Childbirth Part VI Nursing, circumcision and sleep!

Childbirth.

My wife, Shary, is a voracious reader and a maven, that is, someone who seeks to pass knowledge on to others. So, when it came to childbirth, Shary inhaled child rearing information like a tornado inhales mobile homes. In all the reading she did, she kept coming across fantastic claims for the practice of nursing. She then force-fed me everything she had learned. When she was finished, I believed babies who were nursed would have super powers. She also convinced me that if she did not nurse Leslie, our precious baby would be lucky to survive childhood.

Another thing she taught me, was that nipples on baby bottles and pacifiers, were of the devil and would deform our Leslie’s little mouth. This would mean large sums of money would have to be spent on speech therapy before Leslie could enter school. So, my wife had the only equipment approved for our baby and thus were the only safe alternatives for Leslie’s food intake and nursing needs.

Well, it wasn’t but a few days after childbirth and Shary had been nursed raw.

Leslie cried day and night!

Leslie was crying day and night, my need for a child with super powers was fading rapidly and replaced with the need for survival… OK, Shary’s need for survival too. One sleepless night my finger had been sucked raw after Shary gave up. I was so desperate, I made a pacifier from a wine bottle cork, proving necessity is the mother of invention. It was like some kind of cruel torture, I would have done anything to stop the crying. And it is not just any cry, each baby has a cry that is specifically designed to vibrate their parent’s spinal columns, starting at the base of the brain. That cry is more effective at reducing humans to a pathetically compliant state than water boarding.

childbirth, sleep — Typical scene, Chris and baby exhausted, crashed out in the middle of the day.

After a few weeks without sleep, in the middle of the night, Shary broke. My beautiful intelligent loving wife was just sitting up in bed mumbling strange things to herself, when she turned to me and said, “I’m not nursing anymore, go get formula”. But it was the way she said it and the look in her eyes. That look says, “if you know what is good for you, you will obey me.” I carefully got out of bed and went directly to a Seven Eleven store and bought formula. I was so tired I felt like a zombie. It seems like it took hours to heat up the formula and feed it to Leslie, I feel tired just remembering it.

The next morning I begged Shary to reconsider, I still wanted Leslie to live. I also did not want to heat up formula in the middle of the night again ever. Shary found a pediatrician who supported her decision to nurse and directed her to LaLache League International, an organization devoted to helping mothers nurse their babies.

What are the real benefits to babies who are nursed?

It’s almost as good as Shary told me. God’s food for babies is and always has been, mothers milk. Man’s attempt to improve on mother’s milk has failed miserably time after time. Each mother’s milk is specifically designed for her baby, with antibodies that help her baby fight diseases that are found only in their environment. The nutrition and the nurturing that takes place during nursing too has phenomenal benefits.

A new long range study finds children who were breastfed for at least 12 after childbirth went on to have higher IQ scores as adults.
They completed more schooling.
They earned higher salaries.
According to researchers, children who are breastfed after childbirth, tend to enjoy a number of other health benefits. They are less likely to suffer from a variety of gastrointestinal and respiratory infections
There less likely to suffer from asthma,
They have a much lower rate of diabetes
Studies have also shown children breastfed right after childbirth have better thinking and memory skills and score higher on cognitive, language and motor development tests as toddlers.[2]
SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome kills approximately 2500 US babies each year. A new analysis of past studies has strengthened the theory that breastfeeding reduces health risks – and could prevent SIDS also known as crib death.[4]
Breast milk provides the ideal nutrition for infants. It has a nearly perfect mix of vitamins, protein, and fat — everything your baby needs to grow. And it’s all provided in a form more easily digested than infant formula and much easier to prepare.
Breast milk contains antibodies that help your baby fight off viruses and bacteria.
Breastfeeding lowers your baby’s risk of having allergies.[5]

What are the real benefits to mothers who nurse right after childbirth?

Once again, God’s plan for mothers and babies is flawless. The benefits of breastfeeding to mothers is equally impressive.

Much lower chances of developing breast cancer. Mothers who breast feed all their babies at least one year after childbirth, reduce their chances of breast cancer by 91%.
Much lower chances of developing ovarian cancer.
Much lower chances of developing uterine cancer.
Lowers risks of hypertension.
Lowers risk of osteoporosis.
Some studies have found that breastfeeding may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Mothers who breast feed lose weigh faster after childbirth.
Exclusively breastfeeding, will delay ovulation, which means you get a menstruation vacation after childbirth.
Exclusively breast feeding a baby has proved to be 98-99% effective as a birth control method which is better than condoms.
According to a study published in the journal of Pediatrics, the United States would save about $13 billion per year in medical costs if 90 percent of U.S. families breastfed their newborns for at least six months following childbirth.
Another study showed that the low rates of breast-feeding (26%) cost society $17.4 billion from maternal deaths before the age of 70.[1]
It is cheaper; according to La Leche League International, the cost of formula can range anywhere from $134 to $491 per month. That’s $1,608 to $5,892 in one year! [6][7]

How important is it for Dad’s to support their nursing spouse?

Studies have shown that, if dad is not supportive, it is almost impossible for mom to continue the practice of breastfeeding. A supportive spouse is vital to successful breast feeding. It is one of the most important and beneficial things a dad can do for his wife and child.

Ephiesians 5:28-29 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.

Childbirth, breastfeeding, sleep, circumcision — Chris and baby passed out from exhaustion in the middle of the day.

How can I avoid the sleep deprivation after childbirth?

