So, although I am not a mother yet (I prefer to refer to myself as "host"), I have been very involved with the making of mothers this week. The baby business has been hopping, and I've been on nights, which seems to be when these babies prefer to come.
As I was helping to clean out my office at the university, I came across an old 1978 copy of "Spiritual Midwifery" by Ina May Gaskin and brought it home. This book is still in print and is a classic midwifery text, revolutionary even now. I'd read it many years ago and loved it, but as I was flipping through it I was struck again by the normalcy, beauty and ecstasy of birth itself. It was in this spirit that I attended a beautiful, inspiring birth last night. Life affirming . . . what a natural high.
"It does a man good to see his lady being brave while she has their baby . . . it inspires him."
--Ina May Gaskin
"Ladies in strong labor can get amazingly beautiful. It's okay to let her know this sometimes--it can help a lady's morale to know that she is beautiful when she is sweaty and struggling."
--Ina May Gaskin
6 comments:
I have to say that I experienced this amazing rush for days after I gave birth. Suddenly I felt I could conquer the world. I did this incredible thing that no one could help me with and I would always have that triumph with me. And I don't feel that my epidural in any way detracted from that - I still had to do a lot of work and went through a lot of pain. It's hard to explain in words, but I know you understand, Celeste! I'm so excited for you to experience it firsthand!
i'll have to read that book. tom actually was a great help at my births, better than my sisters and mom. if there is another one, i may have to go back to just tom there. thanks for the reminder on how wonderful labor is (all but the last half hour, anyway).
I love those pictures. Birth is beautiful. I was actually thinking about how your pregnancy and birthing experience will be so different from what most people go through because of your years of experience doing this. I would love to hear your thoughts about what you want your birth to be like and what you have learned from other births--whether you feel more prepared and what you fear and/or are looking forward to. Will you still work after you have the baby? I am very curious.
We read that book a couple of years ago-- love the glossary! enjoyed the post and glad that you still love what you do.
Anyone who refers to a dude's wife as his "lady" is okay by me.
So excited for you, Celeste. How much longer?
Celeste, I'm old enough to remember when Spiritual Midwifery came out. What a flashback to a time when my friends were birthing their babies in the woods and eating placenta stew...I love that you have a copy.
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