“Intuition: the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.“
I have been a mother 26 years . I have read about every birth and parenting book out there. I became a LLL Leader in 1997. The most important thing I tell pregnant women that would attend LLL meetings was to always trust their instinct and follow their hearts. I certified with DONA as a birth doula , I certified with Sacred Pregnancy as a postpartum doula and trained (working on papers for certifying) with Loss Doula International as a bereavement doula . I had to “certify” on paper everything I already knew to prove myself . There are many ‘doulas’ out there calling themselves doulas and they never certified or took a workshop.
This blog is something I have been blogging in my brain for months. So I decided to sit and type .
We live in a world where many want evidence based this or science based that. Yes some of it is good . But much of it doesn’t always apply too everyone.
Let me back up ten years ago to the birth of my 6th child whom was a preemie . You can read his story here http://gracefulbeginningsdoulaservices.com/2015/04/a-preemie-birth-story/
With my preemie I remember always being told ‘statistics show this or that ” over And over. I would then say ” We are individuals not statistics and just because a chart or research shows this doesn’t mean it will apply to me or my baby ” I also lived by my faith. Which the drs did not like to hear.
For example the neonatologist told me my baby would not be able to nurse after he was born because “statistics show a 32 week preemie doesn’t have the sucking skills” or ” he wont be strong enough” I told him again we are individual and not a statistic . That I would follow my instincts when he was born and if I felt he could nurse I would. If you read my story you will learn I was in that hospital over 4 weeks with a PROM. They NEVER expected I would go that long with a slow amniotic fluid leak and not get an infection or keep his fluid levels up. I did and blew there statistics and evidence based info out of the water. IN the end they threatened me into an induction. He was born and shocked everyone. Three days in the NICU and we went home. He latched on after they allowed me to around 12 hrs after his birth. He never received a bottle, pacifier or formula. I followed my intuition not their statistics or evidence .
My point? Every single pregnant person and every newborn is unique and different. We all have intuition but society and other sources crush our instincts our hearts and our spirit. We are told in little ways we are wrong (set us up to fail in our brain )or could endanger our unborn child if we do this or don’t do that. FEAR and threats . Set us up to fail.
Even with labor and birth. Many are taught in a child birth class about labor patterns and how their labor will begin or go .
I teach my clients that every labor and birth are different . There are not always perfect labor patterns . Some are irregular . That is ok. That is normal for their own body. We need to get back to TRUSTING OUR OWN BODIES . TRUSTING OUR OWN INTUITION . Just because a well known Dr or author wrote it and it has “evidence” to back it up, doesn’t mean it applies to YOU. I say take what you can use , TRUST what you FEEL and LEAVE the rest.
This can go for so many areas in your life. Your pregnancy , labor , birth and beyond.
A few things to think about where I challenge you to think about are Ultrasound in pregnancy , Doppler vs fetoscope , cervical checks before and during labor. Questions ? Ask .
Follow your heart momma you got this .
Lisa