I get it, the misery of sleep deprivation after childbirth is real. Some of the greatest days of my life were when each of our children slept all night for the first time! Those mornings were hallelujah mornings, praising God from who all blessings flow! So here are some simple rules we discovered that helped us survive new babies.

Don’t try to get work done when the baby is sleeping.

Sleep when the baby sleeps. All the other things will eventually get done, and if they don’t, the world won’t come to an end. If you don’t get enough sleep, you will be hoping for the end of the world. Things eventually get back to normal. Remember you are a better parent, spouse, person if you are not sleep deprived.
Don’t try to keep your house super quiet. Let the baby learn to slept with white noise. If it is too quiet, any noise will wake them up. You will then start blame each other for making a noise that wakes the baby, which could start world war three, no joke. Medium loud music, fans, radio, anything that would hide noises you or your family might make will help you survive.
Babies get crazy too if they don’t get enough sleep. Believe it or not they don’t always know what is best for them. If your baby is crying and you know they need to take a nap, check their needs list first, (have they had enough to eat, have they been burped, are their diapers clean and dry, have they had enough love?) If all those things are good, then put them in their crib and turn on a long-playing music box and let them cry themselves to sleep. Again, they need to sleep too and if you keep picking them up and playing with them, some babies won’t sleep, which creates a viscous cycle of crying. Shary says if they are still crying after the 15-minute music box stops, go back and check their needs list again.
Remember you are always training them. If you pick them up everytime they cry, you are teaching them to cry. Shary says to wait till they take a breath and aren’t crying, then rush in and pick them up. By doing this you are training them to be nice to you if they want to be picked up.

Circumcision 8 days after childbirth, is it necessary?

“Outdated staple of American medicine”

“The most unneeded surgery of all”

“Legalistic and opposed to grace”

These are just a few of the criticisms leveled at the Biblical practice of circumcision. Its opponents are notable and numerous. Among them are the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), the ACOG (American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology), and even some theologians and pastors.

The questions then must be asked are, “why do we circumcise?” and “where did we get the idea in the first place?” Believe it or not, it was God’s idea. The creator of our bodies said in

Genesis 17:12…

“And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations”

It seems natural to assume that the one who created us would know what our bodies needed. Some tell us that if boys are taught proper hygiene, there is no need for circumcision. This is, at the outset, an admission that without circumcision there is a hygiene problem. Man’s answer to this problem is frequent cleaning. God’s answer is to remove the hiding place for bacteria.

Shary had a long-standing disagreement with a former physician and friend.

He was openly opposed to our opinion about circumcision. During childbirth with our fourth, Nathan, we noticed he was uncharacteristically pushy and seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere. Since we don’t believe in rushing the birth of our children, and he believed the same, we queried him on his unusual behavior. He reluctantly admitted that he needed to get back to his office because a very uncomfortable 35-year-old patient was waiting there to be circumcised, presumably because some bacteria had gotten into that tender area and he couldn’t get rid of it.

One anti-circumcision report stated, “No valid medical indications exist for circumcision in the neonatal period.” It is interesting that they did not mention the mid-life period. In the United States, prior to World War I, it was not the standard practice to circumcise newborns. During the war, however, many uncircumcised soldiers “in the trenches” developed a painful inflammation of the foreskin called phimosis. This condition required emergency dorsal slits, followed by circumcision. It was the opinion of these men that their sons should never have to experience what they had suffered. Because of their experiences and similar experiences of men during World War II, circumcision of newborns rapidly became the standard practice throughout our nation.

Romans 3:1 & 2 “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.”

Why didn’t God make it right in the first place?

The question arises, “Why didn’t God make it right in the first place?” To answer that question, we need to recognize that when God created the first man, there was no sin, no sickness, and no need for circumcision. Since we live in a sinful, disease laden world, can we guarantee that our boys will, at all times, live under circumstances where proper genital hygiene is possible?

Some Critics

Some critics point to the “significant complications” occurring in one of every 500 babies circumcised as a reason for not circumcising. In our country, many babies are circumcised at childbirth, in the delivery room, and most are circumcised within the first couple of days (prior to hospital discharge). God commands that circumcisions were to be done on the eighth day of life. In Israel, where God’s instructions concerning the eighth day are generally followed, complications are almost unheard of, so why is that?

It is widely recognized that the two most important blood clotting factors, vitamin K and prothrombin, are at their highest concentration eight days after birth. (These levels are approximately 10% higher on this day than at any other point in life.) Modern medicine has just figured this out. But 4000 years ago, God said, “He that is eight days old shall be circumcised.”

Isn’t Circumcision opposed to the teachings of the Bible?

And what about the clergymen who say, “circumcision is part of the Law of Moses and has been done away with”? And “if anyone follows the law, he has fallen from grace”. God gave circumcision to Abraham before the law. Circumcision was also included in the law. Romans 7:12 says “the law and the commandments are good.” It is wrong to try and use the law to gain salvation: but to follow the law is good and pleasing to the Lord. For the law states “Love the Lord…honor thy father and thy mother…thou shalt not steal.” If circumcision is to be disregarded because it is part of the law, then these other commands must also be disregarded.

In Deuteronomy 30:6, God says he will circumcise our heart. Circumcision of the body is an example of what God wants to do to our heart. God wants to circumcise our hearts so that we won’t need the never-ending cleansing from sin with its temporary results. He wants to circumcise our hearts so that the job is done once-for-all and so no sin can hide and fester there. If we believe the AAP, the ACOG, and other anti-circumcision voices, then we are saying that God used a poor example.

