quotations about childbirth
There is a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong.
LAURA STAVOE HARM
attributed, The Official Lamaze Guide: Giving Birth with Confidence
Childbirth was probably easier for most women in early cultures, especially in hunter-gatherer societies, where everyone was accustomed to physical labor and supple and fit from daily activity.
SUZANNE ARMS
Immaculate Deception II
Childbirth is a time when a woman's power and strength emerge full force, but it is also a vulnerable time, and a time of many changes presenting opportunities for personal growth.
ANNEMARIE VAN OPLOO
attributed, Adventures in Natural Childbirth
She is emerging (she has no choice)
into a place
like sex or childbirth,
one thing to the observer
something very different to the participant
KATHLEEN OSSIP
The Do-Over
Childbirth is more admirable than conquest, more amazing than self-defense, and as courageous as either one.
GLORIA STEINEM
Ms. Magazine, April 1981
Birth can be painful. Sometimes women die from giving birth. However, when the baby is born, all that pain (that was endured) vanishes in an instant. Love for that tiny baby makes one forget the pain, the fear. And as I've said before, love between mother and child is the highest experience, the closest to divine love.
HOPE BRADFORD
Oracle of Compassion
Having a baby is painful in order to show how serious a thing life is.
LISA SEE
Shanghai Girls
Quests are a huge inconvenience. Don't let anyone tell you differently, even if that person has experience. The problem is that people forget the pain and aggravation as soon as the quest ends successfully, and then they remember only the glorious parts. In this way quests are a bit like childbirth, even to the point of saying that quests often give birth to glory. Maybe.
AMY NEFTZGER
The Orphanage of Miracles
Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.
INA MAY GASKIN
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Birth is, without a doubt, one of the greatest self-expressive and creative processes we can embark upon in womanhood.
MAHA AL MUSA
Dance of the Womb
The dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning.
BIBLE
Psalm 110:3
The wisdom and compassion a woman can intuitively experience in childbirth can make her a source of healing and understanding for other women.
INA MAY GASKIN
Spiritual Midwifery
She fervently wished she had paid more attention to the whispered conversations of matrons on the subject of childbirth. If only she had! If only she had been more interested in such matters she'd know whether Melanie was taking a long time or not. She had a vague memory of one of Aunt Pitty's stories of a friend who was in labor for two days and died without ever having the baby. Suppose Melanie should go on like this for two days! But Melanie was so delicate. She couldn't stand two days of this pain. She'd die soon if the baby didn't hurry. And how could she ever face Ashley, if he were still alive, and tell him that Melanie had died--after she had promised to take care of her?
MARGARET MITCHELL
Gone with the Wind
A strong intention, a relaxed body and an open mind are the main ingredients for an active birth.
JANET BALASKAS
attributed, "You've got this, mama", Motherly, March 5, 2019
We were beginning to see that the medical profession, at the time still over 90 percent male, had transformed childbirth from a natural event into a surgical operation performed on an unconscious patient in what approximated a sterile environment. Routinely, the woman about to give birth was subjected to an enema, had her pubic hair shaved off, and was placed in the lithotomy position -- on her back, with knees up and crotch spread wide open. As the baby began to emerge, the obstetrician performed an episiotomy, a surgical enlargement of the vaginal opening, which had to be stitched back together after birth. Each of these procedures came with a medical rationale: The enema was to prevent contamination with feces; the pubic hair was shaved because it might be unclean; the episiotomy was meant to ease the baby's exit. But each of these was also painful, both physically and otherwise, and some came with their own risks, Shaving produces small cuts and abrasions that are open to infection; episiotomy scars heal m ore slowly than natural tears and can make it difficult for the woman to walk or relieve herself for weeks afterward. The lithotomy position may be more congenial for the physician than kneeling before a sitting woman, but it impedes the baby's process through the birth canal and can lead to tailbone injuries in the mother.
BARBARA EHRENREICH
Natural Causes
Childbirth is unpredictable, it's true. But much of what people are warning against is actually quite predictable. If your doctor has the highest Cesarean birthrate in town and you don't want a Cesarean birth, this is a great opportunity to consider the plans you've made and the choices you have. That said, if you are planning a Cesarean birth, this same doctor might be an excellent match.
MEGAN DAVIDSON
Your Birth Plan: A Guide to Navigating All of Your Choices in Childbirth
While many couples hope that a baby will bring them great happiness, this may occur only if they are able to overcome childbirth's multiple challenges. When they fail, so may their marriages ... Childbirth, after all, turns life upside down. Whereas previously the couple had to nurture only each other, now they are part of a triad. Their entire balance of forces must be recast. Furthermore, this must be negotiated at a time of sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion, and economic pressure. No wonder couples have difficulty.
HILARY HOGE
Women's Stories of Divorce at Childbirth