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"The baby's soul is a conscious creator and participant in conception and birth."Sacred Birthing Insight
See Nancy’s full summit here.
See Nancy’s facebook page here.
There is much talk about the dangers of the cord being wrapped around the baby’s neck. Everyone in the checkout line has a story about the cord around their baby’s neck. This is one of the most common worries in pregnancy, and adds drama and fear to birth where none needs to exist.
The truth is, many babies are born with the cord around their neck. Maybe even most babies. This happens because when the baby is a tiny ‘little bean’ he jumps all around as if he’s on a trampoline, and can jump right through a loop of his own cord. Then as he grows, there is little chance of getting back through that loop.
I have found that certain kinds of exercise, like diving, and doing intense aerobic exercise, or flip turns when swimming laps in a pool, can cause the baby to be tangled up in his cord, and because of that, can increase the time of labor. This is not a problem if you have a home birth, but taking “too long” is one of those things that’s most likely ‘managed’ in the hospital. So enjoy swimming but don’t do somersaults. Exercise for breathing and feeling alive!
Having the cord around baby’s neck is rarely a problem, and it is usually slipped right over the head after baby’s head is born, just before his body births. And most of the time, the way baby turns, the cord loosens all by itself. If it is very tight, which is rare, the cord is then cut and the baby is quickly pushed out. (I have only had this happen one time.)
In my experience, umbilical cords are often around the baby’s neck. Sometimes they have even been tightly wrapped around the baby’s neck as much as three times, and a baby is still fine.
Here is a picture of a placenta and its normal umbilical cord. The placenta has been prepared as a Lotus birth with Rosemary powder, and that’s why it is green. It sits in a steaming basket on a plate.
Cords typically have blood clots left in them that create dark bumps. Often these bumps are assumed to be knots in the cord because they make it fat in places. Untrue. It’s just the leftover blood, going from baby to mother, that remains in the cord.
So, Be happy. Let go of all worries about the cord being around baby’s neck. Even if it is, it’s OK.
Kindness abounds,
Sunni
“Lotus Birth lengthens the peace of the womb.” Anna, mom to 4
It is time for babies to be born in wholeness and stay whole. It’s time to practice birthing techniques that support the innate radiance of our babies and protect their innate Oneness. Lotus Birth is a choice, a gift from parents who recognize its significance.
The first step toward a Lotus Birth is to allow the cord to stop pulsing before cutting it. Amazing transformations take place in the body of the baby as she morphs from being a water baby into an air world. When baby opens her eyes for the first time, all eyes and hearts satisfy their longing that all is well. Mother is flooded with relaxing hormones. Her relief speaks to her hormones, who speak directly to the placenta, as if saying, “Your baby is safe and well.” With this knowledge, she relaxes, the placenta completes its work, releases and the placenta is then ready for its own birth. It only takes 10-15 minutes. It is not necessary to hear the typical scream that accompanies the cutting of the cord and that first forced breath. Often within two minutes, the cord starts to feed baby progressively less oxygen to gently encourage her to breathe on her own. There is no need for a baby to scream. Her lungs open gently and she breathes without stress.
Taking this a step further, Lotus Birth is not cutting the cord at all. Lotus Birth softens the birth experience and allows birth to go back to a safer, more natural state. Like water birth, there seem to be only positive effects of Lotus Birth on a baby and her family. They are all unseen and can only be felt. Keeping the cord in tact means that baby and placenta stay on the altar of the family bed, visited only by the closest of family and friends. This keeps baby in the security of the family and slows down the pace of life. Nobody goes shopping with a newborn and placenta in tow! In fact, a mother does little more than go to the bathroom anyway. As the cord is kicked off, baby is gently showed around the house and maybe to a few close friends. In appropriate timing, baby is taken outside and introduced to the stars and moon, sun and rain. These first few days set into the mind of parents that life happens in perfect timing, according to baby’s readiness. By watching baby’s reaction, parents do the right thing at the right time.
When people hear about Lotus Birth it always creates a reaction. Most are fascinated at hearing something so different and say immediately, “That feels right.” Some though, will scream with the trauma of their own cut cord. Walk in with openness and see how this feels to entertain it for your baby. Understanding its benefits and wishing them for your baby makes the decision easy. Would you like your baby to experience these gifts? Ask your baby long before labor and decide if lotus birth is to be her path. If so, the logistics will easily fall into place. It takes this commitment to make the care hassle-free. This advance commitment seems to be felt by your baby as a high level of security when taking in her first breaths. Keeping the cord in tact allows the baby to hold her full vitality and radiance.
For babies to be born to parents who honor them with a Lotus Birth means that as a generation, we are completing this epoch of separation and moving into Oneness. The babies being born do not need to experience separation as their core issue, as so many of us parents have had to, and so, they draw to them a different birth.
There is an entire chapter on Lotus Birth in Sacred Birthing, Birthing A New Humanity book. It is all from my experiences in the last 24 years, since almost all of my births have been Lotus born. This chapter informs you from start to finish, and you will understand it and how to make it happen. Happy Trails! Your baby thanks you.
In Aboriginal wisdom, the placenta is always buried – given back to the Earth, to let Her know that a baby has been born and, by its blood, who this baby is. In the early years, all the mothers and grandmothers of the tribe guide the growing child. Then, when a child is an adolescent, the first blood or first seed is also given to the Earth, buried in a handkerchief. The child steps away from the guidance of the mothers, into the guidance of the Earth Mother, who now begins to oversee the child to become what his/her soul intended by incarnating. Life circumstances are created by the Earth to help this child become who s/he means to be.
Without burying the placenta, Earth Mother would not know a child had been born; She would not know to cherish the baby in the years after birth, and from adolescence, the child would flounder without Her guidance. How could a child ever become what her soul intended and grow to fulfill the need of the village and the universe without this guidance from Earth Mother? This is the importance of the placenta to the child’s whole life.
The Aboriginals see energy. They paint with dots to express what is emanating from the world of nature, rather than to express its form. They see and know that the stars above and the Earth below work together to guide and guard each child. We of the white world have a rudimentary respect and understanding of astronomy, but their star-wisdom is embedded in them and they remember they come from the stars. They remember their purpose in coming to Earth was to hold 7th dimensional wisdom. They remember how to live together in society, honoring each one’s gifts and individuality; how to heal; how to travel; how to be self-sufficient so they don’t need to play the money game. We belittle them as being barbaric, yet they have abilities we have lost and need.
At all times they are in intimate communication with each other, the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms, the weather, the stars and the planets. They know how to access the answers they need and their requests are heard and fulfilled. Their dancing may look funny to us, but is purposeful: it communicates with the Earth and nourishes Her with each rhythm. The dances result in altered states that maintain open-heartedness, their continual communion with All That Is.
Therefore, it only makes sense to look most deeply into Aboriginal wisdom when it comes to the placenta. Blood wisdom is inherent in the placenta. A mixture of mother-father blood went into the creation of baby and placenta, and now, when its job is complete, the blood carries this wealth of information into the Earth. What is really happening with the burying of body fluids? The DNA tells the Earth on what stage this child plays. Who is this child? What consciousness does she carry? How must she be celebrated in her village to be who she is to be?
Another cultural difference in our childrearing is that parents with discordant patterns from their own childhood are not responsible for raising this child. Mama Earth who has known this being through all time sees the bigger picture and offers each next opportunity to become all she is meant to be this lifetime. Parents give way to the lessons of The Mother, releasing their overlays from the child. Without the limiting matrix of the parents’ belief systems that a child typically takes on as her own identity, she is free to become what her soul intends. In this way, successive generations grow healthier.