Ecstatic Birth

Raw Pregnancy & Childbirth

By Jinjee and Storm Talifero

Jinjee's Story

I am excited about writing this eBook because my experiences with four pregnancies and births in the last
eleven years have led me to believe that eating a 100% raw-vegan diet during pregnancy can lead to a
dramatically easier pregnancy with a far easier and quicker childbirth and recovery than usual, while resulting
in a healthy and happy baby.

I have spoken with many other raw-vegan women who have found the same to be true. I have read the
words of raw-vegan mothers who described delivering their babies with words like "he slipped into the world
like a lamb" (in Dr. Walker's book "Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices"). Hygeia Halfmoon Ph.D. wrote a book
called "Primal Mothering in a Modern World" (available at http://www.rawfood.com) in which she describes
her raw-vegan childbirth as completely pleasurable, orgasmic and ecstatic. She delivered her baby herself
with only her two young daughters present. Many women are now delivering their babies on their own. This
is called "sovereign birth". I feel that a sovereign birth is more natural and easier than a hospital birth
because there is no interference and therefore the woman can focus on her labor. However I believe that a
husband/wife unassisted homebirth is even more ideal. I will describe why further on.

Raven's Birth:

I first became a raw-vegan when I met Storm 11 years ago. (Storm has been raw for over 30 years). I quickly
lost 45 lbs. of unwanted weight, cleared up my acne-troubled skin, dissolved an undiagnosed lump in my
breast, and healed from candida, hypoglycemia, depression, and chronic fatigue. Within a few months I was
pregnant with our first child, our daughter Raven. I didn't yet trust the raw-vegan diet enough to stick with it
during my pregnancy. For the first time I researched "nutrition" and learned what the scientific and medical
community believes that we need to eat to grow a healthy baby. I found that I could meet all the
requirements with the raw diet except for the protein. So during my pregnancy I ate a lot of raw foods but I
also forced down peanut butter sandwiches and rice and beans to get that protein. I was a cooked-vegan. I
found I had to really push myself to eat to get the "necessary" amount of recommended calories. That was a
new experience because I had been dieting or trying to diet constantly since I was 15. I did however draw
the line at taking supplements the size of horse-pills that I was given by a prenatal care doctor.

My pregnancy was easy. I had a little nausea from the smells of certain foods, but no actual morning
sickness. I jogged for the first five months and afterwards walked every day in the park beside our condo in
Santa Barbara. Storm encouraged me to train for childbirth. He said labor is like "playing three games of pro
football back-to-back".

My labor with Raven, with Storm and our friend Oms acting as midwives was 30 hours long. It was
complication-free however, a natural home-birth in our living room, and I'll never forget seeing Raven crown
and pushing her out, the most intense and exciting moment of my life thus far. I felt like I was going to burst
wide open. Afterwards I felt as though I had had a life and death experience and I was just glad to be alive.
We lay down in our loft with the baby nursing and fell asleep exhausted. Raven was healthy, 7 lbs., and

nursed well, although she was a fussy baby. She would cry every evening at twilight and the only thing that
worked to calm her was flying her around the room, dancing with her, for an hour or two! Maybe there was
something in my cooked-vegan diet that made my milk disagree with her.

When I took Raven for a "well-baby check-up" the doctor was very annoyed with me regarding my vegan
diet and my choice to not vaccinate. He said that I had a perfect and very beautiful child and that I'd be very
unhappy if anything happened to her because of my choices. He said very sarcastically "I'm glad you've
decided to take your child's health into your own hands". I think that perhaps many doctors really believe that
we should not take an active part in our own health or to even try to understand anything about our bodies.
Fortunately this seems to be changing rapidly for the better. Many doctors now do support people being
more active in caring for their own health and many now do support people in their own choices.

Jome's Birth:

About a year later I went back to eating a 100% raw diet to heal from my candida which had returned while I
was eating a cooked-vegan diet. Another year passed and I was pregnant with our son Jome. As I had now
heard about other raw-vegan women who had birthed healthy babies easily, I was ready to do this
pregnancy 100% raw. My health was also so good that I didn't want to give up the diet again. I jogged again
during the first five months and walked daily afterwards. I was also involved in singing in a women's music
group during the last few months of my pregnancy and I believe that this resulted in an intense musicality that
Jome has. We were eating out of the Santa Barbara farmer's markets and my diet consisted of big fresh
salads, sprouts, lots of green juice and carrot juice, a great variety of different fruits, and plenty of fresh
orange juice. I also ate earthseed bread, a raw "manna" bread. And I ate a lot of tabouli made of parsley,
cilantro, green onions, and tomatoes with a dressing of lemons, garlic, olive oil, salt, avocado and honey. I
had this at least twice a week. It is a great way to get iron because the parsley is iron-rich while the tomatoes
are vitamin-C-rich, and iron is more easily absorbed into the body in the presence of vitamin C. I also drank
raspberry leaf sun-tea and lots of water. Raspberry Leaf tea is known to be a great tonic for pregnant
women.

My pregnancy was completely easy and I was very relaxed and happy. I experienced no nausea whatsoever.
My childbirth with Jome was also at home, with just Storm and three-year old Raven attending. My labor was
only 45 minutes long with a 10-minute hard labor. It was so easy that right afterwards I said "Storm, I don't
feel like I've given birth". And after nursing Jome and delivering my placenta I helped to clean up our birthing
scene. Jome was a very content baby, just nursing and sleeping. And I feel an unbroken connection of peace
and an unbroken stream of energy with him since the day he was born that is still with us today. He has an
incredible peace about him, although he has a fierce temper and an abundance of energy. He also weighed
7 lbs. at birth and was totally healthy. We took all our babies to a doctor for a "well-baby check up" about a
week after they were born and received a "perfectly healthy" thumbs up each time.

Shale's Birth:

After Jome was born we moved to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. We had an incredible
summer eating out of our garden and swimming a mile in a pristine lake three times a week. It was the
highest level of health I have ever experienced. My body and face rejuvenated to the point where I looked
younger than I did in my late teens. I was reaching new levels of creativity in music and business, and I
found that my emotions were so balanced I never lost my patience with Raven as I had sometimes before.
This emotional balance more than anything else is what made me want to stay raw for life. I realized that
when ones colon is stressed from cooked food and the large quantities we have to eat to gain enough
nourishment from cooked food, then ones whole system is stressed. A stressed colon leads to a stressed

body, mind and spirit. I also realized the enormous difference in the level of nutrition in the foods that come
straight out of the garden as compared with even organically grown farm food. The land in a garden is
nutrient rich because it has never been commercially farmed. On the other hand most organic farms are on
land that was commercially farmed for 50 years before it became organic. Therefore the farmland soil usually
doesn't contain nearly as high a level of nutrients as the virgin garden soil does. This experience of eating
out of the garden inspired me to call our raw foods website "TheGardenDiet.com".

Our first winter in Canada, gardening season being over, we had trouble finding enough fresh organic raw
foods to buy for our family. We still believed we needed lots of food, and a huge variety of foods. I "broke the
seal" and started having occasional "non-raw" treats, especially of the chocolate variety. This little opening in
the seal gradually became larger and larger until I found that I was once again a cooked-vegan. I knew I
wanted to be 100% raw, but at the same time I reasoned that now that I was off the path I might as well eat a
little bit of everything not raw first. By the time we conceived Shale in the spring of 2000 I was a total cooked-
vegan again. I stayed a cooked-vegan throughout my pregnancy.

