Laboring to Save Home Births

This is a BEAUTIFUL article about the struggle the Amish women are having to protect their right to have home births.

I LOVE the last few paragraphs when one Amish woman describes her birth. She says “I pace my kitchen floor, lean over my chair, say my prayers…. When Diane comes, she’s my boss.” The article continues, "Even Annie’s most difficult delivery was met with a sunrise, a moment so tranquil, she recalls, she gave the child the middle name of “Joy.” An Amish mother expecting her sixth child recalls how Goslin (the midwife) strapped her birthing supplies on a toboggan and walked uphill to her farm when the road was impassible one winter. “I didn’t even think to be worried. I figured she’d get here. She always does.”

I LOVE this perspective on birth-- filled with Joy, Faith and Trust instead of fear, uncertainty and not trusting that women's bodies know what they are doing. I REALLY believe that this is how birth is suppose to be-- natural, peaceful and attended to by a woman whom the mother trusts and admires.

I feel SO lucky that I had an AMAZING midwife. Over the few months that I got to know her, Vivian really became a dear friend and a woman whom I would trust with my life. She gave me physical, mental, emotional and most importantly SPIRITUAL strength. She helped me learn to trust my body and my baby and how not to be afraid. I will be eternally grateful to her because she stood by and watched as I labored, and she was there at my hardest moments comforting me and urging me forward. She received my baby and I loved it that her loving hands were the first touch Asher felt in the world (well besides me touching his head to make sure he was coming out). She cried with me afterwards, and held my hand days later when I was exhausted and overwhelmed.

I know home birth isn't for everyone, but mine was an AMAZING experience. It was sacred and life changing. I truly believe that every woman has a right to decide how and where to give birth and that NO one has a right to decide that for her. It makes me so upset that organizations and some doctors are trying to take that right away from women! I admire the Amish women for standing up for their rights.