Event Styling: Good Things Come in Threes

When celebrating milestones like baby showers, baptisms & birthdays or holidays (we have tons in the Philippines!), I am lucky to have friends that have the eye for good design. They creatively decorate the space to evoke the sense of festivity. If you have the time for it, event styling can get addicting with the help of Pinterest and YouTube tutorials online but oh, it surely is therapeutic! 

Today's Halloween was definitely special because of the dessert buffet set up by Kaye Garcia in her lovely home.

She has been my friend since high school and is one of the (fairy) godmothers of my daughter Maya. She helped me set up Santi's "Yellow Submarine" 6th birthday party last year. Oh, don't mind the yellow pompoms because I did those myself :/

Kaye also took charge of Maya's bird themed dessert buffet in her baptism reception earlier this year.

Sometimes I get bitten by the DIY bug and have the energy to do-it-myself. I don't know how we did it but my husband and I managed to survive putting together Santi's Minecraft 7th birthday party when Maya was only 2 months old! (We had no helpers at home for a whole month during this stressful time!)

FLOW co-founder & freelance graphic designer, Noelle Hilario (www.wanderlustdrifted.blogspot.com) is also brilliant with her hands. She helped put together my Blessingway weeks before Maya was born. I blogged about this previously here.

Kai Lim (of Cura V) elegantly set this outdoor garden themed baby shower for 3 pregnant ladies in our high school group (one of which was me!) If you look closely, there are real brown eggs in the birds nest. That surely was my favorite touch on the table spread.

Out of the three fabulous friends I have that style parties so effortlessly, only one does it for work. 

Follow @kayegarcia13 on Instagram to see more of her creations. You may contact her at kayegarciaevents@gmail.com for inquiries. 

More of Kaye's recent works-

Lovely life sized backdrop for her daughter Carolina's baptism

Unicorn Dessert Buffet

Happy party planning!

Part 2: Healthy Conception, Pregnancy & Babyhood

Now we move on to Part 2 of the previous post on How to Have a Healthy Conception, Pregnancy and the First 6 Months of Babyhood. Topics in this blog post are The Birthing Process and Vaccines.

The Birthing Process

A book on Waldorf Education and Child Development

In the Waldorf Schools, they tell the "Rainbow Bridge Birth Story" on the birthday of your child. See a personalized version for my son below:

Once upon a time there was a little child named Santiago who was still with the angles in heaven and he was very happy there. He looked at the beautiful colors and listened to the lovely music, and that was where he belonged. But one day the clouds parted in heaven and Santiago saw the beautiful green earth below with all the people happily playing and working and he suddenly longed to go there and see what it was like. He saw all the rainbow colors of the earth, He saw butterflies visiting flowers and birds flying in the air. They seemed to be beckoning him. He saw fish swimming in the sea and all the different plants that covered the earth. he saw children climbing trees running and jumping in the meadows and walking through sand and leaves. It was all so beautiful! So he said to his angel, ‘Please, may I go down to earth now?” But his angel looked at him and said, “No, it is too soon. You must wait a little while yet”. So the child went and was happy and soon forgot about the earth. Then one day again he saw a glimpse of the earth through the clouds again. He saw mother and fathers doing their work. He saw bakers and engineers and writers and farmers. He saw mothers and fathers loving their children. Then he saw a beautiful mother with love and longing in her heart for a child and he asked his angel now, “May I go to her?” The angel said, “You must go through the land of dreams first.” The next night the little child had a dream. He dreamed that he met and man and a woman and they stretched out their arms to him and asked him to come be their child. The child told his angel the dream. The angel said, “It is now time for you to go.” So the child asked, “So may I go now?” “You shall see.” Said the angel. That night the child went to sleep into dreamland and while ten moons waxed and waned he rocked in a little boat. And at the end of that time a beautiful rainbow bridge stretched from heaven to earth and on it came the child as a tiny baby and slid into his mother and father’s waiting arms. They looked in awe at this new life and said “We shall call him Santiago.

Now, isn't that just magical and beautiful? When I first read and heard that story, it brought tears to my eyes mainly because of how TRUTHFUL it is! Children are divine beings and parents should remember that. It is said that it is them who choose us, not the other way around. We will become parents when we are chosen. So, it is just proper that we be ready when the time comes. Preparation is essential and that is why it is good for couples to educate themselves on mindful parenting. It is also a gift that pregnancy takes 9 months (or more) so that we can really take time to transition, just like they are transitioning from heavenly beings into our world. We must remember that.

