Drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea is one thing a pregnant mama can do that nourishes her uterus, her baby, and her immune system all at the same time! Many of us midwives suggest that at the top of your list would be drinking red raspberry tea infusion throughout pregnancy, and especially during the third trimester and after birth!

Historically, pregnancy tea has been safely used by herbalists and midwives for nourishing all aspects of pregnancy, birth & postpartum for generations. And, contrary to internet dogma, red raspberry is most recommended to help PREVENT miscarriage, not cause it. (See my previous blog on red raspberry for more information and references.) This infusion is tasty, and nourishing for the whole family!

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!

This question gets asked a lot around the holidays. Here’s my midwife perspective from helping mothers birth, and navigate family holidays, for over 40 years.

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.

Our deeper understandings of birth may come to us from the most unexpected sources, and at the most unanticipated times. During a stretch when I was selling insurance, I found myself in a very unusual place: a stud farm for some of the most valuable horses in the world. One of the stalls emanated energy that felt like so much like birth, I peeked in the large horse box. It was a familiar scene, but with a four-legged mama; a swollen mare was pacing restlessly in the afternoon quiet, deeply breathing and blowing. Her unborn foal was already worth about three million dollars (in 1990 dollars!) because of the lineage it shared with two Triple Crown winners. As horseman explained the barn birth I was about to see, it was entirely shocking how MUCH better it was than humans experience in modern hospitals!

A midwife’s tongue-in-cheek poem, a Dr. Seuss take-off of all the places and ways she helped moms deliver their babies (or catch, as midwives say.)

PART 1/4: This is a frank discussion to teach homebirth midwives and other birth professionals about effective naturopathic responses to excessive blood loss in childbirth. In addition to the obvious physical improvement in mom’s immediate recovery, unusually rapid long-term postpartum improvements have been confirmed with labwork. Here I discuss which remedies and why - homeopathics, essential oils, flower remedies, liquid iron supplementation, food as medicine, and the power of including visualization as an emergency technique. “Her hemoglobin five hours later was 7 g/dl, something quizzically deemed “impossible” by the medical staff.“ Early nutritional and remedy-based intervention does make a significant difference in recovery!

This is a frank discussion to teach homebirth midwives and other birth professionals about effective naturopathic responses to excessive blood loss in childbirth. In addition to the obvious physical improvement in mom’s immediate recovery, unusually rapid long-term postpartum improvements have been confirmed with labwork. Here I discuss which remedies and why - homeopathics, essential oils, flower remedies, liquid iron supplementation, food as medicine, and the power of including visualization as an emergency technique. “Her hemoglobin five hours later was 7 g/dl, something quizzically deemed “impossible” by the medical staff.“ Early nutritional and remedy-based intervention does make a significant difference in recovery!

This is a frank discussion to teach homebirth midwives and other birth professionals about effective naturopathic responses to excessive blood loss in childbirth. In addition to the obvious physical improvement in mom’s immediate recovery, unusually rapid long-term postpartum improvements have been confirmed with labwork. Here I discuss which remedies and why - homeopathics, essential oils, flower remedies, liquid iron supplementation, food as medicine, and the power of including visualization as an emergency technique. “Her hemoglobin five hours later was 7 g/dl, something quizzically deemed “impossible” by the medical staff.“ Early nutritional and remedy-based intervention does make a significant difference in recovery!