Since someone just asked me what I thought about a mother eating her placenta, I thought I'd open the discussion here for you all to enter in as well.

Many moms are finding that eating bits of their placenta reduces postpartum hemorr-haging and also postpartum depression. But what does the Bible have to say about doing this? In the list of curses for disobedience in Deuteronomy chapter 28, we read the following:

"Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore ... The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates." (Deuteronomy 28:45-57, NKJV)

So while scripture does not specifically forbid eating one's placenta, it is mentioned in the context of being cursed rather than blessed. It is also put on an equal plane with eating one's own children (which we know is not an act that El Shaddai condones). 

Perhaps there are some equally good natural (and biblically blessed) means of lessening postpartum depression and hemorrhaging through herbs or other supplements. What are a few of your favorite methods?

I can't believe we haven't posted about this helpful herb before now! For those of you who struggle with intense monthly cramps, this is a tea you're going to want to tryyesterday! It is available for only a couple of bucks from Athena's Garden. I personally noticed a huge reduction in cramp pain the several times that I needed it, from this tea (especially in combination with ThermaCare Heat Wraps). Let us know how much of a difference it makes for you! 

Did you know that there is a very accurate way to predict when your period will start? You can know for sure, about two weeks in advance. How? Well, it's all thanks to a fixed number of days in your cycle called your luteal phase. But, you might say, "My cycle is never the same length--it's different every month, and I never know when 'Aunt Flow' is coming for a visit!" If you think that, think again, because I'm going to let you in on a little secret that shouldn't be a secret, but should be taught to every 13-year-old girl. 

While it's true that the length of time from menstruation to ovulation can vary widely, based on stress, travel, etc., the length of days between ovulation and the start of your next period remains the same month to month. This is called your luteal phase. It is a different length for each woman, usually from 12 to 17 days. (The longer your luteal phase, the more you can rejoice if you ever want to get pregnant, because there is less likelihood of miscarriage with long luteal phases. This is because the embryo has more time to implant into the uterine wall before being shucked off by menstruation.)

So, I want to challenge you to start charting your cycle a little bit so you can know your body's cues and not be clueless about when your period will arrive. 

The first key is to pinpoint ovulation. The Creator has kindly given us a wet veritable calender in the form of our cervical mucous. Have you ever noticed how it changes in quality over the course of your cycle? You can discern this by getting some mucous on two fingers and pulling them apart (or on some toilet paper if you prefer). Here's the pattern (starting from right after your period ends):

• Dry
  
• Wet
• Sticky/Crumbly/Rubbery
  
• Creamy (Lotiony/Milky)
  
• Eggwhite (stretchy, clear) *OVULATION*
• Dry
• Wet (right before menstruation)

Here are some images of cervical fluid to give you a better idea (note: wet is out of order in those pictures).

So, when you have eggwhite cervical mucous, you can be sure you have ovulated. Mark it on your calender. Then when your period starts, count the exact number of days from ovulation, and that lets you know your luteal phase length! Chart this for about two months to make sure you have it right, and from then on you will be able to count off the number of days of your luteal phase as soon as you notice eggwhite mucous, and that will accurately predict when your period will start.

One more thing about cervical mucous: several hours before your period starts, you might notice a wet sensation (but no blood). Water is the first thing your uterine lining sheds, and the rest of the lining will soon follow. It used to be that when I felt the wet sensation, I went running to the bathroom thinking it was my period, only to be disappointed and confused when I saw it was not. Now I know it is the pre-shedding of water--the signal my body gives me a few hours before the real thing.

It's so exciting to know the cues our bodies give us, so we are "in the know" and not surprised. For more reading on this topic, see the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility, by Weschler.

Here is another insightful post from the Above Rubies Facebook page. As the AR founder, Nancy Campbell, says, "Many women don't understand the function of the pill, and all women have the responsibility to understand this information."

"When birth control came out in the 70's, the estrogen levels were so high ovulation never happened. The women never released an egg. They found out about 10 to 15 years later, after women started dying that the estrogen level was too high. They stopped adding so much estrogen, but that also left a higher risk of releasing an egg or a higher risk of pregnancy. To counter the risk of ovulation or pregnancy they started adding progestin. Progestin does not prevent ovulation, so what does it do?

