The Gospel of Birth prt. one
October 22, 2010
Last night I had the great good fortune of being an active listener in the Ecstatic-Birth tele-summit organized by Sheila Kamara Hay.
Dr. Christiane Northrup shared her experience and wisdom of birth. She reviewed the history of birth in the last 40-50 years. She talked about how women who entered the hospitals in the ’50′s and 60′s were put into a “twilight sleep” using scopolamine and Seconal just prior to giving birth. Imagine, having a mother rendered unconscious just prior to birthing her baby. My mother received this dosing just prior to my birth. Now, imagine how a mother mammal in the wild would deal with this interference. Yes, Dr. Northrup said there were plenty women who fought this dosing because their Indigenous-core wisdom knew it was a violation.
While we have come away from rendering a mother unconscious, women are still receiving anesthesia to block the sensation of birth. Women still believe because of the cultural conditioning (Dr. Northrup’s words were, “women have been brain-washed into believing birth is the most traumatic event she is likely to go through”) that they will experience pain and so they need to receive a drug to mitigate the pain, they’ve been told they will have during birth. I’ve heard it said, “Birth is pain with a purpose” and if that’s the case, why would a woman want to numb herself to this sensation that is bringing forth her child? Why are we afraid to feel and experience birth fully?
What did the medical establishment have to believe to treat birth as though it were a disease? That a woman’s body needs assistance, help, saved from birth. The evolution of humanity was going along fine prior to these interventions. Yes, women and babies died in birth. They still do. Check out. World Health Organization and see what countries are leading the way in 2009 in Maternal/Infant Mortality. Yep, the U.S. is right up there at the top. And yes, sometimes we do need a jump start. I wish someone would look at why a woman’s body fail’s to commence to contracting to birth her child? Instead we just keep saying…oh, your late, we need to induce. Is anyone looking into what environmental factors influence the onset of birth? What about un-resolved emotional psychological issues? Research, studies anyone? I have a few ideas of my own. Mother is exhausted and deeply fatigued and her body is too tired to get going on its own. Another idea is that a woman is somewhat dis-associated from her sensual nature, might this delay the onset of birth? Those are two intuitive thoughts of hundreds others intuitive thoughts that I’ve received while teaching prenatal yoga.
If a woman becomes pregnant and already has an under-lying belief she will not be able to handle birth, is she not setting herself up a less than pleasant experience?
I’ve enjoyed hearing the stories of my prenatal yoga students who after several classes with me during their prenatal period entered with an open mind/open heart and as birth progressed opted to give it ago with-out the pharmaceuticals. To the delightful surprise of many of my students, they have happily reported that they were able to birth and experience states described by them as, “elation, euphoria, so happy, ecstatic, joyfull”…..by staying with their own breath moment by moment they remained calm and present and birthed their babies.
Yes, this is the ideal and each woman enters birth with her own “Reality” beliefs, emotional ecology, physical challenges that all play a role in birth outcome. Awoman is not a failure or less than if she chooses an epidural or has a C-section. However, we must as a people wake up to expanding ourselves to shift how we can experience our birth. Many many women have awakened (remembered) and more will get on board the Ecstatic-birth, Embodied -birth train.
