The forgotten art of Childbirth - simplicity & joy replaced by statistics & fear

in natural •  7 years ago  (edited)

Screen Shot 2017-12-24 at 12.02.40.png

You may think as a man I don't have much to offer on this subject and prior to the birth of Esteban you would have been right.

There was a moment however when Sabrina expressed her fear of the birthing experience shortly after we learned of Esteban's existence, so I took it upon myself to research the subject at length and what I discovered was both wonderful and shocking.

Screen Shot 2017-12-25 at 00.20.50.png

This is my Steemit Christmas Special!

During this festive season in which many of us celebrate the birth of Christ, I thought it appropriate to give you my thoughts on this magical thing known as childbirth and set the record straight on what is fast becoming a hugely misunderstood experience.

Screen Shot 2017-12-24 at 16.21.39.png

The time-lapse film: Esteban's Journey

Before I tell you what I have learned, I invite you to watch the entire pregnancy in just a few seconds in the film below. As a filmmaker with a particular love of time-lapse, this was an opportunity not to be missed. Fate had it that I filmed our very first encounter, which makes for a strong place to begin my film

Overcoming the fear

The first thing I learned was that fear creates tension in the body. And this is the last thing you need during childbirth. The body should be as relaxed as possible.

Understandably, the thought of a sizeable baby making its exit would be a disconcerting thought indeed, especially given all that time you have to think about it and all those unhelpful people who love to recount their nightmare birthing experiences to us.

In fact, there is nothing to fear at all!

And I hope by the time you finish reading this, male and female alike, the thought of making babies will be a very different one for you 🙏🏻

Screen Shot 2017-12-24 at 05.26.55.png

Pre-Natal Classes in the South of France

I attended only one of Sabrina's pre-natal classes and due to the speed at which the women were speaking, I understood very little of what was being said. My french is getting there... but to understand fully, I need people to speak slowly.

However, I didn't need to understand the words to feel the fear which was being generated in the room. I observed how one person shared their painful and complicated birth experience story with the group and immediately felt the energy in the room change as all those first time mothers put themselves in the shoes of the speaker, anticipating a similar experience.

Love Sabrina's style 💐

When it was Sabrina's turn to speak, she told the group she was going to have a natural birth with no epidural and said it with a totally straight face. She has a warrior soul & I love her very much. So I was shocked and saddened to witness how she was laughed at by absolutely all of them.

One woman even pulled her to the side of the room and said (loosely translated) the following words:

'Everyone thinks this now...but just you wait till you feel the pain... it's like nothing you've ever experienced!'

Every one of those women in that room had already signed up for the (super expensive) epidural. Feared up to the max, they were prepared to pay any price at all to avoid this experience.

An experience I understand now to be one of the most rare and special moments of connection a person can have. If indeed you are able to permit this ancient and natural energy to flow through you in the way it was intended.

IMG_9914.jpg

and frankly, as a man I'm a bit jealous!

Skipping over the wonderful subject of the highly hallucinogenic Dimethyltryptamine or DMT (a chemical produced in the Pineal Gland at the moment of birth and death) there is a magical chemical produced in the brain of the mother at the moment of childbirth, designed to connect them to the child. It is a feeling no man will ever fully understand or experience. We can only read about it in books...

But you lucky lasses, you get to experience it!

Les Gorges du Gouleyrous 04.jpg
Here you can see Sabrina at Les Gorges Des Couleurs, around 7 month at this stage

Thankfully I was able to persuade her to never return to the fear mongering pre-natal group and from that moment forth we made a new group: Sabrina, myself and Esteban.

And there would be no more talk of pain!

Screen Shot 2017-12-24 at 04.34.56.png

The connection between foetus and mother

It seems to have been forgotten by many that giving birth is the final stage in a 9 month process. And if you are intending to enjoy the birthing experience there is an important mental transition which must be made:

There is ALREADY a sentient being within you!

They are busy sponging up that energy you are giving off in every moment and the MOST important work which needs to be done is not the giving birth part.

