Cynthia, You made wonderful points in your post about the emotional needs of mothers. I enjoyed this well-thought out post as I have enjoyed your other posts. Just for completeness I would like to add that the presence of an experienced doula through antenatal telephone contact, labor support, and post partum meets many emotional, physical, spiritual needs of birthing mothers during this vulnerable time. The doulas presence at labor can certainly make the most out of the birth experience. Afterwards, the IBCLCs, volunteer breastfeeding counselors and mental health counselors can pick up and concentrate in their specialty areas. Denise Punger MD FAAFP IBCLC Rome, Georgia http://denisepunger.tripod.com From: Cynthia Good Mojab Subject: More thoughts on the emotional needs of mothers "Giving birth is a time of profound change, development and learning. In the very least, giving birth is both a physical and emotional process (many mothers would state that it is also a spiritual process) that does not end with expulsion of the baby and placenta..." _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html