Since Raven's birth was 30 hours and Jome's was 45 minutes, I figured I had better be ready for a 5-minute
labor with Shale, if the ratios remained the same. I believed that each birth would be easier as my body
became more used to childbirth. However, although the pregnancy was as easy as ever, I was in labor with
Shale for 40 hours. Another natural home-birth, but with a painful hard labor. Another healthy baby. Two
weeks later it dawned on me that the reason that Jome's birth was so easy compared to the others was my
100% raw pregnancy. I suddenly had a vision of the molecules in raw foods spinning fast, going into the
body, and becoming bodily tissues made of cells that also spun fast, filled with light, making the tissues
elastic, easily expanding to allow a baby passage into the world. I saw cooked food molecules barely
spinning at all, very dense, becoming bodily tissues that were denser and less elastic. This vision explained
to me why my labor was so easy as the tissues of my cervix and birth canal more easily expanded to let the
baby out. It also explained why the raw diet is so rejuvenating and healing, why raw-vegans' skin looks so
radiant, youthful, and wrinkle-free, and why Storm's muscles don't seem to notice the influence of 54 years
of gravity. This vision was so strong that it made me go back to a 100% diet cold turkey right away. So Shale
was nursed on a 100% raw-vegan Mother, and has never eaten cooked food in her life. She is three now.
Shale was a happy baby from the start and is still a wonderfully healthy and happy little girl. Unlike Raven
and Jome who have often been through skinny phases Shale is a "brick house". This is interesting
considering that Raven and Jome have eaten cooked food (during my vegan phases) whereas Shale hasn't!
Since Shale's birth I haven't eaten cooked food in my home except on rare occasions as a closet cooked-
foodaholic! After Shale's birth I was 100% raw-vegan for two years. Then a year and a half ago I was hired to
prepare a "healthy" breakfast for a group of people attending the retreat center we were staying at. The fresh
home-baked bread and butter seduced me and I cracked the seal once again. I started on a year of "fighting"
or what I call "100% raw with cheating", which may really have been more like 99% raw all told. This ended
when I found out I was pregnant with Adagio.

Adagio's Birth:

This is what I wrote the morning after Adagio's Birth.

This morning at 1:30 AM Adagio was born.

I had a false labor a few days ago, pleasant contractions about 5 to 30 minutes apart all day. They went
away when I went to sleep that night. I think this was helpful in making my actual labor easier and faster.
Some of the work of the cervix effacing and opening was already done during this false labor.

Then yesterday I had similar light contractions on and off all day, some a little more cervix-oriented and

uncomfortable rather than the abdominal squeezes of the false labor. I thought it could easily be another
false labor though. Storm and Jome went to Santa Barbara. Around 8:30 at night I was pretty sure I was in
real labor. I had three contractions 5 minutes apart that I had to stop for (I was sweeping the floor). A final
test was that they kept coming even when I lay down. (false labor is supposed to stop if you change positions
from lying down to standing/sitting or vice-versa). So I called Storm and he started heading home. I wasn't
sure if he'd make it in time, so I asked Raven to clean up the bedroom while I showered, which she did
beautifully. Didn't know if there would be time for an enema, or if I really thought it necessary to do one,
although I'd done it before my other three births.

I put on a movie for Shale and Raven, did the dishes, set up the birthing room with candles, shower curtain
on the floor to protect the carpet, the layette (baby clothes, receiving blanket, cloths and diapers), Storm's
birthing tools (the birthing knife and floss for cutting the cord, goldenseal for the navel), jojoba and olive oil to
massage my perineum, and two wooden chairs to support my squat.

I did some yoga poses between contractions, did a little dance (snake-like, as Hygiea puts it) which seemed
to make contractions feel much better, less uncomfortable. I moved in whatever way made them feel better
and this really put me in touch with with what was going on in my womb, with my baby, and with my cervix. It
was like a massaging, happy, joyful feeling, allowing my whole body and spirit to participate in the action. It
also made me tune in to the sexiness of giving birth. It IS a dance! On some contractions I supported my
tummy at the lowest point, where the cervix was opening inside, praying and visualizing the baby was in the
right position. I had a little worry that it might be breech or transverse because I thought I had felt the head in
the upper position, but I gave it up in faith to God, Mother Spirit, Brother Jesus, and the Merciful Angels that
the baby was right and if otherwise that I would get through it and if otherwise that I would remain in faith that
everything will be OK even if it is not!

My goal was to deliver painlessly without any tearing, just by surrendering to my body, eliminating
interference, and having full faith, living faith, moment-to-moment.

Storm arrived home around 10:00 PM. I did an enema, got the kids ready for bed, and lay down with Storm
while Jome read to Shale in the bunk bedroom. (Raven had fallen asleep in the top bunk). Shale came in to
be with us and Jome fell asleep. Then Shale fell asleep. The coast was clear. My contractions picked up in
intensity. This was around midnight or 12:30 AM.

I did several contractions alone in the bathroom by candlelight. I did several in the bedroom, Storm lying in
bed watching me, me dancing, or supporting myself in a squat breathing hee-hee-hoo (Lamaze breathing
method which worked really well during my labor with Jome though I got a bit dry in the mouth) or breathing
deeply (I decided this time that I'd breath the way my body told me to rather than the Lamaze breathing, but
sometimes fell back on Lamaze as a way to manage some of the more intense contractions. The variety was
good), sometimes moaning as though in ecstasy, one time singing a long tone to bring light into my womb
and lower chakras (a music therapy practice). Then a few more contractions alone in the bathroom closer
together and more intense yet. I found in the bathroom that I really let myself bear down more with the
contractions because I wasn't worried about fluids etc. being eliminated, or about not showing my intense
concentration which might have looked like pain. It was a good time to be alone; these few intense
contractions right before transition.

I knew that my water was going to break on the next contraction. So I brought a towel into the bedroom and
put it on the shower curtain between the two chairs. On my next contraction my water broke. Just before I
had it, Storm says, "do you find the other three labors helped?" "Oh Yeah!" I said. "So you know where
you're at" "Uh-huh"....Boom, my water squirts out onto the towel. Hard labor starts just about immediately, as
it always does right after my water breaks. My hard labor (second stage labor) lasts about 10-20 minutes
total. I can't say exactly how long because it is such an outside-of-time experience. I have three contractions

right on top of each other. I manage to ask Storm not to talk during my contractions. These are the transition
where the baby is coming into the birth canal. I am grunting and groaning like a dying moose, and bearing
down, squatting, then on all fours, back and forth, rocking, really giving myself over completely to my body,
being completely present in the affected regions, moving however my body wants. Storm thinks I need chairs
to support myself so he's arranging them around me, or asking if he should but I say "I'm good", "I'm fine".
But this takes me out of my inward focus, which is when I asked him to not talk which he didn't and that
made it so much easier.

My legs are strong. I can squat forever. In the short seconds between contractions I ask for the olive oil. I
massage it into my perineum. I ask for water. I drink. During one of these intense transitional contractions he
says maybe being on your hands and knees will feel better. So I do it, and he's right, it takes the pressure off.
He massages oil into my lower back as I grunt and groan and rock, telling him "I can feel the baby in the
canal" and "thank you, thank you!" I say for the massage, which feels so good and makes the pain into
pleasure. He has gotten naked too. I have taken off my sweater and he pulls off my socks. He asks if he can
turn on a light and I say "oh yeah". I say "Oh baby, oh baby" during the massages. It turns my moans of pain
into moans of pleasure. No examining, no saying, "time to push". My body knows exactly when and how to
get the baby out. I have another contraction. The baby feels huge in the birth canal, and I think its trying to
come out both my front and back at once, so I wonder if the baby is breech.

"Can you see anything?" I ask Storm. "Not yet". Another contraction right on top of that "Now can you see?"
"I see the head!" says Storm. What a relief! I can do this now! This contraction the head remains in the
opening extending it painfully yet I can feel the head, the little round head with the palm of my hand and it
feels so good and warm. The contractions in hard labor have all run together, no time in between many, and
now I'm already ready to push this head out, instinctively holding my perineum to ease his head through it
without ripping. I'm kneeling on the floor, and his head is out, face down. "OK. Should we get the rest out?"
asks Storm. He doesn't instruct me this time at all.

And then the baby slides out into my hands. "Its a boy!" Storm says! "A boy!" I say. I put him to my breast but
he's not sucking, he's gurgling. Must've swallowed a little fluid. He was asleep when he first popped out. I
was like "You SLEPT through that?!" He cried a little, really softly, muffled by the gurgling. I'm still kneeling.
Storm gets his bass recorder and plays some music, as he always does to the newborns. Adagio watches
him intently. I rub in some of the goop (called vernix) covering him, which is supposed to be good for his
skin.

Trying to get him to suck a nipple, now just looking at him, so small and perfect. Storm and I just marvel. We
express our relief and gratitude. Storm says he's so proud of me. He really is. And I'm amazed at him too. He
totally supported me in my new ideas of non-interference and even when I offered to let him check my
dilation he said no. The ideas made sense to him too. The ideas of no pushing, and no interfering with the
body. Then Storm cut the cord, carefully tying floss to the cord an inch from the navel, another piece two to
three inches further away. Waited for a couple of minutes. Then cut gently. Adagio watched as I held him,
still kneeling, or maybe squatting now.

