As a doula, I support women who have birth visions all over the spectrum of “naturalness”. From women who don’t want a single intervention and will go to Herculean efforts to avoid them to women who have a birth vision which is centered around a positive birth experience regardless of interventions. I welcome the challenge of “holding space” and empowering these expectant couples regardless of where they fall on the spectrum of natural birth.
The woman I worry about is not the one who wants to Birth at home in a tub with music playing, or the woman who wants to Birth in a hospital with an epidural. I worry most about the woman who is trying to be perfect at childbirth. The woman who wants to achieve the validation and approval of those in her life by birthing the “best” way.
No one gets an “A” in childbirth. Birth is individual and spiritual. It’s about bringing a new life into the world and becoming a mother.
Whether you decide to schedule a c-section, manage the waves of labor with an epidural or power through a birth without interventions, it’s your baby’s birth and the rite of passage into motherhood.
Let the worries of doing it “right” go. This is a path you walk in your own way. Let the people around you support you and hold space for your journey.
You are strong and able to birth without anyone holding you to their standards or ideals. Your journey is yours to walk. No one is grading you on this most perfect accomplishment.