Baby's First Breath

Happy New Year! It's 2007. Time for Rebirth. Thought I'd try to go over what rules Human Birth in the Chart. These are rough notes. I'm going to list some aspects of Childbirth and hopefully add planetary symbolisms to them as soon as I get my Rex Bills book on rulerships.

Eileen Naumann says that a person's birth moment is described by his Ascendant.

Max Heindel Says: "It is best to be born at Sunrise or in the Forenoon preferably in April or August (when Sun is exalted) when the Moon is increasing in light (new moon to full moon)." That leaves a lot of us moping around with inferior charts, Max. Waaaa! That means that every new year is rotten right from the beginning because it's got the wrong Sun Sign. I'm telling Linda Goodman on you, Max!

Ingrid Naiman has written interesting articles on Astrofertility at www. astroheal.com/articles/storks_stars.html. She says that a Czech psychiatrist, Dr. Eugen Jonas found that a woman is most fertile when the Moon is in the same phase as it was when she was born. If she was born on a Full Moon, then she is most fertile on a Full Moon. If she was born on a New Moon, then she is most fertile on a New Moon and so on. He also found that the baby's sex is determined by the sign of the Moon during conception. Masculine signs will beget boys, Feminine signs will beget girls.

4th House and Moon rule Birth. 8th House rules Conception. Passage from 12th to 1st Houses rules time of birth, that's the Ascendant of the Chart. Ceres rules Fertility and Menstruation. (www.goodess.astrology.com/ceres/).

Contraception - controlling fertility cycles (Moon-Pluto): ruled by 8th House.
Abstinence
Roe v. Wade / Decided Jan. 22, 1973 Washington, DC / good discussion at http://starcats.com/newsmakers_february_2006.html:
The Pill
IUD
Abortion
The Morning After Pill
The Abortion Pill

Conception: 8th house, well, 5th house writes the Dance Card and makes the Date, 7th house makes the Wedding Bells Chime, but some just go straight to 8th house.

Vaginal Birth in 4 stages:

1) Cervical Dilation

2) Pushing Phase - Uterine Contraction

3) Birth of Baby and Delivery of Placenta, Mother loses blood,
Umbilical Cord Cutting / Some allow to detach naturally "Lotus Birth"
In Hospital Baby is evaluated 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth by Apgar Score which checks for Skin Color (Saturn); Heart Rate (Sun); Reflex irritability; Muscle Tone; Respiration (Mercury). Apgar Score developed by Virginia Apgar b. June 7, 1909 Westfield, NJ. She said "Nobody, but Nobody is going to stop breathing on me!"

4) Afterbirth where child goes through physiological changes such as independent breathing and cardiovascular structures change. One shunt in heart, Ductus asteriosus, falls with the 1st breath and completely seals after 4-10 days. The second shunt, Foramen Ovale (sp?), usually closes within the first year but doesn't close completely in 30% of people.

Hospital - ruled by 12th house, Neptune

Inducing Labor -
(increases need for Cesarean Section)

Cesarian Birth
28% of U.S. births are Cesarean Section as of 2003

Baby's position:
Most babies born Head First (1st house, Aries, Ascendant)
Breech babies come out feet (Neptune) or buttocks (Jupiter) first
Transverse lie - baby is sideways in womb and hand or elbow comes first
Posterior Baby - baby's head faces forward instead of backwards
Cephalo-Pelvic Disproportion - baby's head doesnt' fit into mother's pelvis - usually due to bone forming problems in Mother.

Pain Control:

Non-Medical:
Support from others (women are found to have better influence - Venus);
Massage (Taurus, Venus);
Hypnosis (Neptune);
Water Therapy in Tub or Shower (Water Signs);
Squatting or Crawling positions (?).
The Body has its own Pain Control, beta-endorphins are secreted from the Pituitary Gland. (ruled by Uranus?)

Medical Pain Control:
Nitrous Oxide
Epidural Blocks (Spinal Anaesthesia): Saturn; Uranus.

Mortality after Childbirth. Much less in Modernized Countries. Most important factors affecting Mortality in Childbirth are 1) Adequate Nutrition (6th house, Virgo) and 2) Access to Medical Care, blocked either due to a) Cost (Venus) or b) Distance (3d or 9th house).

Psychological Aspects of Giving Birth:

Mothers:
PTSD symptons can result.
Partner participation can help as long as partner doesn't exhibit excessive anxiety. Female partners result in need for less chemical pain relief.
70-80% Mother develop some sort of "Baby Blues"
10% Mothers develop postpartum depression.
Group Therapy (Uranus) is a good preventative measure.
Lack of Sleep.

Fathers:
Lack of Sleep.
Jealousy.
Do they receive any attention for their feelings?
Father represented by Saturn
Father not present - Saturn Retrograde, or in difficult aspect to Nodes (so says Noel Tyl)
Father thrown out of the Delivery Room for Anxiety Purposes: Full Moon? etc.
Paternity Dispute - Anna Nicole Smith have an Asteroid?