My legs fell asleep from kneeling on them so long. Storm held Adagio, sitting on the bed together, while I
squatted awaiting the afterbirth, watching the two of them, mopping up the blood and whatnot on the shower
curtain. Diapered Adagio, Dagg for short. Then tried again to get him to nurse, he sucked a little bit, then I
felt a possible contraction so gave Dagg back to Storm. I walked to the bathroom, very relieved, very happy,
grateful, my heart bursting with gratitude, to wait for the placenta to come. It is supposed to come within 20
minutes of giving birth. Mine always seem to take about 45 minutes to an hour. I sat on the toilet, - nothing.
Got in the shower, showered a half-hour, - nothing. So turned off the shower, but then out the placenta
slipped into my hands. I put the placenta in a bowl ~ Storm will bury it under a tree later according to African
tradition. I showered again to clean myself off and then went to bed.

Dagg was sleeping on Storm's stomach. I tried again to nurse him but he fell back asleep. Storm and I look
at him a long time. I think we sleep a little. I lie Dagg on my stomach and we talk until 3:00 AM, Storm and I.
Then we sleep until 4:00 AM, talk some more, then sleep until 7:00 AM, then Storm brings me an OJ/Banana
smoothie. I've had some raisins that I had at the ready in a bowl right after I got into bed the first time, and
again in the morning before the smoothie. I don't usually eat dried fruit but I've always loved the heavy iron
hit of raisins right after giving birth. Storm leaves for farmer's market. I pee first and report very little bleeding,
a nice light red, and absolutely no stinging when I pee - which means no ripping or tearing. My goal is
accomplished!

My four children ~ 2 boys and 2 girls are all asleep. It is 8:25 AM. I love the peace. Its a beautiful sunny
morning. I'm a little sleepy. I will sleep a bit more now. I have learned so much. I am so blessed. I give
thanks!

(Adagio did start nursing that morning and has been at it ever since! Why did he take longer to start than the
others did? Maybe he was so well nourished that he was not hungry at first. Maybe he was more interested
in connecting with us and looking around).

Later I wrote in my journal:

My most recent labor was just a peak experience, wonderful, blissful, magical, and ecstatic. This is aside
from the two minutes where you think you are going to die that I believe are just a part of the wonder of it all.
These two minutes, transition, when the baby's head comes out of the womb through the cervix and into the
birth canal are so intense that you have to completely surrender. I don't just mean that it helps to surrender,
but that you are literally forced to surrender completely to your body. There is nothing else you can do. And I
think this is a lesson for parenthood. There are times when we have no control and we need to be able to
relinquish control and completely surrender to the higher powers in order for things to work out in all our
family relationships. We can always remember how that feels and call on this knowledge when we need it.

Non-Interference

I highly recommend that you read the chapter on childbirth in Hygeia Halfmoon's Primal Mothering in a
Modern World, available at rawfood.com. I got this book in my last month of pregnancy and it helped me
immensely. If I had gotten it a year earlier I would have had more time to consciously release all my societal
fears about childbirth being a medical emergency. It isn't! We have been wrongfully led to believe that it is.
According to Halfmoon, PhD's research., hospital births have six times the mortality rate of homebirths! Also
according to Halfmoon, PhD's research mammals have a built in reaction to any interference during labor,
and that is to shut down their labor until they find a safe place to deliver. This is why such a high percentage
of hospital births result in C-sections, epidurals, induced labors and episiotomies. There is almost no way to
have a hospital birth without interference, unless couples specifically request this along with a birthing room.
And even then I am not sure all hospitals would comply with such a request. Most births are attended by
several medical personnel, many of them strangers. Women are examined frequently to determine the
dilation of the cervix, the heartbeat of the baby, and the baby's position. There is no way that this can be
seen as anything but interference. When I was in hard labor I didn't even want my husband to ask me if I was
OK. That's how inward a woman's focus is when in labor.

The Myth of "Pushing"

I also learned that "pushing" is a myth. I think that all these people standing around shouting "push, push" is
a way for these people to feel like they had a part in bringing a baby into the world. Everybody wants a piece
of this power, this miracle. But guess what. Only YOU deliver your baby. Not your doctor. Not your midwife.
Not even your husband. YOU. How can anyone else possibly say they delivered your baby! Sorry, this in a
responsibility that is physically impossible to hand off to someone else! Getting back to pushing; your body
knows just how much or little and when to push your baby out. Pushing any time other than when your body
naturally makes you bear down is rushing things. When you have the contractions that make you bear down
you can't help but push. With our first three births Storm had always told me when I was completely dilated
and when I could start pushing. Once the baby was in the birth canal he always encouraged me to push,
believing that it was dangerous for the baby to be in the canal too long. (I have read about women now who
took over an hour to get the baby through the birth canal). I was not sure that Storm would embrace this new
information, but he did the moment he heard it, as I did. And with our latest birth he didn't once ask me to
push. Rather, he asked me what I wanted, until I told him I wanted silence, and then he spoke to me with
touch, which turned out to be the perfect thing.

We do have our primal instincts still! They can't take those completely away. Some women even have them
without having to read this kind of information. I talked with a man whose wife had seven children in the
hospital. When the doctor told her to push she told him "I ain't going to push but here you go" and popped
the baby out. Then she said "Let's go home on hon, we've got laundry to do!" The doctor said she was a
baby-making machine. I say she is just one of many women who have survived into the modern world with
their primal instincts intact. I found that story very heartening! If this can happen, then people en masse can
recognize the truth of the raw vegan diet or find their own way to it even if they don't find a book about it. I
think when the evils of the food industry and the medical industry progress so far that they basically hang
themselves, when things reach a certain level of corruption, and at the same time as people in general are
evolving and becoming more intelligent, we are coming full circle, or even better achieving the next level in
an upward spiral and saying "Hey, something is wrong here with the people and industries who I have put
my trust in. I better think for myself here if I want to survive".

Husband/Wife Unassisted Childbirth

I would also recommend these two books about husband/wife childbirth: "Pleasurable Husband/Wife
Childbirth" by Marilyn A. Moran and "Unassisted Childbirth, An Act of Love" by Lynn M. Griesemer, both
available at http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com. The important things I learned from them: First, Pitocin, a
drug used in hospitals to speed up contractions is naturally released when the laboring woman's nipples are
stimulated. And second, pig semen (called Prostin) is used to soften the cervix and help it to dilate faster. Of
course husband semen is just as effective and to most women no doubt more appealing. And third, women
very often fall in love with the doctors who deliver their babies. Basically what all this and many other things
point to is that childbirth is a sexual act that is meant to take place between husband and wife. The husband
brings forth the baby (seed) into the wife because of certain stimulation. The wife also brings forth the baby
into the world because of certain stimulation. Uterine contractions are orgasms! The birthing experience is
supposed to be orgasmic. It is the largest most intense series of orgasms a woman has, building up to the
final orgasm of ejaculating a baby into the world! Birth is not only supposed to be painless; it is supposed to
be orgasmic, ecstatic, sexual, sensual, and the final consummation of the marital act!

Most men even have this instinct. The main reason men really don't want to be in the delivery room is not
because they are squeamish but because they are traumatized by another man delving into their wives and
taking control of a situation which by all natural design ought to be theirs! However Fathers are not expected
to participate at all in the birthing of their own children but are made to feel that they are in the way except
when they are handed the bill. Is it any wonder that Fathers are not connecting with their children? The
American Father spends an average of five minutes a day with his children. Perhaps this is because their

paternal instincts are squashed before they even have a chance to feel them. Fortunately love is often strong
enough to overcome all of these assaults on our natural instincts.

I was happy to read in these books of other women who experienced the sensual touch of their husband
during childbirth as transforming pain into pleasure. The more intense the pain the more intense the relief of
the pleasure of the sensual touch! It actually makes sense when you think about it. This is what transforms
painful childbirth into ecstatic childbirth! As you can see the Father is very very much an essential, important
and irreplaceable part of the birth of a child.

