Oh, The Places You’ll Go: Reflecting on World Doula Week Through the Eyes of History
I majored in history at Purdue University. When I tell people this, many respond with long sighs and statements of, “ugh, I wish I liked history! I hated it in school!” This baffles and saddens me a bit because history is one of the best ways we get to look at ourselves. No, I don’t mean that in the “doomed to repeat it” type of way ~ yech, not that at all. I mean that the very fabric of our souls is something we can recognize in others when we look back through the pages of the past. We may find enemies, yes, but we can also find friends and kindred spirits that cheer us on through the centuries.
And one of the best places to realize this truth, I think, is through the history of birth. Last year I read and reviewed Tina Cassidy’s fabulous book on the topic and I’ve found myself thinking about it so much more this week. What we eat, how we eat, what we wear, how we talk, where we work… these things (and so many others!) have changed. But how our bodies have babies? THAT has stayed the same, and a woman in 2020 has the same strengths and the same wants that her ever-so-many-greats-grandmother would have had in 1520.
Their wants? For a healthy baby, to feel supported in birth and find relief in the agony of labor pangs, to feel nourished and nurtured in their communities, to know where to turn for help.
Their strengths? A fierce & passionate love for these babies of theirs, power and wisdom in their births, and an intuitive knowledge, ever being fine tuned, of their babies’ needs.
Sound familiar, mothers of 2020? Maybe our grandmother in 1520 had the support of the neighborhood midwife. Maybe you were planning on your sister or mother being with you for the same support for birth, but suddenly travel has come to a screeching halt. Maybe your mother was going to come and spend the first week after birth with you, but now she needs to stay home.
Maybe our grandmother of 1520 lived in the same village as her family. We don’t. But we do have tools she could never have imagined for getting the same support all women thrive on.
We have technology. And that technology can connect and strengthen us in uncertain times. No, I don’t mean Google. I mean connecting with a real human being and pouring out our hearts to their compassionate, non-judgmental, listening hearts. And that brings me to World Doula Week. I’ve already talked a lot in this blog about how people assume doulas are there only for the contractions and pushing, but our relationship goes so much deeper than that. And we are flexible, meeting women where ever they need us most. Facetime/Skype/Zoom consultations? You’ve got it! Phone calls? Yup! We will do whatever it takes to give you the support you request, because we know you will do whatever it takes to support yourself and your baby in the ways needed.
This novel Corona Virus might be around for a while. The scientists might figure out a vaccine or treatment in six months. I don’t know. I do know that women and the birthing community have faced hard challenges hundreds of times before and that we have always continued building our community (tending & befriending, right?!). A virus cannot stop us. And THAT is worth celebrating all-year-round. In 1320, 1520, 1820, 1920, 2020… and beyond. Cheers, my friends. We’ve got this!
