![]() ![]() The countless visits and phone sessions necessary for a mother to build trust and ask sensitive questions and open her body and mind and feelings require conscious and consistent hands-on care. The more hands-on during the prenatal journey, the more hands-off is possible at birth. The village prenatal becomes the elephant circle, holding sacred space at birth the stories become word medicine to give hope to a new generation of birthing mothers. Babies need to be born into the arms of their mothers, and mothers need the loving arms of a community to hold them in new motherhood. The human spirit and the inner life of a woman thrive with rituals such as dancing, drumming, singing, storytelling, eating together, lighting candles, making prayers, sharing wisdom and creating a sense of deep and lasting belonging. Women gathering together and sharing powerful birth stories, listening and talking to the baby, asking about a mother’s worries and fears as well as her ideals for her birth, walking in nature or howling at the moon and feasting together is something the village prenatal can do that a professional prenatal visit cannot do: return the power of birth to the people. We can return birth to a woman’s local community through some simple steps. To help recreate a sense of belonging, I have been teaching the basics of the prenatal village in countries around the world. We must visit the home and walk the block or land and sit at their table in order to know what kind of life a mother is living and what is possible for her to grow and care for herself and her baby. They were a part of the life of the community they served. They knew of accidents, injuries, sicknesses and heartaches. They knew what their mothers ate, where they slept and what kind of relationships they had with their own mothers, husbands, other children and with themselves. Village midwives of antiquity knew the women they served by name and walked to the well with them. These numbers, which create arbitrary barriers to basic human rights, now take up most of the time in the prenatal visit and in the labor and birth room. Everything that has become a diagnostic evaluator with a number that fits into a box has taken the place of what matters most to women who become mothers. ![]() Too many things that matter to a mother have become rushed or eliminated in our modern health care system, including within midwifery education and practice. Everything matters to a pregnant woman-her health, her dreams, her fears, her stresses, her food, her relationships, her resources, her plans, her shelter, her sleep, her ideal birth, how her mother was born and how she was born. Third is making unrushed time together in nature with a bit of privacy so the important matters can be discussed. ![]() Asking her questions is the second most important. Listening to a mother is the most important skill of midwifery. Silje liked the idea that they would sing or chant to welcome her baby with first sounds from loving strong women voices. I want my baby to be born into my community of strong women.” We talked some more about how to make that possible and what this powerful circle of women might be doing. “Actually,” she continued, “I want my baby to be born into a community of strong women-women who know me and my community. They were happy and the new baby and dog were nestled in bed again, just as they were now only with the baby on the outside. She ultimately birthed in a strong yogic squat in her meditation room and her partner received the baby. She was in the tub and her dog and her beloved were near. Her head dropped back and her eyes closed and she started describing the scene. ![]() “Assuming all is well, what would your ideal birth look like?” She began to describe medical back-up plans “in case the midwives say that transport is necessary.” I listened. “What would your ideal birth look like? What would you be doing and who would be there and what would they be doing?”Īt first she told me things that have to do with safety and I could hear the anxiousness in her voice. We had met in Norway months prior when she discovered she was expecting her first baby. “Assuming all is well, what would your ideal birth look like?” She relaxed. ![]()
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