The more we encourage a woman to find her voice, tell the truth, let go and be all that she is and feels during pregnancy, the less likely pathology will develop in labor. Better outcomes render healthier, happier mothers and babies--our ultimate objective. Healthy outcomes also help foster a midwifery practice that is inspiring and less susceptible to burnout. Clarissa Pinkola Estes in her book Women Who Run With the Wolves tells a tale of a woman who tries diligently and painstakingly to reassemble the skeleton of a wolf, and has all the bones except one in the left rear foot. She struggles and suffers to complete her task; she prays, and finally finds this bone. She places it, and is rewarded for her efforts as the skeleton comes to life as a spirit woman who then promptly departs, smiling back over her shoulder. In response to this story [an acquaintance] states, "We have so many myths about dismemberment, fragmentation of ourselves, and the longing to find parts of us that are disenfranchised. Finding the parts of ourselves most difficult to retrieve is trying and sometimes disgusting, but incorporating these is how we become whole, how we transform."
-Elizabeth Davis, CPM, excerpted from "Variation is the Rule," Midwifery Today Issue 47
Reprinted from Midwifery Today E-News (Vol 1 Issue 53, Dec 31, 1999)
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