We are still products of our biology

The blessed time soaking in the words of Ina May Gaskin were just as lovely as I had hoped for them to be.  Sharing space in a room not only with Ina May, but also hundreds of other incredible women was a great opportunity.  I'm learning more and more how much I crave social interaction with people who understand me a bit more the way I feel around birth professionals.  Regular people just dont "get" it so much, I think.  I hope that makes sense.  I guess not everyone is so interested in birth.  It's probably best that we get these chances to mingle with eachother.  It saves our partners and parents hours of hearing our birth rants!  Although admittedly, my partner probably heard a bit more than normal last night after I got home!

What I like most about Ina May's approach to birth is how much she likes to parallel human birth to animals.  I think its so important in reminding us of our biology, since we as "modern humans" like to forget that we, too, are animals.  Our large heads and bipedal abilities might give us a bit of a different swing on things, but we must not let go of the fact that we are animals.  I especially appreciated that she focused on animals, rather than the proverbial "tribal woman" who could be a random any woman around the world and could easily be homogenized, de-culturized, and depersonalized.  I truly don't believe this homogenous type of woman exists, and the only women who would birth in the seeminly idealized "squat-in-field-to-birth-and-keep-working" way are the ones who are forced to, and are certainly not any healthier for it.  Birth is birth.  It's a big deal, for a community and a woman's body!


Ina May showed us a video of a chimp giving birth in the most interesting position.  While the quality of the filming isn't the greatest, I thought I'd share it here.  What lovely, calm inspiration she brings to the people she speaks to.  She told us all quite simply, that if we have a string of bad births, or start out our careers as birth professionals seeing birth in a way that it usually isn't, then we need to go and see some of these animal births.  "It'll make you feel better about it." 

I love that. 

So go check out this chimp and her midwife!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bF_T3wBE14