The work begins ideally from the moment that little heart beats its first beat!

For those of you not aware, the creation process begins with the heart. The mother's heart chakra connects with the child's heart chakra and this give it the pulse it needs for that first magical beat. After this moment, no matter what abortion pamphlet you choose to read, there is a sentient being at work in there, feeding on the mother and all she experiences.

Clearly we are not always ready for the unexpected surprise pregnancy can be and Sabraina & I didn't really know what we were doing till the 5th month. But everything still turned out fine 😄 So it's never too late to start this process.

Change the routine

The modern world has tricked us here into believing something traumatic is on the horizon, so as early on in the pregnancy as possible, positive changes to your daily routine should be put in place reprogramming the brain to see this coming event for what it truly is.

This is important not just for the woman!

You are a TEAM now.

Takes two to tango right!

IMG_0045.jpg

HypnoBirthing

My research quickly led me to this amazing technique which resonated deeply with me.

When a woman is totally relaxed she births the way nature intended. The body was intended to birth but fear and tension are what gets in the way Marie Mongan

Marie Mongan the creator of Hypnobirthing had devised a system which if practiced regularly could ensure a relaxed, pain free and even enjoyable birthing experience. The system was simple and 'just as it says on the tin' it combined hypnotism with birthing.

She discovered the technique during her first pregnancy. As a practitioner of hypnotism she was able to hypnotise herself into a relaxed state on demand. So she used the technique during the birth and reported no feeling of pain at all. After her second and a third child were born with the same pain free, enjoyable experience, she decided to teach her pregnant daughter the technique and it wasn't long before the book was written.

I didn't buy the book but I was able to read extracts from it online and watched an endless number of YouTube videos on the subject. Many showing the birthing experience itself.

The women who had practiced hynobirthing appeared to be in a kind of trance. Making very little sound, they seemed to be almost asleep while the babies were being born... in a way that we have been brainwashed into believing is simply impossible. Can you think of a Hollywood movie or TV show where the woman isn't screaming in pain?

I was absolutely fascinated by this and continued my research by watching films showing the birth experience of various different animals, finding time after time that there was no apparent pain or stress.

We are animals are we not? So what's gone wrong here?

Why are many women so afraid of this beautiful experience?

Maximising profit

Without wanting to over-simplify the answer to this question, more fear equals more spending. And we all know very well what makes the world go round!

Screen Shot 2017-12-24 at 16.07.44.png
source

With this in mind I intensified my research and watched students of Mongan giving talks on how they had used their motherly intuition to change the format of the suggestions in the original book. Again, this idea resonated deeply with me.

We are all different right? So there is no 'one size fits all' method.

There is a foundation of thought which must first be established

...and from this we use our intuition to create that which we desire.

IMG_0041.jpg

Meditation & Positive Affirmations

We were around 5 months into the pregnancy already by the time I knew what I had to do. Every day we spent one hour (no exceptions!) with the two of us face to face. We listened to the same soft dreamy music every time so that our minds would attune to this being the music to relax us when required.

The first five minutes were spent in silent meditation with a focus on the feeling of joy and excitement for the coming birth.

Then came the affirmations:

I would say one first in English and Sabrina would then repeat it in French. Most of the time I used my intuition in the moment to find the right affirmation, but we did also have a list. And there were many occasions (when we were feeling tired for example) when the list was exceptionally useful.

Affirmation Examples

IMG_3462.jpg

  • My baby is happy and healthy.

  • I trust my baby knows what to do.

  • I trust my body knows what to do.

  • I draw strength from the millions of women who have given birth to happy healthy children.

  • I am grateful that Esteban chose us to be his parents!

  • I am so excited to have Esteban in my life!

  • I have done everything I can to prepare myself to help him into this world with ease.

Here is one of many hundreds of YouTube films if you are looking for some ideas to get you started.

Keep it personal to you

Between each statement/affirmation we would hold the silence for a moment, listening to our familiar soft music, dwelling upon the feeling created by the words. Sometimes we would have tears in our eyes. It was very powerful to FEEL this energy which was so evidently there. Sometimes Esteban would kick hard inside Sabrina knowing we were focusing on him.