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"You must negotiate with your doctor or midwife" 

-Jake Tan on preparing & fighting for your birth plan

Jake Tan is a believer in gentle births. He says that many of our children's illnesses may be traced to birth traumas. And of course, our earliest impressions of life are critical.

During gestation, birth and early childhood, the limbic system registers all of our sensations and feelings, without translating it into the language of cortex, simply because it's not developed yet. That memory lives in the body through out the rest of our life whether we know of it or not. - Birth Into Being

Tan recommends delayed cord clamping (Yay!) because it will cut the essential distribution of baby's blood from the placenta. He read an article to us stating this fact which was written in 1969! My goodness! Why are many doctors still cutting the cords too early? Call it what it is - it is baby's blood not cord blood (in cord blood banking). Would you steal blood from your newborn child so that you can save stem cells for future illnesses he/she might not even have? Why are we feeding in to a fear based module of thinking?

What if, by cutting the cord too early, we created the exact conditions that stem cell research is trying to fix? And what if we just gave Mother Nature a chance, left the cord intact at least until it stops pulsating, and started gathering data on these newborns? As health care providers, “first do no harm” means little if we can’t acknowledge with humility that, yes, perhaps we got it wrong; we should be willing to learn from our mistakes and do our best to provide the next generation with what is its birthright: a cord full of rich blood. -Childbirth With Love

Have you read the story of my lotus birth here? (Where I did NOT cut the umbilical cord of my baby after birth and waited until it fell off naturally)

"Children are wanting to come into this world...to be cared for - not subject to stress" 

-Jake Tan

Think about that statement. Are we subjecting our children to unnecesary stress? Tan says that children cannot develop in a stressful environment. We all might be nodding our heads to agree but do we really know if we are doing our children good by exposing them to electronic media, television, advertisements (even billboards on EDSA). It is unappropriate for their age to be xposed to such stress factors when they must see the world to be GOOD, BEAUTIFUL and TRUE. These are words from Rudolph Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy and Waldorf Education.

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Now this is the part where is gets controversial. Vaccinations.

Seven years ago I already had my doubts with pharmaceutical vaccinations. When I discussed my concerns with my husband, I wasn't prepared with research to back me up so we 'compromised' by giving my son some vaccinations which we spaced out in 4 months for the 3 separate jabs of the Dtap/IPV/HiB vaccine. The HepaB shot was administered at birth (I don't even remember giving the go signal for this) plus 2 more separate jabs within the next 8 months.

The Guardian writes an article on some of the side effects on these here. If only I could turn back time, I wouldn't have vaccinated my son.

Jake Tan supports my current view on vaccinations. It is unnecesary. Yes, you read right. Growing up, we've been told that vaccines saves lives so you might be shocked and even react violently on how seemingly selfish I am for choosing NOT to vaccinate my daughter but let me shed more light on the matter.

In Anthroposophic Medicine, it is believed that children will only use illnesses to release certain capacities. When your child gets a fever, it is encouraged to let the fever take its course so the body will learn how to manage and heal on its own. When we suppress this innate ability of our body to take charge, we are sabotaging the healing process. There is a beautiful article explaining these matters: Anthroposophy, Diseases and Vaccinations in one blog article here.

I was once a panic-stricken parent but slowly I have learned to trust in the inner body wisdom of my children AND personally take charge of their health, not leave it to the doctors and government. We as parents are responsible for keeping our children healthy. A healthy immune system depends primarily on lifestyle and diet. If your immune system is strong, you will not be vulnerable to viral outbreaks. It's really as simple as that.

"The most protected child (vaccinated) is the most sickly child"

-Jake Tan

"The recent epidemics are from fully vaccinated children" 

-Jake Tan

Contrary to popular belief, the recent 2014 measles outbreak in NYC was from a vaccinated woman! Read about it on Science Mag here. Why should I even bother to vaccinate when fully vaccinated children don't get immunity after all?

Have you read up on the active ingredients of vaccines? MSG, Formaldehyde, Monkey Kidney Tissue, Calf Serum are just some of the ingredients found in vaccines. Read the complete listing of ingredients from VaxTruth.Org here.

What about polio?

