…in feeding babies, two substantial mammary glands are more useful than the two hemispheres of a professor’s brain.

It was a natural consequence that all obstetric procedures had their indication widened as their relative safety became established. But that any operation, because asepsis makes it reasonably safe and anesthesia keeps the patient quiet during its performance, should be so inordinately broadened in its scope that the suspicion is evidence that it is being done for the convenience and conservation of time of the operator, is a travesty on scientific endeavor.

“Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.”

Be bold. Be proud. Persist in spreading the word that midwives are not only experts in normal birth, but also expert at keeping birth normal.

Trauma always leaves a scar. It follows us home. It changes our lives. Trauma messes everybody up. But maybe that’s the point. All the pain and the fear and the crap. Maybe going through all that is what keeps us moving forward. It’s what pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little messed up, before we can step up.