Tag: pregnancy

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Autumn Growth

The days are getting shorter,
my body moves with the sun:
early to bed, late to rise.
The leaves have fallen,
blanketing the earth
so the root children can sleep and
grow in secret, deep
in their mother’s womb.
My womb is filled with
a joy only I can feel, secret
movements and splashes.
Only a fullness in my
breasts and belly betray
the hidden life growing within me.
But the life is strong
drawing nourishment from my blood,
encouraging me to eat well
and gently care for my body.
The sweet soul within me
wants more than food;
Baby craves Reiki, loving touch,
and peaceful thoughts.
I tap into a power greater than me,
the Universal Mother, and
Baby and I both are nourished.

I feel more and more connected with my baby everyday. I am officially at the beginning of my third trimester. There are a lot of grand movements in my belly. My baby loves Reiki. It is really amazing. All will be quiet in my womb, but when I place hands on my belly and start sending Reiki the baby responds instantly with movement. Baby will draw a lot of Reiki for a long time and then things will quiet down again. The last time I was on someone else’s Reiki table the larger part of the session was focused on Baby. The practitioner felt that Baby was healing on a soul level. When I give myself Reiki the flow has a peaceful excitement; I do not sense that the Reiki is working primarily on the physical level– although I know it is supporting my baby’s tremendous growth– but the connection is more if a spiritual one. I am communicating with my baby’s spirit.

Last night when my daughter was giving Baby Reiki Baby responded sweetly to her touch with a lot of movement. They had a very special connection for a long time. Baby knows her big sister! We are very excited to receive the new person in our home on the physical plane. But even though we don’t know Baby’s gender or what their face will look like we are already communing soul to soul.

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Summer Update

Red Fish Lake, Idaho (one of my favorite places in the world)

The summer has passed without any update.  Summer is a time for vacations, but I have not been on vacation– at least not the whole time.  I did have a lovely visit with my family out west.  I spent a week camping in the Sawtooth mountains of Idaho with my siblings and their spouses/significant others and children.  That was awesome, definitely a highlight.

me and my sibs after a week of camping

I am still working towards becoming a Reiki Master Teacher.  I will teach my first class October 18 in New Hampshire.  And my first class in Wilmington will be in November. There will be more about that in another blog.

My biggest summer project by far has been growing a baby.  Yes, I am pregnant!  Due March 1, 2008.  I am at the start of my fifth month.  So I have spent my summer in a fog of resting and eating.  Thankfully I was not sick at all.

the sleepy fog captured by my five year old

Giving Reiki has been an amazing way to connect my baby.  I love to lay in bed, with my hands on my belly and focusing all my energy on my womb.  Some days baby draws a tremendous amount of Reiki.  Sometimes I can feel movements.  I feel very in tune with this pregnancy.  This new growth will be the topic of many future blogs I am sure!

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The Next Generation

Today I picked up a new bowl fresh from the kiln. This is the first one I did with Kirsti. Her babe loved to lay with her bum under the left side of Kirsti’s ribs. You can’t really tell from the pictures, but when you look at the bowl there is a definite indentation where Rosie’s bum was. In fact the bowl is as lopsided as Kirsti’s belly!

Kirsti’s First Bowl

 

Kirsti’s First Bowl 2

Kirsti’s First Bowl 3

My only disappointment was that the base shifted when the bowl went into the kiln, so it doesn’t fit snugly. Mistakes are wonderful teachers however. All in all the bowls I did with Kirsti are definitely more refined. I can’t wait to do more, I love this process!
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Belly Bowls Revisited

bowl#2

So far so good with bowl number two.  It needs a bit of trimming,  it is amazingly asymmetrical.  Some of the imbalance is excess clay, but a lot of it has to do with the baby I think…

bowls#1

They look pretty different.  I used the same belly with exactly one week between the moldings.   Bowl number two is almost ready for the next step!

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New Belly Bowls!

bowl1

This is my first Belly Bowl. It is almost dried and ready to be glazed and fired.

bellybowl1

The first bowl was so fun, I asked Colleen if I could do another. This time the kids were eager to help.

bellybowl2

Colleen holding the bowl while it dries on her belly. Colleen is awesome. Thank you Colleen!

bowl2

The first bowl lost some of it’s shape while it dried, so I tried something new. If there are any experienced potters out there feel free to give me tips. Hopefully I will be able to post two finished bowls in the next month!

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The Believing Mirror, Creativity and Childbirth

In The Artist’s Way Julia Cameron asks the question: What is the one thing that will help an artist the most? Having an abundance of free time? Money? Childcare? No! She states that the single most influential thing that will help an artist be more productive is having a “believing mirror”. In short having someone that will listen to your ideas and dreams and say: That is fantastic! You can do it! Simply having someone who believes in you and is ready to cheer you on is the one most valuable thing to nurture creativity.

As I reflect back on my own creative history the two periods where I wrote the most poetry and was the most creatively productive in general were times when I had two excellent creative mirrors: my two wonderful friends Kate and Beth. Kate and Beth were always eager to read anything I wrote. They cheered me on and celebrated if I wrote something really good. And best of all they were happy to listen to me read anything; it didn’t have to be perfect or finished. They were always there encouraging me to write more, improve, grow. They were open and available, always supporting me and my creative work. I trusted them. I knew they were honest, had good taste and most of all they had my best interest in mind; this all made their opinions were very meaningful to me. Thank you Kate and Beth, I miss you!

I love this concept of a “believing mirror”. It describes what I am doing now perfectly. I am a doula; I offer women emotional, informational and practical support during childbirth. Pregnancy and birth are extremely creative times in a woman’s life. She is creating a new life, a unique human being, inside her body and birthing this new life into the world. She needs someone who believes in her. Who is there just to say: Wow you are amazing! You can do this. You are doing it! You are incredible. Someone who understands the birth process and can recognize her great accomplishment. These small acts of encouragement give the birthing woman power to overcome her doubts and the doubts of those around her. They help her overcome the obstacles inherent in the birth process and the extra obstacles developed by our minds and our advanced technological society. These words of inspiration speak directly to her highest self enabling her to act from this place and use her own creative power to the fullest.