If we say that physical circumcision has no value, then the spiritual circumcision it portrays would be equally valueless.

It is our belief that if we avail our children of the physical circumcision that God recommended to us, and we avail our children and ourselves of the spiritual circumcision that he has provided for us, we will have honored the God who came that we might have life and have it abundantly.

Is there any Science to back up the practice of circumcision?

In his classic book None Of These Diseases S.I. McMillen points out that cancer and venereal disease is much higher in uncircumcised men and their wives than men who are circumcised. Yes you heard that right women who marry circumcised men are less likely to be infected. It is much easier for men to keep themselves clean if they are circumcised.

In the 80’s Shary and I attended an International Childbirth Convention in Seattle Washington. During a special session on circumcision, some young doctors began ridiculing the “superstitious, unnecessary, and dangerous practice of circumcision.” I mentioned that our doctor had been of the same persuasion, and had given us a bit of a bad time about our decision to circumcise, until the day he had to do a circumcision on a grown man and realized that maybe it wasn’t such a useless procedure after all.

As soon as I had made my comments, the room exploded.

Nurses, who had seen countless similar situations first hand, voiced their opinions. The brash and haughty doctors who had been ridiculing the Bible and anyone who practiced circumcision were embarrassed and humiliated by older nurses who had witnessed the pain and suffering of uncircumcised men during time of war or distress when it was difficult to maintain a normal cleansing routine.

According to McMillan, there have been approximately 50 studies that show circumcision protects against many different STDs and circumcision has a 2-10 fold protection against HIV. In the U.S. circumcision prevents more than ten thousand infant urinary tract infections per year. If not circumcised, those infections would kill 200 of those boys each year.

Our heavenly father has given us instructions in the Bible that can greatly reduce our chances of infections if only we will obey. When the Bible says that some things are clean and others are unclean, it is not superstition. As human beings, we often want to know all the reasons why, before we are willing to obey God’s word. Jesus said in…

John 7:17

“If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”

Jesus is asking us to obey him before we get all the answers, then we will find out that his words are the very words of God our maker.

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 “Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written; “He catches the wise in their craftiness” and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

If you believe God knows best, join us and the Wellness Gospel team; register for our weekly newsletter, then spread the word by sharing this with your friends on social media and may God bless you richly.

Childbirth series

I Nutrition

II Nutrition and exercises for a more comfortable pregnancy and bir

III First stage, what you believe about birth will determine how it goes.

IV Transition

V Second stage and post-partum.

VI Breastfeeding, sleeping and circumcision,

VII The V approach to raising kids.

Our purpose for writing each week is to provide you with Biblical/scientific advice on the care and feeding of your body. We do it because this advice is so rare. We also do it, because we see thousands of good Christians, whose lives have been cut short, simply because they were never taught what the Word of God and the Law of God had to say about health and wellness.

If you want to keep improving your health, and enjoy this kind of biblical scientific information, then I would like to recommend three must-read books;

“God’s Guide to Biblical Health and Healing” by Rev. Chris and Shary Schauermann http://tinyurl.com/zvkbfau

“Let’s Play Doctor” by Dr. Joel Wallach http://tinyurl.com/j8ybt8r

“None of These Diseases” by S.I. McMillen, M.D. and David E. Stern, M. D. http://tinyurl.com/hh7ezs2

4.”Husband Coached Childbirth” by Doctor Robert Bradley & Marjory Hathaway https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=husband+coached+childbirth&sprefix=husband+coache%2Caps%2C314&crid=1UFTVMXOML1BS

You can get all these books at Amazon.com or simply click on the URL under each book title.

References

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-breast-feeding-could-lower-breast-cancer-rates-by-thousands/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/breastfeeding-benefits-higher-iq-education-income-in-adulthood/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2003219/Breastfeeding-lowers-risk-sudden-infant-death-syndrome.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2003219/Breastfeeding-lowers-risk-sudden-infant-death-
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/nursing-basics#1
https://www.fitpregnancy.com/baby/breastfeeding/20-breastfeeding-benefits-mom-baby
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/breastfeeding/Pages/Benefits-of-Breastfeeding-for-Mom.aspx
https://www.sleephelp.org/pregnancy-sleep-help/
https://www.sleephelp.org/childrens-sleep-guide/

March 18, 2017

Childbirth Part V Second stage and bonding

Birth bonding, sibling bonding, Childbirth second stage

Childbirth part V

When second stage labor hit, I was in for a shock!

Childbirth. At the ripe old age of 21, my wife Shary, had just pushed our first child out and the nurse or doctor, I can’t remember which, handed Leslie to me. Now I must explain who I was in 1973. My best friends gave me the nick name Stony, why, because I was pretty much a flat-line of emotion. It wasn’t that I had a stony heart, I just didn’t ever get real happy and I never cried. But when they handed Leslie to me and she was literally seconds old, she looked me in the eye just like you would if you were trying to read me. She and I communicated with our eyes and she got to me; I cried like a baby. It was kind of like when Jim Carry playing the part of the Grinch says, “What’s happening to me? I’m feeling, and I am leaking.”

Birth Bonding

There is a phenomenon in childbirth called birth bonding. It is powerful and it can happen to anyone who is at the birth. At Forest Grove Community Hospital, it was common for nurses to stay past their shift if a baby was going to be born. They just wanted to get that feeling and they didn’t care if they weren’t getting paid. Is it God in the room, or is it just the smells and sights? I don’t know the answer to that question, all I know is that it’s real. That is, if the mother, baby and father are not medicated in childbirth. Don’t laugh, I have seen medicated fathers at birth, and it is not cool.

