Posted by Tatiana
Did we all get sucked into our studies? Just to liven things up, I'm making a more casual post.
A few lessons my childbearing and childrearing is giving me to take along into midwifery work:
- When a mother says she'd like to throw her baby out the window and nervously giggles, don't assume she's joking.
- Same mama can have pain free and ecstatic birth, and a bitterly disappointing and painful birth in the same set of (controllable) conditions. Lesson: Avoid drawing conclusions about a woman based on the way you see her birthing!
- If I can remember that adults are like overgrown children and practice NVC and other presence-based communication with them half as willingly as I do with my kids, things are a lot more clear.
- If I feel the well of my patience is absolutely dry and life presents me with yet another challenge, I must be wrong about that well being dry.
- Vaginal exams during labor can be flippin' painful.
- A birthing woman can pull back her own swollen cervical lip, thank you very much.
- When giving nutritional counseling to a woman who already has children or is otherwise excessively busy, be very creative about how she can meet the nutritional needs of herself and her baby with minimal money and minimal time.
And just in case you also need a little extra oxytocin...
And yes, this baby came out of my vagina.
Cute baby!
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