Time After Time

This past week my mom and grandma came for a visit from North Carolina. Naturally, birth was the topic of a lot of our conversations. I always find other's birth story's interesting, especially ones from the past.

People have been having babies since time began. It's a natural part of life, a painful and beautiful experience. During the visit, I heard bits and pieces of my great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother's birth stories which were all quite different from my own.

My grandmother grew up hearing stories of her own birth story, she was born at home at the end of the second world war at 11 lbs to her mother, a petite woman of barely 100 lbs. My great grandmother was a midwife herself, and chose to birth at home, which at the time was fairly common still.

My grandmother's birth story with her children, was quite contrast...she said all she really remembered once she got to the hospital in labor was being put in "twilight" sleep and someone pressing their hands hard down on her belly. Then, she woke up groggy to a view of her new baby lying in the nursery. She had limited memories of labor besides a few contractions before the hospital and no recollections of pushing her baby out of her body. During this time, (mid 1960's) mother's were often given gas-Scopolamine to create that "twilight" sleep. This type of sedation often resulted in women having hallucinations and needing to be restrained to the bed during the birth. Father's in the 1960's when my grandmother birthed her children, were expected to remain in the waiting room until mom and baby were cleaned and presentable. Many middle class women during this time period were told that breastfeeding was for the poor and that formula feeding was best. My grandmother said she wholeheartedly believed this and had no idea why anyone would chose to breastfeed their baby when formula was available. She formula fed her children with glass bottles and nipples boiled before and after each use.

My mother had me in 1990 two weeks past her estimated due date. She arrived at the hospital in labor with a transverse baby. After a successful external cephalic version (ECV) she gave birth completely drug free.

Each story, so very different from the other, and different from my own. Every birth story is unique and beautiful in it's own way. The key to a having a joyful birth, no matter the circumstance, in my own humble opinion, is support. We at Birthing Tree feel it imperative for each of our clients to know they're supported in each and every decision they make throughout pregnancy. labor and birth.

Time goes on. From generation to generation, hospital protocols change, trends fade and mother's do things differently than their own mother's did.

Nevertheless, we still give birth. We still pass our birth stories on to our children and their children's children. Let's make the most of our birth's mamas! Let's create a beautiful story to tell.