Fabulous crocheted goddess from my mom as a blessingway gift 🙂

‎”Birth is one of the most profound teaching experiences life offers. It touches us in the depths of our souls, the most private recesses of who we are. It requires that we respond with more creative energy, more conviction, more trust, than almost anything else we do. Birth requires an intensity that is rarely demanded by other experiences…And through it, we can learn more about ourselves, our strengths, our weaknesses, our relationship patterns, and our needs than through almost any other experience we will face in our life.” ~Nancy Wainer Cohen (Via: Peaceful Birth Project)

“We need to take care with every message we deliver to women about birth, and ensure that each message honors the fact that every woman at every moment is making the best decisions she can for herself and her child, with the information she has. And the truth is…that can take a mountain of strength.” – Melissa Bruijn and Debby Gould (in Pathways to Family Wellness Magazine via Birth True Childbirth Education)

“…if every midwife was able to work in the way that midwifery was originally intended, the modern doula’s role might be very different–with an increased focus on practical and physical measures perhaps, and much less requirement for advocacy and counseling.” –Adela Stockton (New – Gentle Birth Companions: doulas serving humanity )

“…I have noticed that the subgroup of women who tend to choose [homebirth] often exhibit certain characteristics, such as comfort within their own bodies, a desire to have a birth experience that is more poetic than clinical, as well as a desire to return what we all feel is some seriously missing humanity to the experience of having a baby…” –Cara Muhlhahn

‎”It seems as if the birth is a story waiting to be played out, and the midwife is but one character in the play…There are many lessons that we all learn from birth…Not only do the woman and her family learn from the experience, but the midwife learns and understands, with more depth and clarity, the mysteries of life from each birth.” –Janice Marsh-Prelesnik (The Roots of Natural Mothering)

“Birth is a mystery, and you never know what’s really going to happen – but if you don’t reach for the stars and plan to have the very best, you’re unlikely to get it. It’s important to have a vision for your birth and to work toward that vision.” ~ Suzanne Arms (via ICAN of Nashville)