I cannot say if the way we did it was the right or the wrong way...

but I can say with certainty that it worked for us 🌱

Please remember that we wrote these together. The original list had over 100 statements. But as the months went on we focused on only the ones we felt still needed attention. If you are looking to follow in our footsteps, don't just copy our list... feel out your own. I really believe that using your intuition is an important part of this process.

After preparing the mind, we prepare the body

IMG_3443.jpg

In addition to the daily affirmations there were daily stretching exercises, some on a yoga mat, some on an exercise ball, again instinctively felt out by Sabrina. But ultimately just based on a few YouTube videos which resonated with her.

The Day of the Birth in Perpignan

In the South of France it is not possible to find a midwife who will support a home birth, so we went for the next best thing which was (an expensive!) birthing clinic.

I filmed the entire day but am yet to edit it into a finished film. Though I really must because it is a total cracker! It was a seriously entertaining day & night but not for any of the reasons we expected...

Screen Shot 2015-11-05 at 08.59.53.jpg

Sabrina's water broke during a scheduled check up at the clinic and they wouldn't let us drive the 20mins back to our house to pick up our bag of items which we wanted with us in the clinic where they told us we would most likely have to stay for up to a week. At €500 a night I am not surprised!

The (male) doctor insisted the baby was just about to arrive, despite Sabrina assuring him this was not the case. He ignored her feminine instincts completely and instead frog-marched us into a tiny room with metal bars on the windows, where she was connected up to a beeping machine. He told us to wait there till his return. For an hour we waited alone listening to that constant beeping, desperate for a little sunlight at least...

Screen Shot 2015-11-07 at 09.49.39.jpg

Follow the intuition!

I knew something wasn't right here. Sabrina was growing more and more stressed out by the beeping machine and the thought of having her baby without her selected items around her. I could have driven home to retrieve them but didn't feel right leaving her alone in this strange energy place. We had been practicing as a team for months and I was not about to abandon her.

Instead I made the decision that we would break out of the clinic undetected and go home where we could relax. And that is exactly what we did. Ninja style, creeping down corridors to avoid all those in white overalls!

Once home we calmly made lunch and ate. We gave thanks for the beauty of this day. We meditated and did our affirmations one last time.

This is the last photo we took before returning to the clinic, mentally prepared now for what was ahead of us.
IMG_3460.jpg

We stopped on route to pick up a bountiful basket fresh local fruit so that we may avoid the meat and milk based products on offer at the clinic. We even though about a few treats for breakfast!

I cannot tell you how much fun we had in place of being confused & alone in an artificially lit beeping room... waiting for a man in white coat to tell us we were just about to experience the 'painful' process of childbirth. But don't worry folky because the pain killers are on standby and don't have to pay till the end!

We broke back into the clinic undetected before 'lock-up' at 7pm and somehow no one noticed a thing ;)

Young Magician of the Year 1989 & I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve!

The pressure of time & forced induction

When Sabrina's water broke we were told we had 24h before they would chemically induce the birth had it not happened naturally before this very strict time limit.

Just knowing this changed the way we felt and a huge pressure was immediately added.

So, once we were settled into our clinic bedroom that night, secretly munching on our non clinic approved apples & bananas, we made a decision that by the time the sun rose in the morning, the three of us would be lying together side by side in this bed. We meditated for a while on this clear vision, basking in the beauty of it.

Then I called upon a particular Reiki Master in the UK for assistance (thank Liz - love you x), I cleansed the energy of the room with sage and I placed my many crystals, chakra stones and symbols around the room, letting my instinct to guide me as to where to place them.

IMG_3581.jpg

It all began as the stroke of midnight...

The contractions came suddenly. We tried to practice our hynobirthing system while still in bed but they were already very intense and regular, so we pressed the red button and waited for our midwife to escort us down into the nature suite. The room which least resembled a hospital room.

