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