Resource:: Getting clear on your birth vision + interviewing your birth support
The women who invite me to witness them, and hold space for them in their sacred birthing time are certainly clear on what they want [and what they don't want] from a traditional midwife...
Just as I am clear in my path, to walk with and to serve mothers birthing [unapologetically] in their power.
When we initially meet, women share with me their visions for their birth, and we share with each other: our values, philosophies [and experiences] around the sacred rite of passage that is physiological birth. Only when these values align, we enter [consciously] into relationship.
Things have not always been so simple for me. We live and learn, right? In the past, I have wavered in upholding my own boundaries surrounding relationships--at times choosing to walk with women who were not clear on her vision for her birth, compromising on her vision, and also wavering on her boundaries [usually by allowing others who do not align with her values] to have authority over her in her own birth.
I have created a list of questions that were designed to be a starting point for women who are interviewing for their birth team. Too many times, women who claim to desire an undisturbed birth, go in to meet with a medical authority [licensed medical provider i.e. OB/GYN, licensed/regulated midwife, etc.), and share that they desire an "undisturbed birth", a "natural birth", a "mother-led birth", or a "physiological birth", only to be told that their wishes will be honoured. Depending on whom you are talking to, there are many different definitions for "natural birth", and these definitions vary drastically. The PDF below, is a tool that was created to assist mothers who are curious about what is possible for them in their births. This is for women who are just beginning to get clear on what they want from their births [let alone their birth support], but is also written to help them facilitate conversations to discern the intentions and ideology of medical providers within the system whom they may be contemplating inviting to their birth space.
Please note that the language used in the document was selected to interview a medical authority. For women who choose to step into their power and have a truly autonomous birth would wish to meet with traditional birth attendants, or Traditional Midwives who do not claim to "deliver" babies but rather they witness mothers birth their babies. When women are their only authority, no one has the power to transfer or terminate their care, pressure them into interventions or tests, or deviate from their birth choices.
I hope this tool helps you get clear on what you are seeking, so that you may journey consciously in birth + motherhood.
If you are interested in working with me, I offer private coaching calls via zoom for women around the world.
