The Miracle of Child Birth
“Help me Jenny PLEASE!” cried my friend Heather. I felt helpless, knowing that only she could do the work required to push this baby into the world. Having been asked to be her birthing partner, I stroked her face when she rested and held her tightly when another contraction arose, providing as much reassurance and love as possible.
Aware of her intention to do this naturally by summoning all of her strength, the tone was set with music, sisterhood and unwavering confidence. Sitting on the birthing ball in focused attention, she exuded the archetypal laboring mother of thousands of years back. By letting herself enter the ‘birthing zone’, she was able to access her warrior spirit, enabling her to endure what seemed like the impossible at the time. For most of the hard labor, she rode the wave of her contractions with closed eyes and steady breathing.
Two experienced, older nurses who understood the rigors of natural labor accompanied us. We were told that most nurses nowadays don’t have the opportunity to support a natural birth, and the OBGYN who mainly sees intervention-based births, brought three med students in to witness the occurrence.
A healthy baby is the number one priority. Whether you received intervention or not, I hope you implant into your memory of your birth(s) a sense of accomplishment. No matter how you do it, labor is laborious.
However, child birth is too often approached as a condition to be treated, instead of the very purpose of the female anatomy. As the reliance on medical intervention increases, a woman’s confidence in her body can diminish, stealing the chance for her to go to the edge of her limits and feel the rewards of doing so afterward.
In the presence of Heather’s four closest women, which she referred to as her own Red Tent, little Baby Liam entered the world. He was met with a chorus of cheers, surrounded by love. I am awe struck by the miracle of child birth and am reminded that each child born has a special contract to fulfill here on earth. As I gathered my things together in a post-birth fog, our lovely nurse Liz gave me a hug and said “Thank you for this experience, you’ve restored my faith.” It seems that Baby Liam’s purpose began with his birth.
Have a wonderful week everyone, and congratulations Heather!
Jenny
Prenatal Yoga Training with Jenny and Faculty
When: Sat-Sunday, Sept. 29-30th 9-4pm
Where: TBA
For who: Yoga Instructors, pregnant women, mom’s, health care professionals