A good friend of mine and I spoke on the phone for the first time in months last night. Her first child is due in January. And as we talked about her pregnancy and her motherhood philosophy, she dropped this bomb on me.
She plans to do a Lotus Birth, also known as umbilical nonseverance. And when she mentioned it, I thought she was joking. Really, I did. In fact, I thought that there was no way in hell that this was an actual thing that people do. But they do. And she was not kidding. Totally serious on the Lotus Birth front.
Ummm, what do you say to that? Having lots of friends who have spawned, I know how to be supportive of things like toddler nursing, cloth diapers and homemade, organic baby food. I even managed to sound gung ho about hypnobirthing. But I can't really understand why someone would want to keep a child attached to the placenta after birth. I imagine if there were a proven health benefit, I would have heard about it.
But, there you go. It takes all kinds. And knowing all of the surprises that are in store for my friend after this kid surfs down the birth canal, the next time she mentions this Lotus Birth, I'm going to try to sound as positive as I can about it. After all, she's in for one hell of a ride. And at least now she has some say in how things will go.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Hi there,
We're also having a Lotus Birth (due end of October / beginning of November) and our local midwives are happy to assist if needed. They have helped others with Lotus Birth and have no problem with it.
Most people have a reaction when we explain what we want to do. These vary from simple curiosity to amazement to screaming heresy from the witch burners out there :-) The fact is that most people are utterly conditioned to accept medical birth as the norm when, in fact, birth has nothing to do with medicine. Oddly, it's now the medical vogue to save those precious stem cells so that they can be used should your child fall ill later in life. If they're clearly so vital, wouldn't they be better off in our baby where they belong?
The personal reasons for choosing umbilical non-severance are varied. Remember, that it is essentially NOT doing something (medically severing the cord). Our personal belief is that it is wrong to start a new life with an act of violence and that energetically, biologically and spiritually, the placenta is the babies life giving body and not just a piece of medical waste (to be disposed of, sold for research or used for cosmetics).
We are very excited about our imminent experience. If you'd like a first hand account, look up Dr Sarah J Buckley on Google.
Hope your friend has a wonderful experience. We are hoping to document our little one's birth - from birth to the natural separation.
Many thanks,
Rufus & Elena Duffin
Family Around Europe
Thanks for posting your experience. This is honestly the first I've heard of it and I'll pass the info along to my friend.
Fascinating. I have never heard of this either. Thanks for sharing this.
I know quite a few people who don't cut the cord until it stops pulsating (which can be around 10 minutes or so). That was something we even wanted to do, but forgot to tell the doctor beforehand. But I haven't heard of leaving everything attached for a few days.
Post a Comment