GRAND Magazine - September 2009 - 27

predictions and baby concerns. Her midwife, April Kermani, a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife) in Las Vegas, Nevada , assured her during weekly checkups that everything was fine within. On the ninth day, April recommended black cohosh , an herb to promote labor. However, that evening the labor pains began and the herb wasn’t administered. At about 11:45 Roy woke me to say he’d filled the tub and April and her assistant would be arriving shortly. I found my daughter already sitting in the tub, smiling, quietly enduring through a contraction. Before the midwives arrived, Pua and Roy used their HypnoBirthing breathing exercises to go through a series of surges, or contractions. Her moans were primal, but there were no screams of fear or pain. When they arrived, the midwives set up their equipment ; then they sat down and waited for my daughter to do the work. Their words of encouragement were supportive, and the wee hours progressed smoothly. Roy soothed Pua by holding her closely and rubbing her back and shoulders. Eventually, April’s assistant checked for the baby’s crowning. When the top of the head appeared, she guided my daughter to “breathe down,” allowing the muscles to move the baby out. All the while, Pua moved around in the tub to assume comfortable positions, beginning with sitting alone and then sitting within Roy’s embrace, and ending with her arms around him as she gave birth to their child on her knees. I was awed by the sight of my granddaughter’s face emerging underwater. At 2:33 a.m. Ava emerged healthy, alert and curious. Kim clamped the umbilical cord in two places and handed a scissors to Roy to cut, but not until the cord pulsed out. April held the placenta in her gloved hands; it looked alive and sacred. (Roy and Pua later donated the placenta to University of Nevada Las Vegas Medical Research Center .) I couldn’t help but think about Pua’s birth—my own natural childbirth experience in a hospital—and how much easier the birthing experience would have been if I’d had the choices that are available to mothers today. G I was awed by the sight of my granddaughter’s face emerging underwater. The midwife recommends HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method by Marie F. Mongan, M.Ed., M.HY., Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Florida, 2005 ; and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon, Penguin Books, Plume Printing, New York, New York, 1996 . Click and connect to more resources instantly where you see this symbol:  SEPTEMBER 2009 GRAND 27

http://www.babys1stday.com/ http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/BlackCohosh.asp http://bloodcell.transplant.hrsa.gov/CORD/Options/Donating/index.html http://www.radiantbelly.com/babys1stday.html http://www.amazon.com/HypnoBirthing-natural-approach-comfortable-birthing/dp/0757302661 http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Childbirth-Bradley-Way-Revised/dp/0452276594/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248371438&sr=1-1

GRAND Magazine - September 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - September 2009