Bonding in childbirth has a lot of very valuable side effects. We had a family show up at one of our childbirth classes, they had already given birth and wanted to show off their new baby. When they came in, their son, who was about nine, was carrying the baby, he unwrapped it for us to see, he was so proud. His parents said that he was so loving and helpful with the baby that it was amazing to all who saw him. They said he would change diapers and hold his new sister any chance he got. This nine year old did not exhibit any sibling rivalry, which is almost universal among young children . Most kids treat the new arrival as competition; someone who is crowding out their time with mom and dad. This young man had been at the birth and got bonded.

My wife has witnessed just the opposite. Not only siblings but mothers who did not bond with their child. Right after a childbirth mothers will act like they don’t even have a new baby. They would just as soon leave the baby in the nursery and do their own thing. Mothers who have been bonded can’t get enough of the baby, this sure makes parenting a lot easier. People often ask us, “how did you do that, how did you give birth to and raise all those kids? We just couldn’t do it.” I usually tell them that we wouldn’t have done it either if we had to do it the way most people in America do it. Working with the way God created us is much easier than trying to do things the way the world does them.

Childbirth can be a wonderful experience!

Childbirth can be this wonderful thing, there is that potential, but it needs to be done God’s way for that to happen. That means the less interference, the better. Many people believe that it is virtually impossible to safely have a baby without medicine, doctors and hospitals. We often emphasize that childbirth is not a disease, it is not a malfunction, it is how God planned for us to bring human beings into the world that were made in his image. Shary often says, “How do people think the human race grew to its present size? Women have been giving birth for thousands of years, without doctors.” Someone at this point usually points out how many women died in birth a hundred years ago, and we will agree. But a hundred years ago, they were not doing it God’s way either. Doctors who were carrying disease were infecting women with life threatening bacteria, women were giving birth flat on their backs; there is a better way.

The urge to push and getting baby in position.

The end of transition in childbirth is signaled when the mother gets the urge to push. This is because the baby has moved down the birth canal and has engaged in the pelvis. Often medical people want to rush childbirth with a drug called pitocin. Pitocin is a synthetic replacement for a women’s natural hormone oxytocin. At our second birth, Shary was given Pitocin. While siting with her, I read the drug insert. Seriously, it was simply because I was bored. But the more I read the more alarmed I got. There was a list of symptoms, the drug manufactures said if you have any of these symptoms, you absolutely should not take this drug, Shary had almost all of them. When we told our doctor, he freaked out and told the nurse to stop giving it to Shary immediately.

Pitocin makes the contractions harder which is supposed to making the baby come quicker. Shary said those contractions were very different than the normal contractions. Later at a childbirth seminar a pharmacist explained that pitocin just causes the uterus to squeeze. But oxytocin, God’s hormone causes the uterus to squeeze and twist. The twisting motion is necessary to get the baby into the proper position to make it through the woman’s pelvis. It is almost like God knew that the baby’s head is an oval and the mother’s pelvis is an oval and that rotating the baby would get the ovals to line up.

The practice of inducing labor to speed up the process.

Then there is the practice of inducing childbirth with drugs. Doctors persist in inducing labor when THEY feel that the baby is ready to be born. Ecclesiastes 2:2a says, “There is a time to be born and a time to die” God knows when that time is. It cannot be improved on with drugs and scalpels.

Often inducing childbirth is done for the doctor’s convenience. In Astoria, Oregon, in the late 70’s, during a panel discussion with five doctors and five midwives, the topic was argued for some time whether or not artificially inducing labor was a good thing or not. The theory is that all babies need to be born nine months after conception, and that if they are in the mother longer than that, bad things will happen to the baby. Some cited that the placenta begins to calcify after nine months and presumably that would mean that the baby wouldn’t be getting the nutrition it needed to be healthy. The discussion went back and forth till I asked two simple questions.

“How many of you have ever seen a baby harmed by inducing labor?” They all admitted that it was a common occurrence. Babies were born prematurely quite often, simply because the due date was miscalculated. In every case this became a huge financial burden on the family, as well as an emotional one. In many cases there was permanent damage to the child, and in some cases even death. But, they reasoned, it was a chance that had to be taken; because sometimes when you guess at a due date you get it wrong. Everybody makes mistakes, which is only human. Then I asked my last question which proved to be the last question of the day.

“How many of you have seen babies that were harmed by being left in the mother too long? There was a long uneasy silence in the room, no-one spoke, none of the doctors or midwives could think of a single case where the baby was harmed by being left in the mother too long. There was an accumulation of over 100 years of childbirth practice in that room, yet no-one could think of an account of a baby that had actually been harmed by being allowed to remain in the perfect environment of it’s mother’s womb till she naturally went into labor. Often times inducing leads to cesarean-sections. Cesarean-sections are dangerous. they are dangerous to the mother and child. First, cesareans are major surgery, cutting through some of the largest muscles in a woman’s body. Secondly approximately one third of the babies born cesarean, get pneumonia because without the squeezing process of birth they are born with their lungs full of water. If that is not enough Cesareans are horrendously expensive.[3][4]

In childbirth, God thought of everything.

childbirth, 2nd stage, umbilical cord. — Newborn with the umbilical cord still attached.

