An overdue update

I received an inquiry today about where the film is -- someone who recently donated on 2/10/09:

Hi,

I paid for my "donation" copy of the other side of the glass add on to the trailer. When will I receive my copy? Please contact me promptly! Paypal completed on 2/10/09 and I haven't heard a word. Wonder if I can reverse it?

I am glad I got that this week and not last week.

I am in the midst of a last minute scramble to finish up what I can here in Phoenix as I am leaving Friday for a grueling 3 day trip (1200 miles and 3-4 interviews) to finish up filming. I will arrive in northern CA to work with my editing teacher on Monday after a long trip and interviews.

This note was a good reason to stop and take time to update visitors and followers of the film about my progress. It's been on my "to-do" list.

I am experiencing a computer challenge as I prepare to meet with my editing teacher in what was to be "polishing" of Part One. It will not be as ready as I planned. However, as is the nature of this amazing film that has a life of it's own, amazing things have emerged, much like it did in September in my trip to the east coast.

But the good news is plentiful: Part one finally has a name, His Moment ... of Awe. I recently completed the DVD label and cover design knowing it will be adjusted as the film itself completes. I also connected with the person who is, as we speak, doing original music for this part. A major birth photographer is lending her photos. Everything takes a lot of time. Someone in Italy emailed me about translating the trailer. I spent three days on transcribing it in detail -- finally, crossing that off the list. I have someone to do Portuguese and Spanish and looking for French. All of these people are donating their piece to this part one. It is such a blessing. I intend for sales of Part One to fund paying them to finish their part in the completion of the film (two other parts).

For those of you who are waiting so patiently, some of you since you donated in September and October, I wish to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your patience and support. I have tried to keep you updated via email but have not done such a good job here.

Last week I sort of hit a wall ... I was (and am) so tired as I continue to do this as a one-woman team. Actually, as I learned to do in Trance Dance (check it out!) I danced along the proverbial "brick wall" examining and experiencing it. I have been aware since September's visit in SC with unassisted couples, that I am doing this film as if I were birthing my "baby" unassisted. It is also, above all else, a film to honor my grandson, Andrew; my daughter, Erin; my son-in-law, Osama, and my older grandson, Adam. They are the hospital birth family. I am the Grandma. My younger daughter, with me on this production, was the videographer.

I have much support -- emotional, spiritual, and physical -- from around the world, but only these donations are the financial support. I had an internal tantrum, threatening to just quit, knowing that I can't, knowing I was just being like my three-year old grandson, Andrew, where I am living in Phoenix. I am just showing my frustration, independence, exhaustion, and determination. I am blessed and grateful for the opportunity to do this film as I am in awe of the message that has emerged and how important it is.

But seriously, honestly, I have been frustrated with the lack of financial resources and the obstacles. And, while 99% of the time I am in awe of my accomplishment and the spiritual journey in this process, I am always in need of financial assistance. Aren't we all? The trailer was to be fundraiser trailer; to procure big funding, to hire experts and professionals, but I found that I was to do the work. Like an UC birther. So, since it's my baby, I am not sure how to ask for support for this film, except through offering a copy of the completed Part one when it is done. Like a homebirth/UC mother I know it is my baby and I need support, education, resources, and those who are more qualified than me to help. Me, personally, I don't want to borrow and owe people, and I want the energy of the film and funding to be reciprocal. Hence, the donation now, in exchange for the "First Edition, Fundraiser Edition" that I fantasize becomes a "collector item."

I have big expenses coming up -- paying my editing colleague for assistance with the editing ($500), travel to DC in March ($500) and professional burning of the final product in late March or early April ($500). This is what sent me into a "little tizzy tantrum" with God, the universe, Whoever. I don't know where the money will come from and this is nothing new, but I am at the end of the birth, in transition, where the great amount of energy is needed to birth this amazing baby. I am tired. And, the journey makes me so grateful. I bought myself a new $6 bra and a pair of $20 pants last week -- my first in two years. Everything goes to my daughter and to the film.

I have been blessed with "in-kind" donations to make this film happen. One year, rent-free, in a wonderful duplex in MO, "home" while I zig zagged across the country for six months, and while I spent six months working 50 hours a week, learning the editing software and editing programs for community access television station. My ten-year old grandson sat with me last night watching me transcribe video (I let him listen to Sarah Buckley in reverse and had him convinced that I was translating from a foreign language!) and he asked, "Granny, who pays you your pay check?" I answered, "I don't get a pay check.... but people are donating money so they can get a copy of the film, and later, a lot of people will be buying the film."

Beyond the financial situation and the yearning to get back to working with babies and families, is the passion to just get this information out to the public -- the wonder at how amazing the information is, how it can contribute to transforming birth in our society and to transforming humanity. Being in my grandson's presence (and his brother's, Andrew, in the film) I am blessed.

Baby Andrew is an amazing soul who came to give us this information. Sometimes he and I just gaze into each other's eyes and I melt into the universe in a moment of bliss. I had one of the moments in the car taking him to his other grandma's house. We were making eye contact in the rear view mirror. The music on the radio, which ironically, I can't even recall, heightened "the moment of awe" (hint, hint) with him and I was transported in a moment of bliss. I cried. The film is for Andrew ... and all of our babies.

Sooooo, a musical fundraiser planned in MO isn't happening this month. Rather than be in a tizzy, last week I started to develop a format to do a "Fundraising Party" based on my producer-friend's "how to" book, but I just don't have time to add that job to my current work load -- of finishing (birthing) Part One. I am still working totally alone. If someone would like to take on that role, to set up a format, contact people, network on Facebook, I could help and hand it over. I wanted to ask people to have a little party in their community and show the trailer and take donations for a first edition, fundraiser edition of Part One.

Part One is really designed for doulas, childbirth educators, midwives, and women to give to their men, and other than child support and "in-kind donations, is my only resource for funding my living expenses while I complete the rest of the film. This fundraiser edition will include the Intro (expanded trailer) and Part One: His Moment ... of Awe. Part Two is not yet named but looks at men's experience of transformation when they have experienced a powerful woman who trusts and knows her body works ... and births powerfully. Part Three will get into the world of pre and perinatal psychology, the wounding of men since their own birth, the healing of birth experiences, and impact of empowered birth on humanity.

So, taking this time and opportunity to update folks, I want to ask for your financial support by donating at least $15 in exchange for a first edition fundraiser edition copy of Part One, and to consider showing the trailer at a house party and collecting other donations. If someone one wants to create and manage fundraising, please let me know.

Also on my wish list is an RV as I plan to travel to do extensive interviews of the OB's in Part One, amazing people doing science-based, mother-baby focused obstetrics for the next project.

