I just experienced for the first time the powerful effectiveness of
"rebirthing" a baby, thought I would share it with you.
I was a Doula for a mom who ended up with a very forceful forceps delivery.
The Dr. is about 250lbs and over 6 foot tall. He placed the forceps inside
mom (  I thought she should have had a c-birth) he was sitting down, then he
stood up and was pulling so hard his forearms were shaking. Baby was born,
did not cry but was breathing. He looked as though he was in a frozen
"startle reflex".
Meanwhile, mom's blood pressure drops down to 66/33 and she is on the verge
of losing consciousness. She literally had skid marks on her vaginal wall
from the forceps and she was hemorrhaging. NOT the ideal birth. After things
calmed down, we TRIED to get baby on breast, he seemed to have a strong
rooting reflex but was unable to maintain a suck for more than 1 suck. She
had the attention of the hospital LC's who in my opinion were in a hurry to
push formula and not work with establishing a pumping schedule. They
released her 48 hrs after delivery with a syringe for finger feeding and a
case of formula. Mom REALLY wants to nurse this babe.
Four days postpartum, baby had not yet latched onto breast. I went to her
house w/ a doula friend and LC who I think is wonderful ( I call her Queen
Ann!) we decided to discontinue w/ the finger feeding...baby did great w/
the cup. I suggested we "rebirth" the baby. I have NO experience doing this
but had read wonderful things here on the subject. We filled the tub, lit
candles, got mom in and then brought in the baby. Immediately he
cried...remember he did not at the time of his birth, he had a wonderful
"birth cry" and then calmed down. Mom floated him gently and spoke lovingly
to him. After about 10 minutes she placed him on her tummy and he crawled to
the breast. He tried to latch but seemed content to lay there on her breast.
We did not force him on...we wanted him to know that the breast was a safe
place for him. Later, we managed to get him to latch on (w/ the shield..of
course she was very engorged too). That was the first time he had been
latched on in his life. It was an incredibly moving experience.
Possibly planning on another rebirthing to get him off the shield and onto
the breast. Last I checked they were doing well and did not even need to use
the cup anymore. In less than 24 hour this wee one went from not being able
to get on the breast to nursing. AMAZING. Thank you to all of you that have
tried this technique and were able to have info. for me in the archives!
Mary Anderson, Doula
Lincoln, Nebraska...Nice and HOT!

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