A Baby Catcher is Born

 

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  I thought it was the forgotten dream of an ardent eighteen-year-old, no longer applicable to my life.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.

Comments

[Diane]

Yay! I want you to catch my baby. Well, you know... when/if I have one. :)

[nancy]

It's interesting, 30+ years ago when I had my kids, the push was for "natural childbirth", we all took Lamaze classes, I did have some happy juice with my first child, she was so big that when my water finally broke and she dropped suddenly I was in great pain. But that was it, we did the breathing, the counting, all of that. I had a 10 lb, 13 oz baby with minimal intervention. My second one was 9 lb, 13 oz, I had absolutely no meds, and if my husband hadn't gotten the nurse when he did, she would have been delivered by him because they were ignoring me. When my grandsons were born early in this decade, I couldn't convince my daughter to go to classes because she was certain she was going to have an epidural anyway, so why bother. Because of the epidural, she had difficulty pushing and they had to use suction to get my 1st grandson out. This is progress? The number of C-sections is growing by leaps and bounds partly because of the interventions. I know if I had my girls now they would have tried to force me to have a c-section ,especially with the first because she was so big. I never even had an ultra sound, in spite of the fact that my OB was a nationally recognized expert in them; but he had written in my chart that the baby was big because the dr who delivered her remarked, "Oh, she IS a big baby."

Done babbling. Be a great mid-wife.

[Megan]

OH, how I wanted a natural child birth. However, I'll take being alive. You will be an amazing midwife. I wish I could have more babies so that you could catch them!