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While I’ve had a lot of time to sit and hold babies, I’ve read through a short book my friend, Jennie, loaned me. No doubt many of you have heard of it? It is “Birth Without Violence” by Frederick LeBoyer.
The book is a paradox all its own. Simply written–almost poetically written, about a simple subject, yet so profound and compelling all at the same time.
It almost slaps you in the face and says, “of course…this should be instinctive”.
In a very small nutshell, Dr. LeBoyer suggests that we traumatize babies at their birth, possibly inflicting life-long consequences, all because we assume the baby doesn’t remember or that his entrance into life doesn’t matter. Then he gives the practical picture of how he believes babies should be born. The changes in procedure are relatively small and certainly simple, and yet have such huge implications, according to LeBoyer.
Admittedly, some of what he says is a little extreme to me. And yet, one must give him the benefit of the doubt, because there is so much truth there too, and the burden of proof lies with his opponents.
His revelation about the physiological intrusion of cutting the umbilicus too early was particularly riveting.
I’ll let you decide…if you want to read it, I found an on-line version. It really only takes an hour or so to read–and easy to grasp the message if only skimmed. Here is the link: Birth Without Violence
I would LOVE to discuss this with others as it has rather captured my thoughts since reading it. One can see why so many are opposed to hospital births after reading such thoughts.
It has changed, even further, what we intend to request in our birth plan…pray they don’t think I’m a kook.
26 comments
I skimmed through the book and I was moved. Our last birth was a home birth and everything was quiet and peaceful and I believe that it not only helped my baby, but also helped me. Labor progresses and is easier when the mom is relaxed. What can be more relaxing than candlelight and possibly soft music? Surely not the harsh florescent lights, people in and out of a room, and monitors beeping.
I encourage you to keep ready and plan the birth that you want.
I skimmed through the book and I was moved. Our last birth was a home birth and everything was quiet and peaceful and I believe that it not only helped my baby, but also helped me. Labor progresses and is easier when the mom is relaxed. What can be more relaxing than candlelight and possibly soft music? Surely not the harsh florescent lights, people in and out of a room, and monitors beeping.
I encourage you to keep reading and plan the birth that you want.
Kelly,
When does the author suggest is the correct time to cut the umbilicus?
Does he give a clue as to why cutting it too early causes future personality problems?
Deanna
Interesting!
I am grateful that the doctors and nurses did many of the things outlined in the ebook without me even knowing to ask them to. Not all, though.
I love the idea of putting the baby in the warm bath, how relaxing that would be!
One thing I was surprised it didn’t mention was nursing. I remember reading that it was important to offer baby to nurse w/in the first alert hour because newborns are so sleepy after that. Our daughter took to it very quickly after birth, within minutes, I believe. Was glad I offered her the chance.
Reading this makes me want another baby even MORE! 🙂 God willing, he will bless us.
I’m glad you have looked into the natural childbirth, and this gentle birth idea, as well – you reach alot of people. It is good for us all to stretch our minds now and then!
Deanna,
“Although the child is out of the womb, he remains dependent
on his mother through the umbilical cord, which continues to
beat strongly for several minutes, four or five,
sometimes even longer.
Oxygenated through the cord, and thus protected from
anoxia, the child can, without shock or danger, settle
down to breathing without being rushed, in his own
time.
12
What should we do during these critical few minutes
of the transition of the blood from the old route through
the placenta to the newly working lungs?
We must understand that Nature herself doesn’t take
sudden leaps and has her own pace. She has left
this time, these few minutes, so that this change over from
one world to another can be made with ease.
She has made it so that the baby is oxygenated from two
sources for several minutes as, at the same time, an orifice
in the heart closes, and the baby is then safely on his
own.
For a few minutes the baby straddles two worlds, as it
were. Then slowly, slowly he can cross the threshold from
one to the other peacefully and easily, and with all safety,
as long as we don’t rush in, interfere,
and can manage to quell our old reflexes, our nervousness,
born, in fact, out of the anxiety of our own birth.
The effect on the well-being of the child will be
immeasurable.