Since this birth, Storm and I have fallen in love on a whole new level. We birthed this child completely
together, as an act of love. Right after the delivery the afterglow was incredible! It still remains with us in a
very strong way. When pleasurable husband/wife childbirth becomes common practice I believe it will have
incredibly powerful changing effects on the world. I think this practice will unite women and men as never
before, healing the war of the sexes, uniting yin and yang, ending many of the polarity battles on this planet
including the left/right wing partisan hatred. The political "right" represents the strength of the male while the
"left" represents the tolerance of the female. Both are necessary. We will eventually learn to bring these into
harmony.

Storm and I have often wondered why we managed to stay together when so many people, especially inter-
racial couples with children don't. We are very different in so many ways beyond this, including our ages and
our religions. Perhaps it was the way we birthed our babies that was responsible. There is a bonding
hormone called oxytocin that is released during childbirth that is like a love potion. The same hormone that
bonds mother and baby also bonds father and baby as well as bonding the parents to each other. This is why
women so often wrongfully fall in love with their doctors. The hormone has just missed its target.

The Family Bed

Another interesting natural chemical, cholecystokinin, is produced in the body when either parent has skin to
skin contact with the baby during sleep. This chemical causes the healing and restful properties of sleep to
be augmented. So when you sleep with your baby you receive a deeper and more energizing sleep to make
up for the rigors of taking care of an infant. Another benefit of sleeping with your baby is that neither you nor
your baby has to wake up fully to nurse. You can simply latch the baby on and go back to sleep. I don't know
how a woman can function when she has to wake up three times a night, make a bottle, and sit up and feed
her baby. The common concern about sleeping with your baby in your bed rather than putting him in a crib is
that you will roll over onto him or that he will suffocate in the bedclothes. Personally I find babies a bit lumpy
to sleep on. In other words unless you are drinking a bottle of wine before bed, chances are you are going to
be aware enough even in your sleep to notice if you are lying on top of a baby. And if your baby is
reasonably healthy he will start to thrash and make noises if he has been covered up with bedclothes in a
way that cuts off his access to oxygen. If you are sleeping next to him, you will be sure to notice this.
Sleeping next to your baby you will naturally be more aware and tuned in to him.

In the future imagine couples drawing up a birthing plan for their doctors as such:

"We would like to deliver our child in a birthing room with muted lights and in peace. We would like to be left
entirely alone unless any complications arise in which case we will ring the bell for help. We would like to
avoid any examinations during labor and hard labor. We would like to deliver the baby by ourselves and on
our own, unless any complications arise. We will let the baby come out in its own time, whether this is several
hours or several days. We will not rush labor or rush the baby out of the birth canal. We will not push on
demand but rather let the body push the baby out. We will cut the cord after it stops pulsating. We will not

circumcise our child. (Circumcision is basically male mutilation. The first thing we do to our boy babies when
they are born is cut off the top of his most sensitive part. What a welcome! They say babies don't feel pain.
Any Mother who has heard the scream of her infant with that little gurgle in his throat will tell you that that is
complete nonsense!). We will massage the fluids covering the baby into his skin. We will put him on the
mother's nipple and nurse him until the placenta is delivered. When the baby is nursed to sleep the mother
will shower and we will sleep together with the baby. We will powder goldenseal onto the baby's umbilical
stub daily until it falls off, then powdering the navel with goldenseal daily until it is healed. The birthing room
should have a double or better yet a king sized bed. When we are rested we will return home. If we suspect
that anything may be amiss with the baby or mother we will then bring them in for an examination"

After writing this I can't really imagine a hospital OK-ing something like this yet. However I may be
completely wrong. Things are changing so very fast. However I believe that you would be more comfortable
birthing your baby at home. There are even times in your labor when you may want to be completely alone
so as not to have to be self-conscious at all, depending on how self-conscious you are with your mate.

Getting Through Transition

There will always be a 2 to 15 minute part of hard labor where you say, "I can't do it". But that's just part of
what makes you able to do it! You are a storm, a force of nature. You go through every emotion, every type
of bodily function, every terror, every pain, every joy, every power. The Universe whirls through you and you
are the Universe. You are the center of the Universe, the storm and the eye of calmness in the center of the
storm. Nothing can describe it. As a woman I feel so lucky to have been able to experience this magic. We
are the only ones who can share what the magic of life and death feels like. People generally don't
remember their own births and most people don't come back to report what death is like. But we can speak
about what it is like to be a portal into this world. No two labors are anything alike. It is a heavy magical
miracle that allows you to be able to give birth. Stay with it. Hang in there. Experience fully the joy and the
pain, the terror and the power. Its when you say "I can't do it" that many doctors still step in and say "OK,
we'll handle this for you". It gives them permission to drug you, to cut you open, and to hand you a bill for
$20,000. 15 minutes of pain (mingled with ecstasy!) is better!

During my transition with Jome, I visualized a flower opening with each contraction. I also focused on a
candle, which seemed to help. During the most intense wave (thinking of contractions as waves is good) I
thought of Jesus on the cross and how he might have borne that pain. And I realized that what I was calling
pain was only mild discomfort in comparison.

During many of my contractions with Adagio I danced. I danced like a wave, flowing, in ways my body
wanted to move. I smiled. I rolled my eyes back in my head. I sang. When you move during your
contractions you can feel what movements ease the contractions, easing the baby out.

Also, it is wonderful how contractions in the beginning of labor start out very gently and then slowly increase
in intensity, giving you time to get used to them, learning as you go, getting more and more in touch with
what your body is doing with each contraction. First labors are often longer to allow you more time to get
used to them. There is no rush. Hygeia was in labor for two days very happily. Be patient and enjoy the
whole process. My friend had an epidural which wore off just as she went into hard labor. She was shocked
at the intensity of her contractions and felt she would have handled them better if she had been able to
experience them gradually increasing in strength.

Fasting During Labor

When I go into labor I stop eating. I also do an enema. Fasting during labor gives you extra energy for
childbirth. It gives your body more room for the baby to move around as necessary. When you bear down
during childbirth you often can't help pushing out the contents of your colon. That is why we do the enema. It
gets everything out of your colon so you don't have to deal with any extra mess during the magic time.

Visualizing to Dispel Societal Fears

In the USA childbirth is considered a medical emergency. In some other countries women give birth in their
homes quickly and return to work the same day. Perhaps this is because we are conditioned by societal
beliefs and fears. In order to release your fears about childbirth it may be beneficial to write down your fears
and meditate on each one, releasing each one and creating a new expectation to replace it with. Replace the
horror stories with true facts such as that the mortality rate of hospital births is 6 times that of home births.
Visualize an ecstatic birth. Nature seems to want our husbands to be present during childbirth. This is why
his seed on our cervix can bring on childbirth, as it sends a message to our bodies that he is around to help
and is not off hunting or away on business. This is why his touch is the best painkiller available. Although it
hasn't been documented as common practice anywhere in history, husband/wife childbirth may still be the
natural way. It is nice to see that we are evolving into some new natural practices rather than just digging up
old ones from the past. Raw foods and husband/wife childbirth are two such practices. Trust nature. Have
faith in your body as well as God. Perhaps they are one.

Faith is the keyword for labor. Complete and total faith, living faith, moment-to-moment faith. Start having this
faith now, and keep it up throughout your labor and for the rest of your life. Know that birth is a miracle and
that your faith will allow this miracle to take place the way it is meant to. This faith completely expects
everything to be ecstatic. At the same time it totally accepts that anything can happen and that if it does, it is
meant to be, you will be OK. Even in death you will be OK. That is faith. It is a decision. A decision to take
responsibility for anything that happens. A decision to know and trust that you are fine and that you are cared
for. In our quest for a guarantee of safety from the medical institution, we give up much. It is another situation
in which when you take away death you also take away life, for the two are part of the same cycle, and
inseparable.

Birth Plan

Many couples write a birth plan for the hospital before they go in. So I wrote this birth plan for myself a month
or so before giving birth.

From now until birth…
~drink lots of water
~eat mainly whole fruits and veggies
~do yoga, walk, build thighs (for squatting strength), circular workout
~visualize painless birth
~let go of fears
~meditate/pray/chant
~connect with the baby
~relax!