It gets even better. God made babies with plates in their heads that have not connected yet. The size of the baby’s head can be bigger than the mother pelvis but the plates are able to slide past each other in order make the baby’s head longer and narrower so it will fit through her pelvis. If that was not enough, God provided a hormone that would loosen the mother’s joints so her pelvic opening could enlarge. That hormone also changes the molecular structure in the mother’s perineum, (the skin and muscle opening the baby has to go through). It causes the tissue to become like Silly Putty. Silly Putty will break if you pull on it quickly, but if you slowly pull on it, it will stretch and stretch. The mother’s perineum will do the same if you slowly keep pressure on it. God thought of everything, we just need to work with him and how he made us. That cannot be improved upon with drugs, knives and machines.

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

We suggest a mother push when she feels like it and doesn’t push when she doesn’t feel like it. If she feels her perineum burning she should stop pushing and wait. This is where the birthing stool mentioned in Genesis comes in. If a women is lying on her back, almost all the pressure on the perineum is on the lower half her perineum. That half is required to do all the stretching. If a woman is on her back, the lower half of the perineum is always where she will tear. If she is upright and squatting on the birthing stool, there is even pressure on the entire perineum, thus making it much less likely for the perineum to tear.

What to do about the umbilical cord?

After the baby is born the cord will still be attached and pulsating. This is God’s extra protection for babies. As long as the cord is pulsating the baby is still getting oxygen from the mother, even if the baby has not started to breath on it’s own. According to new studies sited by the National Institutes of Health delayed cutting of the cord can lower a child’s risk of low blood volume, anemia, cerebral palsy , autism , asthma and ADHD. [1] God did not miss anything, he even made the cord long enough that the baby can still be attached and reach the mothers breast to nurse. Why is this so important? Nursing causes oxytocin to be released into the mother’s blood, which contracts the uterus, detaches the placenta and prevents unnecessary loss of blood. The practice of clamping and cutting the cord before it stops pulsing on it’s own is unnecessary at best, and extremely harmful to the mother and baby at the worst. [2]

Childbirth, 2nd stage, cutting the cord — Clamping and cutting the umbilical cord.

Often people mention that their baby almost died because the cord was in a knot. The cord is more like an electrical cord than a garden hose. It is extremely difficult to restrict the flow of blood with a knot. Most knots can easily be untied by a trained midwife or husband with a little common sense.

More benefits to bonding!

After the baby and the placenta have been born, it is important for the mother, father and siblings to spend some quality time with the baby. One to two hours is necessary for bonding to be fully effective. This is not a time for a big party it is better for the immediate family to be left to themselves. The more skin to skin contact the better, the quieter and more peaceful the better. Studies have shown that babies who have been able to bond up to one hour cry 500% less than babies that do not bond, and mothers who do not bond clean their babies 400% more than mothers who do bond with their babies. I am not sure I understand the cleaning thing but I do know that crying babies will drive you crazy, so maybe crazy moms clean babies as a form of therapy.

Seriously, we could never have given birth to and raised 13 kids without doing all the above. But by working with God’s plan and design for birth we have been able to experience it as the blessing it was intended to be.

Healthy family — Chris and Shary Schauermann with their all of children and some of their spouses and grandchildren.

Next week we will discuss brestfeeding, sleeping and circumcision. Women who nurse their babies are much less likely to develop breast cancer and a multitude of other ailments. Babies are much healthier as well.

Childbirth series

Part I Nutrition

Part II Nutrition and exercises for a more comfortable pregnancy and birth

Part III First stage, what you believe about birth will determine how it goes.

Part IV Transition

Part V Second stage and post-partum.

Part VI Nursing, sleeping and circumcision,

Part VII The V approach to raising kids.

Our purpose for writing each week is to provide you with Biblical/scientific advice on the care and feeding of your body. We do it because this advice is rare. We also do it, because we see thousands of good Christians, whose lives have been cut short, simply because they were never taught what the Word of God and the Law of God had to say about health and wellness.

If you want to keep improving your health, and enjoy this kind of biblical scientific information, then I would like to recommend three must-read books;

“God’s Guide to Biblical Health and Healing” by Rev. Chris and Shary Schauermann http://tinyurl.com/zvkbfau

“Let’s Play Doctor” by Dr. Joel Wallach http://tinyurl.com/j8ybt8r

“None of These Diseases” by S.I. McMillen, M.D. and David E. Stern, M. D. http://tinyurl.com/hh7ezs2
”Husband Coached Childbirth” by Doctor Robert Bradley & Marjory Hathaway https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=husband+coached+childbirth&sprefix=husband+coache%2Caps%2C314&crid=1UFTVMXOML1BS

You can get all these books at Amazon.com or simply click on the URL under each book title.

References

Umbilical Cord http://www.cbsnews.com/news/not-cutting-umbilical-cord-immediately-may-boost-babys-health/
8 reasons not to cut the cord early https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/reasons-not-to-cut-your-babys-umbilical-cord/
C-section https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/arsdarian-cutting-the-number-of-c-section-births/?_r=0
C-section http://www.consumerreports.org/doctors-hospitals/your-biggest-c-section-risk-may-be-your-hospital/

March 11, 2017

Childbirth Part lV “Transition”

Childbirth, planning, transition, husband coached

Childbirth, natural, medicated, transition — Childbirth. By the time I was through the ER and in my room I was strongly advised to get my epidural or it might be too late.

