?W* < • s Ziv? •^> iSO* By Lenny Dee Drawing by Dana Hoyle 51 «■ W ■>*♦»- Clinton St. Quarterly 31 ttBSW j^ fe i f'-rW? Home Birthing IBS In Women's Strong Hands stew t ^ 2 ^ Change in this society is usually instigated by those who live and work on the edges of the established norm. That’s why the mushrooming home birthing movement seems significant and exciting. Not only is it a return to a more natural process, but it also takes an intimate element of our lives out of the realm of “experts” and institutions, placing it back in the hands of the people involved: the mothers and their families. This movement has been fostered by many courageous midwives working around the system to return childbirthing to its origins. I’ve been fortunate over the years in having as a friend a powerful woman who has been a leader in this movement. Recently we had an opportunity to sit by a creek and discuss her lifework. o Clinton St. Quarterly: How did you get started as a midwife? Midwife: When I lived in the Midwest, a friend of mine was pregnant and asked me to coach her birth. At the time I was reading Immaculate Deception by Suzanne Arms. In it she .* ,J. I~ r. * - ■f.vWe tell them this is the hardest work they’ll ever do, so choose your situation well, for it’s total surrender to a natural process.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz