The Art of Opening
Holistic Midwifery Services – Serving San Diego County
Category: birth from within blog
The Blood and Head of Medusa: Claiming Her For Your Very Own
I’ve been seeing the reactions on social media of Medusa carrying the head of Perseus instead of the other way around. It is an interesting role reversal but one that has no map beyond revenge or anger which can, for…
Read MoreBreech Head Release: Tracking and Releasing Restrictions
One of the issues that can arise with a baby presenting breech in the third trimester is a head that seems to restrict a baby from turning. There are different patterns for head restriction. This blog is written with the…
Read MoreTales of Birth Reframed: Part 4 – The Legend of the Gate Theory
So here is a drawing of our laboring parent with a spine (no it is not to scale or exact). Today, our laboring parent is back in labor. What we can call early labor is just shifting into more active…
Read MoreTales of Birth Reframed: Part 3 – The Case of the Missing Pain Endorphins
Once upon a time, a labor had picked up with frequent contractions. The laboring parent exclaimed, “WAIT! What was I thinking? Why did I do this? Why did I want a natural birth?” But all of a sudden the…
Read MoreBreech Release: When the Bum is Deep in the Pelvis
In today’s blog, I am not exploring the lack of accessibility to options for vaginal breech birth or about the ethics and spectrum of experiences with ECV. This blog is just about the practical nature of breech restriction from my…
Read MoreTales of Birth Reframed: Part 2 – The First, Second, & Third Stages
The Divided Tale of the Stages of Labor: The First Stage “Stages of labor” is what is taught when dividing labor into pieces using a cervix centered model of assessment. I find it is useful to know this story as it…
Read MoreTales of Birth Reframed: Part 1 – The Tale of Friedman’s Curve
Once upon a time, there was a Doctor of Obstetrics named Dr. Friedman, and he worked in the 1950s in the USA. In this time of birth work, many of the white women delivering babies gave birth while completely unconscious…
Read MoreHomebirth Breech Research: A Reminder to Continue Breech Competent Options
“A home or birth center setting leads to high rates of vaginal birth and good maternal outcomes for both breech and cephalic term singleton presentations. Out-of-hospital vaginal breech birth under specific protocol guidelines and with a skilled provider may be…
Read MoreDreaming Models for Weaving and Healing this Craft of Midwifery
When we are in community with midwives or healers with similar value systems, we find many opportunities arise. As global colonization has limited, persecuted, and attempted to eradicate many cultures around the world, so has it had its lasting effects…
Read MoreThe prose of no rotation and no descent: rotating to free the arms
There is this pause. Some could call it a hesitation. It may only be a split second. It comes from going against your old agreements about how you are supposed to meet birth hands off. Attend birth. Help or not…
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