Tag: why

You truly don’t appreciate the Amish, until you are not with them.  Their modesty, faith in their bodies, and physical stamina are so underappreciated.  While yes, they are still women, they are amazing women who can birth babies usually without many complications aside from horrendous varicose veins and anemia that is lifelong. 

Meet Jennifer.  Bless her.  I haven’t had a needy mama in a long time And I mean needy in the best way possible.  Her first baby was a hospital birth with an epidural.  Wanting a different birth the second time around, she found a midwife, but actually didn’t have a home to have the baby in, which was Jennifer’s first hurdle.  The second, was convincing her ex-con boyfriend to have a home birth. So, after these hurdles were met, she needed someone to be with her and reassure her. I visited Jennifer no less than 5 times that weekend, reassuring her that she was fine. That she was not in labor and checking her. Sigh. I have to get over this internal exam piece.  It isn’t that big of a deal, but yet it is. I just don’t know about it.  I have to convince my women that they don’t need it unless we are going to do something about the course of their labor, but this mama wasn’t even in labor, which was my problem. So, day after day, visit after visit, I was there checking her! Sigh. It is ok. I have to learn how to do it eventually. Well I know how to do it, but having to stick my entire hand, literally up and back behind their cervix to feel it, is just too invasive for me. If it isn’t near enough for me to reach, then why am I going after it? I can see how checking is semi-important if they are having preterm labor because you want to stop it, but really after 37 weeks—unless contractions are patterned and there are other signs and symptoms then really—what are we doing? If God or Goddess or Mother Nature or whomever wanted us fishing around up there, then she would have given us the ability to reach it easier right? And you know what? It isn’t even reaching it that is the problem; it is the fact that it hurts mothers. That is right, I said it—it hurts mothers. I can’t stand hurting mothers for NO reason.

So, did Jennifer have a great second birth—yes, yes she did. She did amazing, but unlike most mothers I see that are transformed after the birthing process, I don’t think Jennifer changed that much. I believe (and I don’t think I have seen this quite so pronounced before), that she was transformed by the entire process of being empowered by the choices and ability to make those choices by midwifery care. Although it was pretty amazing to watch, I am sure it was even more amazing to be her—what an awesome profession this is!