Tuesday, September 4, 2012

My Path to Midwifery

In the winter of 2008 one of my best friends leant me a book on holistic health and healing from the Pan-African perspective. In my journey of discovery I learned many things by the time I finished reading that small gem. I knew there was a better, more natural way to live a be a true healthy person. I also knew, like the moment you lay your eyes on your true love, I would become a midwife. I didn't know much about midwifery or it's history in the United States, around the world, or amongst people of color. I lived children deeply and always had and I loved to write, which was why I was pursing a degree in English Education. But the feeling never felt quite "right" it just seemed like the obvious choice. When I read that book and zoned in on the chapter that focused on midwives, doulas, and homebirth a world was opened up to me that I didn't know still existed. I had heard about waterbirth through the media, but nothing that truly got my attention. As I read about blessinway ceremonies, baby wearing, cloth diapering, eating a clean and holistic diet during pregnancy (and hopefully always), natural foods, the unnesasary use of vaccinations and circumcision I was blown away at all I did not know and learned. From then on I knew what I should do and I was determined to be become a midwife and REintroduce traditional birthing traditions to People of color in my community and around the country. Once I am interested in something I become immersed in it until I know every detail of what I need to do to achieve my goal. As I began to walk my path I discovered that the US was far more strict on birth laws than other countries around the world and pushed hard for hospital births even though the US has one of the highest mortality rates in the world. In the state I live in, in particular, Pennsylvania midwifery is illegal. To be more specific, Certified Professional Midwives or CPMs, are illegal, meaning the right to have a midwife you has been trained by an apprentice or through traditional midwifery school, assist you in your birth at home is not permitted. Nurse-midwives are the only form of midwives legally able to assist births in Penbsylvania. As I began to research more and try to figure out exactly which path I wanted to take in order to become a midwife I learned of many of the political aspects behind legalizing midwifery. While my decisions usually relied on me weighing pros and cons, this particular dicision was more a matter of the heart. I believed in homegrown midwives, and traditions that had been passed down for generations. I also believed in the woman's ability to give birth without intervention unless it was truly nessasary. Often times in a hospital setting a woman's power is taken away in what can be the most powerful moment of her life. I felt that training with a direct-entry midwife would give me the training I was looking for and fit with the natural lifestyle I was beginning to try and live. Now finding a school, figuring out how to become a CPM and all the many different rules and regulations that came with midwifery would be a long journey that I am still trying to complete. After working in jobs I was not passionate about after I graduated in 2008, in 2010/2011 I decided to actively pursue becoming a midwife. No one around me except very close friends could understand why I would want to be a midwife or what a midwife was, or even if they still existed. The topic seemed to bring out many emotions in people,a fear that I truly didn't understand. We have been taught to see birth as such a scary and terrifying thing, even dangerous. Those views and permeated into the minds of women and many have lost sight of the fact that our bodies were built and designed to give birth naturally. It is not something we have to "get through" or survive. Birth is a right of passage, whatever woman you were before you gave birth, that woman will be forever changed after, usually for the better and stronger. I want to teach women to believe in themselves again. As my journey continues I am learning so much. I have met so many amazing sisters who are on this journey with me and their passion and determination helps me to keep going. I am about to start my second course with The Art of Midwifery with Joanne Dozor, who I respect and learned so much from. I plan to be a certified doula by the end of the year and I am saving do that I can attend the school I have fallen in love with Maternidad la Luz in El Paso, Texas. I am determined to make my dreams a reality. I am filled with love and light that I want to spread throughout the world. Namaste.

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