"Birth Control with Estrogen and Progestin work together like this:

1. By blocking ovulation (release of an egg from the ovaries), thus preventing pregnancy. (Estrogen)
   
2. By altering mucus in the cervix, which makes it hard for sperm to travel further. (Progestin)
   
3. By altering the fallopian tubes (the tubes through which eggs move from the ovaries to the uterus) so that they cannot effectively move eggs toward the uterus. (Progestin)
   
4. By changing the endometrium (lining of the uterus) so that it cannot support a fertilized egg. (Progestin)
   

"The first two steps try to prevent conception. If the first two steps fail, conception could take place and you have new life inside of you (You are pregnant). The new life is complete with 46 chromosomes. At the instant of fertilization, your baby's genes and...

sex are set. If the sperm has a Y chromosome, your baby will be a boy. If it has an X chromosome, the baby will be a girl.

"This New Life takes a trip down your fallopian tubes to your uterus. It's grows on its way there. It takes around four to seven days to get there, an average of five days (One Week). When it arrives, it implants in your uterine wall for sustenance (Food).

"But wait! Step four of Progestin. Changing the endometrium (lining of the uterus) so that it cannot support a fertilized egg.

"So, the New Life (Boy or Girl) grows for a whole week and it finally makes it to the uterus. But when it tries to implant, it is unsuccessful. The uterine wall has been changed so that it will no longer support this New Life. It has been changed so that it will no longer allow implantation. Without implanting, the New Life (Boy or Girl) can no longer sustain itself and it dies. It effectively starves to death.

"Thus, the fourth Step in Progestin, has successfully aborted this New Life and your pregnancy. The pill has effectively performed an abortion on your pregnancy. You were pregnant for a whole week and you didn't even know it.

"The Pill, The Shot, and IUD's all work the same way. They do not prevent pregnancy from happening. They prevent the New Life (Boy or Girl) from living, thus aborting (Abortion) your pregnancy! While the risk of this is relatively low, it can be said that a sexually active woman on birth control will have at least one abortion a year.

"Also, the risk of fallopian tube pregnancies are higher on birth control. If you take a look at step three, you can see why. If the New Life cannot make it to your uterus for implantation it has two options. It can either die or implant in the fallopian tube.

"I was sick to my stomach when I first found out. I prayed to God for forgiveness for what I have done. You may ask, how was this allowed to go unnoticed? Or, why do the doctors and the companies tell us it doesn't cause abortion?

"The pill companies know this. They will tell you that it does not cause abortion. They tell you this because they have changed the definition of pregnancy. They have effectively convinced most of society that pregnancy does not occur until after implantation so the New Life you have been carrying for a whole week is not really a New Life and you were never really pregnant. Disregard the fact that it has all the chromosomes and its sex, boy or girl, has already been picked out. On top of that, it has been growing inside of you for a whole week. 

"Most people agree that pregnancy starts at the time of conception. The time of New Life. Sperm meeting Egg. The birth control companies would have you believe that pregnancy no longer starts at conception. The reason for this lie is money! If they agreed that pregnancy started at conception then they would have to agree that birth control causes abortion! They won't do that because they will lose customers and money! Their companies revolve around, MONEY! They don't care that it allows abortions, or the fact that they lied to you. They just want your money! That's what makes them happy!"

By Bernard Doherty

This post is shared from the Above Rubies Facebook page—a magazine that goes out free-of-charge to over 160,000 women worldwide, encouraging them that children are a blessing, based on Psalm 127. You can subscribe to the magazine here:www.aboverubies.org

"Did you know that most modern women menstruate about 400 times during their childbearing years? Did you know that this is ABNORMAL? God intended the ovaries to have resting times through pregnancy and lactation. Did you know this is one of the reasons why there is such an epidemic of ovarian and endometrial cancer?

