Birth is a human rights issue. Most women do not realize what has been taken from them before it has even been taken. Birth is YOUR right. It is maddening that rights are stripped of women every single day…every hour…every minute. The injustice is heartbreaking. Know your rights. Know how powerful and amazing you are as a birthing woman! Birth is meant to be life changing experience and it is YOURS to own.
Birth is not meant to be (most of the time of course):
Traumatic
Feared
Controlled
Treated as a Disease
Depressing
Full of Interventions
Predictable
Birth IS meant to be:
Enlightening
As Safe as Life Gets
Exciting
Demanding
Uplifting
An Experience that Pushes you to your Limits
Undisturbed
Illuminating
The message in our culture is clear. Birth is painful, birth is dangerous, your body is broken, and interventions are always needed. They are WRONG. Be a voice for yourself and women everywhere. Stand up and exclaim, “NO! BIRTH IS SAFE, SPIRITUAL, and EMPOWERING! YOUR BODY IS NOT BROKEN!” Be informed and have good support to birth safely. We may be a small minority in comparison to all the propaganda, but we are loud and will not apologize for it! Demand women take back what is rightfully theirs…empowering births!
~Mrs. BWF
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pictures sent in by Michelle. She is an incredible, strong and beautiful birthing mama.
Recommended Reading
Resting & Soaking in Brand New Baby Cleo
Dorian’s Birth Story
Birth Of Elsie {Homebirth Story With Siblings}
The Birth of Sicily Rose {Postpartum Hemorrhage, Vanishing Twin Syndrome}
My Fearless Birth {Home birth turned hospital}
A Beautiful Family Home Birth/Baby Caught by Grandmother {Graphic Emergence Photos}- Unplanned Hospital Birth Goes Right: First Time Mom Has the Unmedicated, Intervention-Free Birth of her Dreams.
An Unconvential Birth Story: Water Leaking, Malposition, Chiropractic and Rebozo
When Midwifery Works
BWF Blog One Year Anniversary: Top 10 Blog Posts
9 Comments
Jen @Plus Size Birth
Brilliant as always!!!! Your words are powerful and the pictures are breathtaking!
Bekah
Thank you for another great post! We may be the minority, but I like to take comfort in the fact that I (personally) don’t know any mommas who had a natural birth and want to have a medicated birth next time, however I do know plenty who had a medicated birth the first time and now want to try a natural birth during their next labor. The loyalty and convertion rate of natural birth is not something to be taken lightly! Truth and freedom ate definitely on our side!
Natalie St.John
Beautiful pics!
Heather
I read this at the perfect time.
I’m 41 + 3 with my first baby and have been planning a natural home birth since day one. But now that I’m “past due” I may have to forfeit my right to birth at home and be medically induced at the hospital. Law here requires my midwife to report my lateness to my OB so we can schedule an induction, though midwife has said we can still “do what we want” anyway–ie, let my body and baby dictate when I labor and not head to the hospital.
I can feel her hesitancy with this course of action (mostly, I think, because she has holiday plans that include leaving town since I’m her only December birth and she was hoping I’d be birthing by now). I feel like for the first time in my pregnancy, I’m being asked to make decisions based on external factors and not the health and well-being of my body and my baby. Baby is healthy and the only thing I’m suffering from is impatience! I have to stick to my guns and advocate for my baby deciding when it’s time to labor, even when everyone else thinks it’s dangerous or inconvenient.
Rachel
Sometimes you can re-evaluate your due dates to make SURE… 🙂
Chelsea
WOW! Beautiful photos!
Loved this post.
Birth for me, was healing & redemptive. I loved also how you described it!
😉
Margarett the Oklahoma Midwife
Oh, birth trauma… I am really getting so angry hearing the horrible stories of women and their births… But I can’t save all the starfish, but I can save some!!! Love u J!
Kelly Graham
So perfectly put!!!
Marisa
When I had my first prenatal appointment, the one where you get to go meet your doctor and talk about all the stuff you want and whatnot, when they tell you what not to eat, etc, I was VERY surprised by what I heard. First of all, I was given a midwife, not an OB 🙂 They didn’t ask me what I preferred, but they chose the right one anyway. She asked me what I had envisioned for my birth, and I told her I would like to birth in a water tub, with low lights, peace and calm. She grinned ear to ear and said “Good, that’s what I was going to recommend!” Basically, everything I wanted to hear, I heard. And it was not what I had expected at all! I’m very thankful that I found such a wonderful practice, and I hope that it catches on with other places too!!