Two Beautiful Birth Videos

Just wanted to post these really quickly!

Firstly, Rixa's Birth of her third baby - from yesterday! - a beautiful, surprise-unassisted home waterbirth (the midwife comes in about 4 minutes after the baby is born). I was surprised to notice that Rixa labors a lot like me - upright in water, kneeling, forward-leaning, powerful use of the voice during contractions. However, Rixa - unlike me - also labors while looking beautiful, stylish and completely put-together! (Ah well, maybe I'll master that part next time.)

You'll notice after the baby's birth that the baby, born pink, starts to lose muscle tone and needs some help - and Rixa, who is trained in neonatal resuscitation, immediately starts mouth-to-mouth and keeps it up till baby is stable.

Lesson #1 - If you're planning an unassisted birth, you need these sorts of skills!

Lesson #2 - I am going to sign up for the next neonatal resuscitation class offered (too bad I just missed one!) - I too need these skills! One never knows when they will come in handy, at one's own births or at others, and I want to be prepared like that. If our second baby had been a surprise-unassisted, we would have had the same situation (even more severely), and I would not have known what to do. I would rather be prepared.

And also, posted by my friend Laura on Facebook - a video of vintage French births. I actually know nothing about these births (where they occurred, etc.), but they are gorgeous births! I was so amazed! One doesn't think of hospital births from those times (i.e. somewhere in the 1960's-1970's) being anything to write home about, but these were joyful, beautiful, and respectfully attended. They were a joy to watch! (I haven't watched the entire film yet.)

'Night, all!