We are all so quick to blame Nature, when actually
she’s so full of love and wisdom, and it is only we
who are too blind to see.
Whether the cord is cut abruptly or allowed to stop
beating of its own accord completely changes,
even determines the way in which a child perceives his entry
into the world, and, consequently, the way he will react
to the continuous change which is life. You might say
that his perception of this moment will colour the rest
of his life
If we cut the cord immediately, we create a situation
which is the opposite of the one nature intended.
By clamping the cord before the lungs are fully operative
we deprive the child’s brain of oxygen.
The organism cannot but react violently to our aggression,
and then a whole system of stress comes into play.
Not only will we have done something absurd and
uncalled for, but we will have set up what Pavlov called a
conditioned reflex which will recur
throughout life.
What have we linked together?
Life and breath,
breath and the fear of impending death.
What geniuses we are!”
Then he ties it at the end…
“But, for us, whether our breathing is free or impaired
makes all the difference.
How many people go through life half-strangled, incapable
of a real sigh? Much less real laughter?…
But maybe breathing is not something that can be learned.
The way we breathe was established, once and for all,
the moment we were born.
Far better to pay attention to it at that stage.”
Food for thought, no?
As a midwife, I just applaude your efforts to learn more about gentle natural birth. It’s hard to leave ones comfort zone and stretch out. Good for you! May you have a blessed birth. Love your blog.
Hey, Kelly!
I figured that book would get your wheels turning. Obviously, Dr. LeBoyer comes from a naturalistic perspective rather than a creationist perspective, so he often compares humans to animals. Like I said, toss the shells and treasure the pearls.
But when it comes down to it, there is a natural rhythm and beauty in human birth that God designed — yes, even after the fall affected all of us with the “pangs of childbirth.” 😉 When my sister’s last daughter was born, her cord continued to beat for 20 minutes–a record in our family! She had kind, understanding doctors who left it alone while Julie nursed Jane. Once the cord stopped beating, they cut the baby free.
I don’t buy into early cord cutting creating personality disorders, though–just so you know! But I do think a lot of health problems and difficulties can be avoided later if we do not mess with the birth process and just rush to get babies out into the world.
Yes, high risk births need the interventions, but healthy, normal births should be allowed to flow normally and calmly. It is a beautiful, life-changing experience! I have wonderful memories of every birth. When the pangs are over, the incredible euphoria sets in, and you marvel at the gift both of the child and the birthing process. It’s marvelous!
I skimmed just the first two parts. I guess I’m the only one so far who was not impressed. Perhaps because what he describes as happening at birth has not been my experience at all. My children were never hung upside down by their heels, put on a cold scale, or had their eyes forced open for drops.
In the delivery room the nurses turn down the lights when the pushing starts so the baby is not thrust into a bright environment. Everyone, doctors and nurses, acknowledge the baby is going through a rough ordeal. They know the baby can see and hear. We were encouraged to bring in CD players to play soft music. The baby was gently laid on my chest immediately after delivery. Even the cord was not cut for several minutes (at least 5).
Perhaps he is describing birth in a hospital from years ago. I think many places have made progress and such is not the case anymore…shrug…
Jennie,
“I don’t buy into early cord cutting creating personality disorders, though–just so you know!”
I do know…I drew the line there too, but it always makes me ponder those “unknown things” about human nature.
Loved the stuff that made so much sense.
Dear Kelly,
Thank you for the information shared about the cord.
Quickly I checked the internet and found plenty about the good health benefits that come from leaving the baby attached longer to the placenta before cutting the cord.
I can see where having a quieter atmosphere with lowered lights and soothing music would calm a mother and add to a calmer introduction into the world for the baby.
Some of the author’s others suggestions were bothersome to me.
Part 1:9 and part 4:2 suggests that women have pain during childbirth due to FEAR and by exorcising this fear women have been freed from the agony of childbirth and their experience transformed.
[Because of Eve’s part in creating the fallen nature of mankind, pain would be a part of childbirth.]