Fears To Release....
fear of:
~pain

~C-section
~hospital
~breech
~death
~tearing
~interference
~losing control
~fear itself

Birth Plan for Labor...
~ no expectations, go with the flow
~ its all good, stay positive
~ candles, peace, clean, relax
~ complete faith and trust
~ pray, meditate, chant
~ be in your body
~ surrender to the Mother Spirit
~ massage perineum with olive oil
~ remember Jesus on the cross for comparison
~ focus on how sexy it feels, find the ecstasy!

In contractions...
~ move how your body wants to move
~ breathe how your body wants to breathe
~ deep squat
~ visualize flower opening
~ soft face and soft open lips
~ focus on candle

Between Contractions...
~drink water
~sing/play music
~write/read
~Yoga Poses:
~ squat, hands in prayer position
~ cat-cow
~ tailor sit pose
~ corpse pose

During Transition...
~"I birth this baby" (with help from divinity)
~ "This is my and baby's birth"
~ put out shower curtain
~ relax
~ breathe
~ visualize baby slipping out
~ hold perineum
~ deep squat or cow pose
~ be in tune with baby
~ be in tune with body

~ trust my body
~ push only when/if my body says to

After birthing...
~ nurse
~ massage in vernix
~ cut cord
~ diaper
~ clean me
~ sleep!
~ let Storm take care of you, baby, and everything!

Storm's Shopping Habits/Gift

Now, Storm is hesitant to tell people to try this kind of delivery. He has people ask him to deliver their babies,
but he wont. He says he can't take responsibility for a successful birth if the mother hasn't been eating raw
and walking every day of the pregnancy. Storm has a gift for shopping for and preparing raw food. I think it
comes from his passion for life. Raw food is life. It is alive. Storm doesn't let anyone shop for food for our
retreats. He has to see the food before he will buy it. When he shops at farmer's market the choicest fruits
and vegetables call to him with their color, smell, and vibrancy. These foods have very high levels of
nutrients and nutrient density because they are the freshest, ripest and cleanest foods available. Storm talks
about reading the aura of a fruit the way he can see in a person's aura if they are healthy or sick. It is said
that certain people have a glow. Storm calls this an aura.

I don't want to tell people to go out and do a natural husband/wife raw-vegan homebirth because it might not
be for everybody. I don't know why our family does so well on the raw-vegan diet. I think it may have
something to do with being 100% raw rather than 99% raw. That 1% makes such a big difference. That 1%
cooked food can deplete you. When you are 99% raw you become very sensitive to cooked foods, so they
can do you more damage than if you were very used to them. This varies with the individual, but I have found
it to be true for myself and many others.

To Supplement or Not to Supplement, That is the Question!

If you are not able to get or grow fresh organic produce then you may not be getting enough nutrition during
your pregnancy. In this case perhaps supplementation can help. I do not know whether supplements are
good or not. I have heard both sides of the argument. Some say that taking supplements can block the
receptors from receiving the real nutrients and actually cause deficiency. Some say that many bodies are
incapable of absorbing nutrients naturally and therefore supplementation is necessary until good bowel
health is attained. I am not sure if anyone really knows the truth. I believe that people promote whatever they
themselves are doing to assure themselves that they are doing the right thing. In our family we do not take
supplements and we feel exceedingly fine.

I have been nursing and/or pregnant for 11 years straight and have not taken a single supplement, green
powder, vitamin, pill, capsule, or medication in this time. Out of the 11 years I have been 100% raw-vegan for
half of that time, 50%-99% raw-vegan for a quarter of that time, and cooked-vegan with about 50% raw
foods for a quarter of that time.

Yesterday I went to the new local health food store in our tiny town and bought fresh organic locally grown

plums and apricots. There were two MDs from UCLA showing the health food store owner a new machine
using a blue light that you cover with your palm for three minutes. The machine scans your tissues for three
minutes and counts your carotenoid levels. Carotenoids are a powerful anti-oxidant. The physician told me
that if your carotenoid levels are high then it is highly unlikely that you are deficient in any nutrients. He
showed me a chart showing that most people's levels are around 20,000. 10,000 was the lowest and 40,000
was the highest level shown on the chart. He claimed that his vitamins would raise your scores to the highest
levels.

He tested me and my score was 56,000. Raven's score was 64,000 and Shale's was 61,000. All of these
scores were "off the chart". When he tested Jome the machine showed "error". This happened two more
times and as this had never happened before the physician was a little panicked that his machine was on the
blink. So he tested it himself. It is a three-minute test so I turned and talked to the other physician meanwhile.
I glanced back as the younger physician's test score appeared on the computer at 28,000 and he quickly
closed the screen. He had told me several times that he takes the vitamin product himself because of course
he wouldn't recommend anything he didn't take himself. Their pitch was so good they almost had me
convinced to research their product further, and although I pretended I didn't see his embarrassing test
score, it snapped me back into reality and I had to laugh inside.

I tried to get my blood tested for all nutrient levels (calcium, vitamin B-12, etc...) during my pregnancy. I had
a basic blood test done which showed that my iron levels were fine. However I was surprised to find out that
medical institutions don't have tests for specific nutrient levels. They recommended that I find an alternative
health practitioner for such tests. They also said that if your iron levels were good that it would indicate that
you were sufficiently nourished. So, as no medical level testing exists for testing specific nutrient levels, I
decided that as long as I feel great I am going to assume that my nutrition is more than adequate.

The Myth of Needing to Eat More

My friend is seeing a traditional doctor for pre-natal care. He told her that women eat far too much during
pregnancy. He said the additional calories that you need during pregnancy are the equivalent of a Snickers
bar per day. I would venture to say that the additional nutrients that you need are the equivalent of a handful
of baby greens.

Diet for A Raw-Vegan Pregnancy

I ate very little during my first trimester this pregnancy because I didn't feel like eating much (which I'll say
more about later). I also ate very little during my last trimester as I got full very quickly with the baby taking
up more room in my body. During my first and last trimesters I definitely ate much less than I do when I am
not pregnant. During my second trimester I ate normally, but not noticeably more than usual. I gained 15 lbs.
during my pregnancy, going from 135 lbs. before I got pregnant to 150 the day before my labor. The day
after my labor I was 140 lbs. (due to having delivered a 7 lb. baby and burning off the other 3 lbs. during
labor). A week later I was back to 135 lbs. even though I was now eating more than usual because I was
nursing my new baby and my appetite was intense!

During my pregnancy I ate:

~ an abundance of fresh organic fruits

~ about 4 glasses of fresh-squeezed organic orange juice a day

~ green juice about twice a week (using a variety of one or more of the following ingredients: celery, kale,
chard, spinach, broccoli, parsley, carrots, and beets flavored with either lemon, apple, ginger, onion or
garlic).

~ delicious tabouli salad two to four times a week: one bunch of parsley, one bunch of cilantro, a bunch of
green onions, and 4 tomatoes chopped up with a dressing of a mashed avocado, lemon, honey, olive oil, and
salt. Instead of the traditional cracked or bulghur wheat we use ground almonds. We take a handful or two of
almonds (not soaked) and put them in the blender, grinding them into a fine flour. Then we add this flour into
the tabouli salad.

~ salad of organic lettuce or baby greens with avocado/lemon or tahini/lemon dressing once or twice a week,
but not regularly (maybe on average once every week or two). Sometimes with other vegetables added.

~ my staple recipe that I had once or twice almost every day was an avocado and a tomato chopped up in a
bowl with lemon and salt. Sometimes I'd wrap the mixture in a kale leaf.

~ around every second day on average I would have some kind of nut or seed milk; either tahini milk,
sunflower seed milk, or almond milk. I would add the soaked nuts/seeds (almonds soaked for 4-8 hours,
sunflower seeds soaked for 2-6 hours) or raw organic tahini (ground sesame seeds) from the health-food
store to the blender (about two tablespoons of tahini or 1/2 to a whole cup of nuts/seeds) with a blender full
of water, a tablespoon of honey, a dash of organic cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, and a pinch or two of
unrefined/celtic sea salt).

~ other foods I would sometimes eat were guacamole, salsa, Earthseed Multigrain (manna) sprouted seed
bread (available at health-food stores in the refrigerated breads section), fruit smoothies, blended salads,
sunflower seed patées, whole vegetables including corn, celery, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, and
jicama, whole fruits including durians (the stinky fruit) and young coconuts (durian and young coconuts are
both good fatty fruits available at Asian markets), berries, apples, bananas, melons, cherimoyas, satsumas,
and guava pineapples.

