Listening to the voice...

Ive been busy, and because of this have taken to writing down blog topics either in my journal, or on a peice of paper (which undoubtedly gets placed on my desk and then eaten by a pile of other paper). In any case this is one that I have been thinking about for a while, and probably made more sense when I first tried to work with it; but here goes nothing.



In the months of December and January, our Pastor asked if we as a church could read one chapter of Proverbs a day. Interestingly enough there are 31 books in Proverbs so it worked out perfectly. The first night I was reading (which if I'm honest was probably the 4th of December or later), the first book of Proverbs spoke to me.



As a student midwife (midwifery student), there seems to be (who am I kidding, there IS) a lot of tension between us "natural folks" and the "medical community". From my own study, as well as what I feel, the majority of women (like 95%+) should be able to birth naturally. NOW in my mind naturally means that I do not check the mom to see how far along she is (how far dilated), unless she wants, I don't instruct the mother how to push, I don't catch the baby (and I certainly don't deliver the baby but that's for another post), and I don't cut the cord unless the parents want it cut, and in that case I would ONLY ONLY cut it when it stops pulsing. On top of that I don't believe medication is necessary and that the mother should move around freely throughout the entirety of her labor. Essentially the parents I am working with TRUST in the mothers body that it was built to have this baby, and have FAITH that God wouldn't give us something that wasn't created to do so.



While I am thankful that the hospital is there because there will always be an anomaly or two, I just don't feel that is where mamma's need to be. If one does some research into not only the drugs that they use, but the timeline that birth is put on, one can quickly realize that we are messing with an already fine tuned system, but not only that we're really making mountains out of mole hills that really aren't even mole hills at all.



In any case (pardon my soap box), while reading Proverbs 1 I noticed some parallels, especially at the end of the chapter:



24Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

It is my opinion that midwifery is a VERY spiritual calling, in fact I feel to take it so far that anything related to birth is a very spiritual calling. Unfortunately the medical community is much more interested in making sure that they cover their butts. Birth is something that is NOT on a timeline, as a very smart woman I know puts it: "Birth is handsoffa, handsoutta, mouthshutta" (I know I am missing one but you get the gist of it). Like every single woman out there has a different body type, shape, etc, we all birth differently too. Not only because our bodies work exactly how they are supposed to, but also because our fears, beliefs, feelings, and emotions all play a huge part into how our bodies work. If something is taking longer it is because our bodies have to work through something before birth can continue normally. Playing with drugs to speed things up, is not only a way to get to your golf game faster, but it also messes with the bodies ability to cope with pain properly, it messes with hormonal output, it messes with the BONDING of the mother to her baby, and it usually just leads to more issues and even more interventions.

God made women so that they could birth, the medical system does not only NOT believe that (hello normal gestation can take up to 42 weeks, why are you telling women that they are over due at 40-41??), but they also feel like they can play God by "helping things along".

Yes those verses from Proverbs may seem slightly harsh, and maybe you can't see the connection (my brain works a little differently we all know that lol), but the last verse spoke to me very strongly:
33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

I have yet to hear of a well educated mother, who had a home birth, that was totally hands off, and TRUSTED her body to do what it was created to do, run into ANY problems at all. The medical community can not play God by putting birth on a timeline, and expect the same outcome as what should happen naturally.