Author implies that if we can just get over the FEAR, the child will be free forever from nightmares and quilt. Part 3:24.
Part 2:6 Hell is no abstraction.
It exists.
Not as a possibility in some other world at the end of our days, but here and now, right at the start.
[Rosie O’Donnell agrees with this way of thinking that we create our own heaven or hell while on earth, no such thing as Biblical heaven and hell.]
Part 4:9 Sin! There is no such thing as sin.
I don’t have a problem with nonviolent births, just the misleading ideas that the author words into the article so pleasantly.
Best wishes to you,
Deanna
Don’t worry…they will think you are a kook! LOL! But, it’s worth the risk!
🙂
There are lots of benefits to delaying cord cutting. Early cord cutting has been linked to anemia later in life. Early cord cutting can also increase the incidence of jaundice in a new born.
Glad you are having fun thinking all these things out!
Are we not freed from the curse through the blood of Jesus Christ? Has not our curse, in fact, become the pathway for our Savior and a fruitful blessing little one’s who will become arrows against the enemy?
I am no theologian…, but I DO know that I have read numerous accounts of women who were able to cast their fears upon the Lord and in return their pain was alleviated. How do we explain these accounts? Fear causes tension and tension works against contractions increasing pain. In other words, the more you are able to relax in the peace of God’s sovereign plan the more your contractions become less painful and more like strong waves hope for the future.
I have often wondered if those of us who have limited our family size are missing out on a spiritual journey that becomes more enriching with each child. Are we short-changing ourselves of the opportunity to exercise our faith by avoiding the world-changing practice of being fruitful and multiplying?
Supernatural Childbirth discusses this concept and so does the infamous Dr. Bradley in a less spiritual way.
I am willing to accept any rebuke if I am wrong here. 🙂 Just trying to learn. 🙂
Rushing the child off the umbilical cord support could be the the first of a collection of parenting decisions to rush a little one into independence from mother that could lead to sense of insecurity in the child. More than likely, cutting the cord too early will not cause the personality problems, but this ATTITUDE that might remain throughout the parenting experience, of one who is inclined to cut the cord too early, may be the culprit of the behavioral problems.
Fear is not the *cause* of pain, but it does create a lot of stress (tense muscles, breath holding, etc) which can intensify the pain.
Becoming familiar with the phases of labor, what it can feel like, helpful labor positions and learning to breathe slowly and deeply through intense contractions can help a lot with the fear/pain connection.
While I agree that “less trauma” is best for both baby and mom, It does appear that the author’s spiritual perspective is a cause for concern.
Heather
I just read the whole thing. I devoured it, bookmarked it, and then read part two again. So beautifully poetic.
I will never look at my son’s first photograph the same again. His image is the very definition of agony. With his cord having been immediately severed, he immediately placed on a hard flat surface under a fluorescent light. His first touches were from strangers who prodded him with uncaring latex hands and an icy stethoscope. His little arms and hands were extended up like he’s falling, drowning, in desperate need of rescuing, screaming blue in the face. He cried the saddest cry I had ever heard. The nurses said it was because he was hungry. No wonder- he hadn’t eaten in 20 hours since hospital policy stipulated no food for laboring mothers.
I was so drugged up… pitocin to make labor go faster, some other drug to stop labor (when baby’s heart rate dropped), and then more pitocin to make labor start again- not to mention the epidural and antibiotics. When baby’s heart rate dropped they put me on oxygen and said if I didn’t relax they would have to do an emergency C-section (that’s a relaxing thought!).
By the time Gavin was finally born, I was shaking so violently from all the drugs, and was so weak from being deprived of food, that I literally could not hold my newly born baby.
And this was at a “state of the art” maternity ward in Bethesda, Maryland at the National Naval Medical Center: the president’s hospital. We drove an hour one way for each visit because the president’s hospital was considered by everyone to have the best OB care/Maternity Ward in the Baltimore Washington area.
This was not a long time ago. My son is now 7. I have learned a lot since then. And after reading this short book, even more today.
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this information. I had no difficulty “tossing the shells treasuring the pearls” as Jennie mentioned.