Fruits and vegetables have all the vitamins and minerals you and your baby need. They have all the fats,
carbohydrates and protein you and your baby need. Nuts and oils (hemp seed oil, olive oil, and flax oil, all
organic and all cold-pressed) have all the omega fatty acids that you and your growing baby need. There are
many who say that the nuts and oils aren't even necessary but that fruits and vegetables are enough, even
during pregnancy and nursing. I believe this may be true. Storm prefers to be cautious and include the nuts
and oils. Perhaps they are the secret of his long-term success with the raw-vegan diet.

According to the new book "Rawsome" by Brigitte Mars, the following are all sources of Vitamin B12 (also
called Cyanocobalamin or Cobalamin). I also received a list like this from Charles Partito the owner of the
Ejuva Cleanse company a few months ago saying that it was based on new scientific test results performed
on foods.

Alfalfa leaves
Bananas
Comfrey leaves
Concord grapes and raisins
Ginseng
Hops
Mustard greens

Plums and prunes
Seaweeds (Kelp and Nori)
Sprouts
Sunflower seeds
Wheatgrass

My feeling is that overall it doesn't matter whether you are 90% or 100% raw or whether you take
supplements or not. There are far more obvious issues that most of us need to address such as making sure
we don't consume any major toxins such as cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, coffee, sugar, MSG, artificial
sweeteners, and processed and packaged foods that contain chemicals and preservatives. There are other
factors that are definitely important to health such as a joyful spirit, a positive mind, and a body that gets
enough exercise, sleep, fresh air and water. After we handle these areas that drastically affect our health
and the health of our babies we can then be clear enough to better be able to discern how to get to the next
level of health and decide on issues such as whether to be 99% or 100% raw or whether to take supplements
or not.

The toxins named above are able to penetrate the placental barrier and affect the development of your baby.
They can cause damage to the nervous system including the brain.

Your emotions also affect your baby within. It seems that children often take on the mood of their mother
during pregnancy as their general disposition.

The Root Of Morning Sickness

The Root Of Morning Sickness is junk food, chemicals in food, and cooked food. I discovered this through
accidentally testing myself. I never experienced morning sickness with my first three pregnancies, aside from
a little nausea with my first. With my fourth pregnancy however I "fell off the wagon" just before conceiving.
My daughter Raven decided she didn't want to be 100% raw anymore. With Raven at a very mature 9 years
old Storm and I decided we would have to let her make her own decision about this. As Storm left on a three
week business trip, leaving me in charge of shopping for the first time in six years, he said to let Raven eat
whatever she wanted. So for the next few weeks I battled rather unsuccessfully against the temptations of
cooked foods such as bread, mashed potatoes, and pasta as I prepared these for Raven. We also consumed
some junk food. When Storm returned Raven said she had had enough of cooked food. I didn't know I was
pregnant but I started craving all sorts of crazy junk food and cooked food. After giving in to these I started
having an aversion to raw foods! The thought of many kinds of raw foods made me nauseous. All I wanted
were a few different kinds of cooked foods. What happened is that I ended up eating very little.

When I found out I was pregnant I forced myself to completely cut out the cooked foods, and within a few
days I was again enjoying raw foods and free of any cravings or nausea. This experience brought home the
fact that "you can't serve two masters". If you have cooked food in your diet you will not appreciate the
delicacy of raw foods. Whereas if you eat only raw foods not only do you totally enjoy your food more fully
than before but you lose the cravings for cooked foods too. Although this is true for me at all times it was
amplified for me during pregnancy. It also made me realize that morning sickness is another completely
unnecessary suffering brought upon ourselves by cooked foods.

Nursing - Eating for Good Milk Production

Tahini seems like it brings on an abundance of milk. Any leafy greens are great too, in green juice, salad, or
on their own. These include lettuce, chard, kale, parsley, cilantro, spinach, and baby greens. Lots of water is

good. Orange juice is great. Nutmilk is wonderful. Tahini milk is fantastic. Nursing, rather than pregnancy, is
when I eat a lot more than usual. It makes more sense to grow the baby most after it passes through you!

Raven and Jome are thinner than Shale and Adagio for their sizes and ages. WIth Raven and Jome I didn't
know about "hind-milk". This is the milk that comes after the "let-down". When your milk lets down it flows
out. After this comes the hind-milk, which is the milk that makes your baby fat. So make sure your baby gets
that hind-milk.

La Leche League is an excellent resource for help with nursing. They have free (and fun) meetings
worldwide. You can find your local chapter at their website at http://www.lalecheleague.org/

If you are reading this eBook I’m pretty sure I don’t need to tell you about the importance of nursing. We all
know that nursing provides your baby with antibodies to prevent them from getting sick. It helps to bond
mother and baby. It helps the mother to stay relaxed and to take time out and rest (while nursing). It is best
to focus on nursing while you are doing it. Nursing is a very deep level of sharing with your baby. You are
like Mother Nature providing sustenance to this new person. You have been one with this person for nine
months and this person still needs to feel that connection. While nursing you often have deep eye contact
with your baby and so this is a time to tell him all about life with your eyes, and to learn all about God and
innocence and perfection from his eyes.

Many women choose to not nurse for reasons of vanity. Forget the rumors about nursing dragging down
your breasts. It isn’t true for raw mothers! Our tissues are too elastic! If you want to be sure your baby doesn’t
drag you down, prop the baby up on a pillow on your lap or hold him up higher than your lap while you nurse.
But remember, nursing is what breasts are for in the first place!

Exercise

Exercise is crucial to maintaining your health and the health of your baby. It helps to oxygenate all your cells.
It keeps your body from becoming toxic. Just as raw food does, it conditions your tissues so that they will be
more elastic allowing for an easier childbirth. It gets you in touch with your body, which is so important for
labor. Regular exercise raises your pain tolerance threshold. It contributes to your emotional balance. It is
energizing. And it makes you feel strong and powerful.

Walking is great for overall fitness. Yoga for mental composure. And The Circular Workout for strength and
power, balance and energy, upper arm strength which gives you a feeling of overall strength, and an evenly
muscled torso (working all the muscles of the arms, back, chest, and abdomen simultaneously).

Exercise and diet together can make pregnancy and childbirth a blissful experience. I have never
experienced morning sickness or post-partum depression with my four pregnancies.

FAQs

Question about protein and B12:
I was talking with a woman who had been eating a raw food diet for about 5 years before her pregnancy. She
told me when pregnant especially the first trimester she craved meat, and had aversion to eating any nuts,
avocados, or salads, presumably because of the dressing taste. She ended up eating a little meat during her
pregnancy in the first trimester because she was not sure she could just eat oranges and other fruits and
have a okay pregnancy. She was also scarred because she had experienced several miscarriages and did
not want to take a chance of loosing another pregnancy. She really had no support about pregnancy and raw

diet at the time. She also mentioned she had read Gabrial Cousins book about raw food and pregnancy and
he mentioned taking B12 as well as eating lots of chlorella and spirulina. She told me she could not stomach
that either. So what advice could you give about what to eat if in a pregnancy a woman craves high protein
foods. I have talked to several vegans who have had this happen in pregnancy, craving protein such as
meat. But I actually wonder more about someone who can't eat nuts, seeds, or avocados while pregnant
what would be good them to eat. Thanks for your advice on this. Raw Peace, Kate

Hi Kate,

I believe you can get enough protein from vegetables and fruits. I think perhaps the nausea in the first
trimester and the reduced desire for many foods might be a message that your body wants to clean out, and
that its OK to eat very little during this time. However if the woman is getting strong cravings for meat and
dairy, I don't want to tell them not to do it. Just try to get the cleanest organic freshest versions of these
things. At the same time, If they stick with the 100% raw and force down some green juice using a lemon to
make it more palatable, then I believe those cravings will pass and the ability to stomach and even enjoy raw
foods will return shortly. This is what happened to me anyway. Best, Jinjee

Question re supplements/herbs:

Jinjee Are there any specific supplements or foods/herbs that you took to support you during pregnancy? Are
you really raw all the time?
Blessings to you and your family, Carey

Dear Carey,

Yes, we're really all raw all the time! But I think it would be much more difficult being in the city surrounded by
temptations. I don't know if I could do it! Don't be too hard on yourself. We've been cooked for tens of
thousands of years, at least, so its only natural that it takes us a little longer than overnight to transition to raw
foods. Don't give up!

