MaternityShare

My friend Jenny read Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin as a teenager and knew then that she would have a home birth. And she did. A few years ago she gave birth to a beautiful little girl in her home. Jenny’s description of her home birth experience left me in awe. Hearing her story strengthened my own desire to have a home birth.

Even after I had prepared myself to accept a hospital birth as my only option due to my pregnancy being considered high-risk (well, there was a financial consideration too) I decided to order the book Spiritual Midwifery. I felt that it would help educate me to make informed decisions and to understand the alternatives that I could try to request. I also knew that it would give me tips and tricks on how to trust and work with my body’s innate ability to give birth.

I just started reading it just as I am finishing up her other book, Guide to Childbirth. I find both books enlightening and alarming. Enlightening because there is a lot of joy an wisdom related to the reader. Alarming because there are things that can “go wrong” in any child birth situation (at home or in hospital) as well as choices that hospitals and their staff make to help facilitate labor like unnecessary drugs and procedures. I appreciate that Ina May is helping distribute this information to mothers-to-be. I find that it is empowering and I see how it empowers other mothers who have already given birth.