A mom’s triumph; birthing her twin daughters vaginally, naturally and with the use hypnobirthing®
I had just ordered my tea at Café Was where my friend, Dhana Taprogge, was about to sing, when Alisha called to tell me that Shiva was in early labor. Shiva, was a first time mom in her late 30s and was pregnant with twin girls. She became pregnant without fertility treatments and very quickly. She planned on birthing her daughters naturally, un-medicated, using HypnoBirthing® and having a great birthing team by her side; Dr. Paul Crane (her OBGYN), Alisha Tamburri (her Hypnotherapist/Doula), her husband, and myself (filming the birth).
I left the Café and drove home, changed, packed my video equipment and headed out to meet them at Dr. Crane’s office. It was about 11pm, the streets of LA were empty, what a pleasure. Dr. Crane monitored the twins’ heartbeat and checked their positions. Shiva was about 1cm dilated at this time. Baby A was vertex (head down), and baby B was transverse (horizontal above baby A). He explained the possibilities and options about what might happen and sent Shiva home to continue her process, as she wanted to labor at home for as long as she could.
At their home, Alisha sent Shiva’s husband, Sean, to sleep in the living room (he would need his energy later on!) while she helped Shiva go into deep hypnosis. Shiva would fall asleep between surges, and Alisha laid by her side whispering mantras and visualizations that helped Shiva stay focused, relaxed and deep in the zone.
At some point, Shiva got up and started dancing in the dim room. The only light came from the hallway. She was like a graceful flowing goddess in a sensual tantric dance, moving to the faint sound of beautiful Persian music.
Then she returned to bed with Alisha by her one side, helping her go deeper into hypnosis, and me at her back, massaging her shoulders. She threw up, she showered, she ate, she drank, she moved around, she sat in a big orange rocking chair, and lost herself in long moments of deep relaxation.
Dr. Crane returned during the night to check on her, and then again in the morning.
I think I may have slept for about 2 hours in their guest room. We had breakfast, gathered our belongings, and headed out to Dr. Crane’s office around 11am. On her way out, Shiva knocked on her neighbor’s door. Out came a little old lady, who was so excited to see Shiva and showered her with blessings and prayers. Dr. Crane checked her again at his office. Shiva was 8cm dilated!!! It was now time to head to the hospital.
We were placed in a temporary room where we waited for Shiva to be fully dilated. Alisha posted a HypnoBirthing® sign on the door, so that when the medical crew entered the room, they would respect and honor the quiet and calm environment of HypnoBirthing®.
The facts were sinking in, and the emotions were pouring out. “Jodie! Did I tell you that I just realized I’m having twin girls!!!???” Shiva said to me teary eyed. She was overjoyed, and shared a beautiful moment with Sean; a moment of bonding, acceptance, gratitude and love. They were going to be a family soon.
As Shiva was being prepared to transfer to the OR (hospital policy is to deliver twins in the OR) her nurse turned to me and said: “You can stay here and watch their belongings.” Alisha and I stared at one-another, wide eyed, and then at Shiva. Luckily, Dr. Crane, who was filling some paperwork in the room, turned and said – “They are all coming in, and that’s just the way it’s gonna be!” (or something to that extent).
Dr. Crane is a saint. He’s calm, patient, and ever so kind. He lets the birthing mom do her thing and supports her choices without forcing hospital policy or regulations, if they are not necessary.
There were about 10 people in the OR including Dr. Crane, pediatricians, nurses and us. Shiva was very clear and vocal about what she wanted and what wasn’t working for her. At some point she asked that the blood pressure cuff be removed from her arm, because it was distracting her from going into hypnosis. Not only did it constantly beep, but also every few minutes it inflated to check her pressure. “I’m not about to die here, so there is really no need for this, I’m taking it off!” was pretty much what she said. She also asked the medical team (politely) to be quiet and not talk to her, to let her push on her own without them supporting her legs, to basically let her birth her own way, in as much of a calm and quiet atmosphere as one could achieve in the OR. Alisha was by her one side helping her go into HypnoBirthing® mode, Sean was on the other side holding her hand lovingly and I was quietly moving about trying to capture it all while not getting in the way of the medical team.
