Tuesdays with a farmer - Pregnancy- Part I

Note: This is an edited transcript of a lecture delivered by the farmer on "Pregnancy and Parenting"
 
Farmer:
I have always been fascinated by the idea that something which is so fundamental completely escapes our attention.  As families are becoming smaller and smaller, there is no carryover of old wisdom at all. You never have a great grand mother who could exactly tell you how this is done. As you get caught up in your stride, you realize you have no time and all you you can offer is nothing but money.

The process of delivery is like any other process in the body. Its like going to the loo. It should be that easy. Your muscle, if flexible enough, should have no problem. Unfortunately, body is not at all fit. Therefore it is painful. If you look at history, more babies have been born underneath the sky rather than inside a room. In the last 40 years, we have made it into a surgical problem. 


Now we have come to the point where, pregnant women are called as patients. They are admitted as patients. They need to have patience. But there is no question of calling them patients. It’s a very simple and straight forward natural process if you are fit. If you are healthy, there shouldn’t be any problem. If the muscles are not really flexible, you hold back and pain starts. And at some point, you are like, Screw all this. Do what you want. Get this out fast. And the trouble begins.

The way a delivery would turn out, has got something to do with how you were born. Your body is really made at the time of delivery. Essentially during pregnancy the very crucial thing is to have a healthy body. Diet plays an important role. It is essential to have lot of raw diet. Very easy to digest. It gets directly the nutrients. It would suffice if the mother has one cooked meal every day. You should have lot of ghee. Ghee which is properly made, unlike the one available at the market.  Ideal would be two spoons per day, good quality ghee made of good quality milk.  Fruits and nuts are also very important. Peanut is a wonderful source of calcium.


If you want calcium, the best way to do it would be:

Soak peanut over night. Run it with a little water in mixie. Its like a thick mixture when it is boiled, When it is settled, it becomes like a curd, you get this peanutty curd,  which has all the amino acids of sprouted peanut. It’s the great source of calcium.


The more raw fruits you eat, the more flexible your muscles would be.  Your muscles would be more relaxed. There is this whole method called Lamaze.  Dr. Lamaze discovered a way to actually deliver when contraction cycle starts.The breathing process helps to weather the pain by attuning to the cycle. Normally, both the parents learn Lamaze breathing technique.  There is a wonderful book by Elizabeth Bing  on this method and there are Lamaze classes all over the country.

It is always recommended to have pregnancy at home. Now you can get all the right facilities for facilitating it. However nice the doctor and the hospital may be, there is no real personal connection. The baby is taken away by the nurse. It has become yet another process vying for ISO certification.


The baby is floating calmly inside the liquid. It gets the best of the food that you eat. If you eat really bad food, it gets the best it can get. If you eat really good food, it will be better.The lights are filtered. Sounds are very muffled. Its the stage you and I would long to have throughout our life. It comes through the narrow passage. Outside, everybody is making noise. There is so much light. The experience must be traumatic for the baby. The funny thing, the lady is asked to lie on the back and push against the gravity? Why? Because it's comfortable for the obstetrician. Ideally,you should let gravity work.


In the old time, there used to be one room deep into the house, strictly meant for pregnancy.  Nobody was allowed to go inside that room other than that period. Light was very dim. It was very warm. You can recreate all of this now at your home itself.  I have had many friends who delivered their babies at home.  If you want to do something for your children, do it in the first three years. Do it in the nine months before they are born. Do it in the first three years afterwards. That's all. You have done enough for them that would last their life time.Not only that, you are also creating the possibility of taking this health further. Really, make that your real contribution. At that time, your money doesn't count at all. You can't throw money at the process. You can't get someone else to do this for you. 

At a certain period, couples often say, now we are ready to be parents. What does it mean? Now, we are ready to spend the money! We need not spend money on weird processes and tests. We should ideally spend money on taking time off to prepare ourselves for pregnancy.


Its amazing how the body changes,how nature starts creating the conditions for creation of life. If men don't get involved in it, it seems like, there is pressure on her to take care. If you don't participate in this, you lost this chance. It may not really seem like a macho thing. It may not be like that. You could get seriously involved in this to help her.