Birthing Goddess blog

I was very fortunate to win a copy of Laura Keegan's Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy in a giveaway: the book was in my mailbox yesterday! I must say I had read so many good reviews about it, I had no qualms whatsoever including it the virtual library of Birthing Goddess.

It's very obvious that Laura poured a lot of her own experience as a mother in this book. The photographs are stunningly beautiful and it's a book you would want to have on your bedside table as a breastfeeding companion. In addition to the useful information on proper positioning and how to deal with common issues, it also explains at length how to breastfeed twins, showing beautiful pictures of twins nursing, gazing at each other and at mom. The book really focuses on the relationship between mother and baby. The benefits of breastfeeding are well-documented so such an approach is a nice addition to your classical breastfeeding books.

There is a particular emphasis on nursing skin to skin. In a time when nursing mothers are often shamed for breastfeeding in public, it's nice to see photos of women and their babies in such a natural and peaceful moment. I remember how spending time skin to ski really helped my son get over the hurdles of our early breastfeeding issues. One of our favorite moments of the day is still when we both settle in a warm bath for a long evening nursing session. It helps us both wind down and get ready for sleep. I cherish those moments with my baby because I know they will only last a short time in his life. 

Here's a great video posted by Laura from Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy. As I'm just about to send off my first set of answers for my Lamaze certification and some of them dealt with breastfeeding and skin to skin, this was perfect timing! Enjoy!

Hello beautiful mamas!

Ayden Ray Yawn
Originally uploaded by jeremy_ton

I was raised in a culture where feminists seemed to think the last thing a woman should strive for is having babies. Instead, they battled for women to have the right to access birth control and abortion, they battled for equal employment opportunities and wage equity. I’m not sure many of them really took a close look at what was happening in labor and delivery rooms. Before I became a mother myself, I was clueless to what struggles were taking place between birthing women and some of the medical world.

I came across this post on Lisa Barrett’s blog yesterday. I must say I cringed reading it and my fists balled up more than once. In our modern society, women are still being abused in one of their most vulnerable moments, birth. What gives any doctor the right to judge why a woman chooses to have children, and why she chooses to give birth naturally? How can we tolerate such abuse? In our century, I find it incredulous that doctors still want to “teach women a lesson” for getting “knocked-up” or worse, for wanting a “natural birth” or a VBAC.

On the other hand, doctors in BC are being scrutinized today. A recent study by the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health shows that way too many women end up with a caesarean that is most probably unnecessary as a result of the way doctors examine possible complications such as shoulder dystocia and respond to them. The Vancouver Sun wrote a piece about the study today and Radio Canada featured the study in a short piece on the local news tonight. As Amy Romano writes on her blog, more and more medical research is becoming available to the “lay” audience via the Internet. I think we are on the verge of a deep transformation of the relationship between doctors and their patients. As people start realizing some of the disturbing trends in modern care, chances are they will also demand more accountability.