Shiva worked very hard, it was challenging, but she trusted her body, her babies and her doctor. We had no idea what would happen once baby A was born, because when last checked, baby B was still transverse. Dr. Crane would possibly have to manually manipulate the baby into the vertex position, either internally or externally. A Cesarean birth was the last resort. The anesthesiologist administered an epidural catheter into Shiva’s spine, in case any of these procedures were necessary. In time, Shiva pushed her first little girl out to the awe and excitement of all present. In the midst of it all, she whispered the Shma Yisrael prayer, and her words merged with Alisha’s own prayers. Once Raya (baby A) was born and put on Shiva’s chest, and once Shiva’s bladder was emptied, baby B turned head down and made her victorious entrance into the world only 7 minutes after her sister’s. The epidural catheter was never put to use! Leyla was born, the prayers were answered, and the force was with her!
Evidently, most of the medical team had never seen a natural twins birth done at the hospital, ever! It was magical, and Shiva knew all along that Leyla would turn. Call it a mother’s intuition, trust or divine intervention; Shiva birthed her beautiful girls the way she envisioned it all along. Thanks to Dr. Crane, Alisha Tamburri, HypnoBirthing®, her husband’s support and the extremely patient medical team, Shiva had the birth she wanted.
I was so blessed to witness another sacred moment of birth and another birth of a family.
Mazal Tov Mama and Papa!
Much Love
Jodie
Midwifery in South Africa, back in the day…
Dear Readers,
A while ago I mentioned that I’ll get some interesting stories for you from family members who have worked (or still do), as childbirth professionals. Here’s the 2nd one, and this time it’s by a cousin named Louise. I found it fascinating, and hope you enjoy as well.
Thank you Louise for sharing your story and photos.
As usual, feel free to share and comment.
Happy Day to you all,
Jodie
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Young cousin Jodie has asked me to relate my studies leading up the status of Nurse/Midwife in South Africa. She is not aware that she is asking me to turn back the pages of my life to 1955, to when I was 22 years old.
In South Africa you needed a registered nurse certificate – a 3 ½ year hospital training – in hand, in order to become a Midwife. Midwifery was a further one year course after your 3 ½ year Registered Nursing Diploma course, all taken in a hospital with a mandatory stay in the Nurse’s quarters when not at work. No sleeping around in those days… University training was not available until somewhere in the late 1960’s.
In the 1920’s a woman had to stay in bed for a full 14 days after delivery, before she was allowed up and about. This led to thrombosis and often to maternal death.
In the 1950’s a woman was ambulatory after 12 hours confined to the bed, but had to remain in hospital, along with her infant, for 10 days. That was viewed as a rest period for the mother prior to her return home and all the chores that she would be subjected to!
The course was tough but fun, since there were a bunch of 40 nurses all running around in different sections of the maternity section of Addington Hospital in Durban, South Africa.
The year was divided up; working periods on Night Duty, Anti Natal Care (Clinical), Labor and Delivery, Post Natal Care for the mother and Post Natal Care for the infant, and back to the Clinic for follow up on mother and baby. Then there was the stressful nightmare (8 weeks of it) of “District” work – more on District later…
We had no vacation, nor long weekends, for the entire year. One day off per week but when you were off during the week, there were lectures to attend. You worked day duty from 7a.m. to 7p.m. with 4-hours off during the day. You attended lectures during that time, and studied should you have tests the next day.
Night Duty you worked 7p.m. to 7a.m. with 2 hours off for eating a full meal and hopefully getting a little shut-eye. When on night duty, you had to attend lectures during the day – except on weekends. However, you worked weekends as though they were weekdays!
