The
Language
of Birth

The idea of naming my business The Language of Birth came into form as I was still psychologically & somatically healing from the birth of my son; which very much did not go as planned. Putting the pieces back together after my identity had been shattered (both as a Doula and a woman/human), left me grappling with how profoundly language impacts birth.

 

The seed of words, said and/or unsaid, can manifest in a thousand different ways; either positively or negatively influencing how we see ourselves, our identities, our children, and our lived experiences.

 

Thus, it left me wrestling with two main questions: how do we talk about birth, and how does birth talk to us? 

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01.) How do we talk about birth?
 

This question highlights more left-brain, rational thinking. It's a fact based, science backed, statistic focused relationship. When I ask how do we talk about birth, how are we really talking about birth? What words are we habitually choosing? What tones of voice are we inflecting, for example, when we talk about a birth that concluded in a vaginal home delivery or an emergency cesarean? What subconscious messages are we then sending?

 

How are we celebrating birth in general?

 

What is neglected and not being talked about? How are BIPOC and Trans people being included in these conversations? How are those who are traumatized and neurodivergent being held? How are we perpetuating unrealistic expectations, painful birth hierarchies, unfriendly competition and shame? How are we leaving women and people with the sense that they failed? How are we talking about what it means to trust birth and manifest? And how are we understanding and working with our biased perspectives? 

Also, how are we speaking directly and collaboratively with all types of care providers & staff? How are we cultivating the pillars of building mutual respect and getting on the same page? How to ensure accountability? How are we asking the right questions, and recognizing the rhetoric we use builds or destroys relationships? 

And, how does the language behind historical & modern midwifery and obstetrics influence our current dialogue? 

 

02.) how does birth talk to us?

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Regarding how birth talks to us, it means learning a language of survival and of magic. Of science and spirit. By embracing the big stuff, the fact birth is all the things: safe and dangerous, joyful and daunting, that fear can be good, and trauma is an unavoidable fact of life therefore gives room to navigate that most complex and miraculous and intuitive space we all know birth touches.