So, here's my response to the note:

Dear ______,

The film is in production, as is indicated in the blog.

I am doing this film as a one-woman team. I am still filming .. completing filming for Part One this weekend as I travel from Phoenix to San Diego to Los Angeles, and then to Nevada City, CA with the plans to finish Part one, then travel to Washington DC in a car with 200,800 miles on it to screen it to a group, to film a birth for part one, and to then wrap it up and get it professionally burned. I travel in prayer, I tell you. I am doing every single bit of it -- including thank you's for donations, which I had not yet gotten done for you. THANK YOU.

People who donated in October and beyond are also still waiting, and I am so appreciative of their interest, support, and patience. I don't think people realize how precious and important that $15 is and how far it goes and what it means to me and the film. I am often waiting, as I was this week, for child support to come in to do this next leg of the trip. I do not have credit cards and this film, unlike many, will be done without "debt". This months allocation (child support) will not get me to DC, and I have no idea at this moment how I will pay for the trip to DC. I am leaving Phoenix where I have been living with my daughter and family (grandson!) having given up my home a year ago -- to do this film. It is a place where I can work on very tedious aspects of the film. I have been traveling off and on for over a year now .... with a 15 year old, a dog and a cat ..

This film is an act and labor of love -- baby Andrew is my grandson and Erin is my daughter. The donations are the only funding I have other than child support and acts of kindness -- lodging, meals, etc. I feel I am in late stage and transitional labor. I hope you can appreciate the process and bear with me ... I am laboring heavily now and birthing this baby very soon. Like every birth, this film has it's own timing and process. Like a woman in labor, all I can do it go with the present contraction.

I appreciate your support more than words can say.

L. Janel Martin Miranda, M.A.BabyKeeper Baby Doula/CranioSacral based Birth Trauma and Attachment Therapist/Birth Videographer
573-424-0997
www.theothersideoftheglassthefilm.blogspot.com

High Tech Procedures during BABY's labor and birth

Back to basics for safer childbirth

Too many doctors and hospitals are overusing high-tech procedures

In fact, the current style of maternity care is so procedure-intensive that 6 of the 15 most common hospital procedures used in the entire U.S. are related to childbirth. Although most childbearing women in this country are healthy and at low risk for childbirth complications, national surveys reveal that essentially all women who give birth in U.S. hospitals have high rates of use of complex interventions, with risks of adverse effects.

http://www.consumerreports.org/health/medical-conditions-treatments/pregnancy-childbirth/maternity-care/overview/maternity-care.htm


As usual, my question is .... what about the baby? WHAT about the BABY?!? When is the media going to ask about the impact to the BABY when speaking of "adverse effects?" We call it BIRTH TRAUMA. The baby's brain is WORKING, interpreting the environment and experience and IMPRINTING the brain, remembering it all.

I'm baaaaack ... Online

And, I wanted to let you know why the blogs were down for awhile.

I had to take my blogs down because I had an attacker of my work. That was ok, because when people disagree with me, I embrace it as an opportunity to learn. I try to find common ground, find a common goal. But it was not ok to troll my blogs for addresses of others to whom to send very disparaging information.

This person was charging me with "promoting the abuse of newborns" and sent the information far and wide, including to state officials in Missouri.

Yeah, me. Me, accused of "promoting the abuse of newborns." Me, who annoys people with my mantra "What about the baby?" every time they forget to mention the baby's experience when talking about how traumatic birth was for the mother. People AVOID me because they don't want to hear it me going on and on and on and on .. and on ... about the baby, the film, the interviews that tell the story of how it is that babies are harmed by standard medical practices.

My family, friends, and colleagues all TOLERATE me. Since we are on the road again, my poor fifteen year old never gets away from it -- her Christmas gift iPod with EAR PHONES (is that what they are called these days) was her reward and salvation. (She also gets to meet a lot of cool people, some well-known in my field and some actors while were in Topanga - as friends of friends, I can't reveal who, and she gets to see the country, play on the beach, hike the mountains, and eat great food.) But, yeah, ME?!, he accuses me, turns me in to officials all over the country? ME, who is making a film to bring attention to the abuse of the newborn, in a way that addresses all the aspects of society and medicine that leads to the abuse of newborns, I am accused of "promoting the abuse of newborns." Say whaaaaaaaat?.... ME too, I was also "shocked and surprised," like that cartoon character whose eyes pop out and head shakes so hard - in disbelief- that his cheeks and mouth shake making that funny sound. Remember him?

It was so far off, so left-field, so untrue I was able to see through it and glean some gold for myself and the film.

This is the rather kind note (relative to the info he wrote to officials about me, on the Youtube comments:

Janel, There is a huge flaw in your trailer.

You failed to mention that all 50 states MANDATE reporting of child abuse when child abuse is so much as SUSPECTED. You failed to mention to your target audience - fathers - that THEY can report. Failure to report mass child abuse helps to "normalize" mass child abuse, as in the transcript/excerpt below from your trailer for The Other Side of the Glass....

Haven't most of us adults at least learned to "Use 'I' Statements" when expressing ourselves? He goes on to list the narrative of folks in my film (whom he also attempted to contact and then to trash in mass mailings.

I agree with him: the actions of some caregivers, midwives and nurses, and doctors, are violent. It is abuse. So here's where we part company: This person demands that I, and you, everyone HOTLINE the medical caregivers and charge them with child abuse. Every one of us should hotline THEM. "Them" being the doctors, nurses, and midwives.

When I disagreed and refused to hotline the staff who abused the hospital born baby (in order to be honored with his interview), the attack on me was on. Unfortunately, he is too unstable and too unreasonable and, has a history of doing this to everyone in my professional field for years. He has been sued for slander and lost and the award has been collected. I spoke with the attorney who sued him on his own behalf.

I've been wanting to write more about the issue he raises because it is so important to get the message out there ... but I am so friggin' busy BECAUSE I am still a ONE-WOMAN production team. Ironically, I wanted to interview this person because of the "piece" of the puzzle he has that is so important, and is a topic in my film. The information he has amassed is important and I will post it soon when I have time to wade through the weeds and muck of his emails to pick the flowers.

Ironically, this fellow can't "sing with the choir", but instead blasts the people in the choir, who would be on his team -- from behind. Instead of seeing us as all working towards the same goal - stopping the abuse of laboring, birthing, and newborn babies - the dude is outraged at the rest of the choir. I can not "get a word in edgewise" as my mama says, to discuss the problem of a system that will NOT support hotlining caregivers for child abuse, even though I see it as abuse. He makes it a war, the choir become enemy troops, and if one is not willing to go into battle like a Black Ops, he blasts his own people, the ones who get what he says. With my son in both wars waged by this country for premptive reasons, and this guy at my back, I really don't like that term, "friendly fire." It still wounds and kills.

