WHY?

Ok, so it's been a few days since I posted. I've been tired and unable to think of a topic to post on.

I attended a birth on Monday that was a bit emotionally exhausting. Mom, Dad and baby are wonderful, and they did wonderful, but I find myself so demoralized just thinking about the birth itself.

Why do OB's think that they need to put down a woman's body to the woman while she is in labor? It is especially irritating when they do it after said woman has received an epidural because she just can't take anymore of the ridiculously and unnecessarily painful contractions caused by pitocin. And you know, "You could have never done this without an epidural. Don't you see how hard pushing is? Can you imagine how much pain you would be in without it?" Well, duh... maybe if you'd left her alone to go into labor naturally, she wouldn't have needed the epidural. Bah!

Being a doula is wonderful. I get to be a part of one of the most empowering and life changing experiences in a woman's life. The birth of her baby. I can't describe to you the feeling of seeing a brand new life enter into the world, and to see a mother born.

But sometimes, being a doula is hard, emotionally. It is hard to sit and listen to doctors or nurses tell women that their bodies are broken, when I know they aren't. It is hard to see a woman lose her voice, instead of find it, when she is about to go through one of the most important changes in her life. When she is no longer only responsible for herself, but for the life of another.

Birth is beautiful. It is amazing. It is hard. It is rewarding, in the most unimaginable way.

"There is power that comes to women when they give birth. They don't ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it."
-Sheryl Feldman