The history of the evolution of childbirth has been an interesting one. From simply squatting in fields, to complicated caesarian. From midwives who aided in birth to only male doctors being allowed to assist. Through this journey in the history of birth, I picked up a few fun facts. One is pregnant women and their midwives used to drink beer during labor to relax them in the early 1920s. Traditionally the midwives helped to assist in childbirth. Midwives tended to intervene as minimally as possible and worked to assist labor along its natural course. Knowledge of midwifery was passed on from one generation to the next within the community. Aspiring midwives would enter apprenticeships with elders to learn from. Midwives like shamans know about herbal remedies that help heal not just pregnant women, but everyone with a multitude of problems. Midwives also knew the power of atmosphere they knew how to set up a room and position a woman for birth in specific directions. They would check the position of the baby by feeling the woman’s stomach and checking how far the woman was dilated. If the baby was in the wrong position, midwives would turn them. Using oiled hands, they would help stretch the woman’s tissues before delivery. If complications arose during either pregnancy or labor, they called for a local physician who assisted with medical instruments. After a child was born, they would stick around for about a month to help the mother with skills like breastfeeding, and uterus healing. For most of history, pregnancy, labor and delivery, and post-partum have been dangerous times for mothers, children, and midwives. Midwives, too, were often accused of witchcraft if something went wrong with a pregnancy. In medieval times, as many as 1 in 3 women died during their childbearing years. Childbirth was so dangerous that a woman would make out her will as soon as she found out she was pregnant. Around the 17th and 18th centuries, the rise of physician-assisted births increased puerperal fever. It is a bacterial infection that went from patient to patient, unknowingly carrying the bacteria on their instruments and their unwashed hands within days of giving birth. Later developments of antibiotics, blood transfusions for hemorrhages, and prenatal care for high-risk patients mortality rates fell in the 1940s and 1950s. The forceps were invented in the 1590s by Peter Chamberlen the Elder, who was a French Huguenot “male midwife.” Forceps were invented in the eighteenth century. This tool helps to move babies through the birth canal when they become stuck. Since men developed forceps only they claimed male midwives and physicians were superior and women were not allowed to use them. Some cultures like India thought men were forbidden to participate in or even watch childbirth. Technology has continued to evolve in modern times doctors and midwives use heart monitors to alert when a fetus is in distress. Also, ultrasounds and other imaging technologies reveal the gender of babies and identify potential problems with the pregnancy. Women and their physicians wanted to make childbirth would be as painless as possible, forcing them to have hospital births. Before anesthetic, if the delivery was difficult they would use ether or chloroform to knock the woman out during labor. They had evolved from fully unconscious methods to administering a combination of scopolamine and morphine in childbirth. Alone, scopolamine acts as amnesic, erasing all later memory of childbirth. This was a potent opiate, that sent the mother into a “twilight sleep,” during labor. By the mid-to late-nineteenth century, doctors learned how to use chemicals called anesthesia to numb the pain during surgery. Going back in time to 1591, Eufame Maclayne made the mistake of eating a painkilling herb while in labor with twins. Both children and mother survived only for the mother to be burned at the stake for taking a pain reliever while giving birth. In my labors, I choose to not use any drugs during my labor experience. Instead, I used the power of chanting and breathing to aid me through the pain. Childbirth is a uniquely painful and difficult experience. Today, women have many options for labor and birth. Some women deliver in a hospital with doctors and nurses close by to supervise the birth process. For myself, I opted for a happy medium between hospitals and opted for a midwife instead of a doctor. In my delivery room, I had statues that represented my patron Goddess Aradia to help me during childbirth. Sculptural depictions of pregnant women are found in many prehistorical cultures. The significance of these sculptures shows the importance of childbearing and female fertility. In Ancient Egypt art shows women giving birth in standing, squatting, kneeling, and sitting positions. During my labor, we used many of these positions, including the traditional method of laying down. Many different Dieties aid in fertility, and animals, land, home, or hunting. Women wore amulets or talismans to protect them during pregnancy and childbirth. I also wore crystal bracelets; amethyst, carnelian, and black onyx. These stones hold magical energy that aids in healing. Buddhist monk, a female spiritual medium called a Miko, and other religious figures sat nearby the mother as she labored. Their prayers warded off hungry ghosts and lowly spirits that gathered around people who were near death. Through each contraction, I chanted "Oam, Yam, Umm." No, the chanting did not stop me from screaming at some points. What it did do was help to focus my mind on forming the words to distract me from the pain. Shadow owes its birth to light.
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As a mom of three boys who go to public school I started to notice that some things were not being taught in detail so I decided to create lessons for them. Many of these lessons cover science, history and of information about Paganism. I share crafts for the all different holidays and cultures as ways that they can learn and have fun at the same time.
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