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The Amazing Placenta
Issue 131
NOTES
1. Problems with this process, called placentation, are thought to underlie pregnancy complications such as miscarriage, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia/toxemia, and “small for dates” babies. Immune and nutritional factors are also thought to be involved in these conditions. See H. Fox, “A Contemporary View of the Human Placenta,” Midwifery 7, no. 1 (March 1991): 31–39.
2. Margie Profet, Pregnancy Sickness: Using Your Body's Natural Defenses to Protect Your Baby-To-Be (Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1997).
3. H. J. Fineberg, “The Placenta and Umbilical Cord: Recent Observations,” Lecture and Society of Diagnostic and Medical Sonography (SDMS) official proceedings, 10th Annual SDMS Conference, Anaheim, CA (1993): 241. See also T. J. Dubose, http://forums.obgyn.net/forums/ob-gyn-l/OBGYNL.9609/0750.html
4. For more about the myth of “gestational diabetes” and the placenta as the baby’s advocate, see: Michel Odent, “Gestational Diabetes: A Diagnosis Still Looking for a Disease, Primal Health Research newsletter 12, no.1 (Spring 2004): 1–6; and M. Odent, The Scientification of Love, rev. ed. (London: Free Association Books, 2001): Chapter 11, “Conflicts Between Mother and Foetus.”
5. For more about clearing accumulated toxins before conception, see http://www.foresight-preconception.org.uk/programmes/prepprog.html
6. Some midwives report hearing a placental swoosh with a fetal stethoscope or Doppler, from which the placenta’s site can sometimes be estimated. See http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/placprev.html
7. However, if the baby’s placenta is not healthy and/or the early process of placentation was not normal, the placenta, like a tree with shallow roots, may not be able to support ongoing growth. See Note 1.
8. Although now routine, EFM, which involves a monitor strapped to the belly (or a needle screwed into the baby’s scalp), has not been shown to offer any advantages over listening intermittently to the baby’s heart.
9. Harvesting a baby’s “cord blood” (which is actually the placental transfusion) deprives the baby of 100 ml or so of their own blood, which is designed to aid the transition from womb to world, as described. Cord blood harvesting also deprives the babies of significant numbers of their own stem cells: the effects of this deprivation are not known.
10. Sarah Buckley, “Leaving Well Alone: A Natural Approach to the Third Stage of Labour,” in Shivam Rachana, ed., Lotus Birth (Yarra Glen, Australia: Greenwood Press, 2000): 37–50; http://www.cordclamping.com/Buckley.htm (an updated version to be published in Sarah Buckley’s forthcoming book, Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering).
11. G. Morley, “Autism, ADD/ADHD, and Related Disorders: Is a Common Childbirth Practice to Blame?,” http://www.redflagsweekly.com/features/Morley.html
12. G. Morley, “Cord Closure: Can Hasty Clamping Injure the Newborn?,” OBG Management (July 1998): 29–36; http://www.cordclamping.com/morley1.htm
13. G. Morley, “A Refutation of ACOG’s Report on Cerebral Palsy,” http://www.cordclamping.com/acog-cp.htm
14. For more about Lotus birth, see Sarah Buckley, “Lotus Birth: A Ritual for Our Times,” in Shivam Rachana, ed., Lotus Birth (Yarra Glen, Australia: Greenwood Press, 2000): 124–128; http://www.sarahjbuckley.com
15. R. Lim, “Lotus Birth: Asking the Next Question,” Midwifery Today 58 (Summer 2001): 14–16
16. J. Blythe, “Traditional Midwifery and Childbirth Practices in Zimbabwe,” talk, Brisbane, Australia (29 August 1998).
17. Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough (New York: Macmillan, 1922): 40; http://www.bartleby.com/196/
18. Jeannine Parvati Baker, Freestone Innerprizes Newsletter (Spring 2000), personal communication. See also J. P. Baker, Prenatal Yoga and Natural Childbirth, 3rd ed. (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2001): 51–56.
19. See Note 10: 1–11.
20. See Note 10: 124. Also, my daughter Zoe described being attached to “a love-heart thing” in my belly.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Buckley, Sarah. “Lotus Birth: A Ritual for Our Times.” http://www.womenofspirit.asn.au/docs/sb_lotus_birth.txt or www.sarahjbuckley.comhttp://www.sarahjbuckley.com
Fox, H. “A Contemporary View of the Human Placenta.” Midwifery 7 (1991): 31–39.
Lotus Birth information pack, $15 ppd from http://www.freestone.org/optimal_health
Odent, M. “Back to the Nocebo Effect.” Primal Health Research Newsletter 5, no. 4 (1995).
Rachana, Shivam. Lotus Birth. Yarra Glen, Australia: Greenwood Press, 2000. Available for $25 ppd from http://www.freestone.org/optimal_health or see http://www.womenofspirit.asn.au/lotus_web/lotus.htm for excerpts and image gallery.
Yetter III, MD, J. F. “Examination of the Placenta.” http://www.aafp.org/afp/980301ap/yetter.html
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