RIPE AND READY ISSUE Out Now!!!!

Empowering Birth Magazine is an exciting international online publication for the conscious thinking modern woman who would like to have a positive experience through pre-conception, pregnancy, birth and beyond, giving the best possible start to motherhood. Don’t just be tech savvy- be birth savvy!! 🙂

What you will find inside this issue….

Hot article ~ Attachment Parenting 101 – Dr Sarah Buckley MD

Attachment for a baby means security and love. In attachment parenting we trust the messages our babies give us and attend to their needs until they are settled.

Real Truth ~ Pushing the Baby Out – Connie Livingston

For most of labor, women feel like an observer instead of a participant. This feeling changes dramatically when the cervix reaches 10 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. The dynamics of pushing can be divided into 3 parts: position, breathing and effort. Find out the “real truth” about pushing baby out!

Preggi Cuisine ~ Lactation Smoothie recipe ~ Briony Goodsell

The postnatal period is a very special time, bonding and getting to know your beautiful new baby. But it is also a tiring, nutritionally demanding and often overwhelming time, so it is essential that you look after yourself as well as, if not even more than you did during your pregnancy!

This nutrient-packed smoothie is a great energy and milk supply booster for new Mums and their babies. It contains a wide range of vitamins and minerals, such as potassium, folate, Vitamins A, B, C and K, fibre, magnesium, calcium, iron and essential fatty acids. It also contains galactagogues, which are natural substances that help to promote or increase breast milk production.

Birth Column ~ Mother Nature’s Clock: Worth the Wait – Tanya Strusberg 

Many of you will remember the classic children’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
The little caterpillar grew and grew and grew (a bit like our growing bellies in pregnancy!) then the caterpillar became a chrysalis and eventually a beautiful butterfly. Nature determined this process and it all happened in its own time. No clocks timed or rated the little caterpillar’s progress.

If we tried to prise open that little chrysalis before it was ready to turn into a butterfly, it simply would not have happened. And so often the same can be said about labour induction. Unless the baby is ready to come and the mother’s body is ready for labour, no amount of prodding and poking is going to get that process going.

Positive Birth Story ~ Erin’s story: Oh Sheer delight!

As we got to the hospital I must have been a rarity. Almost immediately they thought they were going to send me home. I was able to talk, I was still upright, I was calm. There was no way, in their eyes, that I was in active labour… Read Erin’s inspiring story in our RIPE & READY issue!

Ask the Midwife ~ You asked for it! Our midwife Karen Wilmot answers our readers’ deepest concerns with her in depth professional tips and guidance:

{Postpartum Food Tips}

I am expecting our first child and we are in the home stretch and I am wanting some help/advice/tips on food preparation– we are praying for a natural healthy birth for our little girl and we live a natural lifestyle (for the most part). Any input on what to prepare for us to eat? We will not be having family or friends around for at least the first ten days and I do not want to eat out. Like at all. I would like recommendations of meals I can prepare and are great for breastfeeding! Oh and snacks too!

{Patience for last stretch} Needing some encouragement. 7 1/2 weeks to go and I am in so much pain and am just not seeing the light at the end!! I know I am just in a mood, but I am tired. Please help!

{Good reads/ videos to prepare} I’m about 4 months from my due date with my 2nd child. We are focusing on a completely natural birth (no pitocin, no breaking of the membranes, no pain medication, etc) and I’m trying to prepare both my husband and myself as much as possible. This is very important to me, so I’m sort of surrounding my life with positivity and encouragement around natural birth. What are some good reads/videos to prepare?

{SROM?} I’m 38 weeks pregnant today and I have went up to the bathroom twice in the last 30 minutes because I leaked. It looked like discharge but was very watery. I’m not in any pain whatsoever other than a little bit of aching between the legs? Could this be my water?

Healthy & Fit 4 Birth – Pregnant Pause – April Wood (Nurturing Life)

It doesn’t matter how many times you have been pregnant, the last few weeks feels like it drags on forever. Most women are eager to meet their baby as quickly as possible, sick of being pregnant, in pain or discomfort, or are anxious about some time line their life has imposed on them.. Very few stop to appreciate the time. To appreciate the journey that has brought them to this point. Very few stop to take the time to connect with their baby. In Chinese Medicine this time is crucial to completing the pregnancy, helping to ensure mother and child are both ready for the journey of birth.

Empower Me -Being RIPE for motherhood starts with a sprinkle of inspirational messages + a few spoonfuls of practical tips that every new mum (or mom!) needs to know……

Getting organised for new baby tip from HALO professional organiser & baby planner Beverley Scheepers

PLUS Empowering You on how to handle unwanted comments/ advice as a new mother, thanks to Andi Lew (The Modern Day Mother)…..

Any of these sound familiar? (even close relatives are guilty of some of these!!)