Good News Briefs
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Vanishing Twin Syndrome in the News |
Vanishing Twin Syndrome in the News
New books in 2006 and 2007 are illuminating the unexpected impact of a death among twins (or other multiples) in the womb and how that death affects the survivors. Individual clinicians have been discovering these cases in rising numbers over the last decade, due mainly to the rise of medical manipulations of human reproduction. Now the first books are appearing, two in the German language and one in English. The German books, are by E. Steinemann (March 2006), The Vanished Twin: How a Prenatal Loss Can Shape Your Life (Munich: Kosel-Verlag) and by A. R. and B. Austermann (May 2006), The Drama In the Womb: The Vanished Twin (Berlin: Konigsweg).
The first anthology on the topic in English (January 2007) is edited by Althea Hayton, Untwinned: Perspectives On the Death of a Twin Before Birth (Wren Publications: St. Albans, Herts, England and LaVerne, TN. This extraordinary collection of twenty articles written by a variety of experts and participants in the experience are a powerful tribute to the unconscious depth of awareness and memory of babies in the womb. For more information: www.wombtwin.com.
In 1997, a single case analysis of a celelebrity who was a twin survivor was published by clinical psychologist Peter O. Witmer, The Inner Elvis: A Psychological Biography of Elvis A. Presley (Hyperion). The author argues that Elvis Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse, played a critical and enduring role in the King's life. "Elvis' psychic raison d'etre as a twinless twin was to put himself back together again," says Whitmer. "That was really the power of his creativity--as well as the momentum behind his self-destructive downward spiral."
A Media Milestone 1981
An anniversary, unheralded but significant, affords a look back at progress in public recognition of prenatal/perinatal psychology and health. On September 24, 1981, Toronto psychiatrist-psychologist Thomas R. Verny was guest of honor on the Phil Donahue Show--the dominant talk show of the day--addressing the subject of his new book, The Secret Life of the Unborn Child.This was two years before the birth of the First International Congress on Pre- & Perinatal Psychology and the birth of our Association which followed in 1983. It was a time of tough criticism of a "controversial" new book which would later achieve phenomenal influence, inspiring translations in over 25 languages across the world. (In Japan alone, it has sold over a quarter million copies.)
For the audience, a film clip produced by Cinema Medica put things in physical perspective with photos of embryo and fetus from 4 weeks to five months of age. Thomas spoke of the fetus as an aware, sensing creature, having dreams in the 8th month, and possibly thinking and making decisions--something backed up, he said by decades of data. The obligatory antagonist guest expert, Burton L. White (The First Three Years of Life, 1975) shot back with "Its off the wall" and "there is not a scintilla of evidence." White offered instead Jean Piaget's theory of "primitive reflexes" at birth, problem-solving after six months (maybe), and "short" memory emerging from 6 to 12 months after birth.
Dr. Verny noted that science has its prejudices just like society, and that Piaget's belief that an infant could not mimic until 6 to 9 months after birth was incorrect, since psychologist Andrew Meltzoff had shown babies doing it at only two hours of age.
When Verny expressed his concern about the pain of circumcision, White claimed babies were "protected from pain." Verny said babies could recognize their parents but White disagreed. They could not do that until the third month of life, he said.
And that's how it was in 1981!
Stories From Greece and Portugal
Laura Uplinger
Last summer near Nice on the French Riviera, I attended a meeting of the World Organization of Associations for Prenatal Education (In French, OMAEP). Representatives were there from Associations in Bolivia, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, and Portugal, sharing their stories, activities, approaches, philosophies, and concerns. Two reports that touched me the most were from Greece and Portugal, where they have focused their efforts on reaching children and adolescents in the schools. This shows considerable foresight--prenatal education, not starting with pregnant women, but with children in school!In Greece, teachers remind adolescents about the extraordinary cultural influence of ancient Athens in contrast with Sparta, where mothers were asked NOT to breastfeed their babies in order to provide more warriors to the State! In Athens, on the other hand, mothers were traditionally asked to contemplate beauty during their pregnancies and to foster in their minds ideals of intelligence and nobility. Students are asked to embrace the possibility of building a more ethical, humane civilization by their attitude in pregnancy, concentrating on the making of a human being.
In Portugal, teachers of third and fourth graders produced a play inspired by a children's book featuring a baby who does not want to leave his mother's womb. Children playing the "family" encourage the unborn child by saying how good the world is. The baby thanks them but feels quite happy inside and does not need to make a change. At this point in the play, he hears his father arriving home and greeting each family member with a kiss. What is a kiss? the child in the womb asks. When he learns that kisses are a wonderful part of love that are only available outside the womb, he makes the decision to be born. I saw a video of this school play with its fantastic lessons in prenatal and perinatal communication. I was in wonder at the joy expressed by the children playing these roles.
Detoxing Before Conceiving.
Michel Odent, M.D., Director of the Primal Health Research Center, London, has initiated an experimental program to help preconceptual women protect their future offspring from environmental hazards. He reminds us that we are carrying in our bodies 300 to 500 synthetic industrial chemicals that would not have been there fifty years ago, and that most of them collect and accumulate over the years in the fatty tissues. Pollutants are passed on to the next generation as they cross the placenta and disrupt the endocrine system during the critical period of construction in utero.Dr. Odent has devised a regimen focused on replacing (to the extent possible) the stored fat that holds the pollutants with new and better fats. The group program involves an intensive week of dietary changes, brief periods of fasting, discussions, steam baths, swimming or walking, and ends with personal recommendations designed for each participant to continue on their own. To learn more.
Foreskin, A Birth Right
A new organization, Attorneys for the Rights of the Child (ARC) has joined NOCIRC, NOHARMM, and DOC (Doctors Opposing Circumcision) on the front lines of the fight against circumcision. Attorney J. Steven Svoboda, Berkeley, CA and colleagues around the country have created a legal support center on circumcision issues. They are working to secure equal protection for, and broader judicial and public recognition of children's legal and human rights to bodily integrity. They assist other attorneys in shaping legal strategies in precedent-setting court cases. Currently they represent a Greek man suing on behalf of his son who was circumcised despite repeated requests that he be left intact. At the same time they are launching their campaign to seek United Nations acknowledgment of circumcision as a human rights violation. Watch for them in the news and check their website for the latest developments.