Happy Birthday to me!!

Hi all! My birthday is coming up on Sunday April 5th! I love birthdays! Especially mine... :-)

This year, I'd like to give a gift to all of you.

I am teaching a FREE teleclass that will guide you through the facts about all the prenatal tests and screenings that are offered to pregnant women. And I'm doing on my birthday. Everyone who registers will not only get the information live, and have an opportunity to ask questions on the call, but you will also get an mp3 recording of the call the next day (great for those of you who may not be able to make it live) and a free pdf report including all the information we are going to cover on the call!

That means that if you are pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or might want to have a family some day - this is information that will be valuable to you now and in the future.

Join me on Sunday night, Apr 5th, invite your husbands, partners and friends to join and let's have a 'virtual' birthday party while also sharing valuable information about your health and the health of you future children!

Register here!
(p.s. those of you on the call will also get a sneek peak at my new "Members Only" site that will be launching on March 30th! There are some very exciting things that will be provided exclusively for members - including live expert interviews, parent spotlights and more! So you won't want to miss that!)

Trusting Our Instincts - INPUT NEEDED!!

Hi all!! Today I need your help!

Please send me your personal stories of how trusting your intuition caused a positive outcome. I'm also lookig for stories where you went against your gut feeling and wish you hadn't. One entry will be chosen as the "Member Highlights" feature in my next newsletter!
And all submissions will be entered for a chance to win a 1 hour live mentoring session with me (in person or phone depending on location) that can be redeemed for up to one year!

Your story could be featured in my next issue of Whole Body Birth! My reader gain insights inspirations and guidance to support healthy, knowledge-based choices about their health.

email your stories to: info@wholebodybeauty.com

Please try to keep your submition to 3 paragraphs max. Your story does not have to be specifically related to pregnancy or birth.
Can't wait to read them!
Love,
Ayelet

Informed Choices means you also have the right to refuse

It has been really helpful being pregnant as I delve deeper into my commitment to empower women with knowledge of their choices in childbirth. Because friends as well as strangers share their experiences with me and it has given me such wonderful insight into the beliefs that we hold about our pre-natal care.

I went to have a particular screening done this morning, and when I went to the OB at my HMO for a referral, she pulled up my ID on her computer, noticed that I was 20 weeks and said, "You also need the ___ test." (I'm not sharing specific information about which tests because I don't want to create any biases based on my own choices.) Mind you, this woman had seen me once when I first joined the HMO and went for my first pre-natal appointment in this country. And she didn't even have my medical history because I still haven't managed to have my charts from the US brought over here. The only information she had was how many weeks pregnant I was.

We take it for granted that what is offered to us and presented as "routine" is also necessary for every patient. The truth is that this is not the case. Care providers are required to offer you all the screenings that are available in pregnancy. Some may have a policy to require many or all of them in their practice. They certainly get paid for every screening they perform. And valuable information can be gleaned from each one.

However - very big however!! - it is extremely important for each one of us, as individuals, to realize that there are risks and benefits to each one of the pre-natal tests. Sometimes the benefits outweigh the risks but sometimes the opposite is true! Sometimes a woman who has absolutely no risk factors is offered an amnioscentescis, and because it is presented to her as routine for the practice, she goes ahead and has this invasive procedure done. One of the risks of amnioscentesis is miscarraige!! Now, certainly, if a pregnancy has specific risk factors for certain birth defects or genetic diseases an amnioscentesis can give the mother and her care provider valuable information about how to proceed with the pregnancy. And in some cases, risking a miscarraige is worth the benefit of knowing the genetic details of the fetus.

BUT, if you were offered this screening without you being in any of the risk categories for the information the test provides, and you knew that there was a even a small chance that you could lose your baby - would you do it?

If you knew the risks, if you had the truth, the unbiased information about the benefits and risks of each pre-natal test then you could choose which tests to have and which to decline.

If you had the information and still weren't sure, you could discuss your options with your care provider and be able to understand and process her answers and come to an informed decision.

What would you give to have that information clearly explained to you, not just on paper, but on a live forum where you would be able to interact in realtime, ask specific questions and have them answered ON THE SPOT by knowledgable, caring, experts who's only interest is to help women make the right choices for their care?

Join me on Sunday night, April 5th at 8pm EST for a FREE teleclass called, "Testing, Testing, 123! Your Guide to Prenatal Tests"

In this call you will get:

• an overview of the pre-natal tests that are offered and their purposes.
• risks vs. benefits for various tests
• a description of patient rights in the US
• and a special invitation to have access to an exclusive program that will open up the information of pregnancy and birth in a way that has never been available before!
  

