This week, I witnessed and supported physiological births, and also supported hospital births.
The physiological births were exactly that, undisturbed and truly empowered by Mother and Baby, I was merely invited and so very honored to be there. A deep and enriching blessing and a miracle. That brings me to the placenta and cord, the placenta, being the baby’s first mother, should be respected as such and severing that cord before Mom and Baby are ready is sacrilegious to me. In the physiological births, the placenta was birthed with baby still attached to the placenta, there was no rush to break that bond and it was done a few hours after the birth, when Mom and Baby were ready. The cord was limp and white and a prayer of thanks and gratitude was recited before the clamping of the cord.
The hospital births, needless to say, unfortunately, were exactly the opposite, even though, according to the doctors attending, delaying was accomplished because they waited an entire minute. The Mom asked to wait at least five minutes and that was denied, (too much bleeding). The second hospital birth, there was no asking, just clamp and cut that juicy beautiful cord. It is so unfortunate that women are so ignored at a birth. Very disheartening to say the least.
Parents, Moms and partners are doing their homework, they know the benefits and they express their wishes, however, they are not taken into consideration almost every time.
Here are some excellent resources everyone should read:
https://www.sarawickam.com/research-updates/optimal-cord-clampinghttps://waitforwhite.com