The children are being vaccinated for measles and polio, in spite of the fact that measles rates are very low and declining in the Philippines, and that there has not been a single case of polio in the Philippines since 1993. - Health Impact News

There is an interesting chart comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children in Dr. Mercola's website here. Knowing that my child will be more susceptible to allergies, asthma, ADHD and Autism if given vaccines...again, why would I allow this?

Here's a very timely health documentary that will help open our eyes further.

The hidden story about vaccines, drugs and food… Three huge topics in one film. Why put all this in one movie? Because these issues are directly related, and we have an opportunity to harness the millions of us engaged in each of them to overcome the noise put out by the medical-industrial conglomerate. You peel back the layers and see what’s really driving our industrialized food, our vaccine expansion, and our dependence on pharmaceuticals – it’s the same culprit. Huge corporations funded by individual misery, one broken life at a time. These three story lines converge on Wall Street, but this story takes us beyond the problem to the inspiring and empowering role mothers are now taking in uniting to protect their families.

Link to the movie here: http://ykr.be/1mjafybyd6

I have interviewed several people on their thoughts and feelings about vaccinations and will share in a separate blog post soon.

This is my blog stating my personal opinions on the matter. If you believe otherwise for you and your children, I respect that. Let's continue to live in peace next to each other :)

Delicielo Moringa Cupcake

Just before Maya was born, I contacted an architect, Cielo Castro to design me a study for my future Green Home. A true artist of the hands, she recently discovered that she can also bake goodies! She sent me samples of her vegan treats as a post-birthday gift which I thought was real sweet (pun intended!)

The photo below shows the Pumpkin Cinnamon Cupcake (left) which is a new flavor she offers. I thought it tasted like Christmas and will make you feel festive paired with hot tea or tsokolate. This is something you can order for parties this season! Because I am a green mom, my favorite was the Malunggay Cupcake with Dark Belgian Frosting & Chocolate Chips (right).

The sweetness of the frosting balances the slightly bitter moringa cake. How fun is it to eat something unabashedly green! I ate two pieces in one sitting with Rooibos tea. I can still taste it in my mouth and I know it will haunt me when I want something sweet but healthy to munch on!

I am a fan of Moringa because of all the health properties. Also called the miracle plant, every backyard of a traditional Filipino home has one or more growing for daily food intake. When I visited Indonesia for the first time and did an Herbal Walk tour, I found out that they grow it in every family compound, too. I am glad more home bakers are starting to include this ingredient especially for breastfeeding mothers because it promotes healthy lactation.

"Scientific research confirms that these humble leaves are a powerhouse of nutritional value. Gram for gram, moringa leaves contain: SEVEN times the vitamin C in oranges, FOUR times the Calcium in milk, FOUR times the vitamin A in carrots, TWO times the protein in milk and THREE times the Potassium in bananas." - www.EdLagman.com

Delicielo Vegan Treats has no eggs, no dairy and no refined sugar! 

Menu and prices below: (The Malunggay & Pumpkin Cinnamon cupcakes are not here yet because they are new flavors but pricing is the same)

DELICIELO

Instagram @delicieloph

https://www.facebook.com/delicieloph

Delicieloph@gmail.com

095-4924694

Part 1: Healthy Conception, Pregnancy and the First Six Months of Babyhood

A few weeks ago, I was invited by Kolisko Waldorf School to a talk on How to Keep Healthy at Conception, Pregnancy & The First Six Months of Babyhood. I am using this portal to share my notes, some research and thoughts taken from this interesting topic conducted by Jake Tan, a pioneer in Anthroposophic Medicine in the Philippines.

Sign up sheet. What a lovely welcome with the handmade Waldorf doll :)

I resonate with these as I am genuinely a Virgo; deeply concerned about health and wellness. My journey into the green lifestyle jumpstarted when I become a mom to my first bon, Santi. When you are responsible for the whole being of another, you are suddenly more critical of what goes onto their skin and into their bellies. (And that's just the physical layer, there's the emotional and pychological aspect, too!)

Jake Tan waiting for guests to settle before speaking. This is the Kindergarten classroom.

After the very beautiful introduction by Tita Juna, one of the Kindergarten teachers at Kolisko, Jake started talking about "Environmental Medicine & Environmental Toxins" and how it affects babies in utero. He asked us to simply research on these topics in Google. He mentioned a startling fact, 'We have about 80,000 (man-made!) chemicals released in the environment after World War II". Yoiks!