The routine basically was work, lectures, study for tests, and hopefully having a kind boyfriend who does not mind putting up with your strange and unorthodox night and day routine! Doctors made excellent boyfriends since they lead basically the same crazy routine…
“District” was basically “home deliver” and this was accomplished mainly up in the hills in a certain area of Durban where the Indians lived. Not American Indians, but rather Indians from India. Some had fashionable homes; others lived modestly or in poverty. We had to always be available, night and day, in-between lectures, anytime, for when the call came that the woman was going into labor.
When that call came, a car and driver would drive one or two of us students, along with a trained midwife, up into the hills. Each of us carried a big brown doctor’s bag containing whatever was needed for a home delivery. We would set up “shop” in the bedroom, and monitor the mother-to-be until such time as the baby was due… if things progressed normally, you waited it out and partook of the curry meals and drinks that the hospitable Indians lavished on us profusely.
I might add that we never needed to purchase stockings since those also were lavished on us as gifts for services delivering the baby from the mother. They were generous and kind people.
Often the homes did not have more than a candle and many a delivery we had to perform holding a flashlight either by someone else or often nestled under your own armpit. When things progressed slowly, the trained midwife and one of us would be driven back to the hospital and one of us would be left praying, and praying, that all went well should the baby suddenly decide to come early and we were the only one present to do the delivery.
Also included in this grueling “District” work was going back into the hills of Durban the next day to give the mother and baby post natal care for the 10 days that was required by law. In that case you would run, again with your district bag, in and out of the homes, to do the necessary care needed.
They often named their babies after us and there were quiet a few Louise’ in the Indian community.
You do what?!?!
When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I film childbirth. Their reactions vary from aversion to awe and fascination. I get responses like, “You do what?!?! Why would anyone want their birth filmed??” to “Wow, people do that? I wish I knew you when my kids were born.“
I have my reasons for why I think the birth of a child is an amazing thing to document, but parents explain it best. They even surprise me with some of the things they say. You can watch two client testimonials on my website (Alice & Max, and Sara & Doug), and if you were a skeptic at first, they just might change your mind.
I’m waiting for the day that “Are you having your birth filmed?” or better yet “So who’s filming your birth?” will become routine questions. It’s a matter of time, but for now, I’m proud to be a leader in this niche of a field.
Blessings,
Jodie
Breech Home Birth: A Mother’s Blog
Hi again,
I would love to share with you Sara’s blog about her breech home birth.
Her story telling is beautiful and detailed. She posted it on the Mothering.com forum.
“It’s great having access to a community of supportive people,” Sara told me about this forum. So mothers and mothers to be, check it out, you might just find the inspiration and support you need right here.
It was interesting for me to read Sara’s perspective on her birth, and I hope you enjoy it as well. You can view Aurora’s breech home birth on my website.
Blessings,
Jodie
Breech Home Birth – She did it Her Way
In early May, Dr. Elliot Berlin approached me to film the home birth of his clients Sara and Doug. What made their birth different was that Aurora was born “Frank” breech. Sara and Doug wanted a home birth, and having had no success with repositioning their baby, Dr. Berlin and their midwife, Davi Khalsa, referred them to Dr. Stuart Fischbein. This was pretty much the only option for avoiding a surgical birth.
I’ve never witnessed a breech birth and had no idea what to expect. I’d attended a birth with Dr. Fischbein in the past, and having met Sara & Doug, I trusted that it would be amazing. AND IT WAS!
Sara has an eclectic taste in music, I learned, as we listened to some great tunes off their iTunes play-list in the background. She also bakes deliciously healthy bread that she joyfully shared. Since it was very early on a Sunday morning when they called me, I didn’t quite get to eat breakfast before I left my home. Her bread was the perfect meal. I also got to bond a bit with one of their cats (the other would never show her face) and since I was there before the rest of the birth support team, I got to capture some beautiful quiet moments between Sara and Doug.
They were calm and connected throughout. Witnessing their trust in themselves and in one another, and their love and courage was truly moving.
