My good friend and doula partner, Kate, has been watching The Princess Bride a lot with her kids lately. Being the birth junkie she is, Kate found a great line in this phenomenal movie that relates to birth...
“Rush a miracle man and you get rotten miracles.”
She was even able to amend my favorite line of the movie...
“I’m not a witch, I’m a midwife!”
Enjoy the clip, then rent the entire movie, and be ready for The Princess Bride to become your family’s favorite!
I wanted to give a shout out to all of my favorite birth blogs. I glean so much good information and inspiration from all of these blogs. Go check them out yourselves!
Continuously, I am amazed by the vaccination debate. There is so much evidence about the dangers of certain vaccines, as well as the numerous conflicts of interest that also surround the promotion of vaccines in the USA. I was glad to come across these two videos that show doctors questioning vaccines. We need more influential people like these to speak up and protect our children and our future.
This week, I want to put a shout out to ICAN. This is a wonderful organization that provides education and support for cesarean awareness. It is groups like these that make a difference and instigate the much needed change in the birthing world.
For those of you in Austin, the ICAN meetings are held the first Saturday of each month at 10:30 am at the Carver Library. Spread the word!
Midwives are at Home
with Birth
I was driving along the other day reading all of the crazy bumper stickers when this idea came into my head:
“Midwives Are at Home with Birth”
For over ten years, I have been passionate about home births. Now that I have become a doula, this passion is intensifying. But as a doula, I have a constant debate going in my head: “How do I support a woman in the hospital when I truly believe that she should be at home with a midwife?” and “Where is the balance between being supportive of a woman’s choice and advocating for home births?”
While talking with a client today, I answered my own questions.
Beyond anything else, I believe that a woman has a choice about where, with who and how she gives birth to her baby. This is why I am a doula. This is my role right now. I am here to educate women about the choices they have and support them in the choices they make.
Eventually, when I become a midwife, I will take on a new role of directly advocating for home births and supporting women with their choice to give birth at home.
So, along with my belief that “Midwives are at Home with Birth,” I also believe that “Doulas Support a Women’s Choice.”
Ten years ago, I experienced the most empowering and transformative event of my life...the birth of my son. Experiencing birth at home surrounded by strong women led me to where I am now--supporting women in their own empowering and transformative birthing journey.
I experienced my first Pitocin induction this week. My client’s water broke four days before her due date, and she wasn’t having any contraction. So after much debate and a second opinion from a midwife, she agreed to being induced. I was expecting the worst, but the entire birthing experience went really well. The nurses started her off very slowly and her body kicked in so that she didn’t need a lot of Pitocin. The only negative effect of the induction was having the contractions so close together and active labor lasting longer. The mom gave birth after 19 hours of labor and never got an epidural or had any interventions. I was honored to be a part of their birthing experience and grateful for the experience of a necessary induction.