IMG_9882.jpg

There was only one such room in the clinic and no doubt they had to dust away the cobwebs before we checked in! And would have been rather confused by all the crystals I insisted on being with us.

IMG_9890.jpg

Two and a half hours

I am not going to tell you Sabrina experienced no pain. She did, and she let the entire clinic know about it is a wonderfully vocal way with french swear words I will probably never hear again. But what I saw in her was an amazing intense focus and energetic determination. Like a fearless warrior in the heat of battle, working on instinct alone.

The film makes me cry every time. I am so very proud of her.

IMG_9899.jpg

The Midwife

While I felt blessed to have this particular lady looking after us, there were a few things I didn't feel were very helpful.

For example, after each contraction she would scream at the top of her voice the same words over and over...

POUSSE POUSSE POUSSE!!!!

Yet all my research had led me to understand that pushing was not the best thing to do. In fact the body does the pushing for you. And she should have been calmly caressing Sabrina encouraging her to relax and listen to her body. To stay connected with its needs. It wasn't her fault. She only knows what she has been taught.

IMG_9906.jpg

From my perspective it felt as if Sabrina's forced pushing resulted in the need for stitches. Encouragement to relax would not have had the same effect. The whole birthing experience did however last only a few hours, no painkillers were required and just as we had envisioned, the three of us were all back in bed together before sunrise.

The money madness

Despite the (totally unheard of) drug free 2 hour first time birth we were forced to remain in this clinic for a total of 5 days for 'essential observation'. During this time various doctors prodded at Esteban and basically just tried to sell us things! One guy told us Esteban wouldn't be able to walk correctly if we didn't sign up to his conveniently expensive treatment. And then he charged €50 just to tell us this! Total madness and I couldn't wait to leave... as I am sure you can imagine.

IMG_9932.jpg

We were so happy when we finally able to return to our home and I wondered why we had bothered with any of the expensive stress & fuss at all?

How much did we really need that midwife?

How much did we really need that clinic?

Would I have been comfortable delivering this child on my own in our home after adequate research?

Yep. Course I would 🌱

Fear is the only think which ever holds us back.

Christmas banner.png

My total heroes @iamjamie & @kennistyles took it to the next level!

I would like to take this opportunity to thanks @iamjamie and @kennistyles who filmed their unassisted birthing experience just recently in Thailand and shared the whole thing with us here on Steemit.

Kenni is an old friend from the UK and it's such a pleasure to to see this natural evolution moving us away from relying on institutions when we already instinctively know what to do! We have just been sold the lie that we need others to help us!

Thank you Kenni & Jamie for reminding us of our intuition and your total dedication to spreading this message.

Check @iamjamie's post here for the full details: https://steemit.com/life/@iamjamie/the-unassisted-birth-of-kai

Or go the full whack and watch the film:

Total respect to you my friends.

Our third child will be born this way, but best not to mention this to Sabrina yet!

Christmas banner.png

If you enjoyed my time-lapse film at the top of this article, I think you will also enjoy this one too.

Films are like energy which flow through me at important times in my life.

It is a Christmas Special from two years ago showing a totally cute baby Esteban and a little bit of my mad obsession with time-lapse, on the eve of our move to Bali.

In Conclusion

If you are pregnant and a mother wants to tell you her negative birthing experience story might I suggest that you politely decline and explain that you would rather focus on positive experiences only.

IMG_5308.jpg

The story is not yet over!

Just when I thought birthing could not be any more wonderful... along came Luna. Born here in Ubud, Bali in just 15mins. So fast, so simple so perfect. So happy!

lulu-42.jpg

And Esteban watched the whole thing. Just so he could be in no doubt about where she came from ;)

474A5601.jpg
That's him having a little breast feed to calm him down after the show ;)

I will tell you the story of this even more advanced pregnancy & birthing experience another time. For now simply know that we created a wonderful child in our own way and we hope very much that by sharing our story here on Steemit we will ultimately help others.

All questions will be answered to the best of our ability 🌴

IMG_7078.jpg

Thank you Esteban for choosing us!

