A mini-series

Coming home from a day in the backcountry Sunday, while I was reminded of the grandeur of my backyard and what happens to an off-call adventure woman turned midwife who spent 3 consecutive years OFF her skis and on-call, an idea came to me. Just like Simon Sinek, TED turned me on to Brene Brown on Dec 31st. As well, a line from a Mumford and Sons song came to me. Both sing of loving with our whole hearts. Being maternity care and midwifery care are wholehearted loves of mine, I am going on a creative writing endeavour based around complications that occur during childbirthto bring ordinary courage, connection and compassion to these somewhat normal yet often terrifying occurrences in maternity care.

Why do I focus on the complications? Brene Brown inspired a thought...she speaks that when people are asked about love that they talk about heartbreak. When you ask people about belonging, they talk about exclusion. When asked about connection, they tell you about disconnection. In a land of normal births, where complications are few and far between, it is often that we midwives discuss the complications rather than the birth that lit the light in our hearts. What if we turned our experiences around, from fear to love? What would it do for all of us as providers? As Brene encourages, I am going to lean into these occurrences on this creative adventure. It's like the mystery strength of the womb that keeps a baby safe and nourished, leaning into a membrane that may provide some temporary discomfort can bring great awakening and deeper connection to our experiences in the outside world.

To begin, I leave you with a piece from the Tao to inspire an entrance into creativity:

"To be whole, let yourself break.

To be straight, let yourself bend.

To be full, let yourself be empty.

To be new, let yourself wear out.

To have everything, give everything up.

Knowing others is a kind of knowledge;

knowing yourself is wisdom.

Pushing ahead may succeed,

but staying put brings endurance.

To know that you do not know is strength.

Not knowing that you do not know is a sickness.

The cure begins with the recognition of the sickness.

Knowing what is permanent opens the mind.

Open mind, open heart.

Open heart, magnanimity."

Photo: Pennycandy Handmade