"Today’s children face hazards that were neither known nor imagined a few decades ago. Children are at risk of exposure to thousands of new synthetic chemicals. Since World War II, more than 80,000 new chemicals have been invented. Many of these chemicals have been dispersed widely into the environment. Some will persist in the environment for decades and even centuries. Most of these chemicals did not previously exist in nature. Nearly 3,000 chemicals are high-production-volume (HPV) chemicals. They are produced each year in quantities of greater than one million pounds. HPV chemicals are used extensively in our homes, schools, and communities. They are widely dispersed in air, water, soil, and waste sites. Over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released by industry into the nation's environment each year, including 72 million pounds of recognized carcinogens.Of the top 20 chemicals discharged to the environment, nearly 75% are known or suspected to be toxic to the developing human brain." -Children & Environmental Toxins, Mount Sinai

Environmetal Toxins and Pollutants come in all forms, says Tan. Parents and those wanting to conceive should be cautious of radiation, pesticides, antibiotics & growth hormones in food, paints, resin, foams, etc.

Let me elaborate on each a little further with some research notes I made.

Hazards of Radiation
Ugh, it's everywhere these days! Wireless technology, X-rays, ultrasounds, microwaves, nuclear plants are some of the man-made sources of radiation.

"When radiation collides with molecules in living cells it can damage them. If the DNA in the nucleus of a cell is damaged, the cell may become cancerous. The cell then goes out of control, divides rapidly and causes serious health problems." - BBC

Got insomnia? Read up on the dangers of Wifi here. It might be linked to your mobile phone-internet connectivity at home.

Pesticides: Glyphosate in our food, soil and water - and why it matters.

Glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, is the most heavily used herbicide on GMO crops. In 2007, the last year for which we have reliable statistics, U.S. farmers used 88,000 tons of glyphosate. Allowing for no increases, that amounts to 580,000 tons of glyphosate dumped onto our food and into our soil and water in the past six years alone....And that’s just in the U.S. - Organic Consumers Org

This article writes about the increase on agricultural pesticides in the past 50 years and increased incidences of neurobiological disorders (ADHD) in children in the past 40 years. Coincidence? Obviously not! We are what we eat, and if we eat junk...what do you think we become?

More Chemicals, Hormones & Antibiotics in the food we eat!
If you are still unaware of how the food industry works, I highly recommend you read these books that will enlighten you and most likely change the way you eat.

Children, pregnant women and developing embryos are the most affected by the chemicals, hormones and antibiotics in the food we ingest. (chemical-laden fruits and vegetables and all meat and dairy products)

Paints, Formaldehydes, Resin & Foams in our Homes
Be wary of furnitures and home items that emit indoor pollutants. It only occurred to me a few months ago that even our mattresses that we sleep on can be a major factor on your general well-being; baby mattresses info right here!)

"The Green Guide recommends not purchasing mattresses treated with the fire-retardant polybrominated diphenyl ethers -- which accumulate in the human body, and can potentially harm fetuses and infants in particular. It suggests buying beds with hardwood foundations, not plywood or particleboard, and an untreated, organic cotton or wool mattress with a natural latex core." -Creating a Toxin-Free Home

An  EPA study proves that indoor air contains up to 100 times more contaminants than the outdoor. Read Mercola's article on why we should never take clean air for granted here.

Ok, NOW WHAT? 
Is the paranoia kicking in? Knowing all these alarming facts, what can we do about it? Below is my personal suggestions of what we can do as parents to protect our families (and increase our health & immune system)

Jake Tan passed this info sheet around

1. Minimize exposure to environmental toxins. Read up on how to create a toxic-free home. 
2. Eat organic, local and in season. There is wisdom in following the cycles of nature. Note the word 'nature' which means to eat foods in their natural state for best absorption of mutrients and minerals. Jake Tan recommends a total organic food diet with less animal flesh, more fruits and vegetables to his patients that have difficulty conceiving. If you must eat meat, support local organic or pasture farms that do not inject growth hormones or feed antibiotics to their animals. Backyard Farms carry pasture-raised, hormone-free antibiotic-free chickens. Honestly, it is the only chicken I feed my family :)
3. Log out, unplug electronic devices and sleep early! We need sleep and rest because this is the only time our body can detoxify. Why rob ourselves from this natural healing state? I overheard this from a cousin, "Once you get a job requiring a graveyard shift (in call centers), you land one foot into the grave".

