One of the realizations I made during my springtime quietude was that it is time for me to become a midwife. On some level I have known this for a long time, but I didn't want to know it. I thought it was the forgotten dream of an ardent eighteen-year-old, no longer applicable to my life. It was at that age that I first learned about some of the common interventions used in childbirth. I was appalled, and outraged that birth seemed to have become something that happens to women, rather than something that they themselves do. I wrote a paper for school entitled, "The Dangers of the Medicalization of Childbirth" (this was in 1995) and learned about the midwifery model of care, which views pregnancy and childbirth and normal and healthy. Then I realized that I didn't actually know any midwives, it was illegal in many states at the time, and I had no idea how one became a midwife. I wasn't interested in becoming an activist, I wanted to be a midwife. I shrugged off the fleeting dream of what I might do when I grew up and continued going about the business of being a college student.
And yet...my course of study continued to focus on women, empowerment, the body, health, reproductive issues and rights, sexuality education, and eventually Purna Yoga, specializing in prenatal yoga, and becoming a doula. This move to become a midwife feels like a development of, not a diversion from, my current work.
This morning on our local NPR station the topic of the 9am show is Natural Childbirth. The ad stated that less than 1% of couples choose a non-medicated, little to no-intervention birth (they didn't state whether that was local, state-, or nation-wide). That means that less than 1% of childbearing women have faith that they can do this thing that our bodies are, with few medical exceptions, perfectly capable of doing with zero "help". What has happened to our sense of strength, our power, our confidence? What keeps the other 99% of women from choosing a way of giving birth that maintains the sanctity of this journey, the well-being of the infant, and the mother's sense of unmitigated confidence in her abilities**?
I want to become a midwife because I believe in birth, I believe in women, and I believe in babies. My path holds challenges, to be sure, but I am finally, happily, ready to face them. I will be the change I wish to see in the world. I will be part of the movement to ensure that families have choices when it comes to where, how, and with whom they welcome new little people to the world. I will be an activist, if that's what it takes.
You can follow more about this particular journey at my sister-blog: Prenatal Yogini
** Disclaimer: I am thankful that we have so many choices when it comes to prenatal care and labor/delivery options. My bias is clearly toward "natural" childbirth, but please do not take that as an indictment against those who choose other methods of labor/delivery. I am not judging those women. I may, however, judge the practices that have become so commonplace - often in spite of clear scientific evidence that they are not safe or effective.