Register here to reserve your spot on the call!

Venahafoch Hu - Flip your reality

Tonight, Jewish people all over the world will begin celebrating the festival of Purim.
While the basic message is the same as all the Jewish Festivals, (i.e. "They tried to kill us, God saved us, Let's eat!") This one, as they all do, has it's own unique message as well.

In the story of Purim, God's intervention is hidden. Unlike the story of the Exodus, for example, where the miracles were undeniable (and can even be found mentioned in ancient writings from other parts of the world at that time!) in the Purim story, the events unfold very much as our every day life unfolds. And the story is even told in a very narrative voice. ("And it was in the days of Kind Achashverosh...")

By all natural circumstances, the decree of the king's viceroy, Haman, should have been carried out to it's end. The Jewish nation could have been eliminated in that one single day. But that is not what happened. Through a series of seemingly natural events, the king chooses a Jewish bride (unbeknownst to him), Queen Esther's uncle uncovers a plot to poison the king and therefor enters in the king's favor, Haman gets cocky and tries to don the king's clothes - raising the king's suspicions. And in the end, it is Haman and his sons who are destroyed and the Nation of Israel (far the minority, even then) triumphs over their oppressor's and live to tell the tale - and celebrate it to this day through feasting, charitable giving, bringing gifts of food to friends, and hearing the story of the megillah.

We also dress up in costumes, why? Because the lesson in this story is that the faith of the people caused the evil decree to be overturned. Everything that seemed as if it would inevitably happen, changed completely, and it was a completely opposite event that actually occured!

What reality are you experiencing in your life that seems inevitable? You can change it! You can reverse it completely! If you can change your belief, you can change your reality! Venahafoch Hu! "It was flipped around!"

Info On Common Pregnancy Complications

If you are a birth professional: Midwife, OB/GYN, L&D nurse, doula, etc... please help me out by sending me thee most common pregnancy complications you have encountered in your practice.

I'm also interested in hearing ways that you have treated/prevented these complications in your patients and clients.

The information is going to be compiled into an article that I am writing, and I will be happy to send you a completed copy of the article for use in your practices.

Please send information to ayelet@wholebodybeauty.com and please pass this inquiry around to other birth professionals you know. Thank you for helping me help the women and families we serve!

Personal Pride for the Success of a Friend

Travel back in time with me, for a moment. It's a Saturday night in 1999, I am sitting on the floor in my friend, Ben's basement. The room is barely large enough to hold the drum set, amps, several guitar stands and microphones that it contains. But somehow equipment plus 5 or 6 people are in there. The walls are lined with blankets to keep the sound in (haha!).

Ben and Eli are jamming on their guitars while Menachem expertly wails on the drums. The three of them are in some sort of transcendental sync, one somehow taking unspoken cues from the others and creating harmony. I'm enjoying my life in this moment. My eyes are closed and I'm just floating on the melodies and letting them fill me with joy.

Fastforward ten years: Yoram and I have been in Israel as new immigrants ("Olim" as we're called here, meaning "Rise Up" good deal!) and we've been pretty much running around like headless chickens for the past 7 weeks! Last week on Wednesday night, we decided it was time for a date. We hired a babysitter and went to the center of Jerusalem to hear Remedy play at the C'nan.

They were fantastic! Passionate and talented, with lyrics that pierce the heart and music that pierces the soul, they truly were the perfect 'Remedy' for me that night! And I couldn't help feeling just the smallest bit of personal pride to see my friends, Ben and Eli and Menachem really living their dream. And of course Zack Reich on Bass - I didn't know him before, but hey! He was awesome too!

Go check them out at www.myspace.com/remedyrockandroll and tell them I sent you!!

Guys, I hope you're reading this! (And Sarah and Elisheva too!) I wish you all the blessings in the world, of success in living your passion! It's just going to keep getting better, you really have something beautiful and necessary to offer this world.

Inspiration and Implementation

WOW! So much has happened in the past 24 hours, it blows my mind!

There is a Jewish teaching that says: "The path on which a person chooses to walk, God guides her/his steps" I have always been a huge believer in this and I have so often seen this manifest in my life. When I have an idea and I begin to pursue it despite all obstacles, I invariably receive clear help from above!

So here I am with ideas abound and the power, desire and ways to implement them! I am taking massive action, just as my mentor, Suzanne, always teaches, and providing higher levels of value to you, my wonderful readers!

