By Guest Blogger on July 14, 2010
As many of you know, I love adding E3Live to my green smoothies for an extra boost! I pour the bottle into ice trays and throw a few cubes into the blender with my favorite smoothie ingredients. Today, Evita shares her experience with E3Live and describes how adding it to her diet helped her maintain energy and vibrancy during her pregnancy. Thanks, Evita! Peace & veggies- Kris Carr
Ever since I healed myself of ovarian cancer in 2000 by natural means, I’ve been promoting a holistic lifestyle in media. It was my little private health-awareness campaign. I gave interviews in media and my before and after photos appeared in magazines. In my before photos, I was 180 pounds, sad and chronically depressed. In my after photos, I was slim, joyful, youthful and full of energy. On radio and tv, I shared about cleansing, healing and weight-loss on a physical and spiritual level. Shedding the toxic kilos and fleecing toxic beliefs, I underwent a major cleanse in the kitchen and in the Mind.
However, all this was tested when I conceived a child. The swing of hormones is unbelievable. A woman’s body suddenly shifts 180 degrees and becomes a baby incubator producing brain cells, bone cells, muscles, eyes and ears. You can hear the heart beating like a choo-choo train speeding to deliver on time, and it all happens inside you with one heck of a Divine Intelligence.
I felt dizzy, sleepy, craved all sorts of weird foods and woke up each morning bigger than the day before. I felt heavy like a whale and vulnerable. Nothing was familiar in that state. It felt as if I was traveling to a foreign land. I craved cooked food and carbohydrates, so I started to eat those again. I was looking for guidance and listened to advice that was given. I was told I needed to take prenatal vitamins, so I did. They were supposed to increase my blood iron, not that it was low in the first place, but just in case. All they did was make me constipated, sleepier than ever, and more nauseous.
I missed that feeling of beaming energy I used to have before I got pregnant. I drank coffee to get my mind clear. A doctor told me that one cup a day was okay. Well, I felt worse and worse. I was vomiting a couple times a day. I was told it was normal, but I knew something was wrong. Radically wrong.
In the mean time, my husband (a filmmaker) took his camera and we interviewed many holistic experts: midwives, doulas, ob/gyns, chiropractor, acupuncturist, watsu therapist, hypnobirthing, etc. They all do amazing things for pregnant moms, helping in alternative ways to create a great experience for a mom and her baby preparing for natural birth. Besides filming them giving us sessions, we organized events with hundreds of pregnant and nursing moms in attendance with our experts as guest speakers. It all required my mind to be clear and focused. I was working 14 hours a day, to pull it all together.
Obviously, it would not have been possible, if I stayed in that foggy, dizzy state of mind. It was so unlike me that I had to do something. I wanted to go back to raw, but I didn’t know how to do it during pregnancy. Every time I drank a veggie juice, it would be in the toilet within the next 15 minutes. I ate a salad and threw up. I prepared a green drink and threw up. “What’s the point!?” I asked myself. Perhaps my body needed the carbs I craved? They tell you to EAT when you are expecting, even though your stomach is getting smaller as the belly grows. You need to EAT and EAT to produce a healthy baby, and when you look at what is recommended your hair shivers – the Standard American Diet times four! You are told to eat meat, poultry, eggs, cheese, pasta, milk and yogurt. And if you wonder about your sugar cravings, the doctor will just say, “When you are pregnant, you can eat whatever you want.” I just couldn’t buy it.
I called Jinjee Talifero, a raw vegan mom of four, and asked her, “How did you do this?” She recommended, “Stay on raw for three days and go through this. You will be feeling nauseous. On days four and five, you’ll be feeling better and better.” And so I did. And it would not be possible without E3Live. Ever since then, I would wake up, make a veggie juice with kale or beets and have a shot of E3Live Enhanced with BrainOn. That woke me up! My energy shot right through the roof! Way better than coffee, and GREEN! I would also have a shot of ginger juice and that definitely kept me from feeling the dizziness again. On the contrary, I felt clear and powerful like never before. Responding to e-mails, handling phone calls from all the vendors in the maternity industry, coordinating video interviews and events. I worked even in the ninth month of my pregnancy, fully alert, raw and vegan. Crazy, sexy and alive!
We interviewed moms about their birth experience and diet. Some of my pregnant girlfriends felt like whales all through their pregnancy. They could hardly walk in the sixth or seventh month. Their legs would swell and sugar cravings would not cease. Those moms who went raw through pregnancy usually had an easy delivery, and the babies seemed calm and peaceful. They told us about E3Live. I followed the inspiration they gave me and gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who immediately gained weight after the delivery by drinking his mama’s milk.