I agree with his belief that they abuse babies, but I do believe it is unknowingly most often. The behavior, verbalizations, and attitude of the nurse in the trailer are shocking to everyone; however, consider this: she KNEW she was being videotaped. !?!?!? But, still whether they are aware or not, whether it is deliberate or not, I agree that the experience of the baby is one of being abused and violated.

BUT, I part ways with this person on the issue of hotlining nurses and doctors and midwives for several reasons:

1) because that system is profoundly broken, and I would go so far as to say it is a PRODUCT or RECIPIENT of the poor, intrusive, violating maternal health care system. The child protective system and myriad of services and professionals in that field are just some of the many on the "food chain" I call it, of socially sanctioned beneficiaries of violent birth.

We have in mass, condoned and allowed this. I agree with him on that. WHY and how to get out of it IS the last part of my film. My film has four parts: the intro (trailer) and the upcoming piece, "The Moment ... of Awe" for fathers, followed by a very powerful look at the transformation of men by experiencing his partner's empowered birth, and then finally, the healing and transformation of the medical system lead by men.

2) I disagree with this fellow that we must, every one of us, hotline every doctor or nurse who attends birth where the woman is not upright, where the cord is clamped, and where drugs are used. The issue of maternal and informed choice is a huge issue here. It is not as simple as saying the doctors should not do these things because it is not scientific, and that they are committing abuse if they do those things. It is not as simple as saying a woman is guilty of abuse if she chooses epidural which forces her to birth supine under the influence of narcotics and opiods. These are socially acceptable as "standard medical practices".

Because these important "pieces" addressing these systemic issues are not in place, and arenot widely accepted as not good practice, wrong, or leading to abuse of the newborn, we can not address it with hotlining people. The pieces include engaging, educating, and supporting the people IN THE MEDICAL and MIDWIFERY systems who are doing birth right.

The only outcome of hotlining the nurse in the film would be more chaos for the family BECAUSE there is NO social consciousness to see the doctor's actions of prying the mother's hands off her baby after prematurely "amputating" the baby's cord and "robbing him of his cord blood", which I believe to be true. There is not a social consciousness or a legal system in place to address the nurse using the baby as a "teaching tool" and to see her behavior as violent and abusive, but I believe it is. If I thought it would do something to support the baby and the family, and to STOP that nurse from ever touching one more baby, yeah, I'd be the first one to hotline her, the doctor, the hospital, the risk management people who dictate to the caregivers what they have to do. RIGHT NOW, there is NOTHING in place in the system to look at their behavior should they be hotlined. There is no social or political will to look at the impact of standard medical practices on the laboring, birthing, and newborn being.

Physicians and nurses practice what they are taught, they are peer-reviewed, and their oversight is by hospital risk managers, health and liability insurance companies. Some resist and overcome that training and rise up to do what is right for mothers and babies inspite of the ostracization by peers and high risk premiums. They are our resources and they deserve to also be supported and protected, not lumped in with all of those who do not practice consciously. These are doctors and midwives who encourage women NOT to induce, NOT to use narcotic, NOT to do elective cesarean, to BE upright, to touch her baby and bring her baby to her chest. They are doctors who advocate and intervene with nurses whose just itch to get that baby away to do the measurements and whatever they think is more important than baby in mother's arms. There are nurses who intervene for the woman and baby with physicians who have agenda to manage their schedules. It's a complicated, human, organic system.

I know some caregivers are very ingrained in their training to the point of mass child abuse, those who have, in their own fear and greed perpetuated the current system. Maybe they are just victims of their own training and routinely, every day, in every birth, harmed a baby but engaging the child protective system is not the answer. It might bring attention to the issue but the social and political will not support it. The reporter becomes the nut.

I've written a lot and asked a lot of questions about how we can support caregivers to become aware of the sentience of the human newborn AND process the impact of being aware of what they've done, thinking it was right. I'll say more about that in a minute. Most people are unaware of the real needs of the newborn and infant, and much of what I observe is negatively impactful on a baby.

ANYTIME we engage with a pregnant woman, a laboring or birthing woman and baby, or a newborn baby without calming our nervous system, without remembering this is a BABY, this couple's baby, without remembering that this baby is feeling, experiencing, remembering, imprinting the experience, well, it's a violation, plain and simple. The simple act of swearing in the presence of a pregnant woman, attending her baby's birth while stressed out or fearful, or with your own time needs as a priority, or after the birth saying mindless things to and in front of the baby (ie. "Oh, baby, you'll live."), or continually reaching in to check the temp of a baby or suction his nose (so you are DOING something), or even gently stimulating that baby is a violation of his space and body. So, in my humble opinion, no one is immune from being hotlined.

So, hotlining the caregiver for abuse, that is a result of training, ignorance, unconsciousnes, or maternal choice, is not the answer. THE SYSTEM is not set up for it. The only benefit I can imagine is that it would cause the current, ineffective child protective systems to collapse. But that would only happen effectively if two things happened. ONE, it would take a massive, organized effort across every state, and, as the fellow suggests, "a moratorium" on charging doctors with abuse, and TWO, it would have to be in orchestration with the wonderful doctors, nurses, and midwives and their groups who also believe it needs to stop so would be participants. There is much to do before that happens. Perhaps, it would take only one big profile case to make it happen. Think "Rosa Parks." But massive amounts of planning and support, and MEDIA, would have to be in place after an intense effort by many to create awareness and change. MASSES would have to be AWARE of the CONSCIOUSNESS of the BABY.

The big problem is, as I have written about here repeatedly, the masses are not aware AND there is NO STANDARDIZED SYSTEM OF MATERNAL-CHILD CARE in obstetric or midwifery care. I have often used the proverbial, "fox in charge of the hen house" to describe standard medical practices. In my film, a CNM who has practiced at home and in hospitals says, "Women and babies have been harmed by standard medical practices." This is not an indictment of doctors and nurses, and validation of midwives. It IS an indictment of hospital-focused birth, rather than mother-baby focused birth. It is a statement about how midwives are also practicing in ways that harm women and babies. It is a statement about the SYSTEM of maternal-child health care.

Midwives, fighting for their legal rights, are being forced down the same darned path that obstetrics have gone -- by the nose, lead by hospital and legal dictates. THIS has allowed a numbing and dumbing of our society so that most people no longer see the abusive part of what they see. People watch a stranger holding down their flailing, screaming, fighting-for-his-life baby, and they smile and coo. They are numb. They no longer are in their body. They are observing the violation of a baby and unable to act. They don't protect their own baby. This baby's space, his boundaries are being profoundly violated, impacting his way of being in the world, with people, for the rest of his life. And, they smile and coo ... at the beauty of birth and new life. Yeah, yeah.