Esteban adventure.jpg

Perhaps you will get to meet Esteban & Luna at the next steemfest! Wouldn't that be great 🎉 Not that they would understand one word of course!

My seasonal love to you all at this special time of year.

Thank you for an amazing year everyone!

Enjoy the moment. Cherish your friends & family. And know that you can write about it all after Christmas on Steemit!

Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 12.15.25.png

Heart image source

gradient banner.png

Who is @samstonehill?

He was a London based filmmaker until he sold everything and set out on a barefoot journey around the world.

Currently based in Bali he travels with his partner & two children. With no bank account he has been living on STEEM & crypto for over six months.

All content created for this account is 100% original (unless otherwise stated), produced by @samstonehill who invites you to use & share freely as you wish.

@samstonehill is the creator of:

@steemshop account where you can buy or sell anything you like using your steemit wallet SEE MORE

@steemmasters which provides FREE TUTORIALS, personal training & resteeming services. Website HERE
Contact me directly on steemit.chat if you want to know more about this

@steemholidays which encourages resort owners to offer holiday packages in Steem or SBD

@steemtv which aims to provide the best in decentralised films, exclusive to Steemit & DTube

The dailyquotes tag initiative designed to encourage steemians to share their most life changing quotes with the community on a daily basis.

The Aspiring Steemit Whales & Dolphins group on Facebook which seeks to help newcomers make the transition from Facebook to Steemit, providing them with detailed notes and personal assistance with their posts... resteeming them when he can.

Screen Shot 2017-09-03 at 19.44.43.png


Here is a list of Steemit Witness I have voted for & recommend you do the same:
@teamsteem @timcliff @jesta @good-karma @someguy123 @blocktrades @pfunk @klye @krnel @blueorgy @ausbitbank @thecryptodrive @ura-soul @pharesim

Without them our beloved Steemship would not fly.

Learn what this means HERE and place your vote HERE

sexy banner.png

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

Congratulations @samstonehill, this post is the eighth most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a Superuser account holder (accounts that hold between 1 and 10 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by Superuser account holders during this period was 988 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $7719.35. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.

If you do not wish to receive these messages in future, please reply stop to this comment.

Thank you for sharing your families sacred journey of birthing...I never tire of the birth-life-birth continuum. Please note that not all Midwives yell, "Push!!". There are still some of us who hold, honor and trust the Wise Woman ways. <3
Namaste

Thank you for your beautiful words. Are you a midwife? I know there are many women who still feel the WAY with their hearts, not their 'education' and I understand that every midwife does what they perceive to be the best thing they can do.

Though just between you and me, I'm quite excited about having the next one with no midwife at all!

I believe we are ready.

Love & light 🌅

I was a Midwife (guess I always will be)...a homebirth Midwife. Love and patience were my greatest tools when I was honored to serve families. Sadly, you are spot on that the 'education' can rip the heart/soul right out of midwifery. Your family is beautiful, and yes, yes, yes birth is natural without the need of 'professionals' hovering around. Such a lovely attitude and energy you have. I am so excited to find a story like this here on Steemit. :)

This is an insructive article that turned to a beautiful story! Unfortunately, natural birth has been forgotten thanks to modern and materialistic medicine. I was suffering when my son was born, I have got an infusion of oxitocin, and was too tired... then the doctor decided to make cesarean section. Fortunately my son was born healthy.

Always best to focus on the perfection of this moment. Glad you are both fit and heathy.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long one. I enjoyed writing it! But tomorrow I play with my family all day and no computers allowed! Big hugs from Bali x

I wish you a Merry Christmas! Lots of Love, from Hungary.

And I wish you a Merry Christmas too ;)

And a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Hang on...why just the new year? How about happy for ever more!

Simple ;)

🌄

Love to you and your family. My last child #3 Camille was home born and she is the most level headed of the group. There is something different about her for sure, in a good way.

That's great to hear! Different in a good way just means we still have to figure out what their special skill is ;)

That's how I look at it anyway!

