Settling Down

I really do need to do this, settle down for a while and get to know me, Who Am I? I have been a mother for almost 9 years now and I am not the same young woman I was last year, let alone 9 years ago! My partner and I are changing and growing and choosing to now go out into the world independently from each other, we are separating and currently living in different bedrooms under the same roof. We are breaking the chain.........not by staying together no matter what but by understanding what's wrong and making it right, even if that means not being together.......we are our children's parents and we are going to make sure that this is done with love, forgiveness and peace. I am not sad anymore as I have had a long time to prepare for this time, I always knew deep down that we were not going to be together forever but it was never the right time to let go and make the changes necessary to be able to begin again. This time things are just working in harmony, we are evolving as a family, we don't need to contain ourselves as one unit, it is time to expand into the world family and see what else lies beyond the white picket fence of superficial protection, not that we have ever had one of those but it's all in the mind. So the settling down I am doing is in this new home and within myself, my soul is showing me some added depths that I was seemingly unaware of.........that is really exciting and I have my instincts and intuition to thank.....but also you......thank you for being there for me!

The Underrated Umbilical Cord

Hey Lotus Lovers ~

We are back in the UK and living under the stars on a really gorgeous campsite! We have much to do as we have been given an opportunity to insert some literature into the delegate packs at this RCOG event. http://www.rcog.org.uk/events/underrated-umbilical-cord

From this event we are hoping to create interest in our Lotus Birth research project that we hope to launch here in the UK as while we were in Egypt we were asked to carry out research to take back to launch with the help of Dr. Amr Gehad. We also met the lovely Dr. Azza Abul-Fadl who invited me to Alexandria where I presented the concept of Doula support to 30+ doctors and we added in the importance on the third stage in there too!

We have much work to so and we are very excited about our next steps while here in the UK.

I will include some photographs of our new 'homeland' with the next post, as we are currently sat in the yummy Star Anise Arts Cafe' in Stroud, Glos using their internet connection. :o)

Thanks for reading.

Lotus Love

Cheroona, William, Aurora, Ophelia and Wilde xxxxxxxxx

Birth Revolutions

I am dedicating this post to our wonderful friend Marwa and her son baby Adam here in Cairo, Egypt. Her incredible birth story can be read here http://marwarakha.com/?p=5965

We are now celebrating the 5th of May which is a very special day to us here at The Lotus Birth Campaign as it is both International Midwifery Day and my second child's 3rd birthday, which marks the birth of our campaign too. Interestingly we chose to birth without a qualified professional midwife and we chose to freebirth with the support of Laura Shanley and her website www.unassistedchildbirth.com.

We have come so far on our journey with the campaign, it has kept us focused on what really matters to us, our children and the planet on which we live. This focus is extremely powerful and it is guiding us on this mission beautifully. All the people who we need to know are presenting themselves you us quite naturally and there has been no stress or pressure!

Marwa has been so supportive to us and our expansion and with getting into professional mode. All the ideas that we have had over the years are now possible with opportunities presenting themselves quite naturally! Marwa has everything to do with this, she has every confidence in us and what we can bring to the world table!

The BIG and BEAUTIFUL EGYPTIAN VISION: Creating a home for Cairo Birth House in Egypt. At the moment Cairo Birth House is hosted in the physiotherapy department of Nasr City Hospital (which has a 100% cesarean section rate) and couples meet with German Doula Gertrude once, maybe twice a month for birth preparation classes. There are currently no midwives working in Egypt so birth happens in hospitals with OB's. Those who don't want to birth the standard way and can afford other options actually birth outside of Egypt. The couple who are living in the apartment above us have an 8 month old daughter who they went to Boston, USA to birth (they were going there for business also so that's why it was Boston). They still gave birth in a hospital but it was a natural birth.

We want Cairo Birth House to be not only a home for birth preparation but also for birth itself! A birth centre specialising in natural birth in Egypt! This is our new exciting mission! We of course will need to get funding for this and support from a larger umbrella but this is a real possibility and I am thrilled to bits to be making pulses in this direction!

What I want to talk about is my first time as a Doula with Marwa's birth. All I know is that she was so beautiful and I am in awe of her power and vulnerability. She is a Goddess and I am eternally grateful to her for enlightening me and bringing me into her birthing world. What really makes me smile, it that although she didn't get to have her unassisted lotus birth (which we know is unheard of in Egypt) she did get to 9cm with her cervix at home labouring with me, which according to the Doctor who delivered her baby is also unheard of for women in Egypt. He said no women ever get even near 9cm without having pain medication! So I am profoundly moved by Marwa and her power and her son's power and feel beyond honoured to have experienced this gorgeous duo in action! This experience has changed my view on everything! Life is so delicate and our expectations of her need to be seriously reviewed as this delicate creation is calling for a renewed sense of trust and a renewed sense of inspiration. Birth is the key to peace on earth and let us treat each women on earth as the Goddess that they are and support them to bring their babies into the world with love and tenderness.

Lotus Love and Lifelong Learning,

Cheroona xxxxx

Egyptian Mummy

After just cutting my own hair into a Cleopatra style, I am now sat at the computer listening to the commotion of the busy streets 11 stories below me. This is absolutely incredible, what a city to end up in! We thought we were leaving the 'mad' city of Hereford to move to the quite village in Bulgaria but we have remained open to change and here we are in 'Crazy City Cairo', with a Pyramid view! We met our special friend today an amazing women who is planning to have her baby in true lotus fashion and together we started thinking about the idea of The LBC moving to Egypt!

William (my love) is into Urban Exploration in a big way! This is like a dream for him here, there is so much happening, so much creation in a place that looks like so much has been distroyed, shops dressed as shrines to killer-cola (coke) and pepsi. I feel that he would be in his element here, never a dull moment (as I type this there is screams of laughter roaring through the chaos rubble filled street, the car horns are never still.......)

