A Gentle Start, by Angela Stokes – eBook

I want to make it very clear that I make no claim whatsoever to be an
“expert” in the field of pregnancy/birthing/parenting… I’m simply excited
to share my journey in this arena, along with the information that I found
to be the most useful on my way. We gave birth to our first child, our
dear little daughter, Oria Berry Monarch, on November the 20th, 2011.
Oria joined us via a swift and smooth,
unassisted, lotus waterbirth, in our bath
at home, in Vilcabamba, Ecuador.
I’m excited to share here everything that I
found useful to know for pregnancy,
birthing and life immediately post-partum
– all of the things that I would have loved
to have been told, or to have found in one
book, rather than reading dozens and
dozens of books to piece together the
things that resonated for me…
I suspect that much of what I share here would be more useful for other
*new* mums to hear though, rather than more experienced mamas 😉
I also want to make it clear from the start of this book that I intend to
discuss here only the “positive” choices we have made and continue to
make in terms of parenting. There are so many myriad things we have
chosen not to partake in or do not intend to implement as our child
grows up. It is not my desire to go into why we choose not to do each of
these things, as for me it is clear that none of these things seem like
optimal well-being practices and hence we choose alternatives. There are
also countless “alternative” parenting books out there outlining over and
over again why these things may not be the wisest choices, so…there’s
plenty already out there to explore on these topics if you want more
information…
The kind of things we do not choose to engage in include: ultrasounds,
internal pregnancy check-ups, medicalised/hospital birth with bright
lights/clinical environment/strangers/monitors/time limits/restrictions
on eating or drinking, inductions, birthing drugs, epidurals, elective
Caesarean sections, extra people at the birth, episiotomies, circumcision,
umbilical cord cutting, vaccines, eye drops at birth, separation at birth,
bottle feeding formula, nappy (diaper) wearing, setting babies to sleep in
another room, cots (cribs), letting babies “cry it out”, schedules, using
pushchairs (strollers) with very young babies, using dummies (pacifiers),
giving allopathic medicines, day care, schooling, non-organic food, non-
“eco” clothing/toys and so on… I list these here simply to give you an
idea of the kind of things I’m not excited to discuss in this book – so

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from here on out we’ll leave these practices and discussions to others…
I feel that it is so important for pregnant women to focus on *positive*
birth stories and information, as there seems to be such a culture of fear
around childbirth and parenting in our current societies. Do your best to
be connected to positive, uplifting stories, whether through reading,
watching videos online or speaking with other “conscious” parents. If
people start to share their fears and “horror stories” around birthing and
parenting with you, remember that you do not have to listen or dwell on
these ideas – they are someone else’s story, not something you have to
be connected to…keep it positive 🙂 I hope that this book is useful for you
in this regard too…