| An Introduction to Pregnancy & Childbirth | |
| In the Navajo religion and culture, it means walking in beauty. The emphasis is on how you relate to everything around you - everything has to be weighed, measured and harmonious. And so it should be with pregnancy and birth - that tremendously powerful stage of development that brings a woman to motherhood, a couple to family and a beautiful child into the world. So very often we are in such a hurry to grow both physically and emotionally. Things are in such a rush that we miss the majesty of pregnancy and the tumultuous sensations of birth - labeling pain as suffering instead of labeling it as hard work for the purpose of bringing forth life. Our culture also has adopted a sense of impatience with this rushing. If the headache is caused by tension, rather than releasing the tension and relaxing, we take medication to relieve the pain. Join us for a walk in the beauty of pregnancy and birth. Experience the wonder of conception and the joy of nine months of growing and nurturing a tiny human being. Labor and Birth will not be entirely enjoyable nor will it be pain-free. Yet with a renewed attitude of power and might, face labor and birth with a sense of strength, spirituality, control and power. We have discovered with the birth of our children an incredible sense of comfort, well-being, calm and reward in the births. We felt empowered to birth. It was to us a necessary step from "childhood" to "womanhood" -- from being less than we could be to being all that we could be and so, very much more! We felt that this honor was bestowed on us to give these wonderful little creatures life - what sense of awe and joy! With each push of contractions our tears were not of pain but of the sheer joy of bringing forth such life. To know that in a few years, we would be holding their hands as they took their first steps, and later holding their hands through birth themselves. With each birth that we attend as a doula, we re-experience this sense of awe, power and wonder. We share the joy of a birth with parents who are but taking the first steps into parenting. Theirs is a world of learning by doing, of making mistakes and of learning about their power as a family. Yes there is power in families - positive power. The kind of power that encourages children to strive for high goals and to resist the temptations that bombard children from all sides. These lines from the book Woman Changing Woman by Virginia Beane Rutter sum up the motivation of seeking "nizhoni" in birth: Whatever the timing or the place, then and there she is able to drift into her own being, listen and hear her own voice. Whether it speaks in whispers of love, in screams of pain or anger, in shouts of joy, or in silent thanksgiving, the voice is hers, hers alone. She finds the depths and limits of her own emotions, the clarity of her thought. She finds courage in her strength and ebullience and resolution to inner turmoil. May you find nizhoni in your life during your pregnancy and during the birth of your precious child. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
Please feel free to look around, read our disclaimer, and check out the links to other related sites. If you have any questions, send us a message..
We will reply as soon as possible. Funding for this site is provided solely by Perinatal Education Associates, Inc. Perinatal Education Associates, Inc. undertake to honor or exceed the legal requirements of medical/health information privacy that apply in the State and Country where this website is located. All content is written by the owners of the site unless otherwise noted.
Banner ads may be posted on this site at the discretion of the webmaster. Such ads must be in accordance with maternal/child wellbeing and the WHO Code. They are for educational purposes only. Perinatal Education Associates, Inc., Birthsource.com and/or its agents are not responsible for the content on banner ad sites.
Birthsource.com...your ONE source for birthing information!
Vote for this site in The Webs Best Natural Birth Sites
Website Last Updated: Friday, September 10, 2010 | For information about this site or for permission to reprint, contact the Webmaster
Copyright 1999-2010 by Perinatal Education Associates, Inc. | Website Design by WEBSOURCE LLC, Dayton Ohio