things I am enjoying: those who speak the ancient tongues

In my pregnancy journey leading up to motherhood there has been a commonality with the people who really resonate with me. They speak the ancient tongues of intuition, common sense, female innateness, and humor. We are not talking in terms of methods and body parts named after Western men who chose to define processes that have taken place for lifetimes. In this community I have found some midwives (not all), some doulas (not all), prenatal yoga instructors, lactivists, babywearers, moms, and their supporters.

Once again I am not passing judgment on those who are choosing a different journey than mine. My only hope is that people make the most informed decision they can. Other than that love your kiddo, that is all I ask.

I am thinking of the ones who speak ancient tongues. That is all I can use to describe my midwife who I place my faith in to guide me. On Friday I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Ina May Gaskin who was supposed to speak on “The PostPartum Year” but instead just free-versed her two-and-a-half hours on stage. Her talk was enjoyable as “An Evening with Ina May Gaskin” and it simply echoed that I chose good with choosing my local midwife. My midwife has educated me very well since I began working with her in December. Attending Ina May’s talk was like a “preaching to the choir event” where I was already informed about everything she spoke about.

Here are some pics and highlights from Ina May’s talk…

Then we watched this video “Elephant Birth – The Dramatic Struggle for Life” while Ina May talked us through it. It basically illustrates that elephants do not need to learn a number of specialized techniques to have offspring even under dramatic circumstances. As humans we have tools to help us improve the birth experience but it is as animals in our innate nature to have the intuition not to second guess ourselves and our processes. Ancient wisdom.