Spiritual Birth
London, Ontario Canada n6g3v4 London, ON, Canada

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!!

What you need to know because your care provider won't tell you ... If there was one ritual I'd like to see banned before 40 weeks, it's the stretch-and-sweep, ...aka membrane stripping. The routine stretch-and-sweep is performed during a vaginal exam at any time beginning around 37 weeks. Mothers are seldom told it was done. And rare is the mother who is actually given enough information to make a wise decision. Even if she declines this heinous procedure, it's often done without her consent (which is called sexual assault outside of the obstetrical/midwifery clinic). I've heard from hundreds of women over the years who were ritually violated and suffered the consequences. A stretch-and-sweep involves having the provider's gloved fingers manually stretch open the cervix and then strip the baby's amniotic sack away from the cervical opening. The baby's amniotic sack is normally adhered to the opening of the cervix in a way that prevents infectious agents from reaching the baby. It's one of pregnancy's many safe-guards. It's believed that manually dilating the cervix and separating the sack from the opening of the cervix will release extra prostaglandins that could stimulate labour. Only prostaglandins don't trigger normal labour. It's a hormone that ripens the cervix. It's actually the baby's lungs that trigger labour when they secrete a protein just when they're ready for air-breathing. Then oxytocin from mama's brain brings on contractions. A membrane stripping is intended to "prevent induction". What your provider is saying to you (if they tell you) is: "I will perform a mechanical induction to start labour artificially so that you might avoid a chemical induction after your due date with IV oxytocin in the hospital." Yes. A stretch-and-sweep is an induction that is meant to "prevent" induction. It is meant to bypass your baby's lungs and all of the safety mechanisms of human birth to get the baby out before the baby is ready. It hurts. It makes you bleed. It can cause your water to break meaning you now are expected to go to the hospital for a chemical induction. It can introduce infection. It begins non-labour, disorganized, painful, non-dilating contractions most of the time. Your provider will say that you are in labour with these induced painful non-dilating contractions. You will be sent to the hospital for augmentation and may end up with a caesarean for failure-to-progress. It's a crappy way to have a baby. Some studies say that doing a membrane stripping doesn't shorten pregnancy. Other studies say it can shorten pregnancy by a couple of days. All studies say it introduces many risks to you and your baby. It's a crappy way to have a baby. And since many providers won't tell you that they're going to sexually violate you and put you and your baby in harm's way, you must not only decline a stretch-and-sweep (which is often ignored - hello criminal offence) but also decline every vaginal exam prior to labour. Those exams have no benefit, give you no useful predictive information and introduce many risks. i.e. keep yer knickers on and yer knees together! And for those who had a glorious stretch-and-sweep and had a baby a day later (yup, I've heard from at least 4 in the last 30 years amidst the several hundreds who have had crappy births), you'd have had the baby anyway. And I'm beyond happy that you had a good experience as most women don't. #pregnancy #whatyouneedtoknow #stretchandsweep #membranestripping #membranesweep

Who can relate? Mothers are strong. #motherhood2020

Wow....that was 3 min. of pure inspiration. #hobbitbirthcentre

There is a darkness, a desperation that comes in the transition. I don’t understand where my resilience will come from. I don’t need to understand. It finds me.... There is an earthquake in my soul and I feel the rumblings of All That Was Me dismantling bit by bit. I must allow the synapses of my nerve endings to become unhinged, to find new connections so that I can mother this child. I feel a death happening, a death of all that was. I will never go back to Before Her. My next steps will change my life. My blueprint guides me, my mammalian self. I enter a fog of pure instinct. My surrender is all that exists. -Emily at 2 days postpartum, reflecting on transition