The above is a quote from a great documentary I recently watched called Orgasmic Birth, which, by the way, you can get on Netflix. Slightly scandalous title aside, it was an amazing, empowering movie. The idea they espoused is that all the same body parts and hormones involved in making love are involved with giving birth, so there is potential for much more pleasure than most women experience. Makes sense. What really struck me was the idea that you couldn't very well make love on a surgical table, under bright lights with a bunch of strangers coming in and out, serenaded by the beeps and whirs of machines and monitors, so it makes sense that women have an equivalently less ecstatic birth experience in those very same conditions. Thompson baby #2 will likely be born at a local birthing center or at home. Home would be ideal, but our neighbors are awfully close...
Another thing I've been hearing about lately is hypnobirthing. I really want to look into this in preparation for the next one. Did anyone read the great story about Finnian's birth on Sew Liberated? I'd already been interested and then I read her story and figured it was a sign that I definitely need to do it for our next baby's birth!
What I love about both of these approaches is that they empower the mother. She is the expert when it comes to her body. So much of the birth culture here is isolating, takes the power away from the mother, operates from a basis of fear rather than trust and is stressful rather than celebratory. No one knows better than I do the need for competant medical professionals in the case of a high risk birth; Sam was born via scheduled cesarean due to some rearranged organs of his which were spotted via early ultrasound and required almost immediate surgery. A vaginal birth would likely have ruptured said organs and he may not have made it. However, there is a time and place for medical intervention and most natural, healthy, low-risk births are not the place for anyone but a woman, a midwife and whomever else she chooses to support her.
More info about peaceful, empowered births here, here and here.
image via
