I just got back from a weekend long training workshop. It was a labor assistant training. A lot like the one I did four and a half years ago to do what I do now. Serve birthing women. Since I'm a birth junkie one certification just isn't enough for me, so that was what brought me to the workshop. At it's closing, my best friend and partner took me aside and told me something humbling and powerful. I'd like to share it with you.
She was the workshop sponsor and organizer. I helped her get things together, but really she did all the hard stuff. So she says to me, "Wow, we really did a good thing." Yeah, really we did. Women need other women in birth. They need to know they aren't broken. They need to know their bodies were made to do this and they still work. But, what she said after that was the real wow for me.
She went on to tell me that, in essence, that entire workshop was a baby for me. It was a product of my hard work and labor, it was my birth.
See, she started as my client two years ago. Sometime during her pregnancy she told me she wanted to do what I did and wanted to learn from me. She went on to have a beautiful unassisted home birth that I was lucky enough to witness. And now she's working on becoming quite the kick ass doula. That, she says, is because of me.
Two other women in this class were former clients of mine. And every single woman there is on fire to change the state of birth. It is a revolution, one woman at a time.
And so, I gave birth. I gave birth six years ago quite literally to a eight pound ten ounce baby girl who changed my life. And I gave birth this weekend. I saw some of the work, tears, frustration, pride, smiles, heartbreak and heartswells turn into something beautiful. I am truly honored to have been a part.
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