The Baby’s Birth Experience

In this episode of the Birthful Podcast, we are going to be talking about birth, but from the baby’s perspective. Have you ever wondered what a baby goes through when being born? It turns out that there’s a specific sequence of events that occurs as newborns transition into the outside world. What are those events and why do they matter? To learn more about the baby’s birth experience I talk with Karen Strange. Check it out.

What we talked about:

• Our implicit memory: what our bodies remember
• There is no perfect! Approaching birth to allow healing
• From fluid filled lungs to air filled lungs: the birthing of your baby
• Who’s blood is it anyway? Delayed cord clamping, and why your baby needs it
• Take a PAUSE!
• Considering what would happen if no one was there
• “You have to exhale the birth before you inhale the baby” (shout out to Mary Esther Malloy)
• Integrating the enormity of what just happened
• Repairing a birth sequence that gets interrupted: healing despite separation
• Words to tell your baby (slooowly) to help her process the experience
• After the pause: head for the food. The self attachment sequence
• Why the breast crawl is key, both physiologically and psychologically!
• Listening to and acknowledging your baby’s story

Karen’s biggest message? Tell the baby what is going to happen before it happens. This is true for adults and children.

Mentioned resources and additional links*:

Books:

• Marcy Axnes’s Parenting for Peace: Raising the Next Generation of Peacemakers
• Thomas Verney’s The Secret Life of your Unborn Child: How You Can Prepare Your Baby for a Happy, Healthy Life
• David Chamberlain’s Windows to the Womb: Revealing the Conscious Baby from Conception to Birth
• Dr. Fred Wirth’s Prenatal Parenting: The Complete Psychological and Spiritual Guide to Loving Your Unborn Child

If you are interested in healing or knowing more about babies, and children, and parenting:

• www.miakalef.com
• www.carriecontey.com
• www.birthpsychology.com
• David Chamberlain’s The Mind of your Newborn Baby

Karen’s also very graciously given me permission to host these PDFs (click to view and download):

• Simple Tools for Mothers, from Karen Strange
• Excerpts from Myrna Martin‘s booklet on Birth and Attachment
• Babies are Born Where They are Born, by Mary Esther Malloy
• Waiting to Inhale: How to Unhurry the Moment of Birth, also by Mary Esther Malloy

Other resources and people Karen mentioned during the podcast:

• Breastcrawl.org
• Mary Esther Malloy – MindfulBirthNY.com
• TheBirthPause.com
• Books with the healing words from Judith Prager:

• • The Worst Is Over: What To Say When Every Moment Counts (Revised Edition)
  • Verbal First Aid: Help Your Kids Heal From Fear and Pain—And Come Out Strong
  • Owie-Cadabra’s Verbal First Aid for Kids: A somewhat magical way to help heal yourself and your friends

Related Birthful episodes:

• Delayed Cord Clamping
• Understanding & Calming Your Baby
• Prenatal Bonding
• Connecting with Your Baby in Utero through Song
• [Breastfeeding] “Laid-back” Breastfeeding

Courtesy of Karen Strange

About Karen Strange

Karen H. Strange is a Certified Professional Midwife and an American Academy of Pediatrics/Neonatal Resuscitation Program Instructor, and has been since 1992.

She is founder of the Integrative Resuscitation of the Newborn workshop, which includes the physiology of newborn transition, the evidence-based studies having to do with neonatal resuscitation, and the “when, why and how” to do neonatal resuscitation in a non-traumatizing way.

Karen incorporates the baby’s perspective of birth and tools for healing when things do not go as planned.  Laced throughout the day is information and practice of grounding and presence for the skills used everyday and specifically how to use these tools in an emergency.

Karen has taught over 8,500 people worldwide. She has conducted over 900 hours of debriefs with birth professional regarding all aspects and experiences of resuscitation.

Learn more at KarenStrange.com, and check out her fabulous webinars (including some for parents) here.