High Risk Pregnancies

Peace sister,

My indigenous name is Aziza. I have been asking all over the place on myspace if anyone knew anything about natural childbirth, water birth, having your child at home vs. a hospital. I am 22 years old staying in Michigan with my parents for the time being while my King finishes our sanctuary in each of our rooms in our house back in Nashville, NC. I am having twins, this is my first pregnancy and I want this to be so sacred and spiritual as I can have BUT because I had to get checked up for the gender the doctors told me I am "high risk" Mainly because I am having twins and I am a petite person. I have had a lot of people come at me telling me all the negative things about pregnancy more so then the beautiful things. I have kept my body in the best condition, I eat all natural foods, foods that have melanin and nutrients. I don't eat any fast foods. It would mean so much to me if I could have not just a midwife with me during this event but a spiritual midwife. I was told over and over again that no midwife would deliver twins. I honestly believe because I have the right state of mind, I eat well, take care of myself, and chant my mantras that everything will be wonderful. Is there anything you know about twins? Would you be so kind as so guide me into a direction or feed me the knowledge on child birth? I am open to anything! =) I appreciate anything that you have to offer sister.

Be blessed!

I too have been considered "high risk" since my first pregnancy...my blood pressure has a tendency to rise during pregnancy and during two of my five pregnancies I have also had protein in my urine resulting a diagnosis referred to as toxemia...someone telling you that you and your body's natural ability to conceive and bear children is High Risk makes you feel out of control and as if you cannot trust your body to do what it was made to do...I have been there, I know how that feels and my advice to you is to pause, be still, listen to the voices of your children growing inside you and understand that you create the reality in which you live

Consider carefully and deeply ALL possibilities, consider each and everything that can occur while giving birth and make peace with every possible method and every possible way that your children may come into the world...because the result that you want is healthy babies and as a mother you cannot always be attached to how you receive that result

Once you have made peace with caeseran, and epidural and doctor assisted and midwife assisted and any other methods of birth that come to your mind, you will relieve yourself of the fear of that kind of birth happening to you...once the fear is released begin to meditate and visualize the birth that you want, what you need, who will be there, the sights, the sounds and the smells that would be the most helpful for you in the birthing arena...see them, smell them and hear them daily...hold them in your mind and speak of them with folx you know will uplift and support you

And then...

Remain open...the truth of the matter of birth is that each child will have the birthing experience she or he needs in order to fulfill his or her own unique destiny

And you as Mama are fully equipped to handle any and all of these possibities...your body, your mind and your spirit are capable of birthing these babies...they chose you to be born to because you are the PERFECT vessel for their growth and birth and raising do NOT EVER allow any medical test or negative comment to make you forget that

That being said...YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH! Continue to eat right, recite your mantras and search for a midwife who delivers twins...I would suggest calling The Farm in Summertown TN where most lay midwives in the US are trained and asking them for referrals...I KNOW they deliver twins and have trained other midwives to do the same

You can and WILL have the birth experience you desire and need and that your babies desire and need...YOU CAN DO IT SIS! DO NOT FEAR!

What If The Other Parent is Opposed to Home Schooling

A concerned mommy-to-be asks...

"I am looking to home school my child. He is not born yet, but I want to get as much info as I can. My husband is totally against it. He says my son is going to public school just like I did. Do you know of any information that I could give him that may change his mind"

When I first decided to home school my children, my then husband was totally against it as well...his reason? He said I didn't have the patience required to do it...*blink*...I told him I was going to do it anyway, and I resigned from my job and did it. About 2 months into the process he was bragging to all of his co-workers and friends about how much our children were learning and now 18 years and one college bound graduate later he still is not as pro-home school as I am BUT he remains a doting daddy...

The truth of the matter is...we fear and are unsure of those things we do not understand and have not experienced. Most of us went to school as children and do not see another alternative. I would suggest sitting down with your husband and asking him if he honestly recalls his time at school being mostly positive or mostly negative? For most of us, school memories contain a great deal of fear, negativity, bullying, fighting and ridiculing by teachers and fellow students alike. If he recalls the negativity he experienced in school, tell him that you all have the opportunity to fill your son's life with mostly positive experiences in regards to his education by home schooling him...

Suscribe to Mothering magazine which supports home schooling and may be able to offer him differnt perspectives on it via its articles...research home schooling yourself so that you can give hm examples of people who home school and how their children are learning growing and succeeding...one high profile couple that comes to mind is Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and their children...find out what the source of his opposition is and speak with him about it...sometimes we have a fear of our children being "different" because we feel that it was the fact that we were "different" that caused us to be picked on and bullied during school...if that is the case with your husband discuss it with him in depth and explain that picking on other children comes from socialization being left to children as opposed to being led by adults...it has nothing to do with being "different"...we are all different in some wonderful way






And...perhaps most importantly and MOST POWERFUL...explain to him what your end result is...when I received paternal opposition for deciding to practice extended breastfeeding with my son, I was hurt and confused and did not know how to explain my decision to those who did not support breastfeeding. I prayed and asked my Ancestors to help me explain why this part of mothering was so crucial and after meditating to some Afrikan drums I was able to speak My Truth on the topic...I said " I will raise a Prince for you if you let me, my methods are unorthodox and what I do will not look like what other people are doing with their children, because I am seeking a different result. I promise you that if you trust me on this, you will be blessed with a son that you will always be proud of...who will be successful in anything that he puts his hand to...but you have to trust me and support me..."



I was honest about what my the end result is that I am looking for and the oppostion could NOT stand in the face of that....let your husband know why you want to home school, let him know what the end result is you are working towards and let him know that you will not sacrifice your child for any doctrine but will ALWAYS do what is best for him...but that you are willing to make sacrifices to give him the BEST each and every day...open up the dialogue on the topic with Truth and Honesty so that yall can discuss it and it does not become a matter of you against him but a matter of we both want what is best for our child