Merry Christmas! 🎉

Hopefully you are up to date on the birth certificate scam, as in do not get one, they are just deceptive contracts with our names in all caps. It looks calm peaceful and beautiful there, I guess its pretty remote ahah, I LOVE this STORY, I am TELLING YOU a Mass AWAKENING IS OCCURRING. Earth is Flat, (I think), and there are a shit ton of SCAMS that Most Humans are DEAD ASLEEP espcially the ones in the Baby delivery business haha, pretty heavy story, I hope we can clean theis shithole up before your kid see what how far we have fallen as a society-PEACE

I am have read much about Free Man of the Land and understand the old maritime laws they hold us under.

The problem for us is not being married, without a birth certificate, there is no proof that Sabrina is their mother. The both have my surname. And as travellers we need to play this one very carefully...

But for sure I need to do more research on this one. Thanks for the heads up ;)

You are AWESOME brother, so OPEN MINDED. It makes me so SAD YOU and ALL THE FREAKING GOOD ONES SUFFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I honestly doubt some of these things in charge are HUMAN. I just cannot IMAGINE, Beautiful Story of FIGHTING this DISGUSTING NONSENSE. rant over. hehe

These are NOT my site nor do I have affiliation with them, I'll take em down if you like just let me know.
It sounds like we are ALL slaves to the same system designed a looong time ago, these are a few of my favorites but tas YOU KNOW already there are alot, you are a million miles ahead of me, I just woke up here in NJ (U.S.) and , ughg, have to unwind mortgage, licenses, bank accounts, II want nothing to do with this whatever you want to call it, good luck your family is beautiful and so are the photos of your life.

https://steemit.com/political/@sovereigntyintl/everything-is-under-martial-law
https://sedm.org/Forms/09-Procs/PathToFreedom.pdf
http://www.annavonreitz.com/

Better to wake now than not at all! Your timing is perfect really. We are living in the most exciting time in human history (in my humble opinion) and even just being here on Steemit, we are contributing to the inevitable resumption of our natural evolution here on this ancient playground, referred to by most as 'Planet Earth'.

So much I want to say in response to your comment! Never enough hours in the day ;)

Yes, the game has been going on a long time. Have you seen 'There are no forests on Planet Earth' on YouTube?

And the works of Graham Hancock are definitive. I recommend 'Fingerprints of the Gods'.

AGREED regarding living in an interesting times (though I no longer trust "history" so there is that tiny problem lol, Yes to no forests. No to Graham Hancock, I am pretty sure I would remember the name. Thanks and I will CHECK HIM OUT! Maybe someday I will interview you on my show. I am getting a "truth" tv /news show going , man there are so many amazing people out there It makes me wonder how we ever lost the world to evil...

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Really nice story, I got excited when you sneak out from the clinic. I thought you will just undergo natural birth without the help of medical practitioners. But still your story helps others to not worry so much on Childbirth. Thanks for sharing ...@samstonehill , I am following you since I started in Steemit.

Thanks for reading the full story! I know it was a long one.

Yes, the breaking out part was really the funniest thing! I am looking forward now to editing the film :)

I have followed you back...

Absolutely a beautiful story of nature, natural and love. I had my first 3 babies in hospitals, all with complications caused BY the hospital I later learned. My last 2 were delivered at home by their father and I can't express what a difference that made. The first 3 all required stitches, a very long drawn out unnecessary suffering let me tell you. The last 2, the biggest babies BTW, there was no tearing and no stitches required.

I can't express enough how women choosing hospital births are missing one of the most blessed events compared to home births. My advise to any expecting parents is to do what you did @samstonehill , research and talk to those that have delivered naturally and research some more.

Resteeming so others are informed that they really do have a choice!

Thanks so much. It was fun to recount that special day. Glad I took so many photos!

All we can do in life is our best... and our best is always changing... improving... evolving.

Thanks for the resteem. Hope to help many with this message.