Childbirth does not always go according to plans. Some friends of ours, who will forever remain nameless, were having their first baby and hoping for a drug free natural birth. They had heard about the benefits of birth bonding without medication and really wanted to experience it. Unfortunately, during the transition between first and second stage labor, they gave in to the hospital’s pressure for her to be medicated. Afterwards, regretting the decision, they determined not let that happen the next time. But, with their second child, once again during transition they gave in and again regretted the decision. The reason she regretted having drugs was because she felt so crummy after the birth, and the bonding experience was not at all satisfactory while she was drugged up. So, on the third try, mom told dad, “no matter what I say in transition, no matter what I do, don’t let me take drugs, I always regret it.”

They took our childbirth classes and we explained to them that transition only lasts for a very short time. We also taught her husband, during transition, to just keep telling her, “You are almost there, just relax, this only lasts for a short while, you can do this”. So, her dutiful, loving husband followed her wishes and our advice. Once again during transition she lost it and began to beg him for drugs. He told her to, “Just relax, it’s almost over, you can do this”, and; “Honey, you told me not to let you take drugs this birth”. About the third or fourth time of this, she grabbed him, looked him in the eye and said, “Forget what I told you, give me the drugs!” He quietly repeated his mantra and sure enough she went into second stage labor. Things went a lot easier the rest of the birth, and afterwards she profusely thanked him.

There is this thing in labor called transition. Yep, there is a transition between first stage labor and second stage labor. This is where women say the darnedest things to their husbands, things good Christians should never say to anyone. It is normal, it happens, so we tell husbands and anyone else who might be on the receiving end, not to take it personal; she didn’t mean it and she may not ever remember she said it afterwards. So why does this happen? It is very important to recognize, during labor, a women’s body is exerting an incredible amount of energy to expel the baby. At birth, the uterus is the largest muscle in the woman’s body, and for that matter it is larger than any muscle in a man’s body. So, when she is giving birth, she can be likened to an Olympic athlete who is running the mile and is on their third lap. This is not a time when they are in the mood to chit chat, as a matter of fact, their body is sending all the blood to the working muscles and not much is going to the brain. This is not a bad thing, it’s just the facts. At this stage the husband or coach needs to be like an athletic coach and just keep encouraging his athlete, that the race is nearly over. In a few more contractions she will be in second stage where her body will get to take some regular and longer breaks.

My wife is smarter than I am, has read more books on childbirth than I have, she has attended and delivered far more babies than I have, but when she is in labor, she can’t remember a thing. The big problem in American childbirth, is that the woman studies up on birth in preparation for her delivery. Her husband, on the other hand, figures, she has it all covered. But, when the actual birth happens, she forgets everything. This is one reason we recommend husband coached childbirth. We believe that a trained husband is far more valuable at the birth than any number of other attendants. Why? In Childbirth part III we shared how God preprogramed women to listen to their husbands during childbirth, when they often won’t listen to other birth attendants. [1]

Because most mothers invest more time and energy in planning their birth, we suggest mothers put on paper how they want the birth to go. Then we suggest she gives this written plan to her husband, doula, doctor and any nurse that might get involved. This gives her the best chance of having the birth end up the way she envisioned it.

First stage and second stage labor require totally different strategies. In first stage, the best thing the coach can do is to help the mother relax her stomach muscles. (see Childbirth Part III) Transition, is the brief period between first and second stage labor. It is when the uterus has pulled itself out of the way and gathered itself behind the baby and the baby starts to move down the birth canal. During transition, there are virtually no breaks between contractions, each contraction seems to be followed immediately by another, until the baby engages, and second stage begins. When second stage starts, there are longer breaks between contractions and mom gets to work with the contractions to deliver the baby. Second stage begins when the baby engages and the mom gets the urge to push.

Mothers who have prepared for birth, by eating good baby building food, and who have exercised their bodies in preparation to this athletic event, have much easier births. Studies show that they have healthier and more active children. [1][2][4] There is a story in the Bible that illustrates this point.

Exodus 1:12b-18 “the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

¹⁵The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶“When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” ¹⁷The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. ¹⁸Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

Evidently, Pharaoh’s experience with Egyptian childbirth, led him to believe that childbirth was so dangerous, and the babies so fragile, that it would be easy to kill the babies without anyone being suspicious. As the story goes, the midwives never killed any babies, so Pharaoh called them in for a little chewing out. But the midwives told Pharaoh that the Hebrew women were vigorous, unlike the lazy Egyptian women. The reason they did not kill any babies at birth was because the athletic Hebrew women gave birth so easily that they were done before the midwives could get there. This was not exactly true, but it was close enough to the truth that pharaoh bought it. Pharaoh mentions the birthing stool, which is not easy to use, unless you are in good shape. Eating right and exercising in preparation for birth is important.

Next week we will discuss second stage labor, post-partum, birthing stools and other helpful ways to make second stage a joy instead of a disaster.

Childbirth series

Part I Nutrition

Part II Nutrition and exercises for a more comfortable pregnancy and birth

Part III First stage, what you believe about birth will determine how it goes.

Part IV Second stage and post-partum.

Part V Nursing, sleeping and circumcision,

Part VI The V approach to raising kids.

If you want to keep improving your health, and enjoy this kind of biblical scientific information, then I would like to recommend three must-read books;

“God’s Guide to Biblical Health and Healing” by Rev. Chris and Shary Schauermann http://tinyurl.com/zvkbfau

“Let’s Play Doctor” by Dr. Joel Wallach http://tinyurl.com/j8ybt8r

“None of These Diseases” by S.I. McMillen, M.D. and David E. Stern, M. D. http://tinyurl.com/hh7ezs2

You can get all these books at Amazon.com or simply click on the URL under each book title.

