For many women, it seems encoded in their DNA that they were born to birth, however, I was not one of them. My passion for birth came during my mid-20s after having had little interest in birthing myself. I now realize that it doesn’t matter when or how it emerged because it all comes from that same intrinsic space: women are born to birth and to help each other birth.
Finding childbirth felt like meeting a soulmate on a personal spiritual level
For me, childbirth made gentle visits until I embraced it with a bang. One experience that had profound impact on me was spending time with a former midwife while doing work exchange on her property in 2014. She was the first woman who talked about birth in a way that made sense to me. She communicated authentically from her heart and celebrated birth. When having her own children, she had to deprogram herself in preparation for birth, not out of disrespect for midwifery, but to get herself out of her neocortex so she could be in her “first brain”. She talked about how we strip ourselves of our divine power by denying our intuition, using endless examples of other lifeforms seamlessly birthing new life into this world without fear or interference. For reasons she couldn’t explain, society by in large trusted in the lifeforce that supported all beings but our own – how bizarre! She and her partner decided to birth their children just the two of them in the bush (with an Emergency Plan B, of course) because that was where she felt the most secure; that was how birth looked for them -birth didn’t have to be any one certain way; there wasn’t a “right way” to birth! After this experience, birth continued to “visit me” in meaningful ways. Another big visit was the "Amazing Birth" workshop I attended in New Zealand. This workshop was the perfect balance of spiritual midwifery and western medicine. In this workshop, what western society might label as “spiritual” was backed up with science. The research shared made it clear that unnecessary intervention during labor can have negative short- and long-term effects on the health of the mother and baby. Thereafter, I started engaging in deep conversations about birth regularly, listening to podcasts about birth and quickly found myself surrounded by pregnant mamas. About a year after that workshop, I was asked to be the support person at two different homebirths in the span of two weeks by two dear friends. I was absolutely thrilled. Prior to these births and through these births, I knew that I had a deep connection with the birthing process and wanted to find a way to start integrating it into my life. It was important to me that I develop my knowledge, as well as find ways to support women and their families by bringing this knowledge back into our communities with confidence.The birthing process is simple and innate when we truly trust ourselves and the process.
Doing the Childbirth Education training is the beginning of my formal education. If the births I supported taught me anything, it's that there's a lot I don't know about birth and I am here to start acquiring that knowledge. What it also taught me, though, is that the birthing process is simple and innate when we truly trust ourselves and the process. This divine wisdom, unlike knowledge, does not need to be learned. Witnessing childbirth was both a humbling and empowering experience. I believe more women need to be reminded of this truth. Childbirth is something to be cherished by humanity in a way that supports the birthing mother, her partner (whether they be male or female bodied) and baby to trust in the process. This is the framework behind the BirthWorks philosophy and curriculum and is a view that aligns with mine. I have trust and faith in both the mentoring team at BirthWorks and myself in this journey to become a competent Childbirth Educator. To me, “finding” childbirth felt like meeting a soulmate on a personal spiritual level. It was an undeniable match that fully captivated, humbled and empowered me. I had never felt anything quite like it; an internal, eternal flame within had been ignited. After having a sense of purposelessness lingering in the background for a lot of my life, I have extreme gratitude for the turns my life has taken in recent years that has allowed me to welcome childbirth into life. With an emptiness that is now full, I feel a strong commitment to what I know will be my life’s work.
