Birth, Harry Potter Style

I like Harry Potter. He teaches us great lessons... like the power of the mind, how to overcome adversity, self-confidence, acceptance, and the power that comes in friends/support.

I like Harry Potter as a birthing lesson.. for all of the above reasons!

Women want to feel safe, they want to feel confident, and they want to feel loved going into their birthing time.

Too many times I have heard women say that they didn't feel safe, they felt disempowered, and they felt unsupported/unloved going into their birthing times. This doula doesn't like that.

What does it take to make a change from unsafe, disempowered, unsupported birth into safe, confident, loved birth?

First, it takes being willing to imagine it better.  

I'm not talking about impossibilities.. but the possibility of a better birthing time.

A strong birthing vision connects with your passions and greatest potentials. Regardless of what is going on around you or what challenges present themselves, a vision helps you know what and why you are doing the things you are doing.

Having a vision is most important in the path of achieving. For if you have no vision, no 'imagined better', how can you hope to achieve it? 

 

Second, we must prioritize!

What is most important to you? Not in the day to day or the heat of  the moment, but in your deepest soul searching, what is most important? That which is right to your spirit and body or that which is easy? I ask because they are not usually synonymous.

It is easy to follow standards and policies, whether or not they are in our best interests. But it is right to choose appropriate care choices that reflect your needs, your desires, and your beliefs.

Third, just because you ignore it doesn't mean it won't affect you. 

This is especially true in our Western society. In a culture were women are told they are broken, that the process doesn't matter, and that pain has no purpose, we have this underlying belief. Most women want to be safe and want their babies safe, and many want to stay out of a cesarean if possible.

If you are most women, it means that you can't be indifferent to the choices and options of birth. This means that you can't neglect to educate yourself about your options, the process itself, and mother- and baby-friendly healthcare. Because those that do neglect and feign indifference are the ones who end up either emotionally or physically harmed.

Finally, success is measured in growth. 

Many women strive and plan for a vaginal birth with low intervention because most of the time it is the safest and healthiest for mom and baby. When things don't go according to plan, either for nature or circumstance, it is the choices you made in good conscious that count the most. If you make the best choices for the circumstances you are provided with the information you have at the time, you are an empowered woman!

When you can make those choices from a place of no regret, knowing that you did everything in your power to achieve the goal you desired, you can heal and grow, regardless of the end process of how your baby arrives on earth.

So, this doula loves Harry Potter. And Harry Potter has a lot to say, inadvertently, about pregnancy, birth, and parenting!