References

Childbirth part I http://wellnessgospel.net/index.php/2017/02/18/childbirth-part-l/
Childbirth part II http://wellnessgospel.net/index.php/2017/02/25/childbirth-part-ll/
Childbirth part III http://wellnessgospel.net/index.php/2017/03/02/childbirth-biblical-first-stage-labor/
Exercise and healthy active babies http://www.irishmirror.ie/lifestyle/health/women-who-exercise-during-pregnancy-7927336

March 2, 2017March 6, 2017

Childbirth Part lll What you believe about birth can dramatically effect how it goes!

First stage labor and husband coached childbirth!

My first experience with childbirth was in 1971 at the ripe old age of 20. I had just dropped out of college and gone to work for Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis Oregon, as a janitor. I have vivid memories of entering the OB wing and hearing women screaming and crying out in pain. After my first few visits to that wing of the hospital, I did my best to get assigned duties elsewhere. So, when Shary announced to me she had picked Forest Grove Community Hospital as the place she was going to deliver and informed me that they had husbands attend the births, I told her she could count me out; not interested. Shary is pretty persuasive, that is, she doesn’t usually take no for an answer. She said all the other husbands were going to do it. I figured those husbands didn’t know what I knew. I resisted as much as I could but in the end she got me to attend the first class. In that class we watched the movie “Childbirth for The Joy of it.” In the movie we saw five women having their first babies, which are usually the hardest, and they were beyond ecstatically happy, they were crazy happy and they were not screaming in pain. I was pretty confused, but willing to check this thing out, so I attended all the classes. I was also supposed to read the book “Husband Coached Childbirth” by Doctor Robert Bradley.

In those days I didn’t like to read much, Shary was the reader, and did most of it for the both of us. During first stage labor we had been taught that Shary was to relax. What I didn’t realize was that an average first labor lasts about 14 hours and the mother can’t remember anything she read. I was going to have to help her relax for 14 hours? Rubbing her lower back was what she wanted most, but after about 10 hours I had literally rubbed the skin off my hands. I resorted to using my elbow and then my foot. I was so bored that I picked up the Husband Coached Childbirth book and started to read while rubbing. I had just finished the chapter on first stage labor, when Shary started to really complain about how much it hurt during each contraction. Like any clueless young husband, I just blurted out, “your doing it wrong”. Believe it or not, that started a fight, go figure? I finally read out loud what I had just read about first stage breathing, she was desperate, and tried it. It worked like magic, so much so, that the last part of first stage was better than the first.

So what did she do? She began to stomach breath, which is what almost all mammals do when they are in labor. When women chest breath, and tighten their stomach muscles, they are unwittingly in a fight with the most powerful muscle in the female body, the uterus. The uterus is capable of exerting 700 lbs. of pressure to expel the baby. When a mother tightens up her abdominal muscles, she is creating the pain associated with first stage labor, that’s when the moaning, rocking and screaming starts.

In our classes, we have couples stand with the mother’s back to her husband. We have the men place the palm of their hand on the mother’s back. Then we ask her to lean back till she feels pain. They will lean back with all their weight and then tell us they feel pressure but no pain. Next we ask the men to make a knuckle with their pointing finger and place that in the same spot on her back, and repeat the exercise. The moms cannot put hardly any weight leaning back without a sharp pain. This is exactly what is happening when women tighten their stomach muscles in first stage labor they are focusing all that pressure into a knuckle sized area. If they stomach breath which relaxes the stomach muscles the same pressure is spread out over a hand sized area and is simply felt as pressure.

What we tell the men who are labor coaches, is to ask the mother, where the pain is. Then have either the mother or father place their hand where it hurts and tell the mother to make the hand move as she breaths. This relaxes the stomach muscles and once again turns the pain in to pressure.

relaxation breathing in labor — Shary and I practicing what we preach!

In last weeks blog, Childbirth part ll, we shared about when Shary was just beginning to consider teaching childbirth classes, a dear friend of ours, Betty Warren, called Shary one night and asked her to come to the hospital, another friend of ours from church was having a really hard time in first stage labor and Betty thought Shary might be able to help. Betty was one of the OB nurses at Forest Grove Community Hospital, she had also been our childbirth instructor. So Shary headed right over to see what she could do. When Shary got there our friend was jumping out of bed with each contraction, grabbing the end of the hospital bed, rocking and yelling. Her mother was near her calling her name and saying “This is just one of those things you can’t get out of”. Obviously, this is not the best technique for relaxing your stomach muscles. This scenario turned out to be fairly common among our Christian friends. One day we discussed this with Betty Warren and she confirmed our observation saying that Christians had the worst births. Now if you are a Christian you are probably saying the same thing we did, “what’s up with that”? Why would Christians have painful births while their unchristian neighbors have really great births? The answer is found in what the Christian mother said to her daughter “this is just one of those things you can’t get out of”.

Most Christians have been taught that childbirth is supposed to be painful. Armed with that idea it is almost impossible to get these ladies to relax. That is when we started teaching Christian Childbirth Classes and even started our own Christian Childbirth Teachers Association. Here is what we taught them, according to the bible, childbirth can be painful or just hard work. Childbirth can be awful or a joy according to the bible. The difference is in whether you trust God and relax or you don’t trust him tense up, it is just that simple. God never intended for women to be in excruciating pain during childbirth. And he surly didn’t want Christian women to have births that were more painful than non-Christians.