Sara’s attitude was fun and positive. She’d say things like “Yum yum yum yum yum….” during her surges and would giggle and smile at the end of them. Doug was her pillar of support and caressed her with endless love. Aurora slowly slid out, butt first. When she was about half way out, first her right foot popped out, then the left, then her shoulders, and finally Dr. Fischbein tilted her up and helped her head slide out perfectly. She was placed on Sara’s chest immediately and was nursing soon after.
Beth Cannon, the midwife who assisted Dr. Fischbein, and Emilee Benner, the doula, were both supportive and present the whole time. It was a pleasure working alongside this great birth team. I’ve never had a doctor help ME at a birth, as Dr. Fischbein did. He would actually move things out of the way, if they seemed to obstructed my view. Unbelievable. 
Thank you Sara and Doug for letting us share Aurora’s birth. I know that your birth journey will inspire other expecting parents and childbirth professionals.
You can see Aurora’s birth on my website www.mybirthmovie.com
(Go to the Videos tab, choose home births, and then Aurora’s birth)
I love reading your comments, so please feel free to add one. 
Best Wishes and Happy 4th of July to all,
Jodie Myers
Google really does bring people together
The internet never seizes to amaze me.
While sipping on my morning coffee today, I checked out the Google Analytics for my website: mybirthmovie.com. It is interesting to see how people find me; whether through a referring site, direct traffic or search engines.
Today, my Traffic Sources Overview pie chart showed that 42% of visitors came from referring sites. When I looked deeper, I found that nearly half of them came through birthvideos.11.forumer.com (WOW!). So of course, curious me, had to get to the bottom of this and see how I got there. What I found was that an author who goes by NFH posted this:
I just found recently this old clip Natural Childbirth (Jodie Myers ~ Childbirth Filmmaker) www.mybirthmovie.com and followed the MyBirthMovie link, and WOW, neat blog and great birth videos, WOW… looking forwards to see the other births, and waiting for more and more amazing new releases.
NFH, whomever you are, THANK YOU for your support, for appreciating my work and for sharing with others. (135 new visits!)
Like one of my clients said in her testimonial: Google really does bring people together.
My new Newsletter is the best way to keep up-to-date with my endeavors. I’ll let you know when I post a new blog or new birth, if my work is featured anywhere, about my progress on my documentary or any other childbirth related news that I think you may find of interest.
If you are interested in receiving it, please click HERE to complete the sign up form. Feel free to check it out, knowing that you can opt out at anytime. I know you are busy and your inbox might be overwhelmingly full, so I will try to keep my newsletters short and sweet.
Thanks for reading and have a blessed weekend,
Jodie Myers
First Video Testimonial is up!
I have just uploaded Baby Zen’s beautiful home birth to my website. You can find it under the Videos/Home Births tab, and you can read about his birth in an earlier blog I posted.
I also uploaded a wonderful testimonial by his parents (thank you guys!), so if you are curious about why parents would want the birth of their child filmed, or what it’s like to have me at a birth – check out their testimonial. You can find it under my Videos tab.
Feel free to leave feedback. I’d love to hear from you.
Blessings,
Jodie
CAT WOMAN
Somehow the world of childbirth, in its many forms, has been a part of different women in my close, distant and even in-law family. My mom was a South African trained R.N. and worked in the labor and delivery ward in Israel in the early 70s. My cousin, Elaine, is a perinatal nurse in Vancouver, Canada. Another distant cousin, Louise, was a midwife in South Africa in the 50s. My sister-in-law’s sister, Berglind, is an OBGYN in Iceland, and a very close and dear friend of my late father (and now mine), Pamela, was a childbirth educator who lectured both in the USA and abroad focusing on topics such as The Sensuality of Birth.
In the future I hope to share with you some stories and insights from these amazing women, and today I will start with my mom, Shaine. Hi Mom!
Cat Woman, is an award-winning speech my mom wrote and delivered at her Toastmasters meeting in Florida. It’s about one of her early experiences as an R.N. in the labor and delivery ward in Israel. I hope you enjoy.