Soon we’re going to start feeding our baby, Jonathon. Guess what’s going to be his first food? If nature created algae as one of the first forms of life on the Earth, it would seem logical to give this food first to the baby before anything else. What could be better for his brain development than the blue-green algae that first created oxygen on the planet? It will be fun to see people’s faces in the park when we add E3Live to the bottle. The milk is going to turn GREEN!
Evita Ramparte is a European wellness reporter, holistic coach and motivational speaker. In 2000, she healed her ovarian cancer through natural means. Ever since then she’s been promoting healthy lifestyle in media. Today, she’s a launching TigerMama.com – empowering moms to rule the world!
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By Guest Blogger on April 14, 2010
By Andrea Crossman, RN & Doula
I just returned from the home of new parents Nikki and Sam, where we had our postpartum visit joined by Nikki’s mom (grandmothers are the original postpartum doulas) and two and a half week old Leo. We ate salads, reminisced about the birth, discussed breastfeeding, and enjoyed the afterglow of the experience. Nikki shared that her birth was different than what she had imagined—and absolutely wonderful; a statement she followed with “and that’s not something I hear a lot of women say.” New papa Sam chimed in that by having a doula they always had a map for what was ahead, even as the road took unexpected turns.
My work as a labor support doula in New York City is the result of a few unexpected turns. A Midwest girl, I moved to New York to attend Columbia University with the end goal of providing integrative primary health care. After receiving my bachelor’s in nursing, I began a master’s program at NYU and worked as a labor and delivery nurse at one of the busiest labor and delivery units in NYC. Witnessing the positive transformative experience that birth can be inspired me to launch Holistic Doula NYC , through which I offer holistic RN and doula services as well as childbirth education classes.
As a doula and a nurse, I am concerned with the birth of the baby and the birth of the mother. A quote by Osho illustrates this beautifully: “The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.”
So how do I support the birth of the mother? What exactly does a doula do? Well, a whole bunch of things! Here is an A-to-Z description of how I typically work with a client.
Meet and Greet: Meet and understand how you would work together.
How it works
Most important about this meeting is to simply check out the “vibe.” Second is to make sure you feel good about the experience and energy your potential doula can bring to your birth.
Unlimited Support: Continue building a relationship, have a go-to for your questions, keep your doula up-to-date on your pregnancy.
How it works
I offer unlimited e-mail and phone support to help my clients better navigate their pregnancy and birth. I also ask my clients to update me within 24 hours of each midwife or OB/GYN appointment. I can help translate medical-speak and am able to also see potential issues before they arise and offer suggestions for how to stay on track with your birth goals.
Prenatal Appointments: Help the mother clarify her desires and goals; explore how the mother, birth partner, and doula will work together; create an early labor plan; and clarify what happens when labor begins.
How it works
Over one or two appointments, we discuss the mother’s priorities, fears, concerns, and questions, as well as coping and comfort techniques.
We also talk about how I work with the birth partner. Although many people mistakenly think the doula will displace the birth partner, the doula should actually help increase the birth partner’s confidence and ability to support the laboring mama. In the postpartum I just attended, new father Sam said that having a doula freed him up from worrying about all the infinite details that take place before and during labor and allowed him to focus on being present.
We also do a number of practical things, like help with the labor bag and make sure the fridge is stocked with labor-friendly food and beverages. Knowing that someone else is doing these simple little things helps foster a feeling of emotional readiness.
Labor Time: Provide continuous informational, emotional, and physical support for a happy, healthy birth; guide the birth partner in supporting the laboring mama.
How it works
Once early labor really kicks in, I remind my client or her birth partner of the early labor plan. Although most early contact is over the phone, as soon as active labor begins, I pack my bag, spray on an essential oil blend that supports labor, and join my client. My labor doula support typically begins at the woman’s home where—for women who choose a hospital birth—she labors until deciding it’s time to transfer to the hospital.
During active labor, I remind my clients that their bodies instinctively know how to give birth; reassure them; and suggest options to help them—new positions, massage, breathing techniques, Reiki, or aromatherapy depending on the situation and preferences. My familiarity with the hospital culture helps me anticipate what’s coming and make suggestions that can help prevent unwanted interventions. After Nikki’s birth she said to me, “one of the greatest benefits to working with you was that you managed to stay one step ahead of the hospital staff.” Having a trained birth professional who can predict and adapt to the provider’s care plan is definitely one of the benefits of working with a doula.
Immediate Postpartum: Take first family photos, help with initial breastfeeding, get mama some refreshments, and reinforce how amazing the birth was.
