It’s become common to tell all women who are birthing in medical facilities that they need an IV placed in their hand or arm “just in case.” However, when this routine medical intervention is examined more closely, it becomes clear that it’s massively overused, and unnecessarily complicating labor and postpartum for far too many mothers.

It’s become fashionable to bicker on the web about the dramatic risks or benefits of drinking red raspberry leaf tea at certain stages of pregnancy. As a midwife who has safely used red raspberry herbals with pregnant and lactating clients for over four decades, I’m rather astounded at the level of incomplete information and fear-mongering that is being promoted as authoritative. Let’s clear up the confusion!

Good books on pregnancy and birth will introduce you to new information, expand your understanding of both details and broader picture, and help you more effectively navigate your childbearing year with clarity and peace. As a midwife, I’ve found that the “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” series does just the opposite! Whether you are a stories person, or relax into lots of good data and studies, find the book(s) that help find your ballast and grow your confidence. Here are some tried and true volumes that generally have reliable info, respectful tones, and empower their readers to more capably navigate their birth journeys and health care experiences.

Time is a frequently unnamed and unacknowledged medical complication plaguing most births currently taking place in hospitals and even birth centers. Considering the fast-paced nature of modern culture, perhaps it follows that the issue of time is having a never-before-seen, and increasingly disastrous effect, on pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery.

Most importantly, it’s the mama who ‘delivers’ her baby! She grows her baby, and she births it; I do mean vaginally or surgically. The process of birth, all births, encompasses our body, mind and spirit. And, mother-babies may be assisted in their births by a range primary care professionals such as OB’s and Midwives, as well as their partners/spouses, friends, and professional doulas. Women have choice in their birth attendants and birth locations, even towards the end of their pregnancies, or within insurance boundaries, hospital proximity, or tight budgets.

The ‘Hands and Knees’ position is instinctively assumed by women in labor all the time. And sometimes it’s suggested that women go farther, into yoga’s ‘Child’s Pose.’ I’ve coined the term ‘Reset Position’ for the posture in the picture above, it’s NOT your old ‘Knee-Chest’ position. It opens the pelvis wide, and provides an opportunity for the baby to back OUT of the pelvis and REPOSITION itself. And it works MIRACLES!

Doulas are professional, sensitive, labor-support persons; they are privately hired by families to be with them during the labor and birth of their babies in a supportive way. Overall, well-trained doulas will be capable medical advocates, knowledgeable on the normal process of labor and birth, and full of ideas to ease and facilitate the mother/baby’s birth process. The exact nature of what skills and ideas doulas might bring to the birth depend on many factors…..

One of the primary keys to having an efficient and effective labor is having the unborn baby well-positioned in mama's pelvis. And if this seems to not be the case, based on how labor is moving along (or not), remember that to move the baby, move the mama! By understanding this general concept, anyone can effectively help their baby along in a way that fits their personality, their birth setting, and their labor circumstances.