I encourage everyone to look inward to the silence in which intuition dwells, the place of the intelligence of the heart, when making critical life choices. And by all means, seek your information somewhere other than from the easiest, most accessable mainstream sources, or you will never be truly informed or educated. And when the expert advice makes you feel queasy in your gut, always trust your gut. I will add more information, ideas and opinions here as time goes on. As a breastfeeding counselor and educator involved in birth, it has been my privilege to hear many, many birth stories in the past nine years.
Women never forget their birth experiences and typically remember even minute details.
The common thread among many birth stories is a vacancy, an intangible missing piece of the story, which only becomes strikingly evident in its absence. Certainly in these stories, there is wonder at the concept of birth and at the beauty of new life. Yet descriptions of the birth itself are often fear-based, reflecting our society's view that birth truly is the medical delivery of the infant from the body of the mother. There is often a great deal of gratitude for having had the blessings of technology. Rarely are the stories descriptive of wonder at our own bodies or our own womanhood.