Ode to Midwives

I've come to believe that the birth of a child is a sacred experience. I wasn't always this way, mostly because birth, and how it should be carried out, never crossed my mind. You just don't think of these things, or care to know about them, until that life is actually growing inside of you.

I remember seeing Novan's first ultrasound at 12 weeks. He was a miniscule peanut then, but for the first time, motherhood became real and tangible to me. I cried for joy as I saw his tiny little body leap and squirm. I fell in love instantly. This is not just the birds and the bees people. The bearing of children is as close to the divine majesty of creation as we'll ever get in this life. It is a beautiful, powerful, and sacred gift. And with that very first mother-child encounter, I wanted him to have the best of everything I could possibly give him.

I wanted him to know every moment of every month of his gestation that I loved him. When he made his appearance into the world, I wanted him to never be separated from my unconditional love. I didn't want him taken away. I wanted him close by me as the bright lights and loud sounds of the world made their first debut in his life. I didn't want him to wonder internally "Where is the person Heavenly Father said would take care of me? Where is mother?" I didn't want his first experience of nursing to be dulled and drugged. I didn't want his small undeveloped brain to be bombarded with anything unnatural. I didn't want our bond to possibly be severed by anesthesia, with epidurals, with weigh-ins, with measuring tapes, with eye ointments and needle pricks, with vaccine chemicals, with bilirubin lights, with nursery stays and unfamiliar arms and heart beats. I didn't want him surgically separated from my uterus. I didn't want him rubbed down with sterile cloths or bathed because he was deemed "dirty" because my body was "unsanitary."

There were a great many things I didn't want to happen. Unfortunately, many of them did. However, were it not for modern medicine, Novan would not be alive today. I am thankful for the gift of technology that enables me to mother Novan. How wonderful that we have advanced so far in our understanding of health that many more can enjoy life who might not have otherwise.

Unfortunately, as a whole, medicine has taken their role too far in ushering in new life. This is not an uncommon phenomenon. Any technological blessing can be taken too far and used in ways that are unhealthy or addictive. And thanks to modern medicine in our country, birth is seen as an ailment rather than a rite of passage. Pregnancy and birth are part of a process and place of transition, if you will, in which new spirits are brought to this earthly life. It is a momentous and holy occasion worth celebrating and experiencing, not sanitizing and controlling.

Satan would have you believe that controlled birth is what God wants. We have pitosin, epidurals and surgical knives; now we can make sure birth is regimented exactly the way we want every time. Satan would have you live in fear of what your own body can do. He would have you believe that there is nothing to be gained from giving birth other than the end result of a baby. He would have you believe that using pitson doesn't make a difference to your child or that dulling your senses during delivery won't change your experience at all or change your psychological state forever. "There's no scientific evidence," you say, "to prove that it's a bad thing." Oh really? Is there 'scientific evidence' of God, himself in a medical journal somewhere? Is there scientific evidence that your baby has a spirit at all? There are so many things we don't understand through the scientific method that we choose to believe in. Why not birth? Why can't we believe that there is more there than what we see?

Thank Heavenly Father for midwives. You women who understand the spirituality of birth are God's chosen birth missionaries engendered with the sensitivity to see more deeply into those beautiful moments of pregnancy and birth and share the gospel of birth and all that it has to offer to mothers and babies. I love you who are 'with women.' Your work is irreplaceable and so needed. Your sacrifices are not in vain.

Thank you, midwives, for sharing the message of the beauty of birth. Thank-you for waking up late at night to attend a women who need you. Thank-you for always using compassion and kindness and gentleness with the women you serve. Thank-you for being educated on women's bodies. Thank-you for believing in my body and the bodies of women everywhere. And to you midwives in NC and the 14 or so states where midwife licensure is unavailable, thank-you for risking your freedom to reach out and be 'with women,' because you revere birth and know how much it matters despite the naysayers constantly beating at your door. I love you and your work so much. My heart goes with you and my prayers for your continued inspiration for the women you serve are never-ending. Your work is of utmost importance, and it is never wasted! One day, truth will abound, and your Father will say, "well done thou good and faithful servant." Well done my sisters, our midwives, our agents of life and protectors of children. You are angels on an errand from God.