Raspberry Leaf sun tea is good while pregnant, though I didn't have any this pregnancy. I didn't take any
supplements or herbs. Just lots of good fresh organic fruits and vegetables and nut and seed milks. Best,
Jinjee

Question regarding Detox:

I'm pregnant and wondering what is safe-- is it ok to use the recipes such as in "Shazzie's Detox Delights", or
will that cause me to detox and harm my baby. I've been searching for the answer to this question for a few
years as my eating has been great, then no so great throughout 4 pregnancies. No book seems to be able to
answer it except by saying to consult your doctor. And doctors don't seem to have a clue about natural detox.
What's safe, what's not?? Can you help? Thank you-- Jennifer

Hi Jennifer

Here is my take on detox. I don't possibly see how eating healthy food can harm you. If you put together a
well balanced diet of raw food your body will respond. But if you put together a diet that is not balanced and
you are lacking certain elements then you will experience what is commonly known as detox. This is what I
call a balanced diet: FATS (nuts and oils such as flax and olive). PROTEINS (nuts and all fruits and veggies).

And CARBS (fruits). All the best, Storm

Storm's View of "Raw Pregnancy and Natural Childbirth"
by Storm Talifero

I'm going to start off by saying that I hate the word Raw, but search my mind though I may I cannot find
another word that defines the subject that I'm going to write about. I think that a book's title should be
definitive.

We are now living in a time of catastrophic events and I believe that one of the main issues of our times is
the issue of nutrition. It seems that no two experts can agree on any one thing pertaining to facts about our
food. And no where is this more true or critical than in prenatal nutrition.

I'm going to try to communicate my experiences of doing the prenatal nutrition and unassisted home births
for the four children that we have delivered. I know that many of the viewpoints that I'm going to express in
this eBook will be controversial. Two of the births were with Jinjee (the mother) being on all raw vegan food
during the gestation period. Two of the births were with Jinjee being a vegan eating some cooked foods.

But before I begin that let me state why I was so adamant on a home birth. I was born in the dark ages as far
as the way that doctors treated pregnancy and childbirth. You are suspended in the womb for nine months.
While in the womb you can see muted lights and hear muted sounds. But when you are born the first thing
that happens is that you see the bright overhead lights in the operating room. It sears the optic nerves. You
can hear the doctors talking to the nurses at what to us is normal volume, but to a new born baby must seem
like the Tower of Babel. Then they used to hold you upside down by your feet. I don't know if that is still the
practice, but it is my understanding that when you hold a newborn baby by his feet you rupture the tiny
vessels in the spine which is not strong enough to support the baby's weight either standing, sitting or
hanging upside down. Then they whack it on the butt to get it breathing, and that is not the end. If it is a boy
child then they flip him over on his back and whack the tip of his woody off. That is one hell of a welcome.
There are some who say that you never get over the pain and trauma of the delivery room.

Most of the time they have given the mother some kind of drugs either for pain or to induce labor.
Sometimes they give the mother drugs for pain and to help her relax and this stops the labor and then they
have to give her uppers to induce the labor again. All of these drugs penetrate the placental barrier and go
directly into the newborn baby's blood system. When I found out that I was going to be a father I started
studying and I was both appalled and shocked at many things that I believed would be unnecessary in a
normal healthy childbirth. We live in a paradoxical time. I never cease to be amazed at the level of miracles
that modern medicine can achieve. And I believe that some of the greatest minds of our times are in the
medical industry.

I just wanted to approach the prenatal and actual childbirth as a natural occurrence instead of treating it like a
disease. But in the event that anything had gone wrong I was totally prepared to dash to the nearest hospital.

I have always loved reading medical books. At one time I wanted to be a doctor but decided to be an artist
instead. My choice of careers did not stop me from being fascinated by the most complicated machine in the
known universe - our body.

I was totally blown away by how our brains work. You have ten trillion cells that are suspended in fluid
without touching. They are able to communicate and I use the word communicate because that is in effect

what they are doing with each other. They are able to communicate via neuro transmitters not only within the
brain but also through out the body via a network of synapses and nerves. And even though I find the
complexity amazing it is nothing new in and of itself. What is new though is the concept of nourishing this
structure with raw living food.

The brain starts to develop in the womb and in order to do so correctly it needs certain building blocks. Not
only does the newly developing brain need certain nutrition it is essential that certain elements be present for
the brain and nervous system to form properly. Even though I had been on the raw diet for years I was still a
little nervous about starting a child out on raw food in the womb. I had never heard of anybody doing it and in
fact I didn't know of any raw food children. And even as I write this I personally don't know of any raw food
children who eat one hundred percent raw except for mine. As of this time I have read about other children
who are raw so I know that I'm not alone in this paradigm. But still it was a scary step and I think that it will be
for any parent.

The child is created in the womb and the future health of that child is totally in your hands. I believe that the
health of a child in the womb is based upon two things. What you eat and what you don't eat. The food
industry has introduced so many chemicals into our food supply until they have turned our daily food into a
virtual drug store. And the sad truth is that many of these chemicals have not been tested for the effect on
our brain chemistry or the formation of the fetus in the womb. Many of these chemicals are so new until no
long term test results are available.

What is even worse is that many facts are known about some of the chemicals such as MSG and the fact
that it does penetrate the placental barrier and enter into the blood stream of the fetus. The industry then
hides the test results and puts up a smoke screen because millions and millions of dollars are at stake.

The main goal of the raw diet that we designed while Jinjee was pregnant was based upon just what did the
body need. Just what were the essential building blocks and was it possible to obtain them from simple raw
foods. And was it possible at the same time to eliminate all of the chemicals from processed and inorganic
foods. The answers we found were amazing. The simplest foods such as oranges and apples contained an
abundance of nutrients that the body craved. While foods such as milk and meats contain very little in the
way of building blocks and nutrients. We had to overcome huge myths such as the need for proteins and
vitamin B-12 from artificial sources and the part that it plays on the development of newborn babies.

When you think of nutrition you must take into consideration the anatomy of a single cell. A cell is surrounded
by fluid. A cell receives nutrients and discharges waste through the cell wall. A cell does not care what your
food tastes like; it is only concerned with getting the building blocks that it needs to function. When you eat
heated oils for instance these bring nothing to the cell that it can use. These are very hard to break down
and clog the system slowing down all of the cellular processes. Or when you eat processed foods that have
Trans Fatty Acids in them the Trans Fatty Acids actually surround the cell wall preventing the cell from either
receiving nutrients or discharging waste material. It does not matter how much food you eat if in the end the
cell cannot use the food. If the cell is in fact prevented from operating at its maximum capacity then you are
in fact suffering from malnutrition. And nowhere is this more of a paradigm than in our modern diet. So to
make up for this they say we have to take supplements. But when we eat organic fruits and vegetables even
though we do not feel that we have eaten a full meal the cells are nourished on a cellular level and we are no
longer starving with a full stomach. I believe that this is the main reason that Jinjee was able to bring forth a
perfectly healthy child on just organic fruits and vegetables.

Here are some facts that I would like to share with you. During all of Jinjee's four pregnancies she avoided
these food groups. Meat and dairy. During two of her pregnancies she avoided all cooked foods, meat and
dairy. The two pregnancies in which she was all raw the hard labor was under one hour. Jome and Adagio
just slipped into the world. The other two pregnancies were both over 30 hours of labor. Even though all of

my children are raw now, Shale who has been raw since birth has shown an incredible amount of
development in areas that I never would have thought would be affected by the food you eat. Jome who is 7
and was raw in the womb and who has been 100% raw for most of his life has also shown incredible ability in
the area of attention span, pattern recognition, and art and music. Raven who is ten and who has been raw
most of her life has also shown a very high level of achievement. She recently scored 100 on an internet IQ
test that was designed for 18 year olds and older. Her mother scored 135 and we won't talk about my test
scores. The main point that I'm trying to make is that over a period of 10 years I have observed the growth
and development of these four children who up to this point seem very normal if not somewhat advanced for
their ages. Out of the six people in our family none of us are obese, none of us wear glasses and none of us
are under a doctor's care or on medication of any kind.

