The Universal Language of Birth… (birth experience January 2012)
At a recent birth I got to experience the universal language of birth…..
I met this woman mid pregnancy. She was the relative of two other women whom I have been midwife to during their pregnancies and births. English is not her first language, so she spoke little to no English. Her relatives would come with her to prenatal appointments. We would communicate as best we could. As the time progressed, her English picked up little by little.
When labor started I was called by one of her relatives and arrived to find this mama in a good active labor pattern. She was listening to her body; moving and assuming positions that worked and helped her. My senses became my most valuable tools, my eyes and ears watching her and listening to her sounds. She would fuss and moan when she needed, verbally in her language and universally with her body. After being in and out of the pool, she says in her language “kaka”….. I understood that as I saw her body giving “bearing down” signs. She decided to get out of the tub and onto the birth stool she went. She is actively bearing down, with much effort. I can see bulging and a bit of her baby’s head. She then starts speaking in her native language what sounded very strong and forceful words, and I in my excitement looked at her and the progress she is making moving her baby down and respond enthusiastically “YES, YES”!!! There was a little chuckle from her relative who looks at me and says… “she said she is going to die, and you told her yes!”…. oh my, I laughed at myself and my enthusiasm and then told her… “no, not die, baby is coming!!” and they translated that to her! Minutes later she pushes out her sweet baby into her arms with the biggest smile of triumph and joy!!
What an incredible teaching this birth was for me…. I learned about the beauty of the universal (unspoken) language of birth!! I learned how it would not hurt to know a few key words in her language…so our post partum time has been spent with me learning a few key words in her language… I learned the ability to laugh at myself!!
Every 90 second a woman dies due to complications from pregnancy. View this video & learn how you can help save a life.
What is midwifery care? The debut video for I am a Midwife, a new online series about midwives and what they do, explores just that! Eight different “real life” midwives describe the safe, satisfying and supportive care midwives in all settings provide women and their families!
A big welcome to Djahre Asaru born at home in water in the early morning hours on March 22, 2012. Proud mama Leslie & Papa Rene received their sweet son surrounded by close family members and an abundance of love, peace & joy!!
~Sheila~
Greetings A big welcome to Melody Jade born at home in water on March 21, 2012. A big congrats to awesome mama Kristen for her vaginal/home birth after 2 cesareans (VBA2C) or (HBA2C) and to proud papa Mike for all his love and support!
From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.
With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.
They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.
Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.
Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, HALF THE SKY is essential reading for every global citizen.
A brief look at midwifery and an interview with Sheila Simms Watson, LM, CPM at Spirit of Life Midwifery in Miami.
My focus is helping our mothers, families, and community through practicing traditional midwifery. Women have been helping, supporting and teaching women since the beginning of time. Pregnancy and birth are fundamentally healthy processes that are normal, natural parts of a woman's life. My midwifery practice specializes in traditional home birth and water birth services to meet the need for alternative, traditional, and out of hospital maternity services in Miami and South Florida.
Comprehensive, personalized, holistic prenatal care, VBAC, home birth, water birth, labor, birth & postpartum support, continued care after birth for mom & baby, breastfeeding & parenting support, well woman care & family planning, affordable - Medicaid & insurance accepted.
Celebrate Life...Have your baby with a midwife!
After having two of my children with a midwife, in 1983, I became a childbirth educator and a birth assistant. I practiced as a Traditional Midwife in an independent homebirth practice in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia from 1991 to 1996. In 1996, I attained my Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) credentials and continued to do homebirths. In 1999, I relocated to Florida and in 2001 completed the Midwifery program at Miami Dade College and received an Associate of Science degree in Midwifery and a license to practice midwifery. In June 2001, I established Spirit of Life Traditional Midwifery, an independent homebirth practice. I am honored to be a part of the wonderful tradition of midwifery supporting, caring for and being "with woman". Pregnancy and giving birth are some of the most magical and powerful times in a woman's life.
