BASICS 9 - PRENATAL EDUCATION Vs PREGNANCY CARE

Today in the course of pregnancy women do a lot of things. Firstly, there are regular visits to the Doctor/Obstetrician accompanied by supplements like folic acid, iron and vitamin pills, scans and tests. Women also undertake many activities to improve their well-being – like going for Yoga, walks, Pilate and Lamaze classes. In addition, they also take up proactive steps to prevent stretch marks and sagging belly post delivery.

What are these in the context of Prenatal Education? All the practices which are for enhancing the well-being of the mother are good, but these DO NOT constitute Prenatal Education.

Activities which enhance the well-being of the woman in the course of pregnancy are called Garbhini Paricharya. However, that is not Garbha Sanskara. Garbha Sansakara focuses only on the child growing as an embryo/foetus inside the womb of the mother. The education to be given to the child in the womb is Prenatal Education. It is very different from mother care or pregnancy care as observed in society.

Garbha Sanskara is true Prenatal Education. It is for the empowerment of the Child growing in the womb of the mother. It is not a matter of choice for mother or the parents – should we do it or not? It is a DUTY and RESPONSIBILITY of parents to provide prenatal education and prepare the child for the course of life after taking birth.

Garbha Sanskara is for educating the Child in the womb and Garbhini Paricharya for the well-being of the Mother!

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BASICS 8 - ESSENCE OF PRENATAL EDUCATION

Does it ensure I get a Super Baby?

Parents and other connected family members can impart "Human Life Education" to the child growing in the womb. Fundamental questions such as -  Who am I  , Where have I come from, Why am I here, Where Do I go , What do I need? - are also to be addressed here.  Such learning can and does being even before Conception.  Prenatal and Infancy Education will make learning holistic for the child and prepare it with conducive patterns and templates for the rest of life.

Ancient Bharatheeya scriptures spoke of it; now Modern sciences have also come to this understanding.

Does Prenatal Education guarantee a Super Baby of my choice?  Prenatal education is not a super baby or genius manufacturing process. Just as a regular school with teachers, management, books, timetable, curriculum cannot ensure a child will secure first position, so it is with prenatal education. The process helps parents to facilitate learning. Learning is an occurrence and happens on its own. Facilitating this is the responsibility of Parents, Family and Society.

This is the essence of Prenatal Education!

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BASICS 7 – ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON THE CHILD IN THE WOMB!

Environment is everything which is external to the child.

 

It could be things outside the mother. That will obviously include, father, grandparents, relatives and friends.

Sunshine, rain, air, rivers, earth and the like are also part of the environment. Clean water and pure air are good! Hence it is easy to surmise that good and clean environment is a better influence for the child.

Chemicals, hormones, enzymes are inputs coming to the child from the mother. There are also external to the child and hence part of environment. They may be good or bad – because cortisol and adrenalin seem to be created during anxiety or fear. Oxytocin is produced when there is love and appreciation!

The environmental influences are carried to the child from the mother through the physical channel or placenta/umbilical cord. But they can also reach through non-physical means. Recall, the analogy of FM Channels, mobile phones and TV.

In the course of our lives we are exposed to mobile waves, radiations from video/photo cameras, X Ray / MRI / CT scans and many other such gadgets. Magnetism and Gravity are certainly known influences. These are subtle energies which are capable of reaching the child. All these constitute environmental influences.

The environment hence an important role in the pregnancy period.

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A Story from II World War

Here is a real life story that happened during the Second World War.

During the war in late 1944, Germany placed parts of Holland under a severe food embargo. This resulted in a widespread famine in the areas.  The famine affected the whole population.

Medical records of this period were researched many years later. The records of the men whose mothers were pregnant and carrying them in the womb during the famine were examined in detail. 

The study of the group of men, who were now grown up adults, showed that they all had somethings in common – obesity and predisposition to heart diseases!

Did the environment of the period have anything to do with it ?

Researchers observed that the environment had created severe stress and anxiety in the pregnant mothers. That was the prominent cause of the current tendencies and predispositions which the men were prone to and observed years later. 

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BASICS 6 - ROLE OF THE FATHER

There is no physical connection of the child with any other person including the father or grandparents. So what role can the father play ? Father, for sure, participates in the process of conception.

Once pregnant, the mother carries the embryo and foetus in the womb. She connects with the child physically, through the umbilical cord and placenta. It is well known that the mother is the channel for physical movement of food/ nutrients and waste disposal for the child.

HERE IS AN IMPORTANT POINT - The Child in the womb is capable of connecting through physical and non-physical means. In our lives, we may not be able to touch and feel the non-physical means, but they do have a process and cause an action or reaction. For eg.- We cannot see or touch the waves and frequencies which connect and operate through a mobile phone – but we all know that they enable us to talk with another person(s) in remote locations! So is it with TV viewing or FM radio channels.

Carrying forward the example of FM radio, we know that the FM channels picked up first are the ones which powerfully transmit signals. Less powerful or weaker channels are more difficult to pick up. In the same manner, those who connect powerfully with the Child can communicate and interact with it. The Father, has played the role through conception – contributing 23   chromosomes which form the basic information network to create the child. The mother has contributed another 23. They are equal partners.

Even though there is no physical connection of the foetus with the father, there is connection through strong energy currents, carried as waves and frequencies. Hence throughout the 9 months of pregnancy and thereafter, father continues to play an important role – in the total development of the child in the womb ! It is a link which is causal and unbroken. Energy from the father forms a foundation for the child.

Is it possible for the influences of father to be more powerful than the mother for the child in the womb?

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