How it works
Right after the baby is born, I honor the amazing work my client has done. At a recent birth, when I asked my client post-birth, “Are you proud of yourself?” She got a mischievous grin on her face and she let out an, “Oh yeeaaaah.” (Her husband’s mantra was “That was so awesome! That was so awesome!”)
It has become my custom to get my client her first real food and drink, and after such hard work, this is always a much-enjoyed reward. After that, I help with breastfeeding, say my goodbyes, and leave the family to enjoy their first hours together.
Postpartum Visit: Admire the baby, answer questions, and process the birth.
How it works
This visit, in the client’s home, is focused on talking about the birth, filling in any blanks, answering questions, admiring the new baby, and bringing closure to the amazing experience.
Overall Benefits
So what difference does all of this support make to a woman’s pregnancy and birth experience? A pretty big one, according to research conducted by Kennell and Klaus. Here are some of the most significant benefits of continuous labor support:
· Cesarean rate decreased by 50%
· Length of labor decreased by 25%
· Requests for epidurals decreased by 60%
· Use of Pitocin decreased by 40%
All of these factors influence postpartum recovery, initial bonding time between mother and baby, and health care costs. Studies have also shown that women who had continuous labor support rated their birth experiences higher and had a decreased incidence of postpartum depression. To contribute to these positive outcomes, while supporting a family at a sacred time, is an honor and a privilege. In summary, a doula supports women as they become mothers, couples as they become families, and babies as they start their lives.
*Even Taye Diggs and Jimmy Kimmel have pondered “what does a doula do?”
Andrea Crossman is a holistic RN, childbirth educator, and a labor and delivery nurse turned doula. She is the founder of Holistic Doula NYC and writes the HDNYC blog where she shares information and resources related to holistic pregnancy and empowered birth. Andrea works with women to support three important milestones: preparation for pregnancy, pregnancy, and birth. You can follow all of Andrea’s labors of love on twitter: @AndreaCrossman .
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By Guest Blogger on July 23, 2009
Continuation of Part I: Childbirth Today…
The next step is for pregnant women to relearn the true experience of childbirth. We deserve to have a say in the medications we take or decide not to take. We need options so that we can decide where we will deliver our babies and who will be present at the delivery. We can take personal responsibility in creating exactly the kind of childbirth we want. We want to be treated as partners instead of as patients. We want to bond with our children immediately after their birth. And we want to design and create a childbirth that is safe, peaceful, and secure.
The absolute truth is that there are no rules when it comes to creating what you really want for your childbirth and for every aspect of your life. In fact, there aren ’t any rules except the ones you make up. My recent book, “Better Birth, The Ultimate Guide to Childbirth from HomeBirths to Hospitals” is based on the The BornClear program I created over 7 years ago and was created out of my own experiences.
When I was first pregnant, I searched for new as well as ancient ways to create a peaceful and memorable birth. I wanted to fully educate myself, so I pulled information from many resources, piecing together and creating exactly what I needed to be mentally, emotionally, and physically ready. I started to prepare my body for birth by learning to control the connection between my mind and my body through a variety of mental and physical practices that included prenatal yoga, meditation, and deep relaxation. Over the course of my journey, I became able to fully trust my natural birthing instincts, as well as my body, and I found myself tapping into a deeper, more enlightened space in my mind.
Nine months later, I witnessed the birth of my daughter. What impressed me most was that I felt completely awake and present to the divinity and wonder of the birth. Two years later, I experienced the same with my son, whose birth was also peaceful and beautiful. My life’s work has always been about teaching others how to create lives they can be proud of. After my childbirth experiences, I decided to focus this mission more specifically to be able to share my extensive birthing knowledge and life practice tools with other women.
The BornClear approach that I have developed works whether you plan on giving birth at a hospital, at a birthing center, or at home. What ’s most important is being mentally, physically, and spiritually prepared so that you can create the birthing experience you want for yourself and your family.
As you prepare yourself for birth, one of the other great facets of this journey is how much you personally grow. This gift of self-awareness and growth is also crucial in having a comfortable childbirth, but it is the one component that women often neglect. Without it, we have been forced to surrender fertility issues and the birthing of our children to a script defined by someone else, be it a doctor, a nurse, a midwife, friends, or even the media. This is why many women describe childbirth merely as the few hours they spent in a delivery room, instead of focusing on the lessons they learned during the entire pregnancy. These lessons support them in birthing themselves as mothers, fathers—conscious parents.
My main goal is to globally change the way we perceive and talk about childbirth. I want to empower all women so that childbirth is no longer talked about as “surviving an ordeal.” For this to happen, women have to take control of this experience. That is why I want every woman to be able to harness this gift — the ability to trust ourselves — so that we can reclaim birthing and make it a unique, individual event that meets our greatest expectations and desires.
