Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Letter from mom of twins

Here is a letter from a mom who Teresa Howard assisted in having her first children, twins. It was an unmedicated, vaginal birth that was amazing. A few years later, she asked me to return to assist her with the labor of her third child. Again, unmedicated and wonderful! She is totally amazing!

"...When I think about those days,I feel such a close bond with you. I have often felt strange about this, but you are somehow much more than just a healthcare provider hired for just a few hours of advice and service. I had such high hopes for my births, both in terms of medical choices we were able to make but also in wanting

to experience it with joy and confidence and empowerment rather than fear and frustration and regret. And, while I praise God for three wonderful, healthy, medically uncomplicated

births, the warm positive emotions that I feel when thinking about those experiences are due largely to your care and expertise.

I think the other important role you play in my mind is that you give me permission to feel the way I do about childbirth. That it is a normal, natural and healthy process that our bodies know how to do; that it is an experience to be sought after and embraced not avoided through medication or elective surgery; that it can

be a primal, empowering moment that reveals a woman's unknown strength (perhaps most of all to the new mother herself); that the experience itself can be one of the most joyous and

cherished of a woman's life, not just the painful, unavoidable process that resulted in the joy of a child. I don't know that I need permission to embrace these feelings. It's just that they are so rare among my own circle of family and friends that it's nice to have a voice in my head that validates and agrees to them. All that to say Thanks for sharing your

kind memories of me and my children. You will always hold an important and special place in my heart."

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