Pregnancy
The Embrace of Welcome
We are deeply welcomed when a significant other, such as a parent or partner, shares with us their heart-felt happiness that we are here - that we exist – and are wanted. A welcome can impart love, a sense of belonging and a heart-felt welcome from a friend, or even a...
I Need A Pause
The photograph above was taken in my office after a Prenatal & Birth Play session with three-year-old Lily and her parents. The blue and green hanging pouch/seat in the picture represents the womb and the cuddly toy, chosen and placed into the pouch by Lily,...
FOR PROFESSIONALS: Core Isolation in Prenates, Babies, Children & Adults
Published in the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health 35(2), Summer 2021 Abstract: Isolation experienced during the foundational period from preconception through early infancy affects core imprinting. Attachment and embodiment issues are central to...
Our Conception-Birth Imprints Can Arise When We Decide to Have A Baby
I frequently observe pre-pregnant, pregnant, and birthing women re-living their own journey into life - their experiences, memories, and imprints from their own conception to newborn period. Re-living and remembering our own early imprints can begin before we conceive...
FOR PROFESSIONALS: Prenatal Developmental Milestones in Attachment
It’s now acknowledged within mainstream psychology that attachment begins at birth. The cutting edge field of Somatic Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology (SPPP) finds that attachment begins way before birth, a wisdom that is not yet in the mainstream thinking and...
Some Causes of Womb & Birth Trauma
About Womb Trauma Please don’t feel bad if you read the list below and see some experiences that happened to you during your pregnancy. There are many mitigating factors when it comes to assessing the extent to which stress, trauma, or an event has affected you and...
What Is Conscious Early Parenting?
What can you, as individuals and parents, do about the way you are bringing your children in to life, so that they have the best chance at holistic health? One of the core principles of Somatic Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology is that babies are conscious and...
How In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Affects Babies and Children
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) children are some of the most wanted children on the planet. Anyone who has gone through IVF to have a child is a courageous and determined person. IVF gives many couples a chance to have their dream of parenthood come true, and it is a miracle that medical science has found a way to make this happen. Medical procedures often focus on the biological level only, and the emotional/psychological/spiritual aspects of the experience can be neglected. Conception is a powerful and sacred moment, and pregnancy is the cauldron for our life’s deepest, core templates, also influencing our brain and neurological wiring. In my work with IVF families, I attempt to bring the sacred and the practical back together, providing a balanced, integrated approach.
THE PREGNANT PATIENT’S BILL OF RIGHTS
I found this on the Alliance for the Improvement of Maternity Services (AIMS) web site, and I think that it is very important that every birthing family fully understands their rights if choosing labor and birth, or just birth, in hospital. It is also important to...
The Vulnerable Prenate by William R. Emerson, Ph.D.
Thanks to William for sharing this chapter of his book with us: Chapter 6: The Aware and Vulnerable Prenate “Woman is the artist of the imagination and the child in the womb is the canvas whereon she painteth her pictures” Paracelsus (1493-1541) Ben was seven years...