Midwives are less likely to do this, but increasingly more likely to do unnecessary, violating interventions because now she also has to protect her ASSets. As Dr. Stuart Fischbein says in his interview for my film, the only way to change this is TORT REFORM that addresses all the parties involved -- hospital risk management, liability insurance companies, health insurance companies who all DICTATE to doctors AND midwives AND nurses how they must practice.

So, I AM DOING MY PART OF THE PICTURE or PUZZLE ... I am working very hard, a one-woman production team, a year on the road now, to make a film that will awaken the hearts and minds of the broad spectrum of people involved in birth -- EVERYONE. Men, women, caregivers of all varieties ... with the hope that they will see birth as the BABY's, as the soul/baby's journey into physical form. Once anyone gets that -- that EVERY THING you feel, think, say, and do in the presence of a pregnant, laboring, birthing woman is imprinting her baby's brain and soul, one can not do what they have done with such harsh, unaware and unconscious treatment. Once the MASSES get that we will look at maternal-child health care system differently: Preserving the mother-baby connection will be a guiding principle in all we do.

We need tort reform that ALLOWS us to insist upon a SYSTEM of STANDARDIZED CARE based on EVIDENCE-BASED SCIENCE, with a system in place that allows us to have someone other than the hospital systems, ACOG, and malpractice insurance "overseeing" the care our babies' receive.

MY PIECE of the puzzle is support MEN, fathers, who have been harmed by the standard medical practices, and fathers-to-be, to take their rightful place in the birth of their baby ... and to create a movement, a shift of thinking, to see that the human being is fully aware, fully feeling, experiencing, interacting, and imprinting whatever is happening to him or her WHEREVER he or she is born. For example, cutting the cord before the MOTHER's body releases the baby's resuscitator, the placenta, "allowing" fathers to prematurely separate the baby from her body, suctioning on the perineum, or at all "for meconium risk", stimulating the baby with rough towels or strange hands, hats, chattering voices, taking temperatures ALL BEFORE BABY AND MOTHER make eye contact or disrupting that, and before FATHER has engaged with the baby and mother IN THEIR WAY ... these are all violations of the mother-baby RE-CONNECTION in the first moments of birth.

How could I call the hotline on every single birth I have seen, experienced, or known about for disrupting the mother-baby connection, or how could I hotline the hospital for policies and rules, sanctioned by risk managers, policy makers, insurance companies that dictate to the nurse and doctor that they do "everything they know to do in case"? How could I, or any Doula or family member, hotline the doctor or nurse for following the wishes of the mother and father, or a woman who decides she does need to use epidural because she's been in labor for 20 hours and she is exhausted? We can't shoot everyone and ask questions later and let a governmental system "figure it" and provide for the family ... we see how that does NOT WORK.

I need all of you out there to get it ... the needs of the BABY in relationship to his or her mama and daddy ... that we all participated in the perpetuation of the system as it is ... that we can change it by creating a maternal-child, maternity health care system based on the evidence, with an oversight that is NOT peer, with laws that force health insurance and liability insurance to do what is right.

NOW, back to editing the film for fathers, the fundraiser edition, called, "The Moment ... of Awe." It will be ready by the end of March ... I swear. I have a professional editor scheduled for the first week of March to "put the magical fairy dust on it".

Documentary Filmmaker needs pics related to circumcision

James Loewen is looking for high resolution images to include in a video documentary of our intactivist history.

Seeking images from the first NOCIRC Symposium, photos of Marilyn Milos circa 1980-90 and high resolution scans of newspaper headlines and articles of circumcision related topics.

Please send high resolution images (300 dpi 4x6" size or greater) and any pertinent information to James' email: Intactivist<>shaw.ca
Or to Gloria Lemay birthuniserve. com

Prenatal Human Rights

"Prenatal" Hope for Implementing Human Rights

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 4 - 5 September 2008

NEW “PRENATAL” HOPE FOR IMPLEMENTING HUMAN RIGHTS ANNOUNCED AT 60TH BIRTHDAY ELEBRATION OF UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN PARIS THIS WEEK

“Natural Prenatal Education as a foundation for Human Rights” is being proposed as a new and highly effective means for attaining the goals of peace, security, freedom, health and well being for every individual as required by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

At the 60th birthday celebration in Paris this week civil society, nongovernmental organisation’s and governments are being urged to take into consideration the latest scientific discoveries which bring powerful solutions to the immense challenges facing humanity.

The Organisation Mondiale des Associations pour l’Education Prénatale, OMAEP which groups 17 national associations and enjoys consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, is bringing its new ideas to the round table work groups at the annual NGO congress at the
UNESCO Headquarters 2 - 5 September.

OMAEP insists that, “over the last thirty years we have witnessed immense changes in our societies including in our understanding of the human being.

Modern science confirms that the fundamental bases for human rights begin even before birth. “From the moment of conception, the experience in the womb shapes the
brain and lays the groundwork for personality, emotional temperament and the power of higher thought.” says pioneering expert Dr. Thomas Verny a Canadian psychiatrist in his revolutionary book, The Secret Life of the Unborn Child published more than a quarter of a century ago.

The NGO is calling for all sectors of society to inform and support those wishing to have children to meet the real physical, emotional and developmental needs of their offspring during the crucial period of development spent in the womb. This, they say, will assure that each human being will be given the best possible chances to live the human rights they
are entitled to as laid down in the Universal Declaration.

Any organisation or person who wishes further information please contact OMAEP (for a FREE DVD) or more information: Pilar Vizcaino email: info@anep.org.es or the English speaking representative: Julie Gerland
email: juliegerland@wanadoo.fr

OMAEP encourages journalists to contact the representatives in Paris this week for interviews: Vice-President of OMAEP Pilar Vizcaino on +34 67 64 29 844 (French/Spanish) Dr. Aurore Pernin on +33 (0) 683 43 99 42 (French)
or the English speaking representative Julie Gerland +33 (0) 607 91 66 42

Circumcision Information

Circumcision Information

"Despite the obviously irrational cruelty of circumcision, the profit incentive in American medical practice is unlikely to allow science or human rights principles to interrupt the highly lucrative American circumcision industry. It is now time for European medical associations loudly to condemn the North American medical community for participating in and profiting from what is by any standard a senseless and barbaric sexual mutilation of innocent children."
--

Fleiss PM. MD, MPH.
Circumcision. Lancet 1995;345:927 [1]

"Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity."
--George Bernard Shaw

"What is done to children, they will do to society."
--Karl Menninger, MD

Male Circumcision in the USA: A Human Primer
by Rich Winkel
rich@math.missouri.edu
12 May 2005

Answers from the Bible to Questions about Circumcision

Extensive page of circumcision Links at Compleat Mother Magazine

"Armed with this new information, the anti-circers go so far as to argue that male circumcision is equally as horrendous as female circumcision, even when it involves a clitorectomy. To them, removing the foreskin is as bad as removing the clitoris. While neither of these genital areas is essential to sex (a woman without a clitoris can reach orgasm, just as a circumcised man can), both certainly enhance and facilitate it. Female circumcision has been banned by federal law since 1996, but the male variety is still legal. 'No part of a female’s genitalia may be cut off for or cultural reasons, but you can freely lop off 50 percent of a boy’s shaft skin,' Tim Hammond of NOHARMM says angrily."
from The Foreskin Saga at www.infocirc.org/GQ0200.htm.