The news this morning was exciting too, the ex~president and his son's have been arrested and obtained for questioning, they are guilty, guilty, guilty! It's an exciting time for Egypt and we are honoured to be here to help see in the Revolution! If a country like Egypt can overcome the dictators and start to bring babies into the world peacefully and respectfully for both mother and child, then the rest of the world really has hope!

New hair cut is now making my boobs itch, better jump in the shower before my little nippers want feeding from their semi~Egyptian (wannabe) mummy and get a mouth full of trimmings!

Lotus love and life-long learning

Cheroona <3

Remaining WIDE Open to Infinite Possibilities

I am so excited to share with you the progression that has taken place for us in the last few days. We are not moving to Bulgaria after all! We have been called forth to a friend in need in Egypt, a women who is having her first baby and they would like us to be around for emotional support. We fly our on the 12th of April and we paid an extra £30 to offset our carbon emission, which makes us feel a little less guilty about flying, but considering that I haven't flown for nearly 12 years since coming back to the UK from Tennessee then it's no too bad. I wish I knew about Ina May Gaskin then I would have loved to meet her, but I wouldn't have been ready, too young and without child, that makes a difference. Perhaps our time will come?

Because of this change in plans, we are going to be coming back to the UK in May and we will be able to meet Dr. Sarah J. Buckley!!!!! Looks like we will meet at an NCT Training Day on the 25th, location to be confirmed!!! What an amazing shift in direction for us and our campaign. This campaign is our souls purpose, when I am working on ideas and making contacts all is well within me, I am now understanding that in order for me to live my purpose, I need to remain WIDE open, I need to allow my self to be directed by a greater source, the universe! We always look to being open and true to our beliefs but remaining so and in a wide fashion takes practice. I think we are starting to get the hang of this now and it feels fabulous!

We will also be at Sunrise Celebration festival in Bruton, June 2nd to the 5th. Somerset http://www.sunrisecelebration.com

Where we will pay tribute and rememberence to Brian Viziondanz, who past away last month. Brian made documentary films at Sunrise. They will be naming the lower field'The Viziondanz field of infinate possibilities'in dedication to Brian.

Here is a quote from Brian from his facebook page; "Living, breathing and acting to create a world that works for all of us, for the child inside each one of us, for all the children everywhere and all the children to come - the highest common denominator of the human race is love"

And check out his website http://www.infinitepossibility.org/projects1

William had spoken to Brian at a past event about our campaign and about our idea of making a documentary about lotus birth and he said he would have loved to become involved. Thank you Brian ~ you gave so much love to our world, you will be greatly missed.

And thank you for being here and reading this blog, it too means that you are remaining WIDE open to the infinite possibilities!

Love Cher x

Our New Brochure PDF style

We are excitedly packing up some brochures to go to Patrick Houser from the incredible Fathers-to-Be organisation (check out our links to the right). He will be hosting some events with Dr. Sarah J Buckley this May, so we are thrilled that our brochures on 'How to Have a Lotus Birth' are going to be put into 'goody bags' for those attending the talks.

Sarah Buckley has lovingly endorsed our brochures and our campaign work and we are sad that we will be missing her visit. It's the first time she will be presenting her work in the UK. Very exciting times for her and for the people who are getting this amazing opportunity to hear her speak about those issues that really need attention.

Sarah's book Gentle Birth Gentle Mothering is so powerful as of course it has all the medical know how and facts that you want to be able to understand and inform others with but it also holds the love and wisdom of an experienced mother. She writes powerfully about conception, pregnancy, birth, breastfeding, and beyond and I recommend this book to anyone who asks about further reading.

Our brochures display a beautiful colour photograph of Sarah and also inside three colour images of our son Wilde's Lotus Birth. We are happy to email you the PDF so you can some printed up yourself and hand them out to freinds, clients, colleagues and your family, who might not know much about lotus birth and why you are choosing this for your baby.

Email us for the PDF lotusbirthcampaign@gmail.com

Love Cheroona xx

Here's the info for Sarah's talks!

Campaign Rough Guide (gently speaking).....

We are getting in packing mood now, with the move only a couple of weeks away! So much to do with just the perfect amount of time! At the same time we are working on our campaign handbook or rough guide as we are now calling it. We are meeting so many wonderful lotus families who would like to share their experiences of lotus birth with us for the book. We are looking for full spectrum stories of from all over the world and are really excited by what we are learning. Each lotus birth is so individual, as unique as the children, which is why it is so important to start documenting these profound and enlightening birth experiences. These lotus children are remarkable, they are whole in every sense of the word and they seem to be very happy for us to speak up about who they are and why they are here! The Lotus Children are the next generation of highly conscious beings. The first generation of conscious babies being born were the Indigo Children, then we had the Crystal Children, now is the time of the Lotus Children! Thank you for trusting in us to hold a space for you, we are willing and open to your teachings on every level. Blessed be the Lotus Children!

Our book will offer a magnificent window of opportunity for mankind to release our old ways and not only accept but embrace the new coming through, while reclaiming our ancient wisdom and traditions. If you think this might be the book for you to share your experience through and you would like to contribute your story or know someone who might be interested in learning more, please email us at lotusbirthcampaign@gmail.com

Lotus Love,

Cher and William

Campaign on the move!

We have been on such a journey together as a family, now there are five members of this established tribe and we are ready for our next adventure, an adventure into the unknown! We are moving to Bulgaria! We found an add on the Diggers and Dreamers website inviting people to 'Come and Live in Voditsa', so we are! We are leaving the UK and moving to a little village where we hope to find a new place to call home! We are going to continue our campaign work, raising awareness for gentle birth and parenting!