"Remember this, for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body."
~Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Why I am a Doula, pt. 1
Thirteen years ago, while I was elbow deep in a bin of remaindered books, I found a thin, square, off-white book with a big black slash across the front. It must have been the shape and texture of the binding that grabbed my attention -- the cover was missing. In my hands, the book opened to a picture of a freshly born child looking into the eyes of his astounded mother...and my life changed.
That child, flecked with vernix, damp from the birth tub, half floating in his mother's arms, looked out with such wisdom from his slightly amused face. The entire universe was present in his eyes.
Why did this birth look and feel so different than the other images I has seen? Where did people give birth in kiddie pools anyway? Was that bookshelf in the corner...was this in a house!? Are most babies this aware? I turned the page, there she was sitting on a wooden chair next to a window, holding her baby while sipping a glass of champagne. What? She was able to walk to a chair within minutes of giving birth...hmmm...
At the time I didn't know how deeply my outlook had been changed. I was just taking a break from studying for my Bachelor of Music at the local bookstore. A five minute break stretched into twenty, which stretched into an hour. I absorbed those images, slack-jawed, till the last moment when the store closed.
And, of course, I bought that marvelous book...for a dollar.
That child, flecked with vernix, damp from the birth tub, half floating in his mother's arms, looked out with such wisdom from his slightly amused face. The entire universe was present in his eyes.
Why did this birth look and feel so different than the other images I has seen? Where did people give birth in kiddie pools anyway? Was that bookshelf in the corner...was this in a house!? Are most babies this aware? I turned the page, there she was sitting on a wooden chair next to a window, holding her baby while sipping a glass of champagne. What? She was able to walk to a chair within minutes of giving birth...hmmm...
At the time I didn't know how deeply my outlook had been changed. I was just taking a break from studying for my Bachelor of Music at the local bookstore. A five minute break stretched into twenty, which stretched into an hour. I absorbed those images, slack-jawed, till the last moment when the store closed.
And, of course, I bought that marvelous book...for a dollar.
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