In this episode of Taking Back Birth, I take a close look at prenatal care. Here are just a few of the things I discuss… What really IS prenatal care? It’s got to be about more than charts and numbers… and it is! Why looking for prenatal care from the wrong sources can affect your […]

It’s been a rough couple of months here in birth work (and in life in general for many of us) and I wanted to share with you some major things I have learned. Some of it old, some of it new, some due to karma and circumstance and self-analysis and some due to the support […]

Normal. What does that mean anymore? normal (nôrˈməl) adj. Conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type; typical: normal room temperature; one’s normal weight; normal diplomatic relations. adj. Biology Functioning or occurring in a natural way; lacking observable abnormalities or deficiencies. (http://www.wordnik.com/words/normal) The status quo-AND/OR-“biology functioning in a natural way”. […]

What makes birth “safe”? The answer to this depends on so many things…who is answering, what their beliefs may be and how they see the world. It’s that controversial; and the answers to this question have created fear in some women, empowerment in others. It is the question that has led to the licensing of […]

December, 2012 To the Assistant to the Attorney General of Arizona Director of the Arizona Dept. of Health Arizona Office of Special License-Midwife Licensing And to all the women that are concerned about their birthing options…. Two years ago, I served a wonderful, passionate, loving woman whose dream it was to birth at home after […]

Motherbaby. The sacred duo that is not to be interrupted; but often we see or hear about tons of things coming between them. “Delayed” cord clamping at half an hour after birth, the hands of the midwife or student on that precious babe, wrapping the baby in blankets or putting a hat on the baby, […]

This post is written in honor of the upcoming Heads Up Breech Birth Conference scheduled for November 9-11, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Anyone can attend, so feel free to pass this on to your midwife or doctor so that we can keep the skills of breech vaginal birth alive! 10 years ago, the Midwest. I […]

Caldeyro-Barcia’s (1979) studies showed what most midwives practice or believe intuitively; that coached pushing and prolonged breath holding by the woman during the pushing stage of labor is dangerous to the baby. He showed that this type of pushing caused placental perfusion issues (not enough blood flowing between baby and placenta) and resulted in fetal […]