[𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟑] 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬⁣⁣⁣⁣

𝟐𝟏 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐲

[𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟑] 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬⁣⁣
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For years I kind of got what midwifery was about. I knew the physiological birth thing was important. I supported it and was amazed by it. But it was difficult to let the truth of this land with me because I’d tried so hard to understand this idea before getting practical experience.⁣⁣
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I’m unsure if I’m making sense here; it’s a complicated idea. Or maybe not...maybe it’s a bit like if you’re brought up religious and so feel your relationship with God is an important thing. But you’ve been cultured into that belief, so you’ve almost been trying to make that feeling of importance happen. Perhaps one day, you walk away from religion...or something happens in life to make religion to be as important as if you were the one who’d discovered the stone tablets in the first place. ⁣⁣
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For me, birth has been like that. It takes being at a fair amount of them to figure out what’s going on because the secrets are revealed throughout being there for many individuals. For instance, someone being in ‘latent’ labour for hours and then going from 1cm to 10cm in an hour. There was a plan after all. Or someone flipping onto their hands and knees, completely resolving decelerations. The only way I can put it now that I’ve now been around enough births is that if you don’t respect birth as it can happen when everything is going well, you almost don’t respect why being a human being is an immensely cool thing. ⁣⁣
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We are brilliant animals. And I’m not here to get tangled up in a debate about normal birth vs medicalisation because there have been so many times when I’ve been incredibly glad for my doctor colleagues. I’ve had a close family member with pre-eclampsia, and I’ve been there for situations which would have been deadly without intervention. But when nature unfolds the way it can, and the person involved has true and chosen education and opinions based on who they are...there’s nothing like it. I actually have the same feeling of awe sometimes attending an emergency caesarean under general anaesthetic. If I have a second to catch my breath, I think 'we’re a load of highly trained monkeys in scrubs'. Our species has been on the planet long enough to mature our science to the point of developing pain-free surgery, and now we can work in a team fast enough to save a baby who’s in trouble before it's even been born. It’s mental. ⁣⁣
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There’s a line in a Terry Pratchett book that goes, ‘𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱, 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦’. I so relate to that. It might not make me the fastest midwife in the world as I overthink everything and it might be one of the reasons I’m clumsy. But I hope it never stops hitting me in the face.⁣⁣
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All my best,⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Ellie.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