A Doula’s Perspective On Birth
Mama, you’re life’s sacred seat
Having come into my own as a Birth Practitioner aka Doula in my fifties, I had no idea of the great reverence that would well up me at every ante-natal care appointment of Moms’ to be. Likewise, the baptismal miracle of every beautiful, life altering birth of babies I had the privilege of bearing witness to, continued to fuel my passion for women and our sisterhood. And then, the abundant joy of watching mothers with newborns traverse the rocky mountainous terrain of sleep deprivation, overwhelm and awe in one swoop.
My journey into motherhood
I gave birth to two beautiful children myself. I, without question or reservation, completely placed all my personal power, safety, and the well-being of my babies into the hands of the OBGYN. They clearly knew more about the dangers and practicality of natural birth, than I did. Birth happened to me.
While certifying as a Doula, I understood in a visceral way that birth had become a business and a multibillion-dollar business at that! I was appalled to realize that I had been complicit in perpetuating a system as it had been set up and reinforced by the western medicine model — by my own lack of education around pregnancy and childbirth. My mantra had been “If my mom could do it, I am sure to be able to do it too.”
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There is a cost for all choices
As modern women, it is rare to do any substantiative research around pregnancy, birth and what follows thereafter. I am not referring to “Dr Google” when I say this. So much has been lost because of our technological development and sophistication. Women are hard pressed to contribute to their families in a financial way, (I am not in disdain of working moms at all) and then wonder why their babies are overdue while they need to be meet last minute deadlines and handing over of responsibilities while they are on maternity leave.
In a very practical way, I liken natural birth as a pay-in-cash choice as opposed to tummy births (c-section births) having an exceedingly excessive cost are like paying with one’s credit card. One pays off that cost over numerous installments with remarkably high interest.
Let us put this in perspective. Any other patient in a hospital having endured a similar invasive abdominal surgery to a c-section has the benefit of taking several days to recover from that surgery. There is no stop and collect recovery time on the Monopoly Board for a mom with a newborn — within hours of a c-section a mother needs to be up and about, tending to her baby while navigating incredible pain that requires morphine to dull in the first hour’s post-partum.
Natural Birth is inherent to mammals
And yes, we are mammals. Great strides forward in every facet of life have women of this century divorced from the most natural process and primal experience of all. Long gone are the days where women trusted the process and birthed when baby was ready and hungry!
There have been documented cases of women in coma’s birthing their babies naturally. All that indicates to me is that our bodies can do this. The less in your intellect you are and the more surrendered to the natural innate process of birth, the better.
Birth is natural. Birth is powerful. Birth is vulnerable. Birth is empowering. Birth is beautiful.
