No, I’m not talking about the insect “tic”, though maybe next month’s issue I WILL address those tiny nasty beasts. What I am referring to are movements or vocalizations a person makes, usually repetitively and not consciously. It’s pretty safe to suggest that nearly everyone has experienced this to a certain degree as one point in time, but most are simple things that you gain control of fairly quickly.

People of any age can experience a tic, I do some crazy eye squinting when I’m tired and shoulder-neck scrunching when I’m biking, but it’s more common in children and in particular, boys. It is estimated that nearly 25% of all children experience this…so if you have 4 kids like me, and your oldest fights them regularly, you can bet I am praying that 25% holds true and none of the others start on them! ;-)

There are two main types of tics, motor and vocal. The vocal ones are when someone utters a sound repetitively. The motor ones have two levels, simple and complex. Examples of simple motor tics would be blinking rapidly for a moment or two, or twitching your nose or jerking your head. The complex ones are a serious of motions that you repeat in a sequence, like twisting your head to the right, bringing your shoulder to touch your chin and twisting your arm behind you and at the wrist. Complex, right? And one I see fairy regularly with my son =(

One of the places that describes tics, talk about them being, not involuntary, but rather unvoluntary, meaning one can suppress the action for a time, but that will result in a discomfort that will grow until it must be relieved by acting out the tic.

No one really knows what causes tics, but in my mind and my world, I would first look at diet, the vast majority of the food kids eat is crap. Then I would look at mineral deficiency, it has been suggested that a deficiency of magnesium could contribute to this problem. Sleep and stress can be a factor. From our personal experience with our oldest that fights them, this is a child who struggles with going to sleep easily, even when tired. I would of course consider any medications that your child may be on, some doctors feel that the drugs used to deal with ADD and ADHD can cause these tics (there are oils that help kids with ADD/ADHD without those affects, by the way). And of course I believe in chiropractic and making sure the body is properly aligned; when your body is properly aligned, it functions at its best.

I also discovered a few months back, the joy of the Raindrop Technique for tics! I saw a mom share on YouTube a video of her son and the tics he was dealing with…they were quite extreme. She decided to try the raindrop technique on her son and saw dramatic results from them! I decided I would have to try that on my son as well!

I ordered the Raindrop kit in my monthly Essential Rewards and waited “patiently” for it to arrive. It comes with a DVD on how to do the technique so Stephen stayed up with me and watched the video. He was so excited to know that with these oils and this technique his tics would be GONE! Now of course I didn’t promise him any such thing, I just said it was possible this would help him…he didn’t hear that at all, all he heard, and then declared in him mind…WAS HEALING! And I’m telling you…night and day difference after we did it!

The tics have returned…but they took a good 7-9 days before they were noticed to any severity after the first time times…I did the technique on him in the evening before bed for 2 nights in a row. Then several weeks later when the tics were back and bothersome again, we started again. I have decided this will be a weekly therapy for awhile now and hopefully with time, it can be bi-weekly, then monthly and eventually unnecessary. One of the things I LOVE to do with Raindrop is pray while rubbing the oils into him, adding the power of prayer to the healing aspect of the oils! What better way to heal then momma’s hands on you, her voice praying over you and the oils that God SPOKE into existence before He even created man!?

If you want to know more about raindrop, feel free to e-mail me! This July, I will begin training in the Raindrop technique and hope to be able to help others with this technique as well! And if you live in the northern area, my dear friend Ellen will also be training with me and able to help others as well! Drop me a note and I’ll hook you up! =)

Hack, hack, hack, bark, bark, bark!

Have you “been there, done that?” with the coughing fits? We all go through seasons with stuff and for us it was our season of coughing with the kids. The big 2 boys got hit really hard near the end of their winter swim season. They were healthy in all ways except that silly cough. The youngest boy was doing OK, but 4 days before his biggest swim meet of the season, he wakes up sounding like a seal barking! OYE! This is where I give serious kudos to their chiropractor (daddy) for keeping their immune system functioning well so that while they were coughing, they didn’t end up with more serious respiratory issues like so many people do.

We had 3 different type of coughs this winter that were “oh so fun”, but we survived and their immune systems are strengthened every time they get a “work out” like that. So often parents (grandparents) will discover their child is sick and feel it is their job to take that sickness away. But the truth is that isn’t your job. Your job is to help them develop their immune system.

So think of it like your muscles when you lift weights…you go to the gym, lift some weights and your muscles get that familiar ache about 24 hours later. The muscles, while you are experiencing that ache, are actually growing and becoming stronger. Your immune system is similar. A “bug” comes in, weakens your immune system, and your body’s nervous system says, “Whoa, no thank you, we didn’t invite you to the party!” and begins to call in the troops to fight that battle. If you interfere with that fight with medications, you are interrupting the body’s work and not allowing the body to develop that healthy response which helps it grow stronger because the next time it comes into contact with that bug, it will recognize it and be able to kick its butt way sooner, faster and more efficiently. Your body was designed to heal its self…and most people have forgotten…or never been told that!