NO Circ (National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers)
What you need to know...

No national or international medical association recommends routine circumcision.

Only the USA circumcises the majority of newborn boys without medical or religious reason.

Medicalized circumcision began during the 1800s to prevent masturbation, which was believed to cause disease.

Today's parents are learning that the foreskin is a normal, protective, functioning organ.

Today's parents realize circumcision harms and has unneccesary risks.

Circumcision denies a male's right to genital integrity and choice for his own body.

HEALING CIRCUMCISION for ADULTS
There are many sites on web that discuss the process of "foreskin restoration" but very little information about how to heal the psyche of the primal wound.

The Castellino Prenatal and Birth therapy modality addresses the circumcision wound and trainees in his program may provide healing for the emotional, psychological, and relationship issues.

I am looking for other resources. If you know of techniques and modalities, please email me. babykeeper@gmail.com.

Scotland Urges Homebirth

Pregnant women are urged to give birth in their own homes - MOTHERS-to-be are to be encouraged to stay away from hospital in an effort to more than double the number of home births in the Lothians.

Scotland Pregnant Women Are Encouraged to Give Birth At Home

Birth is Human Rights Issue

See "Prenatal" Hope for Implementing Human Rights below.

I am a member of WITNESS (http://www.witness.org/, see YouTube above).

For 15 years, WITNESS has harnessed the power of video to advance human rights. In honor of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th, we've put together a short video with different WITNESS staff talking about images that opened their eyes to human rights abuses around the world.

I believe the worst humanity violation, the root violation, is the lack of regard for the sanctity of conception through gestation that creates a lack of care and support for pregnant women** and that allows the medical establishment's routine disruption of the mother-baby dyad and the disempowerment of the father to protect them. Women violated at conception, during pregnancy, and during birth; separation and physically violating a newborn; not breastfeeding; and mutilation of newborn boys (circumcision) creates humans capable of horrible treatment of others.

I fear that Even Witness sees the horrors of human right violations of children and adults around the world worse than the violence of a newborn. But, as I see it, the primal period of the human being has been, for eons, the time in which the brain is programmed for violence, scarcity, fear, control, separation, isolation. It's horrifying to see the atrocities in Brazil, Africa, and Iraq ... to see men, women, and children enslaved, beaten, starved, and in captivity. It appears worse than the business of incarceration (caging humans for bad behavior), homelessness in America, child abuse, neglect, and abandonment to the systems who harm regardless of intentions, and passively accepting pre-emptive war upon innocent people. Americans think female genital mutilation in Africa and Muslim is horrific and yet do it their male children. Americans abhor slavery now, but perpepuate racism ... and are oblivious to those in control of the government, banking, and commerce who "enslave" Americans numb to the plight of the world ... to the atrocities seen in the Witness YouTube, as well as the plight of their fellow American and their neighbor or family member.

America has most of the resources of the world with only 5% of the population and has a government control by special interests, the worst of which might be the Big Phar drug cartel. America leads the way in misuse of technology and the medical management of birth, and then reaps the reward of the worst in maternal and infant mortality rates of industrialized nations --- money and control.

America spreads it's values to these other countries via building up of industry and medical care. When McDonalds, Walmart, and obstetric medicine come to the rescue of other countries the people of these countries do not become more free. Obstetrics, typically a technologically souless endeavor, may raise civility and mortality rates, but it further compounds the violation of human beings. Obstetric medicine is the place of manufacturing damaged human beings who will rely upon the system (consumerism, workism) for their lifetime. The medical food chain of services and specialties will benefit and foster their supportive limbs -- social programs, education, and psychological services, with NONE of them looking at what happened to the baby, mother, and father in the PRIMAL, formative period of development.

Without ever looking at or dealing with the root cause of human disorders, the mainstream approach to dealing with dyfunctions and disorders will be bandaids at best and will perpetuate ongoing issues.Here is a perfect example to ponder. Without research to ever show it was safe, medicine has routinely immediately cut the cord of the human newborn. It is clear now that the baby needs the full volume of his blood that remained in the placenta during the normal cycle of blood flow from him to placenta. At the moment of birth as much as half of the baby's blood is still in the placenta. The impact of this is enormous.

WHAT is the lifetime consequence of not getting your core blood? Of not having enough oxygen to stimulate and complete the core process of breathing and to support the heart to transition from fetal to "adult" circulation? NO ONE looks at this to do research. No one in authority wants to know or wants to change. Has it, for example, been thought of or studied to link this moment at birth with cardiology issues in adults? What is the number one killer of men AND women? Not cancer; it is heart disease.

Is there a connection to heart disease in later life and the experience of the heart having to work with half the baby's blood (oxgyen deprived) so that caregivers must then harshly, often violently, "stimulate" the baby to breath? Does shock, resistance, premature separation from mother and blood AT THE VERY MOMENT that the heart is closing off one artery and transitioning to a new function impact the heart physiologically, and the baby psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually? We don't know, because medicine refuses to see the baby as fully functioning and capable of being harmed by their "interventions".

** Stress and working too much are seen as problems associated with premature births. Breastmilk, the excilir for life; and holding, nurturing care by the mother for the first two years of life are LONG known in the literature to be THE foundation for neurologically as well as emotionally and physically functioning human being. Yet, rather than fund support of this period of time as a valuable asset for our country and humanity, the US perpetuates "work" to build corporations and promote consumerism as the "foundation" for a healhy person, and the "standard" of succes, and does not provide time off for motherhood and fatherhood ... the United States of American, with all it's wealth, does not allow men and women to do the most important job on the planet, to care for their child. Holding down one or more jobs in order to provide the basic "American Dream" life is more revered as "successful", regardless of the cost to the family and the planet ecology, than is mothering or parenting.