"Did you know that a hundred years ago women only ovulated about 100 times in their entire lifetime? Did you know that this is NORMAL for the female body? Did you know that every time a woman gets pregnant and bears a child, her lifetime risk of ovarian cancer drops 10 percent?

"Did you know that women in their childbearing years are meant to be predominantly 'suckling mothers' rather than 'menstruating mothers'? This is far kinder to their female body and how God intended it to function.
Love from Nancy"

And so we see the truth of Psalm 127 confirmed, that "the fruit of the womb is a reward" not a burden!

I have been studying natural childbirth a good bit recently, and am seeing how some pain reduction techniques for childbirth and labor could help with monthly cramps as well. The key is relaxing into the pain rather than tensing up and resisting it. 

How could relaxing reduce pain? Well, the uterus is built of two opposing types of muscles:  longitudinal muscles, which are mostly on the top of the uterus; and circular muscles, which form the lower half of the uterus. During labor, or monthly cramping, for that matter, longitudinal muscles contract to clear things out, but if a woman tenses up, the circular muscles lower down "close the outlet, maintaining the uterus in its unemptied state. ... Then the muscles that empty the uterus and the muscles that hold it closed are working
against each other" (Childbirth Without Fear,  Grantly Dick-Read, M.D., p. 67) and pain results. Just as it can become painful when the bladder needs to be emptied but the timing isn't convenient, so there is unnecessary pain when half of the muscles of the womb are trying to clear out the uterus but the other half are tense and constricted. 

Therefore, the key to greatly reducing pain from cramps is to relax the whole body deeply. Find a quiet spot, and lie down. Get in such a comfortable position that you don't feel like you have to use any muscles to support yourself and you can completely let go. Then, methodically and very slowly tense and release your muscles one at a time, from your toes all the way up to your face, consciously noting the difference between tensed muscles and relaxed ones. The face is a key area to relax because "if your mouth is tense, you will be tensing the pelvic area, too" (Ibid., p. 73). As you enter this relaxed state, take deep breaths to allow extra oxygen to reach the uterus. It is a good idea to practice this deep relaxation on a regular day before being in any menstrual pain. Then your body will be used to how to relax when the time comes.

UPDATE 2/13/13: Ina May Gaskin, in her book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, recommends blowing "raspberries" or "horse lips" to effectively relax the mouth (and therefore the cervix as well). To do this, completely relax your lips and blow a good amount of air through, letting your lips flap lips together. She writes, "Women who have tried this during menstrual cramps have found it surprisingly helpful in alleviating pain" (p. 180). 

Relaxing into the pain instead of resisting it will allow your body to do what it is designed to, with the least discomfort. Try it this month when your "way of women" comes visiting and let us know (in the comments below) if the childbearing mothers' strategy works for your monthly "housekeeping" as well! This could be quite the discovery. If it works for labor contractions, why would it not for menstrual cramps?

The sun works wonders to eliminate stains and to whiten fabric. In the old days, one of the steps in producing linen cloth was to spread it out in the fields to whiten in the sun.
To give it a try on old stained pads, hang them on a clothes line (or clothes drying rack) in direct sunlight outside, and come back a few hours later to see the natural bleach take effect!  If it's not convenient to sun dry pads during your cycle, you can always sun them later to help lessen the stains. Even when the pads are dry, the sun works at diminishing the stains (although some say that the whitening effect of the sun works much better when the fabric is wet). We can't recommend this highly enough! Just try it once and you will be amazed at the results.

Did you know about the benefits of sleeping with the same light as the phase of the moon?  Scientific studies have shown that it can help regulate irregular periods and more!  This article is very informative: The Full Moon's Pull on Fertility: How Lunaception can Affect a Woman's Menstrual Cycle.

Here's the key: "When constant artificial light plagues a woman's bedroom, her melatonin production becomes limited. This can lead to irregular cycles and unpredictable phases of fertility or infertility. In some cases, this lack of hormones will also shorten the luteal phase, making conception more difficult. When women embrace a more natural pattern of light [sleeping in the dark until it's a full moon], thedir bodies will fall into a comfortable rhythm."

If you try it, let us know what you notice in a comment below!