very quiet as the men absorbed this information.

Then a man at the back of the room slowly raised his hand.

"Yes", answered the Instructor.

"I was just wondering if it would be all right if she carries a golf
bag while we walk??"

This kind of sensitivity just can't be taught."

Abdominal Breathing for Labor and Birth

Abdominal breathing is a BIG key to the Bradley Method® of natural childbirth classes. If you will focus on replacing chest breathing, which causes a tension, pain, fear cycle, with nice deep, relaxing, abdominal breaths you will eliminate one cause of unnecessary pain in your labor and birth.

"The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children, the more they have come to the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is the best after all." - Benjamin Spock

Surgeon General to Release “Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding”

"I feel the most important thing the birthing woman does is to listen to her own body and find out what her body is telling her she needs to do. And that neither the partner, nor the midwife, nor the doula, or whomever, should be giving orders, 'Now do this' or 'Now do that' because that interferes with what she is really trying to get from her body..." ~Marsden Wagner, M.D. (via Birth Without Fear)

Beyond Biology: The Holistic Stages of Labor

This is one of the most powerful and intuitive accounts of the labor and birth process that I have ever read before. I was brought to tears several times by the power I felt and remembered from my own births as I read it. It is lengthy, but you will not be sorry if you take the time to go all the way through it.

"No medication can deliver complete pain relief without risks," - Dr. William Sears

Why you shouldn’t “try” to have an unmedicated birth.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the logic of this one!!! A MUST read for anyone considering an un-medicated birth.

Healthcare Reform Increases Medicare Reimbursement for Midwives

"Many consumers choose midwifes for low-risk pregnancies because of lower costs. A statewide survey in Pennsylvania, for example, found that the average charge of a midwife delivery at a birth center is $4,600 compared to $7,737 for a vaginal delivery at a hospital.

Christine Haas, executive director of Pittsburgh's Midwife Center for Birth and Women's Health, said, "The new law will help make midwife and birth center services more accessible and viable, which will ultimately lower costs to the health-care system as well as improve outcomes.""

"Breastfeeding is the biological norm for mothers and babies. It is a relationship that provides stress reducing hormones to the mother as well as stimulation, connection, and protection from illness to the baby. It even feeds the baby." - Alice Martino Roddy