Blessings,
Jodie
__________________
CAT WOMAN
It happened to me in the early seventies when I went to work in the Labor & Delivery ward of Beilinson Hospital in Israel.
I had not covered obstetrics during my 3 years of nurse’s training in South Africa.
It was all new to me – and to add to the stress level, everyone spoke Hebrew, which wasn’t my native language.
On my first day of work, the Matron of the hospital accompanied me to the Maternity wing to introduce me to the Head midwife.
There were three midwives – Sonia, Genia and Olga who all hailed from Russia.
They were tough old birds. They even looked alike. Their mouths were filled with gold capped teeth. Their upper arms had bulging biceps. Two of them had mustaches. The one with the beard didn’t. They would have made mean linebackers.
In the maternity wing, there was a constant rotation of nurses – here one week and gone the next. As a result, the 3 Russian midwives kept their distance and didn’t get chummy with anyone.
Matron had forewarned me not to expect a warm and fuzzy reception and this too added to my stress level. However…. When Matron introduced me to Sonia and said, “This is Shaine”, Sonia gasped. “SHAINA?” Then she yelled at the top of her voice “GENIA, OLGA come and meet Shaina.”
Turns out that my very “Yiddish” name meant a lot to these big-hearted, gruff ladies. So my name – which I had always considered to be a handicap, was now proving to be my biggest asset. The 3 Russians loved me … and in time the feeling was mutual.
They took me under their massive wings and were determined to turn me into a midwife extraordinaire.
I followed them through daily birthings and paid close attention to the many different procedures.
Things went fine …. UNTIL …. One day, they asked me to do the rounds and check each laboring woman’s diaper pad. This was how we could tell what stage the woman’s labor had reached. Was she bleeding… had her water broken? Etc.
I set off confidently to check on the half-dozen soon-to-be-Moms, while the Russian trio sat in the break room sipping steaming mugs of tea, reminiscing about the “Good Old Days” when they were lumberjacks in Russia, while the Red Army choir was singing “Volga Volga” on the tape recorder in the background.
Cheerfully approaching the first woman, I asked in my rudimentary Hebrew how she was doing. Then I got down to the business at hand. “May I check your CHA-TOOL?” I smiled.
“My CHA-TOOL?” she asked in shock. I knew my Hebrew was not that good, so I was guessing I had made a mistake. I asked again, this time using hand gestures to indicate what I wanted. That just made things worse. By now this poor woman was crying with laughter in between her labor pains. “She wants to see my CHA-TOOL!” she bellowed to everyone within hearing distance.
Due to the commotion, the trio of Russian midwives came to investigate. Upon hearing the explanation, they too started laughing hysterically.
I stood there in total ignorance. “What the heck was so funny?” I felt foolish, humiliated and my sense of professionalism crumbled rapidly.
Finally Sonia explained it to me.
The word for a diaper pad is CHEE-TOOL. The word I was saying – CHA- TOOL – is the word for “cat.” I had been asking the patient if I could check her “cat.”
It took a while to live that one down. It was repeated throughout the hospital. After that, I became known as “the cat woman.” That bothered me for a long, long time. But as I look back on it now, I’d much rather be known as “the cat woman” than as “the diaper woman.” I think “cat woman” sounds ever so much sexier.
“MEOW!” Don’t you?
The World Is Our Oyster
I signed up for Google Analytics as soon as I went live with my new website, and I’m fascinated by the information it provides. This is a terrific tool for anyone who has a website, especially businesses, and its free!
I see where my site is viewed (country as well as city), how it is found, what key/tag words are used to find me and more.
To date, I’ve been viewed in 41 countries. Malaysia being the 2nd top viewing country after the USA!
I’d like to ‘challenge’ my self (and feel free to join in and help if you’d like), and get my site viewed at least once in every country, or as many as possible… Why? Because the World Wide Web is out there, and I want to ride it. I want to connect and reach as far as I can and spread some positive inspiration to expecting moms, couples and childbirth professionals. And who knows, maybe some day I’ll even get to meet some of these people who somehow found my site.