Rich posts about HIV circumcision research

I (Rich) posted a response to:

https://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=circumcision-and-aids

Aside from the methodological pitfalls involved in using a pool ofmen who desire to be circumcised (selecting for pre-existing sexual dysfunction), what's missing from this half-truth is the questionof circumcision's impact on male->female HIV transmission. There are numerous studies bearing on this issue, quite aside from theobvious epidemiological comparison to be made between the USA and Europe, which in itself raises serious doubts about circumcision'sutility in controlling HIV. One need only recognize that circumcisionincreases friction during coitus due to the loss of the frictionless sleeve of the foreskin and the drying out of residual male erotogenic mucosal tissue. In the absence of such friction the female's intact mucosa would be expected to provide a strong barrier to HIV receptivity

http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/full/74/12/5577?view=long&pmid=10823865
as borne out by empirical findings

http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/chao/http://www.circumstitions.com/HIV.html#heteroFurthermore, unanticipated consequences of circumcision, such aschanges in sexual practices and promiscuity of sexually amputatedmen may outweigh any benefits in per-intercourse female->male HIV transmission rates.

Finally, I note the deafening silence regarding Rebecca Stallings's findings as reported to the Rio conference on HIV in 2005, which founda similar prophylactic effect for FGM on female HIV receptivity.

http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/femalecircumcisionandHIVinfectionintanzania.pdf

It's tempting to speculate on the origins this unscientific propaganda onslaught given the current medico-legal situation in the United States. One can only hope that whatever the ultimate outcome of this debate, itwill not be used as a post-hoc justification for the wholesale atrocity which has been committed against non-consenting American infants.

What babies and the world seem to know

IF THE WORLD COULD VOTE
Check out this voting on-line set up by a 22 year old fellow from overseas. By a landslide, the entire world wants Obama, or at least "The Change" he promises.

If the world could vote?

Posted using ShareThis

Soon, maybe, we can all stop this "baby crying" * (see below for definition) we are all feeling.

I have refrained from political topics here related to the upcoming election, but I received an email I
couldn't resist ... the political candidates with babies and passed it along. I know babies to be the wisest of us, the most aware we'll ever be. We need to pay attention to what our babies pay attention to.

I got this back from a relative: being republican or democrat or narrow minded has nothing to do with it. stupid emails like this is what takes something away from real issues in politics. ... how many babies has obama held that cried. exactly...and who cares. i am sure on some level babies can sense evil...whatever. it is just too bad that is not how we choose our leaders in America.a little biased don't you think? what is it, like 10 pics to 1 for each of bush and mccain. pretty good depiction on how the mainstream has been holding 'Obama Biden laden' so high.

Oye, so much I could say, but I won't. Babies are my story, and I am stickin' to it. I totally disagree that the reactions of babies, children, and our youth have nothing to do with it. So, I googled both candidates to check it out, as I always do. I found a slide show of Obama, McCain, and Biden. We are a nation in trouble, and one of the reasons is that this society does not honor birth as sacred, does not honor the baby, and does not see how the human baby is fully aware and feeling. When we value and honor our babies and realize how much we can learn FROM them, we will create an entirely different values systems.

I remember the ONLY candidate I have ever wanted for President ever was NJ Senator Bill Bradley. I was campaigning for him in 1996 when he wasn't running. In 1997 I read his memoir, "Present Time, Time Past." My then three year old daughter had looked at the picture of him on the cover of his book with awe, pointed to his picture and smiled adoringly at him, peering into his eyes saying, "Ahhhhh," and she hugged the book to her chest. I felt the same way. I felt I could trust my inner judgement more because of her response. Children are not yet indoctrinated, they are sensory, and real and honest. By the way, I've never gotten over him losing to Gore in the Iowa Caucus for the 2000 election. He is the only Presidential candidate for whom I would post a bumper sticker. I try to not live in the past but I often wonder, "What if ..."

So, with my regard for babies - the new soul that has just arrived and as aware and wise as will ever be - I see the babies, children, and youth of America as our future and as "the Deciders". The youth of America are more involved than I ever remember. They need so much hope right now. As I approach being really old I remind myself to value the youth and their opinions and energy. They will be living with the decisions we make long after my parents are gone, long after I and many of us are gone. I do what I do today for my grandsons and their children. That's makes me sound over fifty, doesn't it?

So these pictures interested me. I love these pictures ... not at all because they are of Obama, but because they are of babies and children responding and engaging with him, whoever he is.

I really believe you can discern a lot about a person by how they engage with babies and children. Too often the adult, especially strangers, are just trying to elicit some response from the baby -- usually to satisfy an unconscious need of their own.

Watch people with babies with a new eye, watch yourself when you engage with a baby -- why do you engage with a baby? Do you need them to respond? Do you need them to laugh to make you feel better? Do you ask permission or wait for the baby to come to you or the parents to hand to you the baby? Or do you just pick up babies, touch babies, put your face too close to babies -- even as they resist? Do you insist on holding someone's baby (ignore their behavioral cues) even if the baby is resisting? Hunkering into the mom or dad (saying, "no")? Is the baby looking away from you? Avoiding your face and your eyes? Reaching away from you? Squirming? Are you ok that the baby is not interested in you? Or are you content only when the baby gives you a positive response? Do you perceive and are you ok that the baby or child doesn't seem to like you? Or your "energy"? Do you stop to wonder have I invaded the baby's space? Do you stop and see the baby's body language as communicating to you? "Please don't touch my body." "You are too close." "I don't want to play or smile right now." "I don't know you." Do you or do you see others holding a baby, their baby, but especially other's babies and talking over the baby, not engaging the baby?

Yes, you can tell a lot about a person by how they engage with babies and how they respond to them. And, a baby will not pretend to like you and will not care about letting you know you've overstepped your boundaries. Babies are perfect mirrors -- if we look. The problem is that adults are so overpowering, so out of touch with babies, and are disrespectful of a baby's boundaries. When parents don't protect that boundary the baby is soon overwhelm and begins to learn that their boundaries are not respected. They learn defensive postures and beliefs that form another layer on to their foundation that they will carry into adulthood.

That was a mini lesson in infant behavior and so back to the pictures. Picture after picture of Obama shows him ENGAGING with the baby in his arms. In the pictures he is seeing the baby and the babies are searching his face, making eye contact, hugging, and smiling. Even when he is looking away the baby is trying to see his face and to engage with him. This is very rare for babies to engage so directly with a stranger, in a crowd. Children don't often sink into a deep hug with strangers. Babies often have difficulty with eye contact even with loved ones. These pictures show babies engaged with him in direct eye contact. Many, many "good pictures" of even parents and babies are with baby and adult not making eye contact, not engaging. I looked on line once for pictures of parent and baby engaged with eye contact and found very few.

