04 February 2010

Over valleys and mountains

I started an email to a friend this morning this way:

Ever wake up and have one of those days of liberation? I did this morning and I realize that everyday we can imagine the wrongs and the rights, but what about just believing and encouraging the ones we love and ourselves into being or doing exactly what each of us is going after? So much creation.

Inspired by the reflective work I have been doing, while waiting for 2 mother's to birth their babies in to being I am also presented with my own daily life. With space and time for reflection, I am reminded how we delay and liberate one another. How by, in birth per say, an energy present in a room that doesn't believe in the birth happening because it's taking too long, or a cervix isn't dilating fast enough or whatever it is in thought CAN and often does hold a mom back from birthing naturally. For the simple women, birthing women are at their peak of intuition during the birth process and they pick up on everything. The reality is that we all need support. That we all need a spine to lean against every now and again, because we can sometimes forget that our spine holds all our weight every day. Our spines give us the backbone to stand tall, reach wide, embrace, and let all that weight sag with relaxation so we can restore.

I come to the time in my year to re-certify my neonatal resuscitation certification, so I will be heading down to Salt Lake City for a day course with Karen Strange. Her teachings always remind me that newborns breath, more than less. She empowers providers to believe that NNR is not as stressful and frightening as we imagine. I have had frightening in my life. However, inspiring a newborn to breathe who is taking it's own time to come around is not frightening after my time with Karen and seeing how gentle midwifery resuscitations are and can be. Midwives, always remember this, care for low-risk, healthy women and full term pregnancies (generally) so the resuscitations we see are very different than those in the hospital with preterm newborns or newborns whose mother's receive medication during labor. Okay, so your adrenals pump when you have to help a newborn breathe-it's just different.

As I read through these study guides and manuals, I thought about how much we in our quick paced society forget to breathe. And what happens on a cellular level when we forget to breathe? What tension is created? Do we create disease? Or do we just ignore and move on, sort of thinking we're breathing? I think breath is the most important food I can eat each day. Fortunately, I have chose to breathe mostly clean mountain air that inspires me to live deeper, wildly and in tune with myself in relation to the earth. Fortunately, I have chose to explore breath taking views as often as I can. What I am remembering right now, the last few years I was committed to a different process than breath taking views. Committed to the process of learning a new teaching, midwifery and the normal birth process, and now that I am a working midwife I can return to my normal breathing pattern. I can return to breath taking views, but as a solo midwife I have to make and plan for that time.

So what am I breathing: powder when I can, my health, my new family, snow, my feet touching the earth, water, the wild feminine, a good dog, reconnection from the past that bring love and light, both feet in, my natural consciousness returning, art and furniture design thoughts, and always ways to better and expand my business so when I do want to travel I can take every minute of every day of that time to release and grow and leave the place better than I found it.

Peace to you.


1 comment:

  1. Rebecca, your post reminds me that our wonderful Andaluz midwife helped our son Samuel breathe again even a few hours after he had already been breathing the world's air. Midwives are truly "life-breathers" in my mind . . . on so many levels. I just companioned my sister through a five-week pre-term hospital birth (darn that pitocin) and midway through, your good friend Nicole Donovan (who was my sister's midwife) joined me and my brother-in-law in coaching my sister through the birth. I took a breath when Nicole entered the room. Having put my own faith, birth experience and trust into the hands of my midwives (you being one of them), I knew how to do that again even as a birth coach. And even through a crazy hospital birth, Nicole breathed life, trust, courage and beauty into my sister's birth. Hooray for all you wonderful midwives! Annemarie

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