BIRTH.

Mamas. You are strong, you are powerful, and you know your body. Your body was made to give birth to your sweet baby. Birth is not medical. It's nature. It's intuitive.

Know your body and know what you have a say in. (Spoiler alert - everything.) Don't want to be stationary in labor? Don't. Let your body move that baby down. Don't want to be hooked up to the fetal monitor constantly? Don't. Look at the research on how THAT affects the outcome of your birth. It's surprising. I'll tell ya that.

Know what the cascade of interventions are and how that affects the outcome of your birth. Be informed. The US ranks dead LAST in the case of maternal health and infant/maternal deaths out of all developed countries.

That is horrifying. Start asking WHY.

Know what your baby needs when he or she is born. Snuggles, skin to skin, and mama. We declined Hep-B and eye ointment with Grey. My brand new minutes old baby did not need toxins immediately pumped into his teeny tiny 6lb body. He didn't need chemical filled eye ointment slathered on his eyes. Ask questions. Ask why we do these things to brand new babies. Make your own choices. No one can force you to do anything.

Watch the Business of Being Born. We watched this before I was pregnant with Grey, while I was pregnant with him, and I watched it again last night.

Then read. My faves:
The Kind Mama
Mama Natural
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

Know your rights, your body, and have the birth YOU choose, whatever that may be. <3

Side note:
I am so crazy thankful for OBs and doctors and modern medicine IF birth becomes medical. Which for some women, it absolutely does, and for those doctors we are grateful!

This is speaking to the women who don't know that they have options or don't know that for MOST (not all, of course) women, birth isn't something to be feared and that they do have choices❤️