All that to say…cough, cough, cough, hack, hack, hack, bark, bark, bark. What do you do!? Well, of course my number one “to do” would be to get my child adjusted to make sure his or her immune system is functioning at its max so it can do the work needed to fight that cough. Then, because I’m a mom and I don’t like to see my child suffering, I pull out my oils and use THOSE to bring comfort. I use the oils for comfort as opposed to over-the-counter medications because oils have no negative side effects like OTC meds. Even if I pick the wrong oil for my child, it won’t hurt them. I also use oils because many of them will offer comfort while they are uncomfortable.

So I when I was dealing with the coughs with the kids, my oils of choice included:
eucalyptus (any of them): I would rub it on their chest and park them on the couch with the diffuser literally diffusing right in front of them

RC (which has eucalyptus!): this I would add to the diffuser and rub on their chest, this oil is designed to aid with upper respiratory issues…if the cold has hit…this is the one to use!

Thieves: who would fight a cold or flu without thieves?! Not me! So this was added to the diffuser as well and then I would have them put a drop under their tongue and drink some water to wash it down a few times a day.

Thieves hard lozenges: these are our cough drops of choice! What better way to sooth a throat raw from coughing and get your dose of thieves?!

Thieves sanitizing spray: I use this to spray directly onto the back of my sore throat, the clove oil helps numb the pain in my throat to give me temporary relief, while the oils in thieves go to work kicking butt inside my body!

Lavender or Peace and Calming: At night I would rub this on their chest or diffuse it in their bedroom to help relax them so they could sleep better.

Now of course I had one more super important, don’t leave home without it trick. Can you guess what it is? Prayer, of course! My MD of choice is the one who designed the body. I turn to Him to choose my oils and what to add to my children’s health care needs. It is He who directs my hubby and I to how and what to do when our children are not well. It is He who would show us it was time to seek the help of a practitioner in a medical setting and it is He who gives us peace when we don’t and allows us to witness our children healing themselves.

And prayer works with oils as well. Everything with life has a frequency and our body and oils are no different. The higher the frequency, the healthier you are. The lower the frequency the more susceptible you are to illness and death. Oils have a higher frequency than our body, so by using them, we raise our frequency and if our frequency is lower than normal due to an illness, the oils will raise the frequency helping kick the illness easier. The cool thing is, with prayer, it raises the frequency of the oils!! So together, prayer and oils, you can do great things for your body and your children’s bodies!

Now of course I better add a disclaimer…dah dah dah da!! Please use common sense when using oils. Less is better than more. NEVER use a non-Young Living oil internally unless you are 100% certain that it is safe for consumption. Not all oils are created equal. If you put an oil on the skin and it burns, use a vegetable oil to dilute it (it actually just slows the absorption down). My vegetable oil of choice would include YL’s V6, olive oil and coconut oil since I have those last two in my house in abundance! If in doubt about an oil, ask someone who is familiar with YL oils for help! Feel free to drop me a note if you have questions!

To order any of the oils listed above,
contact Jennifer Davis, Young Living Independent Distributor, Member # 1119180
320.493.5110 . jlcdavis@laborforlove.com . www.laborforlove.com

To sign up with YOUR OWN Young Living Account
follow this link and sign up today!
https://www.youngliving.com/signup/?site=US&sponsorid=1119180&enrollerid=1119180

Last week in the childbirth class I was teaching, we were talking about midwives who were arrested for serving the mothers they were hired to serve. These midwives were hired BY THE MOTHER to serve her and yet these midwives were arrested for various reasons, some as dramatic as the death of a baby and some for no particular reason or birth, but for the mere fact that they were “arrogant” enough to think they could serve a mom in labor.

What angers me so much in thinking about this is the very fact that it’s focused on the midwife…she was “practicing medicine without a license”, she was at the birth where a baby died, she was serving mothers and didn’t have the right “letters behind her name”. None of this addresses the fact that the MOTHER ASKED HER TO BE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! Midwives don’t just wander the streets, listening at doors for a woman in labor, barge in and demand to be the savior of that birth! NO, the midwife was asked by the MOM (and the family) to be there. The majority of the time, that midwife and that mom and family have spent many months and many hours getting to know each other, and trust each other, so that they begin to feel like “family,” so when labor begins, it feel s natural to call that midwife to be there and share that intimate moment with the family.

And yet, midwives are arrested for serving the very moms they were hired by. What is wrong with this picture?!

I love the creator of my school, Carla Hartley! She says over and over and over again in as many different and same ways as she possibly can, trying to help people understand one VERY SIMPLE FACT:        

BIRTH IS ABOUT THE MOTHER (and her baby and family) NOT ABOUT THE MIDWIFE!

If we worked to protect the MOTHER’S RIGHT to birth where, with whom, and how she wants…we will then be protecting the midwife from prosecution. Because if the mother has the right to choose these things, you cannot prosecute the one serving the mother since the mother has the right to have her there! It IS that simple.

