Mark your calendars!!

The Renaissance Center will be hosting an Open House on March 14, 2009. The time will be announced soon.

We hope you will make plans to join us and tour the center.

Heather

We are very proud to announce the opening of....

The Renaissance Center
Maternity and Holistic Health Care

The Renaissance Center is Tulsa's first and only pregnancy and birth center. In addition to these services we are very happy to announce a partnership with Kerrie Long, ND. Kerrie is a naturopathic doctor, lactation consultant, midwife, and CHNP. The center will also house a chiropractor and massage therapist.

Please visit the website for more information.

When we have a client who has a small tear after giving birth, we always recommend honey to help it heal. The other day I received in my email inbox the latest copy of Midwifery Today's E-News. Demetria Clark wrote a great article on the healing properties of honey. So if you wonder WHY we recommend this remedy, here's why.

Midwifery Today E-News
Volume 11, Issue 1
January 7, 2009

Raw honey is a great remedy for first-degree [perineal] tears. Honey's thick consistency forms a barrier defending the wound from outside infections. The moistness allows skin cells to grow without creating a scar, even if a scab has already formed. Meanwhile, the sugars extract dirt and moisture from the wound, which helps prevent bacteria from growing, while the acidity of honey also slows or prevents the growth of many bacteria. An enzyme that bees add to honey reacts with the wound's fluids and breaks down into hydrogen peroxide, a disinfectant. Honey also acts as an anti-inflammatory and pain killer and prevents bandages from sticking to wounds. Laboratory studies have shown that honey has significant antibacterial qualities. Significant clinical observations have demonstrated the effectiveness of honey as a wound healing agent. Glucose converted into hyaluronic acid at the wound surface forms an extracellular matrix that encourages wound healing. Honey is also considered antimicrobial.

— Demetria Clark
Excerpted from "Herbs for Postpartum Perineum Care: Part I," The Birthkit, Issue 46]

Heather

New Year's Baby

Our first baby of 2009 was in the Tulsa World today!! You can read the article HERE. And for the ease of reading it quickly, here is the portion of the article (that is mostly accurate) specifically about our client's birth:

"On the south side of downtown, Tracy Shears' delivery was perhaps a little more dramatic. She and her husband had planned on a home delivery with the help of a midwife, but not all pregnancies go as planned.

At 2:04 a.m. Shears went into labor before the midwife had arrived, so it was up to her husband to help deliver their child.

"It was not my choice, but that's the way things turned out," Robert Shears said.

As the midwife drove to the Shearses' home, she talked to them on her cell phone and coached the father so he could deliver a new baby girl at the family's home, in the 1500 block of South Carson Avenue.

The baby is in good health, and as

for the mother, "30 minutes after giving birth, she was cleaning house," Robert Shears said."