So what does the bible say about pain in childbirth?

And why is husband coached childbirth preferable?

First of all, if you believe the bible to be the Word of God, then you have to have an explanation for the fact that some women experience Childbirth as enjoyable. If the Bible teaches, as some believe, that childbirth is supposed to be painful then why did the women in the movie Childbirth for the Joy of It, look like they were having the time of their lives? I believe the problem is not with God’s word but with some interpretations of the Bible, from Hebrew and Greek into English.

Jesus explains the second coming to 12 men by using childbirth as an example. Evidently it was common for men to see women giving birth naturally (without drugs) in Jesus day. And more interestingly is that this was the best example Jesus could use for the extraordinary joy. Jesus was trying to explain how much joy the disciples would experience when he, Jesus, returned at his second coming. So he used the example of joy a woman has when she gives birth. This would have made no sense to me until I saw for myself, women giving birth joyfully.

John 16:19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰I tell you the truth; you will weep and lament while the world rejoices. You will Lupe (be heavy), but your Lupe (heaviness) will turn to joy. ²¹A woman in labor has lupe (heaviness) because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²²So with you: Now is your time of (heaviness), but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take your joy.

Genesis 3:16-17 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy (Etsev) and thy conception; in (etsev) thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. ¹⁷And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in (etsev) shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

In Genesis, God made four major changes for women, and one for the man, after sin entered the world. It is my belief he did this for their benefit.

He said he would Multiply her ability to conceive. Judging by all the different methods of contraception we have invented; most people would say that a woman’s ability to conceive is more than most people want.
God said he would give her a desire for her husband. It is amazing how strong the desire most women have for their husbands to be with them during labor and birth.
God said that the husband would rule over her. During labor and delivery, it is undeniable the focus a women has on her husband. Often a doctor or midwife will tell a woman to do something or stop doing something, while she is in labor, and she does not hear them or does not respond. But, if we tell the husband to tell her, she will immediately listen and respond. Husbands should take advantage of this, it may be the only time in their marriage he gets that much compliance.
God said he would multiply her (etsev) and in etsev he she would bring forth children. The Hebrew word (etsev) has a range of meanings that goes from labor to toil, to sorrow, to pain. It is the perfect word because women experience birth in all four of those ways. Ideally then, labor and birth would simply be hard work. That is exactly what women experience when they trust God and breath naturally. Yes, I realize that there can be complications that change all of that, but most women can and do give birth without complications serious complications. If you follow our guide to pregnancy found in Part I and part II, if you eat right and exercise, you can virtually eliminate those complications.

Finally God told the man that in (etsev) he would work to grow food. So, do all men experience their work as pain? No, most men would say it was labor or toil. God used the same Hebrew word to explain what the man would experience as he used to explain what the women would experience.

1 Timothy 2:14-15. …”And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression. 15Women, however, will be saved (or kept safe) through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

According to Timothy, a woman’s experience in Childbirth has to do with her faith in a loving God and her trust in him. Fear produces tension in childbirth and tension produces pain! Trust produces relaxation in childbirth and relaxation allows the uterus to work without conflict. A relaxed birth is usually a safer birth.

After we began to teach this and breathing techniques to our Christian audiences, they began to have better births than their non-Christian counterparts. We would typically have students attend our classes that had tried other childbirth techniques and failed to experience birth as a joyous experience. After taking our classes they would be ecstatic about their birthing experience. One day my wife had a couple of ladies over to the house to discuss their recent births. I overheard one say “I can’t wait to do it again”. I said, you mean you can’t wait to have another baby to hold and play with? She said no, I can’t wait to give birth again, it was such an amazing experience.

God wants you, your family and friends to experience childbirth in a non-drugged state, so that your family can be knit together in a physical and spiritual way. Each time my wife Shary and I experienced birth we became bonded in a deeper way. Our first few years together were a little rough, now she is my best friend in the whole world. Each birth added to our oneness. If it had not been for the people who shared with us how to have babies God’s way I do not think we would have made it and we certainly would not have awesome family we have today.

Chris and Shary with all thirteen of their children, two grand-kids and one son-in-law.

This Series on childbirth and pregnancy includes the following topics.

Part l Nutrition

Part ll Nutrition and exercises for a more comfortable pregnancy and birth

Part lll First stage, husband coached Childbirth. What you believe about birth will determine how it goes.

Part llll Transition

Part V Second stage and post-partum

Part VI Nursing, sleeping and circumcision,

Part VII The V approach to raising kids.

If you have questions or another perspective please send us a comment, we would love to hear from you.

If you want to keep improving your health, and enjoy this kind of biblical scientific information, then I would like to recommend three must-read books;

“God’s Guide to Biblical Health and Healing” by Rev. Chris and Shary Schauermann

http://tinyurl.com/zvkbfau

“Let’s Play Doctor” by Dr. Joel Wallach http://tinyurl.com/j8ybt8r

“None of These Diseases” by S.I. McMillen, M.D. and David E. Stern, M. D.

http://tinyurl.com/hh7ezs2

You can get all these books at Amazon.com or simply click on the URL under each book title.

References

Childbirth Part I http://wellnessgospel.net/index.php/2017/02/18/childbirth-part-l/
Childbirth Part II http://wellnessgospel.net/index.php/2017/02/25/childbirth-part-ll/