Go ahead and check out my NEW website! http://www.wholebodybeauty.com and you'll see a sampling of all the new exciting features that are going on!

There are free reports being written, joint ventures in the works to bring you added content and expert advice, and new classes being developed for those of you who are growing your family - and professional development courses for those of you who are birth professionals who want to expand your knowledge base!

I'm also going to have a subscribers only section which will include a forum, live classes and chat sessions, and expert Q&A calls with some names that you will definitely recognize! (Like the people who are featured on this website! Check it out!)

Are you feeling the excitement?!?!

A special thank you to my exceptional VA, Jacki!
And to my wonderful, supportive and talented husband, Yoram, for his web development and efficiency expertise!
If you are a small business owner or solo-preneur, you must check out their websites and see if they can help you too! Jacki, Yoram)

I am now also on Facebook and Twitter! Come follow me!

"See" you in the webisphere!

Debunking our Culture of Fear

I heard an amazing story this weekend from a woman who is about to have her sixth child. She lives on a small moshav (settlement) in the Golan Heights where we were honored to be guests this past weekend. We began talking about childbirth because she asked me what I do, and when I'm due! I told her I'm a Perinatal Health Mentor and a doula, and I'm due in July, and that's always a good conversation starter!

She told me that all her births were completely natural. She likes to be left alone and her labors tend to go very quickly. She goes to Poriya hospital, about 40 minutes from her home, and feels very comfortable there. Since I am focused on eliminating fears around pregnancy and birth, I wanted to know how she came to choose natural birth. This is what she told me.

She said that when she was pregnant with her first, she had heard that birth is so painful and it's so hard - and she was curious about what it really felt like and if she could handle it. Once she experienced her first birth and found it to be acheivable, she decided she could do it and proceeded to have 4 more natural births and expects this next one to come in just the same way.
"But", she said, "everyone is different and I was very lucky."

Isn't that incredible? Curiosity led her to allow her body to birth her baby. I pointed out that luck had nothing to do with it! What she showed me in that short conversation was that not only was she not afraid of birth or the pain she'd heard about, but she also had to have a high level of trust in her body, in the process of having a baby, and (being a religious woman) in God. I didn't have a chance to ask her more about where her beliefs about her body and about birth came from, but it's clear that she wasn't raised in our typical western culture.

Why do we fear childbirth? Where does it come from? That's what I'm trying to find out! You can help me by filling out this very short questionnaire.

But more importanty, what are the risks of this fear? How does it affect you? How does it affect your baby? And how can we change it?

• Fear allows us to be easily persuaded. As long as pregnancy, birth and women's health needs in general are kept mysterious and scary, anyone who seems to have more knowledge than we do will be able to dictate our choices.
  

• With so many resources out there, it can be hard to weed out the truth. The main problem here is that most information you will find on women's health has an underlying agenda. Always check your source. Hospitals derive more than half their revenue from birth, so if a study or an informational pamphlet or a childbirth education course is given by the hospital, you can expect that it will tout the wonders of interventions which they can conveniently bill for. Let me be clear: I am not here to say that a hospital will intentionally do harm to a patient for the purpose of creating more revenue. (At least I hope not!!) What I am saying is that you can find proof for anything that you are trying to prove. My husband likes to say that for each study, there is an equal and opposite study, and also that research causes cancer in lab rats... well, anyway...! The point is that it is very hard to find information that doesn't come from a source who's soul purpose is to benefit the mother and baby. And it can absolutely come from the opposite end as well! Those who are out to prove that medicine is a crock and only babies born natural have a "birth day" (as opposed to a "delivery day" - yes, this is a statement that has been actually published!) can scare you away from technology that might very well be necessary for your particular situation! And although you may hear fewer horror stories from "natural" birthers than from the medical world, there are absolutely situations that require the use of the wealth of medical knowledge and technology that humans have developed over the past 5000+ years!
  

So how do we learn the TRUTH? How can I, a pregnant woman, know that I am making choices based on knowledge and evidence, and not out of fear of the unknown? How can I know if that emergency C-section was what saved my baby and that it wasn't the machine's margin of error that indicated stress to begin with?

That is the journey I am taking. And the first step is to increase our knowledge and for it to come from a source with no hidden agenda. We need to get a balanced understanding of our bodies, of this miraculous process of pregnancy and become so comfortable with our understanding of it that we can feel confident in our choices and our outcomes.

Freedom is born of knowledge, knowledge is gained by learning.