One other thought/question… if a woman tests positive for Group B Strep during pregnancy can she still safely have a home birth?
I gave birth to my first 3 children at a hospital that used the LeBoyer method. The lights were down, though not candlelight-like. Everything was slow and quiet. One doctor cut the cord on one child early, the other did not on the other 2. All children born at this hospital (barring any complications or parental objection) were given a LeBoyer “bath” after birth. My children cried very little, it was very peaceful. My daughter whom had her cord cut early cried terribly, but once in the LeBoyer bath, she calmed down instantly and looked all around. I thought that was astounding, but truth be told I thought there was something wrong with her, like she was having breathing difficulties. I thought all babies were suppposed to cry alot when they were born. I was like that woman in the article, “What’s wrong with my baby!” She was just so peaceful after being placed in the water. I thought my child would be given a sponge bath after birth (by me with the help of a nurse), not a water experience like this, so I thought it was neat. I massaged their scalps, their bodies and they loved it. I did ask the nurse why they did this and her response was that it was just calming for the baby. I wish they had had a book or brochure for people to understand what a LeBoyer bath was so they could make an informed decision but they did not. I had no idea who LeBoyer was or what he wrote. Unfortunately this hospital no longer offers this, I personally think its a shame. My last pregnancy involved complications and my son was born lights blaring and machines sounding, people talking loudly. I was sad, I really enjoyed my quiet births.
I agree with the rest, toss the shells, treasure the pearls.
sheena–
Wow, what a vivid description of your son’s birth! I did the same thing–last night we all piled up in bed and watched the video of my 9-yo son’s birth. I almost cried as I watched with “new eyes” his first experiences.
I couldn’t believe how the nurse took a rough blanket and began “scrubbing” him with it–he was calm as could be under the lamp with my husband soothing him, and she just grabs him and starts scrubbing him–he started screaming again. WHY????
Then he got calm, then she came and gave him a rectal temp check…screamed again. Then calm. Then the eyedrops. Screams.
My husband even said on the tape, “Boy, what a rough way to come into the world”, and we knew nothing about “gentle birth”.
They kept him for 45 minutes doing all the “necessary” prep work. I’m in the background saying, “When can hold him?”
It was heart-breaking.
I had the same question you did about Group B strep…I’ve had that with a couple of mine. Midwives…any answers?
Anon…
That’s incredible that the hospital did a bath. My husband asked me if I thought they’d let him give ours a bath? Do you know if you can request a bath at the hospital?
At our hospital, we were able to hold him instantly. As a matter of fact, we were so involved in greeting him and getting to know him that we forgot about the bath. Finally about 4 hours into this lovefest that was not letting up, a nurse asked if we might be ready. We laughed because a bath had not even occurred to us- we were loopy with love. It wasn’t until about 6 hours after birth that we decided it was time. Daddy was able to give him the bath, though it was in a cold sink.
Being careful to choose a thoughtful Dr. can help the experience alot. There are OBs out there who care about this. I know of several who are adamant about letting the baby nurse first thing, getting their bonding time with mommy. The staff is important to. Unfortunately, getting peaceful and caring nurses seems hit or miss durung such an important time.
Concerning the Group B strep question
http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnancy_birth/birth_preparation/group-b.html
The article is long but very much worth the time.
Of particular interest are the bits on standard treatment being antibiotics during labor, the reference to the increasing number of antibiotic resistant bacteria, and the admission that treatment during labor does not guarantee that the baby won’t develop an infection.
Also, penicillin appears to be the antibiotic of choice and some people cannot take it due to allergic reaction. How can a person know that their baby isn’t allergic, even if she is not?
Anyway, a good read for those looking to be more informed on this choice.
Bottom line–read, discuss the info with husband and doctor and above all, ask God for wisdom and peace.
H
Thanks for the article on Group B Strep from Mothering Magazine (lots great articles). I always appreciate hearing the other side of things. There is NO medicine without side effects, says my pharmacist brother-in-law.
I’m going to ask my husband to read it as well.
