Wanted to share this with everyone.  I attended a birth a couple days
ago.  It was a homebirth.  It was wonderful.  This is the first time that
I attended a birth other than my own. :)  It was just as awesome, but
without all the work on my part :D  My friend was attended by a wonderful
midwife (two of my births were attended by this woman), her two
apprentices, a friend to care for the older child and myself as a support
person, both physically and emotionally.  It truly was beautiful to see
my friend able to labor (back labor at that) freely and give birth
freely.  Not long after the birth, a beautiful baby girl was nursing
voraciously!  A beautiful sight.

One question I have for the collective wisdom.  It was noted that the
baby was sucking on her hands immediately after birth.  I took this as a
cue to nurse, but one of the midwives mentioned that babies do this,
infact have a need to do this to suck/lick off the amniotic fluid from
their hands prior to that first nursing.  Has anyone ever heard of this
or have any information?

Aloha,
Gloria Thai  LLLLeader Hawai'i