"Many health hazards have come into light for those working overnight. Scientists feel that working the graveyard shift interrupts our body’s circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is almost like a biological clock on a 24 hour cycle that deals with our physiological processes. This also includes telling our body when its time to sleep and when it’s time to be awake. Having a balance to this is very important because when we are not following that schedule, we become very weak from lack of sleep and becoming weak makes us more vulnerable to diseases." - Sleeping Habits

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, they follow an organ clock noting when your organs detoxify. If you want your liver to do its duty of cleaning out your blood, you MUST be in deep sleep by 1:00am, meaning you are in bed by 10pm. Which reminds me, it's time for me to rest so my organs can do its work!

Image from globerove.com

 Continuation to Part 2 (The Birthing Process and Vaccinations) 

Gentle Birth Forum with Ibu Robin Lim

When I was 3 months pregnant with Maya, divine intervention happened. I was in Baguio for a family vacation the same time Ibu Robin Lim spoke about midwifery, homebirth and lotus birth. Back then, I didn't even know who she was. Alas, the universe must have heard my prayers and the angels paved the way for me to meet such a gentle soul. That night sealed my decision to have a homebirth AND a lotus birth, too! These get togethers (talks, seminars, forums) with like-minded souls really give me the strength to stay in the 'road less traveled'!

Today was a special day for all the birth-keepers in Manila because 2011 CNN Hero of the Year awardee Ibu Robin Lim finally got to meet the group behind Gentle Birth in the Philippines as we tackled 'Gentle Birth' in a public forum.

A guest speaker before Ibu, Dr. Faye Cagayan, an OB-GYN at Philippine General Hospital taught a few SAYUNTIS (Sayaw Buntis) exercises and presented this slide. YES, YES, YES! My wish is for all doctors and nurses to respect a laboring mothers mobility to increase her chances for a natural childbirth!

Were you free to move as you wished when you gave birth?

Ibu centering before her talk with healer Olivier, husband of my friend Jhoanna. They did a peaceful waterbirth in Bali, Indonesia with their son, Tala :)

Ibu Robin sure knows how to make a grand entrance! If you've seen her videos on Youtube, you'll know that this is her usual re-enactment of what a natural birth and lotus birth is. Humor breaks the ice :)

Ibu Robin refers to the placenta, cord and baby trio as the Holy Trinity. This is the root, stem & fruit. Lotus Birth is leaving the cord intact until the placenta is born but waiting until the cord to fall off naturally on it's own is considered a full lotus birth. (Read about my full lotus birth here.)

After presenting powerful images of her humanitarian work in Bumi Wadah Foundation (Ibu Robin immediately sought action after typhoon Haiyan struck Leyte), she made us hold hands to unite energies for gentle births by starting with ourselves.

Photo by Velvet Roxas

Here I am with my birth mentor, Ibu Robin and my back up doctor Dr. Menefrida Reyes who was very supportive of my VBAC (she even spoke about it today!). My midwife, Deborah Gustafson should be in this photo but she couldn't make it. 

My awesome doula, Irina Otmakhova!!! If you want love and support before, during and after your birth, you MUST get in touch her! Here is her website for her services - www.consciousbirthmanila.com

I am so glad to be able to refer Irina (& Deborah!) to my little yogini friend, Aisa who is expecting baby W in a few weeks time! Blessings to your family, W's!!!

And here is another mother making a conscious birth-plan by reading up and attending today's event. Thank you for coming, Timi! 

Cheers to the organizing team for the Gentle Birth Forum, Bravo to all of you, ladies! Awesome work! Thank you, Pat for the photo.

Closing with a message from fellow birth-keeper, Cheryl Chan-Wong:

Hello fellow Gentle Birth Protectors,

For those you missed out Gentle Birth Philippine’s Open Forum with Ibu Robin Lim, you have another chance to see her and this time is by tune in to UNTV's Rise N Shine tomorrow morning, around 830am. Ibu Robin Lim will be on air to discuss the Gentle Birth and everything you need to know about “taking back” one’s birthing rights.

Thank you for all your support, and prayers for a successful guesting!

Local : Ch. UNTV 37
Home : Ch.33
Sky: Ch.58
Destiny and Dream : Ch.9
Signal : Ch.92
Cablelink : Ch. 99
*Thank you*

‪#‎gentlebirthforumph2014‬