Midwife Musings

What does it mean to bring “love into the room”? Birth is so many things all at once, but primarily it’s an unscripted journey unique to each woman. I’ve heard “trust birth” many times, but I feel its hidden intended meaning is “everything will always work out” and that is not the case. What unfolds – even in an unmedicated, spontaneous labor and birth – can bring unexpected twists and turns. Bringing love into the room took on new meanings as I matured as a midwife and grew to respect the birth process. It meant that I cried with a frustrated mother when progress wouldn’t come, exhaled with tremendous relief when the shoulders released, and ignored the cramps and twinges in my own body to stay in a physical embrace that meant the crowning head made one tiny smudge more of progress. Midwifery is so many things all at once, but primarily it’s about being part of another person’s journey. Love is the space we make for women to be the center of their own story. This is where they experience their own power, and inspire us all over again about the miracle of giving birth.  Midwife literally means "with woman" and that is simplest and best way to describe what we do.