Mathematician's rendering

Clink through the link below to see a sample of "From Conception to Birth," a really cool digital rendering of a developing baby as well as the baby being born, presented by Alexander Tsiaras, a mathematician, artist, and design theorist from Yale. It is amazing to see how the baby helps itself be born with the stepping reflex shown as he appears to push with his feet from the inside of mom, as mom is curving her back during the contractions to push him out.

Seed in the belly

As I stated in class, I'm not a big into celebrating Halloween, however, if you're going to dress up slash dress up your kids, this is the day to do it, right? And since our Class 5 fell on Oct. 31st, we did it in style. Our absolutely awesome couple, Sierra & Charlie, won the "Best-Dressed Couple" Contest! They also brought homemade vegan pumpkin muffins to share with everyone. 

They informed us that Charlie was the farmer that put the seed in Sierra's belly! P.S. The dread locks are for real :) And yes, there is an actual baby bump under there somewhere!


And they won... a whoopie cushion! J/K- it is an old fashioned hot water bottle, which can be used as a warm compress as we learned in class that can be an effective comfort tool in labor (and throughout pregnancy, or anytime actually, hot or cold). 

Coaches- it is your job to get one of these if your wife/partner would like to try this a comfort measure! 

If you do decide to use a good old hot water bottle, make sure you use hot tap water (not boiling water that could crack the container) and fill it 2/3 full. Securely close the stopper and dry off the bottle completely. Then, make sure turn it upside down over the sink and check for leaks.


While I normally like to link to where you can purchase these types of things for yourself, this particular one I bought from CVS (about $11). I don't want to link to any particular item since there are mixed reviews on most of them and I haven't tried any of them except this one.


We had a great first labor rehearsal! Wonderful job, beautiful moms and attentive coaches!

And now, for those of you who missed it, a quick pic of my two little puppies (a Dalmatian and a pink poodle) who made a brief appearance before class.

Book Review - Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way

If you'd like to do some additional reading about natural birth mechanics in addition to your Bradley Method classes, check out Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon. A word of warning that it does have some pictures (although they are circa 1975, made obvious by the lovely ladies' hairstyles and men's mustaches) with intimate views, if you know what I mean. There are great step-by-step instructions and contraction rehearsals for coaches and moms.


If I were going to recommend just one book in addition to attending class, this would be it. By the way, if you're going to buy it and use Amazon click through my site to support me at no cost to you!


Comment or email me to let me know if you read it and what you think!