Alabama is on the right track! I look forward to the day when all states make this happen! They are working to pass a bill that states that the mom has the right to make the choice of who, where and how…if you want to know more, check out this FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/BirthFreedomNetwork?fref=ts

And for those of you who are curious as to which midwives have been arrested and/or prosecuted, check out this website: http://www.sistersinchains.org/our-sisters-in-chains.html. 

Yeah, yeah, I ate my daughter's placenta. Or more accurately, my best friend steamed, dehydrated, powdered and encapsulated my daughter's placenta and I consumed some of it. But saying I ATE it...generates a much stronger reaction ;-) Yep...I am THAT type of person!

Ever since entering the "natural birth world" I had been peripherally aware that some cultures ate their placentas, I knew almost all animals do and I had sort of heard about encapsulation. But about 5 years ago, through a student I was teaching, I become more aware of it and felt the pull to "give it a try." My best friend and I thawed out her son's placenta and did some "investigating", she quite eagerly, and myself, a wee bit more hesitantly, watched her poke and prod this organ from her son with an eager fascination. I was carefully holding my stomach from any strong reactions. We completed the process and ended up with over 100 capsules that she went on to use to help herself with various "woman challenges".

I was hired right after that to process my first client's placenta. Knowing there was a value to it, I moved forward, but I admit somewhat hesitantly since I had such a strong reaction to the first one. It turned out to be an amazing opportunity. There was none of the queasiness that I felt with my friend's and the appreciation I felt from the mom I was serving made me so excited to complete this work for her. So every couple of months someone would call or e-mail me for this particular service. The testimonials I received back made me so excited that I continued doing this work, even though I had no first hand experience on the benefits.

On December 11, 2010, I birthed my fourth child, my first daughter! It was AMAZING! You can read her story here: http://www.laborforlove.com/miriam-rose.html
My best friend was there to help with our sons and when it was all over, I sent her home with my placenta to complete the work I had done for other moms...for me this time! 5 days postpartum I took my first capsule and thought, huh, that might have helped...but then I put them aside saving them...so I thought...for menopause. After all, I AM Jenny Davis...I can do EVERYTHING and I DON'T NEED ANY HELP! Know anyone else like this? Yeah...maybe even you are as determined to "do it all" as I am. Well, let's just say some times even the strongest of women need some help!

14 months later, I was doing some research for a presentation on encapsulation and was in particular looking into postpartum depression. Now, I know many women experience PPD, but not me! Because I felt I had traveled through this time with ease, I had no real pressing desire to research it until later in my midwifery studies. I was stopped cold, though, as I read through the list of symptoms of PPD. Nearly HALF of the symptoms applied to myself!!! HOW could that be? But then as I read symptoms such as anger, agitation, irriatation, lack of motivation, mood swings, guilt...I thought, uh oh! I had been irrational for quite some time, though it had snuck up very slowly and quietly. I decided right then and there to pull out my capsules and start them up. Within 3 days, I was dumbfounded at how amazing I felt! My energy was back! I looked around our home and was appalled at how messy it was and actually CARED about fixing it! My milk supply must have changed in some way since my 14 month old daughter who was still nursing went from occasionally nursing to loving it and nursed with crazy enthusiasm! But the most important...for me...change that I noticed was that I was no longer (in 3 measly days) insanely angry! The kids could finally do "kid" things without mom freaking out on them! What a relief for all of us! The kids noticed the difference as well, it wasn't just me noticing it. I told the boys if they found mom being really upset again, to remind me to take my placenta pills...and they did, though with some hesitation in the beginning ;-) cuz they liked having the happy mom back.

Why do they work? Well, they are still studying the science at this point, though throughout history, consuming the baby's placenta, by both mom and dad, has been practiced. The current theory that most find truth to, is this: when a woman is pregnant and the baby is growing, so is the placenta. The placenta produces many hormones for the mother and in some areas, completely takes over the production of some of them. The body doesn't want an overproduction of hormones, so it allows the placenta to maintain control of this during pregnancy. But then the baby decides to be born and with it, the placenta, leaving the body in want and need of a primary hormone producer. The body will catch back up at some point in time, but for some mommas, it can take quite a long time. The placenta, when consumed at this time, helps level mom out until the body can take over the production once again. Some moms like myself, I suspect, was simply depleted of many things...due to pregnancy, nursing, poor nutrition, that it finally caught up to me and I had to do something to correct it...even as late as 14 months. But like I said, the science is still trying to figure out how and if this works. Needless to say, if science proves the experiences many moms have had to be true, it reduces the need for pharmaceuticals...and depression is a big money maker for the wealthiest industry in the world...so needless to say, they are NOT the ones funding the research. So while we wait for science to show what many of us believe to be true, we continue to eat our placentas and find ourselves happier, healthier mothers!

If you have research available to support or NOT support this theory, I sincerely am very interested! Please feel free to share with me your experiences and ideas on this practice!