The quickening

Imbolc has been one of my favorite sabbats for a long time now. It holds so much promise for the return of spring and warmth and the re-greening of the earth.

Persephone is making ready for her return from the underworld, and her mother Demeter is stirring from her long winter's sleep.

It reminds me of the quickening - the time in a pregnancy when a woman feels the fluttery movements of her baby for the first time - usually between 16 - 18 weeks gestation. Long ago, this was thought to be the time when the baby came to life. We now know, via ultrasound, that the baby has been moving for many weeks before that movement is percieved by the mother.

Even though the earth is still covered with thick layers of snow (and more coming today) here in the northeast USA, things are beginning to stir and awaken deep in the earth. If you look closely, you might find some of the trees are already forming their buds...

Momifesto

I came across this "momifesto" recently in surfing the web and wanted to share it...

The author voices many of the wishes, suggestions and goals for good care that I hope are given to the women I serve during pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

Here is an excerpt. "Encourage me to listen to the needs of my body and the baby within. Have faith in this natural process, and help me keep my faith in it. "

Read the entire entry here: http://blog.lkbaby.com/?p=47

A tough crowd...

I recently had the opportunity to teach belly dance to a group of pregnant teens.

For almost a year now, I had been having a conversation with Eileen - the childbirth educator who works with the teens in the hospital's Adolescent Reproductive Health Service - about wanting to offer my belly dance for pregnancy and birth classes to this group. Well, I finally had the chance to try it out! The opportunity was prompted by one of the FOBs in the class saying that he had seen something on TV about belly dancing being helpful for birth - and so we took the bait!

This was a group of about 7 , nearly full term young women, some with their male partners, one with her mom and aunt, one by herself, and all African American.

Teens are such a tough crowd! With my strong urging, I got them to stand up and get out of their chairs and to each tie on a coined hip sash. I was unable to convince any of the guys to put on a hip sash - usually in adult groups at least a few of the men are willing... I did a very limited instruction in hip movements, snake arms and shimmies. The shimmies brought out a lot of giggling!

They are so self-conscious. No one wants to stand out or indicate that they are actually having fun, or appreciating it, or getting it...

I gratefully got some feedback from Eileen the next day:

"I saw one of the young women, Janiel with her sister Trisha, this morning when she came in for her appointment in the clinic. For you: Janiel sat through some of it, she was in the corner away from the door, Trisha was getting into to it too......well, both of them were still beaming smiling when I saw them this morning, said that they were talking about it all night, laughing."

Yay! I can't wait to do it again!

Belly Dance for Pregnancy & Birth

I'm back! After not posting for a long time...

Over the summer I resigned from The Goddess Dancing. I am now starting my new venture - In The Belly Of The Goddess - dedicated to applying the benefits of belly dance as a prenatal exercise and childbirth preparation activity.

Visit my new website - www.InTheBellyOfTheGoddess.com - for details on classes, articles, and a great resource page with links to more articles and video clips.

BOLD

My company and I will be participating in BOLD Boston on September 29th.

BOLD (Birth on Labor Day) is a global movement whose mission is to bring attention to making maternity care mother-friendly and safe, and to raise awareness and funds to support mother initiated dialogue and solutions to maternity care. In a nutshell, mother-friendly care puts the woman at the center when considering any policies regarding her maternity care. It trusts the woman to know what is right for own care.

Local communities produce Karen Brody's play "Birth" which has been called "the vagina monologues" of birth. In the play, various birth vignettes are presented. The vignettes come from actual interviews that Karen Brody conducted with women about their own experiences of giving birth. One of my favorites is the one where the woman's mantra through-out her labor is "My body rocks!"

The Boston BOLD will also host a Red Tent event - and that is where we will be performing our dance MotherBirth. The dance tells the story of an empowered pregnancy and birth in which the mother is supported by a community of women including the midwife, the grandmother, and the ancestors.

Learn more about the BOLD movement!! Join us in Cambridge on September 29th!