The bloom of birth

Glowing candlelight dances around a warm, cozy room as 20 women breathe melodically, each holding a twisty yoga pose.

"Notice what you're fighting -- see if you can open into that. It's great practice for birth," says prenatal yoga instructor Sarah Longacre as the stretch deepens. "How much is this opening your hips?" she asks.

"A lot!" one woman answers with a laugh.

"A lot -- think of a whole 2 inches extra for baby," Longacre says. A spirited and warm woman with a quick smile and wavy blond hair, Longacre, 32, gently guides the expectant mamas out of the twist and into a squatting position. "Listen to the wisdom you have, the intuition you have. You know exactly how to birth your baby. You know exactly how to be a mother," she tells them.

The desire to help women believe in themselves and trust the beautiful process of birth is part of the reason that a year ago in Edina, Longacre opened Blooma, a center for all things parent and baby.

"Pregnancy is a time to really begin to focus inward. You end up taking a step back and taking inventory," said Longacre, who is also a doula, a woman trained to focus on and support women emotionally and physically before, during and after birth. At Blooma, parents can get educated about all their birthing options.

"What I say to moms all the time is, 'You're not sick; you're not weak. You're strong and you are pregnant, and yeah, you might have heartburn and all this other stuff going on, but let's work through that.'"

The Caesarean-section rate nationwide is at an all-time high of more than 30 percent, a 46 percent increase since 1996, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The rate of induction -- above 22 percent -- has more than doubled since 1990. At the same time, the preterm birth and low-birth-weight rates have continued to rise.

American women delivering in hospitals typically go through labor on their backs, a position that actually makes it harder for the baby to come out, rather than using positions such as squatting, standing, kneeling on all fours or birthing in water. But as more women learn about resources and options available to them and as they seek supported prenatal birth and postnatal care by incorporating doulas and midwives, there's evidence of change.

Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis treats women to massage, relaxation, meditation, aromatherapy and tubs. Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis has staff doulas and staff midwives, who are trained to support women and may deliver babies. The number of HCMC midwives has doubled in the past 10 years, and the number of doula-attended births has gone from about 35 to 70 per month.

In Woodbury, Woodwinds Health Campus' Maternity Care, which recently received one of the top marks in patient satisfaction of any hospital in a Picker Institute study, incorporates volunteer doulas and massage therapists. They offer aromatherapy, music therapy, hydrotherapy tubs and birthing tubs, acupressure, acupuncture and healing touch. "People are becoming more and more aware of the care practices that make for a better birth," said Jeanette Schwartz, clinical director of maternity care at Woodwinds.

Relaxing away the fear

A one-stop center like Blooma was long overdue, said Sarah Tracy, a labor/birth registered nurse at a local hospital and a hypnobirthing instructor at Blooma.

Tracy's classes teach skills in relaxation, hypnosis, visualization and positive self-talk. "The basis of it is that when you can relax and focus your attention on what you want to happen within your body, your body can work in an optimal way," she said, explaining that hormones that women release when they are fearful or worried are the opposite of the hormones that aid a smoother, easier birth.

Kerri Rivers used massage, acupuncture, prenatal yoga and education classes at Blooma before her son Eliot was born nine months ago, with Longacre assisting.

"It completely prepared me to give birth in the way that I wanted to," the Minneapolis resident said. "My goal was to have a natural, unmedicated birth, and the yoga was a huge help in that."

Like Rivers, Laura Leventhal was initially scared about giving birth, but after going to Blooma regularly, both began to view labor and birth positively. Leventhal, of Minnetonka, found herself dropping by Blooma even when she didn't have class, because "it's such a welcoming, kind, loving environment."

Sarah Moran is a freelance health writer in Minneapolis.