If anyone knows of a natural/homeopathic way of preventing Group B I’d love to hear about it.
Kelly- about the bath- I know 10+ years ago, my best friend got the hospital to agree to let them do all the “first” things… the bath, the cord cutting, etc. So I bet it would depend on the hospital/doctor– but in a small town in Texas 10 years ago, my friend was able to! It’s at least worth checking into, if that’s important to you.
I agree with Jess, it never hurts to check into something. How special that your hubby wants to do that!
Well, of course i have SEVERAL comments on this posting, but I’ll try to be short. =)
I never get tested for GBS, but do a couple things to treat myself as if I were positive. One is a “washing” with colloidal silver at the time I go into labor, and also large doses of vitamin c (1000 mg/day, but don’t quote me on that) during the last bit of my pregnancies.
All of my babies have been water births and it is so true, the tranquility that they are born with. They have all been very calm babies that don’t cry too much. And they are clean right off the bat. I like the idea of doing a bath, as long as it doesn’t involve fragrance products. (I haven’t read the book, can you tell?)
I also didn’t see anyone mention the importance of not cutting the cord because of the large volume of blood that is released while it is still pulsing. This blood contains high levels of Vitamin K (making any injections for baby totally unnecessary), and also important antibodies and iron stores (these iron stores hang around for MONTHS after birth BTW).
I also have to second what Misty said re FEAR. I have had births where fear actually reversed dilation and sent the baby BACK up the birth canal to floating position. And he didn’t come back down until I fully dealt with my fear by calling on the Lord for help. With each birth, I learn to lean on the Lord’s everlasting arms with an intensity that is indescribable. And with each birth I am able to deal with the pain better because of this. Birth is a spiritual event for our family, not a medical event since I’m low risk.
I highly recommend a doula, if you are thinking you might want to go natural in the hospital.
Just my .02 =)
Missi,
Where do get tested for GBS?
Thanks for mentioning the blood condition witht the cord. One more thing (and I think I’m right)…I am RH negative and always need the shots, but someone told me that if the cord is left, it almost negates any problems with that too.
Don’t doctor’s know this stuff??!!
I wouldn’t trade our 2 homebirths for anything – and they weren’t lights off or baby in a bath or anything like that.
Kendra was a hospital C-Section – and it was HOURS before I got more than a short glimps of her as they paused before taking her out of the room for me to look at her. It took over a month for the cord to dry up and heal, and it bled a lot when she finally knocked it off. She had to be treated for severe jaundice with bilirubin lights at 5 days old.
Vannan was born at home and was a near transport due to complications. The midwives in Colorado Springs that I used, routinely do NOT cut the cord until the very last. I think this helped her a lot after she was born with such trama. Due to the stitches and other things (all done in a slow and relaxed manner), it was close to 2 hours, and the cord wasn’t even clamped first. It fell off 4 days later, shrivled and tiny – no bleeding from her tummy. No sign of jaundice at all. They just wrapped the placenta into a big blue pad and put it against her back and wrapped her and it all together for me to hold.
Joel was left until it stopped pulsing and turned grey. I wish we had waited longer. It took weeks for his cord to fall off and it bled for several days afterward. He also had mild jaundice.
I remember reading somewhere that there is a tiny valve that closes after the umbilical cord finished doing it’s job. First it, the cord, pumps all of the blood from the placenta into the baby, delivering many vitamins, minerals, and antibodies that the baby will need, this takes 5 – 15 minutes. Then as the cord begins to turn grey, for the next 30 minutes or so, it begins to pump off toxins from the blood that can harm the baby and cause problems like jaundice. The second part is usually overlooked. When the placenta has absorbed all of the toxins, the valve at the belly button closes tightly. The cord will begin to shrivle and will not bleed when it is cut. I can not find the article, I read it 4 years ago. Wrapping the baby with the placenta can also be a valuable source of heat for the baby. It helps keep them warm while they are adjusting to having to regulate their own temperature.
That has been my experience with cord cutting. If the baby I’m pregnant with now carries to term, I will insist on waiting at least an hour to cut the cord.