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By Guest Blogger on July 22, 2009
Denise Spatafora, author of “Better Birth, The Ultimate Guide to Childbirth from Home Births to Hospitals”, is the creator of Bornclear, a nationally recognized birthing method backed by renowned doctors, midwives and celebrities. Her revolutionary book, Better Birth is based on the mind-body connection preparing women and couples on all levels for conception and birth: emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually-leaving them educated, empowered and trusting themselves and their choices. Be the first two people to tweet @Kris_Carr with a link to this blog and win a free copy of Denise’s book!
The way we have come to expect a “traditional” pregnancy and birthing to look and feel has dramatically changed in our modern, technically enhanced times. The once customary rite of passage, with its inherent understanding that women were designed to give birth, has morphed into a sterile and oftentimes lonely medical procedure. This shift in thinking has inadvertently led us into an era where many women feel as if they are bringing new life into this world without really being present for the experience.
Before the 1920s, most births took place at home and were attended by doctors or midwives, but by the 1930s women were flocking to hospitals, hoping to experience the revolutionary methods of “painless” childbirth. Even though the doctors of the time did not deliver on this ridiculous promise, we continued to follow and “improve” on these new scientific practices, and before we knew it, we had unintentionally relinquished control over the entire childbirth experience. Every aspect of hospitalized childbirth became almost mechanical, and they were all orchestrated by a doctor. Women were separated from their husbands, sedated by drugs that made them oblivious to the birthing process, and kept in sterile environments. Breastfeeding was discouraged, and breast milk was replaced by “enhanced” infant formulas. As time passed, we completely forgot how to own and control pregnancy and childbirth: the natural, normal aspects of delivery no longer existed.
Doctors gave great arguments to pregnant mothers. As Dr. David Chamberlain, an expert in prenatal psychology, said, “The doctor ’s byline was, ‘Let us do it. Trust me; we know how to do this.’ But they didn’t. All they had to offer was a protocol. They treated every mother the same, every father the same and every baby the same.”
According to the World Health Organization, “By medicalizing birth, i.e., separating woman from her own environment and surrounding her with strange people using strange machines to do strange things to her in an effort to assist her, the woman’s state of mind and body is so altered that her way of carrying through this intimate act must also be altered and the state of the baby born must equally be altered. The result is that it is no longer possible to know what births would have been like before these manipulations — they have no idea what non-medicalized birth is. The entire modern obstetric . . . literature is
essentially based on observations of ‘ medicalized’ birth.”
Before women could muster up opinions to the contrary, technology took hold once again, to the point where today the Cesarean section is the most common form of surgery performed in any hospital. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 1 in 3 babies in the United States is delivered by Cesarean section. USA Today reported that in 2006, 31.1 percent of U.S. births were by C-section, a 50 percent increase over the previous decade. Some doctors are even referring to C-sections as vaginal bypass surgery! While C-sections can be lifesaving operations when either the mother or the baby faces certain health-related problems, many health-care experts believe that a good number of C-sections are performed unnecessarily. Too often, they are scheduled to meet the personal needs of obstetricians or the hospital staff or to conform to the hectic lives of mothers themselves. In almost every country in the world outside of the United States, 75 to 80 percent of all low-risk pregnancies are attended by midwives. In the United States, most women are still opting for a hospital birth, but many report afterward that their experiences were less than ideal and sometimes traumatic. Often, they are disappointed with the clinical character of the process. Women often say that they felt as if they were not included in their childbirth. Other mothers have told me that even though they were well informed about “what to expect,” they were too scared of the pain to be emotionally present, so they relinquished control to the medical team. They did not know how to deal with the totality of the experience in real time because they really weren’t prepared.
On top of individual experiences, the main conversation about birthing that is often shared among traditional health-care providers, birthing professionals, and even girlfriends is that childbirth is a painful ordeal, an uncomfortable means to an end. The discussion then compartmentalizes the process into two categories: “successful” mainstream or “alternative” vaginal births, and “unfortunate” or “scheduled” C-sections.
Yet this negative and limiting conversation doesn’t have to exist at all. Today, many women, as well as mainstream health-care professionals, are speaking up against the current culture of childbirth, and changes are happening, even in hospitals. Doctors and midwives are uniting to find better solutions to the increasing rate of C-sections, as well as the rising costs of hospital births. Husbands and partners have reentered the birthing room. Mothers are encouraged to breast-feed by both obgyns and pediatricians: medical statistics now back up what many women have known all along, that breastfeeding is the healthiest feeding option for both mother and baby.
Tune in tomorrow for Part II: Childbirth Today…
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