So below is the list (in order of most views to least) of countries that already viewed my site, and the rest is open to explore.
USA, Malaysia, Israel, Australia, Germany, Canada, India, Pakistan, UK, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, New Zealand, Italy, Brazil, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Austria, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Iceland, Greece, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Panama, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Kuwait, Costa Rica, and Luxembourg.
It’s 11:11am, the 2nd time I’m posting at this time…
Blessings,
Jodie
Baby Valenko’s quick arrival (on his due date!)
Valenko ~ Born 3:42am, April 16th, 2011
This was the first home birth I attended with Dr. Stuart Fischbein, the only local OBGYN that I know of who delivers babies at home. Juli Anderson, was the midwife, and it was a great pleasure to work with them both.
This was the couple’s 3rd birth. Their first, a girl, was a water birth at a birthing center. The second, a boy, was planned to be the same, but they didn’t quite make it on time and he ended up being a rush-hour-on-the-405-freway-carpool-lane birth. So for the third one, a surprise, they decided on a home birth.
Knowing that she tends to birth fast, the mom was a bit concerned that I wont make it on time, especially since I live 24 miles away, and LA rush hour can turn that into 1.5-2 hours of driving. So when we met for the first time, I expressed how important our communication would be as we get closer to the due date. I also provided them with a list I created of “When To Call Jodie.” I told them that I’d rather be there way early and crash on their sofa if necessary, than miss their birth. Besides, I have friends in their area that I could hang out with and be just a 10min call away. They loved the idea, and that’s indeed what happened. As soon as Mom felt the slightest sensations and we knew it could happen that night, I drove over. It was on a Thursday night, sometime after 9:30pm. I arrived, the house was quiet, the kids were sleeping, and soon after so was I.
The next morning, we all enjoyed breakfast together, and I spent most of the day working on my new website. In the evening I visited friends who lived in the area and at about 9pm, I got a text from the dad saying that the sensations were getting a bit more intense, so I headed back. I started filming just as they were calling Dr. F with an update. The surges were about 8 min apart. Mom reminded Dr. F, that she did not want to be pressured into breaking the water. “She can design her own birth,” he told her husband over the speakerphone, “we’ll be there in about an hour.” I just love that approach!
Passing time between surges
Mom was laboring in bed, and not much was happening. The surges were still about 8min apart.
Indeed within the hour, Dr. F and Juli were there, and so was the babysitter who was a great set of extra hands and helped in anyway she could.
Dr. F and I thought that perhaps if they took a nice night walk in the neighborhood I could join to film them, and the birthing will shift and pick up some pace.
It was a beautiful, almost full moon night, and besides some very expressive birds in the area, the neighborhood was silent. Mom, Dad and little dog walked swiftly and stopped on occasion for a surge.
She paced up and down stairways, did some lunges on the sidewalk, had a surge here and there, and once in a while stopped for the dog to pee. About an hour later we headed back home.
By now the surges were more like 3 minutes apart! We all decided to lay down for a bit and let the couple have some alone time. I have no idea how long I slept for, maybe an hour, maybe less, when I woke up abruptly to the sound of “SHE’S PUSHING!” Within less than 3 seconds I moved from horizontal to vertical status with camera in hand and ran to the bedroom.
Within two and a half minutes and one push, Baby Valenko was brought out and onto his Mommy’s chest by his Daddy and Dr. F.
Their little dog was on the bed the entire time, often curious, often just chilling by Mommy’s feet, and when the baby was born he came closer to sniff the little one.
Thank G-d I’m a light sleeper and my instincts kicked in fast, because even though I was right in their home, I could have missed it. That’s how fast it was! Another boy! Another great surprise!
Checking the sex
Soon after Valenko was born, Daddy brought in the two cats, one by one, to smell the new baby as well.
I continued filming ‘till the morning; all the lovely first moments of Baby Valenko’s life outside the womb, and when his little brother and sister awoke, they got to meet him for the first time and I got some more sweet moments to remember for the family.
