the thing we need is never all that hard to find

So, today in class we watched my favorite documentary, "The Business of Being Born."  

It.

Rocks.

My.

World.

I never thought I'd say the words, "Boy, I sure can relate to Ricki Lake."  She said in the film that she picked up Ina May Gaskin's classic "Spiritual Midwifery" and it changed her life.  

I can totally relate.  I picked up Ina May's book three years ago and the light bulb, more like firecrackers went off. I felt a calling to midwifery and the natural process of birth, parenting, mothering, and nursing care.  Ina May Gaskin is one of my heroes.  She is the mother of modern midwifery and started The Farm Midwives.  http://www.thefarmmidwives.org/


The Farm is a little organic minded community.  The midwives at the Farm attend to the births of the residents and the stats are astounding.  Of their 2,000 births the cesarean section rate is less than 2%.  For instance, most teaching hospitals, including Rush, is up at the epidemic level of 50%.  The World Health Organization recommends hospitals have no more than a 10-15% c-section rate.  

Ina has clearly got it going on.

So, after another exciting yet exhausting day of lecture at school, I came home to this quote.....


"Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path."


I thought it was quite timely.  All this talk about mamas, babies, midwives and birth sure makes me excited to have babies of my own someday soon and anxious to become what I cannot wait to be...a midwife who honors the innate gift that women's bodies possess....our bodies are miraculous and I can't wait to be a part of something so transformational.


Yup, I am definitely crunchy granola enough to be a midwife. :)