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SCALES OF UNDERSTANDING and birthwork birth imprints…

How my brain is organising/ making sense of birth at this time. The nuances, the extremes. These scales are also a part of my modality that is in gestation (they are the intellectual property of my brain and channel).

My north node in Gemini, has me on this lifelong journey of attempting to communicate and articulate what is happening in my psyche. I feel like a detective gathering information and awareness from all over the place.

CONCEPTION

The scale of maternal desire:

I use this scale in my own self awareness and preconception check in practices. I find myself pretty neutral, but in the past have been in the extremes, wanting to cut out my most iconic sacred organ or wanting to be impregnated irrationally ~ crazy how hormones do that. I also love bringing this up, when people express a fear or rejection of motherhood/conception, I’m like what’s under that? Is it a cultural belief around motherhood? Or children? Do you see motherhood as a sacrifice? Children as a burden? Or do you want to conceive immediately to fill a void? How could we mother ourselves right now? How can you nurture/support yourself first?

PREGNANCY/BIRTH

Polarity, and variety in experiences and outcomes

There is no “one way” to do anything. There is no right vs wrong. I believe woman and babies and birth are far more intelligent than that. Cocreating whatever is necessary for their karmic/dharmic/evolutionary path. A woman could have a fully wild pregnancy and a very medical birth. A woman could pick and chose her individualized care, getting a couple scans, opting out of other kinds of surveillance, choosing a homebirth midwife, or OB or freebirthkeeper. A woman could conceive via IVF and have a freebirth. Or conceive out bush then have a C-section. There is SO MUCH NUANCE and literally infinite kinds of journeys and paths one could take. I also find myself letting go of a desired kind of birth and trust babies will chose the births they need for their imprint into this world. I feel in this day and age especially with social media, there is lots of ideology we have to bush bash through and a constant portrayal of how birth is “supposed” to be being offered via our electric screens and aesthetically captured imagery. It’s just so loud out there sometimes.

We also need care providers along that whole scale. One’s who will just work in the system. Ones that will solely work outside the system. One’s who bridge worlds and integrate all poles. People to serve and support the teenage pregnancies, the truly high risk and ones to serve the healthy able bodied. Care providers for the wealthy and the poor. Care providers who have the strength and commitment to do the years of study and placement. I also hope one day the scale is completely eradicated and we can all just coexist. A dear sister was sharing how Midwifery needs to be community funded, and completely rewritten. Imagine, decolonised, community and mother-centered care, funded and led by community, I’d love to move in that direction. A communal kitty for funds, and midwives teaching out in the community instead of behind University and hospital doors. Creating access and more skilled, nuanced birth attendants. Maybe one day, maybe we’re dreaming. There are so many layers to the intergenerational Midwifery collective wounding and it feels like Midwifery history is still very much at play.

POSTPARTUM

Extremes in experience…

I feel the postpartum scale is informed a lot by access to community and education around postpartum traditions & physiology. The postpartum scale I feel is also heavily informed by the preconception season and values of the individuals and the community. If there is a value of intergenerational health, or fertility, the postpartum season would be more supported and warm. If there is no awareness or postpartum education, or perhaps a tidal wave of grief and isolation, the postpartum basic needs (warmth, community, acknowledgement, ritual) may go unmet. It takes work and preparation for a well met postpartum. Access to resource, community support, time taken off work, the ability to rest for an extended time period, and the infostructure it takes to support someone to take an extended time of rest eg. house cleaning, postpartum doula, partner off work, family and friends to support in housework, cooking etc etc. I feel like practicing for postpartum begins in maidenhood (I have a whole blog on how to practice for postpartum), but beginning with your bleed, practicing rest, cultivating community that brings you food or resources when you’re sick, that ability to receive is also a skill that needs to be worked out, ideally before we are in the trenches of postpartum with a newborn babe in tow. Even the concept of a “good/well met postpartum” will be different depending on who you talk too.

DOES YOUR BIRTHWORK HAVE A BIRTH IMPRINT…

My birthwork imprint, my calling and birthing into a birthworker happened when I was 17. There has always been this element of both Midwifery led care and Freebirth at the forefront, 4 years later I’m still dancing between these worlds, diving deeper and unpacking ideology. I had such a jaw drop moment today when I realised this, one of those ahhhh this all makes sense moments.