We must stop hurting babies in our effort to help them.
I rubbed Mary’s feet as she sat on a yoni steam throne made of herbs gathered through the year in my woods and gardens. I listened to her tell me her birth story while she sipped herbal tea and nibbled on bowls of nuts and honey graham crackers.
“Homebirth, first breaths, re-immersion in water and primate movement are a biological continuum for mamababy.” Sister argues for first breaths and primal imprinting for newborns—an instinctual interaction between mother and baby.
Sister MorningStar spins her word magic about the subject of maternal mortality, using examples of women she has known.
Sister MorningStar shares more positive stories of birthing to inspire us all.
Sister MorningStar bemoans the increasing difficulty of birthing with joy and no interventions, and tells stories of how instinctive birth can be.
There is a theme in my world travels over the past 30 years. I have searched my mind and heart to find words for the theme. I have listened to languages different from my own describe this “something” from the mouths of thousands of wimyn. The theme is captured by a beautiful Bolivian midwife attending an international conference in Mexico in 2000 regarding the future of birth and midwifery in Central and South America. “We know we must take our mothers to the hospital,” she nearly whispers with a quivering voice, “but where are the prayers?”
I wanted to write solely about a beautiful undisturbed homebirth. I am a storyteller by nature. Stories are the facts of life.
Sometimes it is easier to trust the innate intelligence in natural processes when science discovers or confirms through scientific studies the validity of something that is believed to be true, like upright positioning for birth, or something previously unknown, like the benefits of the human microbiota. Most recent is a growing respect of the microbiota at birth and its effect on long-term health.
What If, What For and What Now? Human Rights and Cultural Rights in Childbirth by Sister MorningStar. “One of the most tragic destructions of indigenous sacred female knowledge is the false superiority and medicalization of childbirth by professionals among native peoples.
