Why would you want to?

When a woman of the Dagara tribe in West Africa becomes pregnant, elders put her into a trance and invite her unborn baby to reveal its mission in life. This way the baby won't have to fight to remember the purpose of his or her life.
from MamaToto by The Body Shop Team [no longer in print]

I began working with infants in a level II special care nursery in 1974. I learned Therapeutic Touch in 1984 and was astounded at the response of babies to this lovely form of energy work. In 1988 I became certified as an Infant Massage Instructor to teach this ancient communication of love to parents. In 1992 I began taking classes in the Healing Touch program and again, had another acceleration in my work with infants. I eventually started a private practice in Healing Touch while still working part time with babies until Dec of 1999, when I left the hospital. 

Healing Touch is a Certification program founded by Janet Mentgan, a nurse who had worked with many energy healers around the world. It is a multi level program with a rigorous process to become certified. For more information about Healing Touch go to www.healingtouch.net.

If I had time, I would do Healing Touch treatments on sick or fatigued mothers whose infants were patients in our nursery. I would often feel the presence of the baby's spirit there with us. I occasionally worked with pregnant women, usually my friends. It was always a treat to feel the presence of the spirit during those times. These little beings are very aware of what is happening and are attracted to the light of the healing work.

Three and a half years ago I worked with a family that has since touched my heart. Stephanie was admitted for severe toxemia at 34 weeks. During her stay she suffered a placental abruption [separation of the placenta from the uterine wall] and began hemorrhaging severely. Luckily this happened in the hospital and she was taken for an immediate emergency caesarian, which saved both her and Jennifer's life. 

Although Jennifer was premature she was very healthy and required only normal premature infant care. Stephanie was another story. Her toxemia remained severe, plus the effects of the severe blood loss made her a very sick mother. Her husband Scott, who is a family practice physician, was there to support her the whole time. He spent a lot of time in the nursery with Jennifer and often took her out to the room to be with her mother. Stephanie thought Jennifer looked like triplets because of the blurred vision caused by the medication. They were very holistically oriented and believed that spirit guided their lives. 

One evening I gave Stephanie a Healing Touch treatment in her room and she had a vision of her grandmother being there with us. Her recovery began to accelerate. I worked with them giving Jennifer baths and doing Infant Massage. They were in the hospital for a total of 8 days.

A year ago Stephanie came in for a Healing Touch appointment. They were planning another baby and she wanted to prepare herself in every way she could think of. We did some work with clearing the core belief that it wasn't possible for her to have a healthy pregnancy. In another session we decided to connect with this spirit she knew was waiting to come in. I started with a spiral opening technique asking for the presence of all women who wanted to be with us to support this family. The room felt full. Then I used an energetic healing technique for relationship clearings with the intent of removing any unhealthy attachments from other lifetimes together. It felt like a perfect thing to do. We welcomed and blessed this spirit. Stephanie became pregnant within days after that session. 

She was seeing me about once a month until at 21 weeks [about 5 months] she was told that there were warning signs that she could develop toxemia again. She wasn't put on bed rest but was warned that it would certainly come to that. She cut back on unnecessary activities and I began doing distance healings on her once a week so she wouldn't have to come to the office. I always felt the presence of Megan, the new baby during these sessions. Once I felt her curl up in my lap while I was working on her mother. 

Stephanie carried her to term with no complications and I had the great privilege of attending her birth, which was a planned Caesarian. Even though this wasn't the ideal birth setting Megan had a wonderful experience. Although I no longer work there as a nurse I was in my old territory [having worked there for 22 years]. Scott got to give the first bath and we also included a massage since Stephanie was still recovering. The photos of this massage, compared with the photos of Jennifer's first massage show a dramatic difference since Jennifer was half the size of Megan. 

This is an example of conscious conception and pregnancy. Would we make different choices in our lives if we acknowledge that our infants are completely aware? How would birthing be different if we did it with complete awareness of the spirit we are asking to be part of our lives?

Elly Leduc, RN has a private practice in Healing Touch in Olympia, WA. She has produced a beautiful instructional and inspirational video Baby Massage, a Video for Loving Parents. Visit her web site www.babymassage.net for information about the video and articles about the Spiritual Connection with Infant Massage and other topics. Contact her for assistance with your pregnancy through the web site or call 360 438-1244.

The names have been changed to protect the privacy of this family.