Melanin, A Map for Birth…

Melanin, A Map for Birth…

So, I have been taking some A-mazing classes about birth…really I don’t know where to begin with all the new knowledge that I have acquired on the things that happen to us as women giving birth.  We studied the endocrine system this weekend in relation to what happens when a women is pregnant. One of the hormones that is increased is melanin. You now, that stuff that makes brown people, brown :). Well, let’s think about what turns dark in a pregnant women. Typically, she develops a linea negra down the midline of her stomach, her areolas around her nipples darken and sometimes the area around her cheeks and mouth darken into what is commonly referred to as “pregnancy mask” or  “the mask of pregnancy”. Let’s now stop for a minute and think about the newborn baby. What do we know about their sight at birth? We know that they can only see bright contrasts. Not really any color. Their most prominent sense, is the sense of smell. Smell is the only one of our senses that is connected directly to the brain, in fact it is directly connected to the limbic system in our brain. The limbic system is one of the oldest parts of our brains and is often referred to as the emotional seat of our brain. In fact, our body will have a physiological response to smell before we even register it on a conscious level! But I digress… So we have this amazing little newborn (not as helpless as we think!) hardwired when they come out and when they are put on mom’s abdomen...
“Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End…”

“Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End…”

So the title of this post makes it sound like it’s going to be some deep thoughtful post, sorry its not. I just want to talk about a song that I LOVED during my college years although I never set foot in a single bar. After watching this video, I will never hear the song, “Closing Time” by Semisonic the same. I always loved the song even thought I assumed that it was about a bar closing. This video explains that the song was actually about the birth of his son. It makes the line “Time for you to go back to the places you will be from. This room won’t be open till your brothers or your sisters come.” make much more sense in the song! Ha-ha birth is everywhere, even where you least expect it! [youtube...
A Moment of Silence…

A Moment of Silence…

Today I am reminded about the faces behind the numbers of the maternal mortality crisis here in America. I talk about the high maternal death rate in this country all the time, but it is different when it is someone you know… A mother of a past student who I kept in contact with, passed away recently from complications after the birth of twins. As I sit and hold my infant son, I think to myself how these two little ones will never know their mother’s touch, her voice…her laugh. Keisha (pseudonym) had a distinctive laugh, it was tooth-full and rich, always accompanied with a hand raise. We connected outside of our parent-teacher roles, as black women in helping fields (she was a social worker), we had a lot in common. She had a calm, easy-going manner unless someone messed with her baby! She did not play, when it came to her only daughter at the time. I know how much she loved her daughter and how much she fought for her daughter to receive the best education possible. So, I know what an amazing mom she would have been to these two babies. There was a 13 year gap between her oldest daughter and these two little ones, I can only imagine how excited she must have been to feel them moving inside her body, rubbing her belly, talking to them… The anticipation she must have felt going into the hospital believing that she would see them soon and get to hold them. This very real person was a mother, sister, daughter, granddaughter, aunt, and friend. Her story...
Use Vaginal Steaming To Set Your Intentions For the New Year!

Use Vaginal Steaming To Set Your Intentions For the New Year!

This New Year’s Eve, I will be sitting on my own pot. Sitting, steaming, and setting! Setting my intentions for the New Year that is… I believe very much in the power of intention! “Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.” ― Mahatma Gandhi The womb is the seat of our creative and manifesting power as women. It is a mighty, mighty organ that we use in conjunction with The Most High to bring forth life and change into the world. You are very connected to your womb during steaming and that is a great time to harness your own internal power to change your beliefs and thoughts into actions for the New Year. Time to break up old thought patterns and beliefs that you hold about yourself that do not serve you as a human being and that hold you back! When I decided I wanted to have another child, I felt in my spirit that it was going to be a boy before we knew. I was out shopping one day and I saw the cutest sweater and thought to myself; I would totally buy this if I had a baby boy. On impulse, I decided to buy it and then I kept it under my pillow. I always sleep with my arm under my pillow and could feel it every night and be reminded of my intention to bring another child into the world. I just knew that I was ready whenever The...
Healing Postpartum Soups..

Healing Postpartum Soups..

I love to give my doula moms a healing postpartum soup. It is good to eat warming foods after birth. In Chinese medicine they believe that you loose a lot of your qi (energy) during birth and there are specific foods and soups that you can eat to replace that energy that you lost. I don’t follow the strict recipes but I definitely believe in the healing power of soup. My grandmother used to say for a soup to be healing it had to have “one up top and two below”, meaning that you needed at least two root vegetables and one that grows on top of the earth. I don’t know where she got that from, but it has always held up for me. I love making soup because you can throw most anything in there, you can also stretch it if a few extra people show up. Certain soups hold emotional healing properties for me as well; chicken and dumplings remind me of the last time I spent time with my grandfather, just he and I, before he passed several years ago. Potato soup takes me back to when I was sick in my childhood and my mother would make a simple watery potato soup when we were recovering from a stomach bug. Congee is a thickened healing rice porridge that I love with chicken or cooked with chicken broth that a Chinese friend made for me once when I was sick and I have craved it ever since when I have a cold. I recently had a delicious soup made from a dear friend that contained...