The Dali Lama once said that the future of this world rests in the hands of the Western woman. And I do believe he is right ;)

Going to the hospital, I was firmly convinced that I would give birth naturally. The only thing I was afraid of was the fact that half-educated doctors could spoil everything. And they did spoil it. A month of recovery in the hospital for me and the child.

We are used to trusting doctors, and when they say that after 40 weeks we need to give birth, we believe them and agrees to force the birth. But nature does not tolerate interference.

Nature is the best teacher of all. And sadly there has been a concerted effort to move us away from this most simple of messages.

This is an amazing story! Following, upvoted and resteemed. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Thanks very much. Am pleased you enjoyed the story and its message. Thanks for the follow, upvote & resteem! I like the sound of your profile so have followed you back to see what you are up to ;)

Thank You!

pleasure 😊

Happy Christmas to you and your family, from Thailand!

Modern medicine and fear....so true. (I'm not parent and can't remotely qualify on the whole childbirth thing).

This child birthing thing is just so, so......unatural!
lololol

Thanks very much for your Christmas wishes!

Good that you are learning this now before the parent experience begins. Assuming this is your desire?

All the best to you from Bali 🌴

I have as much parental instinct- or desire, as your average rock...

haha! Well at least you're honest! Nothing wrong with that brother. Though you may just find it suddenly creeps up on you when you least expect it. That's how it went for us.

Neither of them were planned!

If it creeps up on me, it will mean I can't walk, I think!

Saying that, (and totally discounting my comment, me 'grandaughter' cam around to do the chritmas tree decorations with my girlfriend ( her grand mum. _ grandmum?- she isn't that told! lol)

Anyway, I digress.

For some bizarre reason, my 'granddaughter' really likes me.(kids do not like me. period).

I was watching them decorate the tree, and all the christamssy things - and it suddenly struck me !

While I have do have that not paternal instinct, or genetic connection to this little girl...

I would protect her with my life to avoid her getting hurt. - unequivocally.

And this coming from me ! ffs.l(weird uh?)

enjoy the two links below..

https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/the-first-christmas-tree-decorating-experience-for-my-grandaughter

https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/my-heart-just-melted-and-an-idea-came-to-me

happy boxing day !

When I got pregnant, I simply decided to shut my mind and enjoy it. To think too much sometimes is a huge burden and contra productive for anything.

Enjoyment is the key! As a man it's ver easy to say this however ;)

Thanks for the comment :)

nice information , thank you very much

Thanks for the comment :)

Congratulations @samstonehill on the successful delivery of your child.I also just became an uncle this past week and it was without complications.I believe your article will be of tremendous help to expectant couples.Once again hearty congratulations.

Many thanks. I really believe this is important information for expectant mothers. Hope it can help some people :)

la familia es lo mas bello del nundo, y los niños desde el primer moemento de la gestacion se vuelvenlo mas importante en la vida d los padres

Gracias por tus sabias palabras :)

Thank you for this awesome post!

I don't necessarily agree with everything you said but I do agree with its overall sentiment and I feel like it's one subject that should be talked about a lot more!

Take care my friend!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Drugs/comments/11x9tc/psa_despite_the_wide_spread_notion_that_dmt_is/?st=jblvql01&sh=6fa95286

I assume you are referring to the DMT statement? I must admit I felt at the time this was not really part of the story. But still felt to mention it for some reason. It is a separate subject and a most interesting story in its own right. One for the future perhaps...

Thank you for your ongoing support and all the best to you for the new exciting year ahead!

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Natural birth without clinic/hospital/midwife is very beautiful when everything goes right. But Mother Nature can be cruel if anything goes wrong and you don't have the means to get it fixed right away. What if the baby needs oxygen, what if the baby swallowed meconium , what if the baby is stuck with the cord around the neck and is unable to come down, what if...? These are all things that can be quickly solved in a proper environment, that can be a life saving action in a mather of seconds.
So, just be cautious and do the natural birth if you wish to, with no pain killers if you wish to, but please, do it in a controlled environment with quick access to medical intervention, just in case...