I don't know if it means he is ready to lead the United States out of one of the worst situations we've been, but it tells me he must be a decent fellow. It tells in spite of all the stresses in his life right now he is aware and capable of engaging with a baby as a person.

I am counting on the young people who must live with the choices of the last decade and the politicians in charge (Democrat and Republican). I see that perhaps Obama really might engage with them, us, We, the People, and as I heard him speak at the Iowa Caucus in January, he has plans to engage people in democracy at every level. I used to be a community organizer; and he talked-the-talk. If he wins, or even if he doesn't, I hope our youth will step up and reclaim democracy he has inspired in many of them, and I hope they'll walk-the-walk and hold him to his claims. It might be in baby-steps, but our youth can get us there.

Many of these pictures are from:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/21/babies-for-obama-slidesho_n_136433.html


No comment on this last picture!
except to note that she holds like a breastfeeding mother holds a baby.


IF THE WORLD COULD VOTE
Check out this voting on-line set up by a 22 year old fellow from overseas. By a landslide, the entire world wants Obama, or at least "The Change" he promises.

If the world could vote?

Posted using ShareThis



** "Baby cries" was coined by my younger son as a young pre-teen first teasing his baby sister, and then in talking about whiny people. I found later in my pre and perinatal psychology studies that "baby cries" aptly describes how a an older child or adult person acts when their early memories and emotions are triggered. It's one of those situations where yourself, or another, is over-reacting to the present situation, and others are scratching their head, trying to figure it out, and are too often the focus or the blame of the other's emotional outburst. It is when there is no logical reason for this adult to be acting this way, and all that might be missing is the lying on the floor kicking. Something in the current environment has triggered an early prenatal memory in the Limbic system and the Neocortex is struggling to make sense of it.

Birth Abuse -- KORE Issues radio show

Last month Rich Winkle and I were guests on KOPN 89.5 KORE Issues show. The topic of part one of the ongoing show was Birth Options (available in the archives.)

Tomorrow, October 25th, at 5:00 pm Central time we will be doing part 2, Birth Abuse - From Day One".

KOPN KORE Issues Tyree B. talks about things that people find difficult to talk about.

According to KORE Issues producer, Tyree, "We'll look at the ideology and mentality and what the processes in place are and what the parents can expect if problems arise and if the system in place causes the problems in the first place."

That's a lot to cover!

The show is live and you can stream it live at www.kopn.org. Tyree, partner Jesca, and mother Debra will open with live music. Their little one, born at home, will also be in the studio.

Tyree is sharing his original song, "Awe" that he sang for his daughter at her birth, to be used in the film.

Fathers-to-Be in Austin, Texas

FATHERS-TO-BE

presents

Advanced Birth Professional Workshop

"Supporting Fathers Prenatally and Through Childbirth"

How birthcare professionals welcome fathers is significant to the whole family system.

Learn, in a dynamic study format, how to work more effectively with fathers in the antenatal and birth environment.

Outcomes:

· Increased confidence in working with men/fathers.

· Increased skills for welcoming fathers into the pregnancy and birth process.

· Understanding ways to support a man's "low adrenaline" presence at birth itself.

· Learn how to help fathers manage their expectations in a way that contributes most effectively to the families needs.

· Experience articulating 'gender issues' for yourself as well as parents and increase your ability to communicate.

Saturday November 15

1-4:30 PM

Ronald McDonald House

1315 Barbara Jordan Blvd, Austin, TX 78723

$75

Presented by Patrick Houser. Patrick has spent many years working in the field of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. Now a grandfather, Patrick pioneered conscious birthing with his son's waterbirth in 1980, the first in the US. In 2006 he co-founded of Fathers-To-Be UK and works with expectant and new dads, birthcare professionals and educators. He is also the author of the new book, Fathers-To-Be Handbook.

A Fathers-To-Be Handbook will be included for all participants.

Reserve your place at www.centexbirthnetwork.org

512-691-9546 (3 DONA CEU, pending)

SPONSORED BY :

CENTRAL TEXAS BIRTH NETWORK - www.centexbirthnetwork.org

BOLDinAUSTIN - www.boldinaustin.org

Fathers-To-Be www.fatherstobe.org

This event is designed for anyone working in the field of pregnancy,
birth and early parenting (educators as well as practitioners).

Research shows: Men who respond to impending fatherhood by reflecting on the way
they were parented produce happier children.Fathers Make a World of Difference!
Now available, Fathers-To-Be Handbook
Please enjoy www.fatherstobe.org

Paternal Instinct -- A movie review

I just re-rented the documentary, "Paternal Instinct: The Road to Fatherhood is not always a straight one."

I watched it a year or so ago and it really touched me deeply. The birth of the two men's baby is one of the most beautiful, loving births I've ever seen. I am looking forward to seeing it again this weekend.

I love this movie for it's multiple messages. While my film has been questioned about, and is not about the different configurations of conceiving and parenting, I offer this film as one to show the beauty of birth in alternative partnerships. It is also a testament to the intentional welcoming of another soul into a couple's lives.

Heterosexual couples, adoption professionals, and everyone could benefit from watching this film to see:

1) The profound impact of ritual and seeing the soul as a being coming into a couple's lives.

Conception of their babies, in part because the surrogate mother is an Episcopalian minister, is done intentionally with ritual, as is the birth and, so importantly, the exchanging of the baby from her womb to their arms is done with ritual. If one can suspend one's beliefs about paganism, New Agism, or other critical beliefs, and observe something very profound for the baby -- the honoring of the baby who was gestated in one body but will be raised by another. The baby is seen as real, whole, aware, sentient being. The world of adoption support could benefit from watching this process and then going directly to the website of such adoption experts as Marcy Axness, PhD at Quantum Parenting. Dr. Axness "educates adoption, education, and childcare professionals on new findings in child development and their implications for practice."

2) How it is that a human being should be welcomed and wanted and conceived in love.
If this is not present that human being will struggle throughout the lifetime to feel wanted. So many heterosexually conceived humans are the result of thoughtless, random sex, manipulative agendas, and just plain apathy. Babies born to gay and lesbian couples are wanted beings.

3) The beauty of a homebirth with a midwife. Up until this point I was in awe and tears of joy watching these two men supporting the birthing woman and their baby, and then throes of it all, after the baby was born, the midwife SUCTIONED the baby. Harshly. "Noooooooo." I was crying out in disbelief, "WHY!?!" EVERY other aspect of this baby's birth was intentional, calm, loving, and peaceful. WHY do medically trained caregivers (midwives are medically trained) feel that they have to suction every baby "in case" and WHY do they do it so harshly, so fast, so deep??

