http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/ Betsy Melancon, Certified Professional Midwife: Helping People Out en-us info@zanthan.com Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:50:43 -0800 http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/001978.html 1 million [American] women each year have unnecessary episiotomies, citing studies that indicate they are done in about 30 percent of vaginal births. Based on that data, the researchers found that women who had not undergone the procedure were no more likely to experience spontaneous tears during childbirth than those who had. In fact, those who underwent the procedure appeared somewhat more prone to tears, the researchers found. "If you have a piece of fabric, it doesn't tear well until you get it started. The episiotomy can have that effect of actually being the starting place for a tear," Hartmann said. http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/001977.html Research shows that learning and memory skills can be improved by bearing and nurturing offspring. http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002031.html Doulas are featured into today's New York Times in anticipation of PBS airing Danny Alpert's A Doula Story.... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002133.html February 8, 2007 @ 1:41pm, Perla Cervantes-Bravo, 6lbs 7oz. Girl! November 26, 2006 @ 3:41pm, Jesus Sebastian Nunez-Celedon, 6lbs 6oz, Boy! November 21, 2006 @ 2:08 am, Omar Galeno-Bravo, 7lbs 4oz, Boy! November 6, 2006 @ 1:12pm, Alan Chavez, 6lbs.... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002134.html January 2005. "I was in the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy and the baby had not turned. She was in a frank breech position. This was my first baby, and I had talked with many people and read a lot of... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002135.html Introductory Maternity Nursing by N. Jayne Klossner, RN Published 2006 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins This is a great reference book for aspiring midwives to give them a better understanding of maternity nursing. It's a user-friendly, colorful format and... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002136.html A 2000 study of home births in the US and Canada concluded that planned home births attended by certified professional midwives resulted in lower rates of medical intervention than their low risk counterparts at hospitals. For example, in the hospital... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002214.html After thirteen years since my last birth and two miscarriages, I find myself pregnant again. It's Fall of 2006. I can't believe the number of people who have said to me...TO ME...'OOPS! Did you plan this pregnancy?' Actually, my plan... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002217.html Upon discovering that I'm pregnant, I quickly calculate my estimated due date, May 24th, 2007. I check, "Butler's Lives of the Saints" to see whose got a Feast Day around that time. I like the name Philip, but Stephan says... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002215.html I had this nice plan that I would go on a raw vegan diet during this pregnancy. It seemed so pure and natural, yet I find myself craving meat...crazy meat... meat I wouldn't normally buy; bratwurst, oysters, pastrami, brown 'n... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002216.html It's amazing what hormones will do to a person! A few months before I was pregnant, I felt so done with mothering small children... and truly glad to be done. Now everything's changed. I drool over babies again, find myself... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002218.html The world is a crazy mixed-up place, the way we give birth is only the beginning of this tragic tale. From my experience, as a midwife, I've found that women have forgotten how to give birth. It's astonishing that we... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002219.html http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002220.html Nesting, clutter-clearing, purging, I don't know what you call it, but I've got it!. Over Christmas holidays, the kids are home from college, and I'm nesting. Well, at first it's more like burrowing. I don't know if it's a pregnancy... http://www.treeoflifemidwifery.com/archives/002221.html Faith Hobby assists Betsy Melancon during Grace's birth. Faith Hobby has been working with me for several months now. She is a great asset to my practice, and I frequently wonder what I'd do without her. Her son was born...