At this point I would like to touch a little bit on the actual diet. Jinjee, Shale and myself eat about 80% fruit.
We do enjoy salads. Jome and Raven will not eat many salads or drink any green juice so they are about
95% fruit bats. We all enjoy sprouted nut milks and other nut dishes so that is a source of rich protein for all
of us. Jinjee and I are the only ones who will drink green juice. Of all of the kids Shale is the most muscular. I
attribute this to the fact that she eats salads and avocados on a level that the others don't. She has the best
appetite and the most positive spirit. This may have nothing at all to do with the fact that she has never had
any cooked food while the other two have, it may just be who she is as a person.

The main point of this eBook is not to teach people how to have unassisted childbirth at home. Most people
will have their babies with either a doctor or a midwife in attendance, and there is absolutely nothing wrong
with that. The point that I'm trying to stress is that there are many myths surrounding the prenatal care and
actual delivery that I feel we need to look at in a much closer light.

One is the use of supplements. I feel that if you have a totally balanced diet then it is possible to obtain all of
the necessary nutrients that you need to build a strong baby from raw living foods. I feel that a lot of the
supplements can not be absorbed by the body, and may even do more harm than good. The reason for this
being; when we get calcium from a natural source then it is in a format that is easily absorbed by the body.
But when we rely on an artificial source then it might not be so readily absorbed by the body. Vitamins that
may not be absorbed or eliminated are sometimes stored in the body where they can turn into deposits such
as kidney stones or gall stones.

The truth is that we are just now starting to realize that there are many subtle side effects from many of the
drugs and various supplemental products that we use. When this happens you can not always rely on the
company to tell you this. There have been many cases of non or incomplete disclosures from both the
pharmaceutical and supplemental industries, not to mention the processed food industry. So in light of that I
totally recommend eating a diet of raw organic foods as much as possible. Now of course there are some
exceptions to every rule and sometimes it is just not possible to obtain a steady supply of organic fruits and
vegetables. I think in those cases careful research should be done to find the type of supplements that will
give you the most benefits. If you feel the need to take supplements be sure they contain no animal products,
that the ingredients are organic, and that they use chelation, the process of extracting nutrient molecules in
their complete form for absorption.

I think that there is a huge difference in carrying and delivering a baby that is gestated by a mother who is
eating mostly fruits and vegetables from one who is being gestated by a mother who is eating mostly dairy,
meat and processed foods products. The mother who is on a heavy protein diet is going to produce a much
bigger baby, but bigger does not necessarily translate into healthier. The reason that they used to hold
babies upside down by their feet and slap them was to get them breathing because the air passages were so
clogged with mucus that this was necessary. All of my kids came out breathing on their own with no clogged
airways.

The need for protein is one of the biggest questions in the world of nutrition today. I'm from the school of
thought that we eat way too much of the wrong kind of protein and it does us more harm than good. Fruit is
made up of protein that is very easy for our bodies to absorb. Most fruit is about 2.4 percent protein; the
same percentage as mother's milk and we have found that we can maintain very high levels of energy and
vitality on a diet mostly based on fresh organic fruit. Fruit, oranges to be exact, was the main staple of
Jinjee's diet with her last pregnancy. Our son weighed 7 pounds which is normal and she now has a copious
supply of milk with oranges still being her main source of nutrients. Greens and green juice are also excellent
sources of nutrients but for us it is a little harder to get down, and the kids refuse to eat greens so when I
shop I mostly buy fruit. But I do try to balance the fruit with green salads and juices whenever possible.

Another very important food group that is essential for normal growth is omega fatty acids. Without this vital
food group the brain cannot function or grow in a normal fashion. We obtain most of our omega fatty acids
from olive oil and flax seed oil. We just mix it into the nut milks and other different recipes. A hundred years
ago our food contained much higher levels of fats, but the people themselves were not obese. Now with the
advent of processed foods people are really becoming obese while at the same time the food does not
contain the same level of healthy fat that it did a hundred years ago. The reason for this is that a century ago
food was much more natural. A lot of the processed foods contain trans fatty acids which are very harmful to
our bodies on the cellular level. So the Processed Food industry's answer to the current Obesity Epidemic is
to reduce the level of fat or market what they call low-fat foods to us. We are still way overweight because
our obesity is not caused by our consumption of fats but more by our consumption of refined sugars and
MSG. So not only are we still fat but we are now also starving. When these conditions exist in a pregnant
mother then it can result in a whole host of ailments in the newborn baby including ear and sinus infections,
colic, lethargy, chemical imbalances, ADD, ADHD, hyperactivity, and autism.

We have gotten so far off track regarding what we actually need to sustain our bodies on natural food as it
was designed for us until there is serious scientific doubt that we can even be healthy on raw organic fruit,
nuts, seeds, and vegetables. And this is the one of the whole underlying themes of this eBook. Yes, it is
totally possible with a well balanced diet to produce a perfectly healthy baby on all raw foods.

The birth of Adagio was different from the others in that Jinjee walked about five miles every morning in the
mountains. This means that at least 2.5 miles was up hill. In short she was in excellent condition. Even on
the morning of the birth she walked two miles. Another thing that was different was that during actual labor
she moved around to the dictates her own rhythm. The room was lighted with candles. She moved from
squatting to kneeling positions as well as various yoga positions to help open up the birthing canal. I can't
imagine a hospital letting her dance around like she was doing. What it kind of boils down to is men telling
women how to have babies instead of letting them find their own natural flow. So except for a few times when
I felt that she really needed me I stayed out of the picture and at no time did I try to direct the process. The
results were amazing.

This was the sixth baby that I had delivered, and over the years I had learned to let go and flow with the
process. There were also a lot of things that were incorporated in the process that were not obvious. One
being that we both agreed that the final position should be one that let the tail bone swing freely so that the
birth canal was not restricted. When women lie on their backs to deliver then the tail bone hinge cannot
swing back freely which results in a tearing which could have been prevented in a squatting or kneeling
position. Another thing that we agreed on was not to push when the cervix had opened. In a kneeling or
squatting position when the time is right the baby will just slip out which is just what happened. The pushing
was a totally natural reaction that was not in the least bit forced.

One of the things that Jinjee had discovered was that mammals will stop labor naturally if they are interfered
with during labor and then when they are at peace they will give birth. This is a huge discovery because a lot
of medical personnel can be very pushy and invasive, which triggers a natural shutting down of the labor

process. And of course drugs are very invasive, and C-sections which are at an all time high are the height
of an invasive birth. Jinjee also found out that hospitals have a much higher mortality rate than home births.

One other thing that I would like to mention is that the first thing that I noticed on Adagio is that he was
wiggling all of his fingers and all of his toes. This to me was huge because it shows that he has fully
developed nerve pathways. He was covered with a kind of thick yellow paste which we rubbed into his skin.
This is a natural protection against the air for skin which has been in water for nine months. We also waited
about 20 minutes for the cord to stop pulsating. This means that there is still blood being passed back and
forth between the mother and the baby. And the last thing that I want to mention is that as soon as the baby
is born we put him on the breast, because there is a clear type of fluid that helps to clear the baby's digestive
tract and prepare him for the milk that is to come later. It also helps to bring on the contractions which deliver
the placenta. To me the delivery of the placenta has always been the most dangerous part because if it
breaks up or comes out in pieces then the mother can hemorrhage. Of all the births this one was the easiest
and the most natural. The next morning I planted a tree over the placenta in the forest as is our custom.

Recommended Reading:
Frederic LeBoyer, Birth Without Violence
Hygeia Halfmoon, Ph.D., Primal Mothering in a Modern World
Lynn M. Griesemer, Unassisted Homebirth, An Act of Love
Marilyn A. Moran, Pleasurable Husband/Wife Childbirth

Recommended Websites:
Kangaroo Mother Care (a term for "attachment parenting")

http://kangaroomothercare.com/Paradigm6physiology.html

My Story and Photos:
Before and Afters, How I went Raw

http://www.thegardendiet.com/jinjee.html

Photos of Jinjee 7 months pregnant -

http://www.thegardendiet.com/images/7mogallery

Photos from newborn Adagio's first day -

http://www.thegardendiet.com/images/adagio

Photos of Jinjee and Adagio 10 days post-partum -

http://www.thegardendiet.com/oneweek

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if you have any questions or would like to share your

experiences. We will update this eBook with new information and FAQ's in a new section below as these
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