You'll have to wait until my film comes out for that answer.

Here's what one reviewer said about "Paternal Instincts":

This movie takes the viewer on a journey through the initial discussions between Mark and Eric about whether and how to have children, to the long-awaited conclusion. In the process, we are treated to many glimpses of their loving and playful relationship, friendships, and loving, somewhat offbeat, relationships with their own parents. We also meet Wen, the chosen surrogate, and her family and community. This movie is extremely touching and surprisingly funny. The insemination scenes, for example, had the audience howling. It was a real treat to "meet" each person in this movie, including Wen's own (pre-adolescent?) son. If you get the chance to see this movie, it is the chance to witness a small gem.

Amazon.com
Paternal Instinct may not change the minds of those who oppose same-sex marriage and parenthood, but you'd have to have a cold, cold heart to remain unmoved by this poignant documentary. Originally broadcast on HBO, the film demonstrates, on deeply personal and emotional terms, that "the road to fatherhood is not always a straight one." It focuses on Erik and Mark, a gay couple for ten years, who decide to become parents through the surrogate motherhood of Wen, a happily married wife, mother, and practicing witch (or Wiccan, if you prefer).

Forming a devoted trio of compassionate cooperation, they struggle through an emotional roller-coaster ride including trial and error, miscarriage, self-doubts and setbacks, all leading to the birth of two daughters (one is biologically Erik's, the other Mark's) and the universal elation of new parenthood. By covering all three years in this heart-wrenching process, filmmaker Murray Nossel creates real-life drama that's more compelling as any fiction movie could ever be, and the circumstances--family support on all sides--make this a deeply effective argument for the validity of same-sex parenthood.

By presenting a "21st century twist" on the American family, Paternal Instinct avoids political rancor and goes straight to the heart of the matter: Once you've seen this film, it's impossible to believe that Erik, Mark, and their children could be anything but a blessing.

Considering the fact that many heterosexual couples are unfit for parenthood, a little Paternal Instinct seems like a very good thing indeed. --Jeff Shannon

Healing the Violence of Your Birth

Featuring a course with Rebecca Marina.

"Healing the Violence of Your Birth"- Why you need it.

In this class, I share my heart with you about a very necessary healing that I believe every single person in the world can benefit from.

Unless you were born at home with the kind attentions of a loving family and possibly a mid-wife in attendance, chances are you are suffering the effects of patterns of energy set up around your "violent" birth.

Only $27 gets you BOTH classes- "Heal Birth Violence" and "Heal Childhood Abuse"
Order here: http://rebeccamarina.com/444

Contributing factors of a violent birth are being labor induced, pulled out with forceps,C-section, or even made to "hold back" the birth.

Other factors are: being born at the wrong time, illigetimate, unwanted, wrong sex, parents too young, parents worried about money, previous abortions or miscarriages, worries about inherited illness and many more. I am sure you can think of many issues on your own, perhaps from your personal experience.

It is almost a guarantee that at your birth you were thrust into a room filled with bright, florescent lighting, poked, prodded, stuck with needles, handled roughly, and taken from your mother before you had a chance to bond. It is also very likely that your cord was cut too soon, depriving you of the nutrient rich cord blood that doctors are now realizing is a very great treasure indeed.

A fear or shame pattern is sometimes set up when the birth is violent and can affect your life in many ways.

Here is a partial checklist of patterns that can be set up at birth. Check and see if you identify with any of these.

*Fear of dying- having trouble breathing under stress.
*Fear of living fully- what is the use, it will never be good enough.
*Fear of accepting pleasure in life- pleasure is always followed by pain
*A feeling of being "unimportant"
*Feeling invisible
*Wishing you were someone else.
*Not ever feeling good enough
*Having conscious or unconscious resentment toward your mother
*Having a sense of not belonging
*Feeling like you don't belong in your own family
*Feeling like it is the wrong time for you to be here
*A vague feeling of unease you can never quite put your finger on
*Feeling unworthy
*Having a hunger for something and you are not sure what it is
*Feelings of shame
*Feeling like you were cheated out of something
*Feeling like you have to please others in order to belong
*Feeling like it is you against the world
*Feelings of unexplained guilt
*Depression
*Accident prone
*A feeling of being unlovely

There are more issues but these are the main ones my angels have told me to share with you. This is a very special and healing class - a re-birthing and a re-mothering.

The Divine Feminine will be assisting as midwife to this precious healing experience.

This class will be healing your own birth trauma and healing your own mother and your ancestors as well. This class combines the best of energy psychology with spirituality to take healing beyond mere human capabilities.

Only $27 gets you BOTH classes- Heal Birth Violence and Heal Childhood Abuse
Order here: http://rebeccamarina.com/444

Spin Doctor

It's just a bleep on the screen amidst the political fervor and financial crisis, but I saw a national news anchor, Brian Williams, say several weeks ago on the 6 pm news that the US has the worst infant mortality rates of any industrialized nation. He said it was in spite of the US having the best access to the best health care.

Above is another story on MSNBC and shortly after we have Washington and CDC reporting that the rates are down.

Who do we believe? When will the "crisis" of the day be the state of maternal health care and the obvious (death rates) and the ignored (birth trauma from non-necessary medical interventions)?

By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: October 15, 2008

WASHINGTON — Infant deaths in the United States declined 2 percent in 2006, government researchers reported Wednesday, but the rate still remains well above that of most other industrialized countries and is one of many indicators suggesting that Americans pay more but get less from their health care system.

Infant mortality has long been considered one of the most important indicators of the health of a nation and the quality of its medical system. In 1960, the United States ranked 12th lowest in the world, but by 2004, the latest year for which comparisons were issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that ranking had dropped to 29th lowest.

This international gap has widened even though the United States devotes a far greater share of its national wealth to health care than other countries. In 2006, Americans spent $6,714 per capita on health — more than twice the average of other industrialized countries.

Some blame cultural issues like obesity and drug use. Others say that the nation’s decentralized health care system is failing, and some researchers point to troubling trends in preterm births and Caesarean deliveries.

Many agree, however, that the data are a major national concern. More than 28,000 infants under the age of 1 die each year in the United States.

“Infant mortality and our comparison with the rest of the world continue to be an embarrassment to the United States,” said Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, a conservative research organization. “How can we get better outcomes?”
The data, collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicate that the nation’s infant mortality rate has been static for years despite enormous advances in the care given to preterm infants. Two-thirds of the infant deaths are in preterm babies.

Continued at Infant deaths in the US declined 2% in 2006