Childbirth Class
* Some Photos May Be Explicit
You will find in any of my childbirth education classes your fears are subsided, you are armed with useful information to make the best informative decisions and that the data is up to date. My goal is to help the family feel “empowered” at their prenatal visits as well as at their birth. I am available throughout the pregnancy (and beyond) for questions and or problems.
6 classes every other week, 3 hours each session
This class is great for the families who would like to expand their learning curve and enjoy small groups. Preferrably started around the end of the first trimester and followed throughout pregnancy. Topics included but are not limited to:choosing a optimal place for your special delivery as well as the healthcare provider whom you would like to hire to guide you, nutrition, exercise, discomforts, fears, “the ball”, birth art, anatomy, labor and birth, interventions (including epidural), baby care, postpartum etc.
Private classes
10 hours of individual attention in your home or my office. This class is great for those with erractic schedules or moms on bed rest. You will receive the same information as the series in less time.
Refresher
Bare bones information for those that have already had a previous class, but need some reminders. This class covers healing from prior birth experiences ,choosing an optimal birth place and midwife or doctor, learning how to create a “sacred birth space”, comfort techniques, breathing etc.
Using garlic to kill Vaginal GBS
It is difficult to get rid of GBS because it recolonizes the vagina easily, probably from the intestines. Doctors have developed a way to decrease GBS colonization at birth, to protect the baby on her way out, with a large dose of Penicillin in the veins which must be given 4 hours before birth.
Since garlic also kills GBS, perhaps Garlic may be able to prevent newborn GBS disease by using it directly in the vagina in the weeks before birth. Fresh cut or crushed Garlic kills GBS for an hour or two after being cut. Garlic may have less side effects than Penicillin in preventing GBS. 10% of people are allergic to Penicillin, whereas garlic causes allergic reactions about 1 in 100,000 people. Garlic to pregnant women lowers their blood pressure.(1,2,3,4) To date, no studies have found harmful effects of oral garlic in pregnancy. Each study found garlic to have a protective effect in pregnancy.
I am collecting results from women around the world thru email. Women in many countries are routinely cultured towards the end of pregnancy for GBS. If the results are positiveà when labor starts, the doctor orders 2 million units of Penicillin as a first dose and then 1 million units every 4 hours.
1 in about 5,000 women will have life long kidney damage from an allergic reaction to the Penicillin. Alternatives to penicillin are not nearly as effective in protecting the baby from GBS. Approximately 1 full term baby per 2000-5000 will be saved by the antibiotics.
When Garlic is inserted vaginally for 8 nights it will convert a large percentage of women who previously cultured positive(+) to GBS negative(-), if the culture is taken immediately after the last day of treatment.
Garlic cloves differ in their amount of active, anti-microbial ingredient, called “allicin”. The active ingredient is released upon cutting or crushing the clove. The active ingredient is toxic to GBS as well as yeast and cancer cells. If a woman has damaged vaginal skin inserting garlic may result in a burning sensation when the garlic touches the lips, but usually stops when it is inserted inside.
Just as antibiotics have bad side effects, it seems logical that garlic also has side effects. This study proposes to test an alternative to antibiotics, but does not promise results. That’s why it is a study!
Garlic protocol:
Break a fresh, dry, hard clove from a bulb of garlic and peel off the paper-like cover. Cut in half. A whole clove will NOT work. A crushed clove releases more allicin, but is harder to insert. Sew a string thru it for easy retrieval. Putting the clove in gauze will prevent direct contact and decrease effectiveness.
Put damaged garlic clove in your vagina in the evening before you go to sleep. Many women taste garlic in their mouths as soon as it is in their vagina- so it is less pleasant to treat while awake.
In the morning, the garlic may come out when you poop. If not, many women find it is easiest to take it out on the toilet. Circle the vagina with a finger, till you find it. It cannot enter the uterus through the cervix. It cannot get lost- but it can get pushed into the pocket between the cervix and the vaginal wall.
Most people will taste the garlic as long as it is in there. So if you still taste it, it is probably still in there. Most women have trouble getting it out the first time.
For easy retrieval sew a string through the middle of the clove before you put it in- You dont want to get irritated in the process of getting rid of the GBS. Be gentle. Dont scratch yourself with long nails. Repeat this for 8 nights (around week 36). Or for 2 nights on, 1 night off, for 5 times (8 nights in 15 days)
After the eight night of treatment, get cultured at the health care place you go to. Before you go to get the culture, wash perineum and rectal area with soap and put on clean cotton underwear. GBS usually lives in your large intestine, and from there contaminates the vagina. A Rectal/Vaginal culture is done with a cotton swab inserted into the vagina and then into the anus.
When women are treated with antibiotics, the GBS returns soon after antibiotics regime is finished. The same is probably true with garlic. Therefore, if you culture positive and then use garlic to get a negative culture, you might consider inserting garlic once a week until you deliver the baby.
The level of garlic “smell” is a very poor indication of the real amount of
allicin (active ingredient) that is generated. The olfactory receptors of the average person are so sensitive that even 1 mg of allicin molecules in the air will saturate the receptors so our nose and seem the same as 100 mg.
Allicin is gradually produced in the crushed clove for about 2 hours after the clove is damaged and simultaneously degraded. Once in contact with the mucosa or bacteria it degrades rapidly. No one knows how long it can be active when in contact with mucosa.
Bacteria are about 30 times more sensitive to allicin than human cells but at high concentrations also human cells suffer so use smaller amounts of crushed garlic with more frequent changes.
References:
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR5111.pdf
References:
1. Prevention of fumonisin-induced maternal and developmental toxicity in rats by certain plant extracts. J Appl Toxicol Nov-Dec 2004;24(6):469-74.
2. Emergence of Long-Term Memory for Conditioned Aversion in the Rat Fetus. Dev Psychobio 2004; 44: 189–198.
3. Protective effects of garlic juice against embryotoxicity of methylmercuric chloride administered to pregnant Fischer 344 rats. Yonsei Med J. 1999;40(5):483-9.
4. The effect of garlic on plasma lipids and platelets in primips with high risk of preeclampsia.Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2001 Dec 1;99(2):201-6.
PS. In case you were wondering: Garlic ingestion by pregnant women alters the odor of amniotic fluid. Chem Senses. 1995 Apr;20(2):207-9.