Birth of Mercy Jeanne

Labor

 Walk

 Geese

 Regina consulted Healthy Pregnancy while in labor

 Greg Reading Peter Hammond's Victorious Christians
  [Not yet available in the US  -  Frontline Africa books]

 Greg Showing Dinah how to Use his Video Camera

 Dr. Leslie later told Regina that she will not deliver a vaginal birth
until 18 mos. following a C-Section birth.
Where does Michelle Dugger find someone to deliver all her v-backs?

 Greg's Baby Mercy

 Close Family

 Mercy's  first bath wasn't her favorite.

Mercy with her Grandpa & Sister, Abigail

Blessed Family

Mercy & her Grandma

 Midwife, Jessica

Regina & Pediatric Nurse

 Mercy w her Grandma & Aunt Nichole

Mike loaned Mercy his bassinet from 25 years ago.

 Sisters

 Family

 Pastor Jonathan & Marcia Merica

 Mercy & Aunt Melody

 Greg's Girls

 Mercy & Her Great Grandma on Lucy's 94th Birthday

 Mercy & Her Aunt Nichole

 Mercy & Her Grandma

 Mercy gained a pound in just two weeks.

 Resting

 Smiling

Holding

 Kissing

 Grandma's Tatting

 Melody with Her Grandma

Dinah's Welcome Home for Melody & Me ("Mom")

His Heartbeat for Women September Newsletter

Dear Nicki just republished my article,

Kingdom Driven Daughters

Also see Andrea Schwartz' Rethinking Childbirth II

and Nicki's 5 Reasons to Play with Your Children

http://www.hisheartbeatforwomen.com

Thank God for precious older sisters in the faith!

Cross image credit: dreamstime

Fetal Lungs Provide a Signal Initiating Labor

"A protein released from the lungs of a developing mouse fetus initiates a cascade of chemical events leading to the mother's initiation of labor, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found.

The research, which has implications for humans, marks the first time a link between a specific fetal lung protein and labor has been identified, said Dr. Carole Mendelson, professor of biochemistry and obstetrics and gynecology and senior author of the study. The paper appears in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is currently available online.

The initiation of term labor is carefully timed to begin only after the embryo is sufficiently mature to survive outside the womb..."

Read more:

http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept37389/files/158762.html

via Emily's Doula blog:

http://doulaemily.blogspot.com/

Average gestation is 8 days after the "due date."

“A word of caution --don’t take the EDD [Estimated Date of Delivery] too seriously. The Mittendorf study showed the average length of human gestation to be forty-one weeks plus one day.”

--Elizabeth Davis, Heart & Hands; A Midwife’s Guide to Pregnancy and Birth

Breech Birth

This is a video of a successful, beautiful breech home birth. It is not intended for younger viewers or anyone not wishing to see an actual live up-close and personal birth. 


The Breech Homebirth of Annaka Faith from Electra Hutchison on Vimeo



"Have you heard someone say, 'I would have died if I had a homebirth' or 'my baby would have died?' Please remember that these are very emotionally charged declarations. In many cases, unnecessary interventions have caused the complications that women and babies suffer from."   

“If I were at home, I would have died” « erin ellis homebirth midwife