Giving Birth

The terminology of birth gets to me sometimes. Women are not "delivered," we give birth. It sounds like we need to be saved from this most womanly of experiences. It really is disempowering and sad to hear our power removed from this most powerful of times. Giving birth is my passion, my life. If I am not the one doing it, I want to help others find this same elation, this same boundless sense of being.

My baby grows from a tiny seed deep within my body to an individual who is all their own. My baby signals when she is ready to leave that snug warm nest, and together we strive to bring baby forth.

My uterus tightens snugly around my baby, gently nudging her toward the world. My baby responds, pushing against the fundus with her feet, propelling herself closer to her first breath. Labor is a dance between mother and baby... an intimate ballet where mother moves to help baby do the pirouette through her pelvis and into the world.

To carry and bring forth life is a gift. To feel the butterfly flutters of a growing child within is pure happiness. To labor and birth a child is an expression of love.

The Trust Birth Conference

It is unfortunate that the Trust Birth Conference is over. It was incredible! To those of you who could not come, look for recordings of the sessions to become available in a few weeks at http://aamishop.com .

This conference will go down in history as the conference that really helped bring homebirth into the mainstream. With the release of "The Business of Being Born," more women are able to see this option and question some of the routine practices that dehumanize them in the hospital. This conference built upon that, with the theme: Birth is Safe; Interference is Risky.

Our keynote speaker, Dr. Michel Odent, talked about how disempowering the vocabulary surrounding birth, pregnancy and even genitalia is all about shame and putting the woman in a place of no power. Yet it is she who gives birth.

As women, we should not be delivered. We should be the ones who actively give birth. Birth is a cooperative effort between a mother and a baby. Doctors, nurses and even my beloved midwives should not interfere. If there is a problem, of course they are on hand if needed. Otherwise, they are but witnesses to the miracle of birth.

I learned so much at this conference. Not only about our histories, but how to let the body do its thing instinctually, how to allow the baby his or her part of the birth, and how to promote a woman's abilities to trust birth, her body and her baby.

I am the mother of 8 children. It took me awhile to discover these things and not fight them. It took me awhile to learn to listen to my body and to let it do the work it was designed to do. But I have learned this lesson, and you know what? It works!