What my research taught me is that if the full 9 months are utilized in the correct way, the chances of these complications you speak of are almost impossible. Therefore, be prepared from the beginning and you have nothing to fear. Though to be super safe it's always good to have a near-by hospital you know you can quickly drive to.

I was wondering about that also. I have even changed my view on death, not to say m looking forward to it, but it is not an ending and when you realize this dying is just a part of life. We like to imagine we can control things and who knows maybe we should not be tinkering at all, it would seem stupid to most of us, if someone were to die because they were not able to get to a hospital with a hospital a block away and then they died, but there are people who accept that as Gods plan and I am now leaning more towards that line of thinking.

Again... so much to say about this!

Here in Bali they don't look left & right before turning onto a junction on their motorbikes. Coz they believe it's their day to go, so be it. Trouble is... that can kinda affect others!

We think of death as something bad because of the sense of loss. Though once we really start to wake up, we begin to see that nothing has been lost at all. My dad died 15 years ago but he is more with me now than ever before ;)

I have been sungazing for over 3 years and haven't worn shoes either. And I'm pretty sure this has changed something in me. Better connection to ALL THAT IS.

Alot of what you have mentioned above happens because of intervention in hospital. It is really difficult to birth naturally in a hospital, for one they want you to give birth by a certain time as they will need to make way for more women to come in. If your birth doesn't start by that time they start with their interventions and then it is no longer a natural birth. There is so much pressure in a hospital and it is not somewhere that acknowledges birth as being such a sacred thing. Instead they see birth as a medical condition when it is not. When animals birth, they find somewhere that is quiet, peaceful and secure, unfortunately that is not a hospital. Birth is something every women's body knows how to do, we do not need a medical professional to tell us.

Interesting and very insightful, thank so for sharing, also well organized

Appreciate the comment. Please share with those who you think it will help :)

It is very useful and very important in a very important post post. There is a man showing the face of light in our world. This is the man who brought me here in the world by feeding me with pain. Only mother knows how much trouble we have when we see the smile of our mother, All sad moms do not suffer when they make the mother, but in your post I am pregnant mothers

Not sure I fully understand what you are saying there my friend. BUt I do appreciate you taking the time to write it. I will read this again in the morning when I am less tired!

have a blessed Merry Christmas to you and your family @samstonehill.

Thank you my friend. Merry Christmas to you too :)

Yeah this is such a great post. it's so nice to hear birth from a man's perspective and for people to recognize birth as the sacred act it is.

All too often we hear negative birthing stories, but there are so many amazing empowering birth stories out there too. I have had 2 homebirths and my last baby was born unassisted on our land.
I feel very passionate about birth and feel so strongly that we need to help women overcome this fear they have. I've started to write about that on here, with the idea of trying to understand where the fear has come from but from there Looking at ways to release that fear and allow women to experience birth the way it is meant to be.
You are so right about not being told to push, so many people are so badly educated when it comes to birth. But women's bodies know exactly what to do, when given the space to allow our primal brain to take over we can and do birth our babies.
Thanks so much for telling us about @iamjamie, will definitely check out her blog. Resteemed

I love this post, as I am another man with a massive interest in natural birth and supporting both men and women to heal from the impact of traumatic birth. We've just had our second homebirth and this time everything went right. We used some hypnobirthing stuff as well as techniques based on EFT tapping and some breathwork and sounding processes and the results were great. We were able to turn the baby from breach to fully engaged birth position at 36.5 weeks and then created a great birth. Afterwards, I was able to support my wife and new daughter with the breastfeeding and clearing mastitis in just a few hours. I published my first post about the pre-birth stuff a couple of weeks ago and am writing the one about the birth currently, though I haven't documented them with as many beautiful photos etc as you have.

Lots of love to you and your beautiful family. Enjoy peace and happiness x

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

I'm happy for you, friend. Good health, peace, and liberty for you and your beloved!

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

wow! Quite a journey. Thanks for taking us with you. And I abolutely agree. No need to be scared. It's natural and wonderful! <3 That's why I resteemed.