The time of motherhood is an essential time to form the essential bonding and attachment that makes loving generations of people. Mothers who are nurtured during pregnancy will be better nurturers themselves. Seek the company of women believers in natural birth and conscious mothering and most especially your partner. Pray, meditate and visualize…
Let there be light
Each day is an opportunity to gather strength
To face the new role of motherhood
From whatever blessings we have
Let them help us to unveil the shrouded veil of fear
For at the end it is still God who turns on the light
It is in knowing what is expected during pregnancy, labor, and the first year of taking care of our baby that mothers feel the strength to carry on the new role. Be glad to join in the work of creation In the unfolding of a new life from the joining of a male and a female. Powered by the higher force, the same Almighty hand that brought forth our parents’ lives. And all our mothers and fathers before, a miracle of life grows within you.
“You with faith and hope, can bring and nurture the new life into the world. Pregnancy curves a new place in my being; all of me must unite and work to nurture and contain my baby.” Esperanza, a mother of six
Each pregnancy is unique and brings in some special individuality and a new set of experiences. We as mothers can make it through the journey with grace and acceptance if we let ourselves listen to our bodies.
“The most important thing you should carry when you are pregnant is a happy disposition. Don’t allow any worries to weigh you down, for your baby breaths and feels with you.” Claudia, a mother of seven
Don’t be misled by advertising, by the routine medical practices in hospitals or by health care givers, by the current culture – entrenched ideas that tell us more of the unnatural ways of birthing by mothers and feeding babies.
Mothers know what is best for their bodies and their babies. Tuning in to their bodies and feeling their babies inside their wombs help them get the needed strength at the most intense part of their lives.
Believe that you can surrender to the successful works of creation with wisdom and conscious preparation. Connect with mothers before us and with childbirth professionals (midwives, educators, labor support, doctors) and especially midwives who believe in our bodies.
From mothers around the world who care about other mothers, let’s examine what wisdom we can learn from them. The more we understand the needs of mothers and babies the more we become good parents. We take care of our babies the way we have been cared for by our parents and then more towards perfection as we apply ways that work better. Babies brings not only the intense happiness of being parents, they are also our genetic afterlife. We must acknowledge the importance of how we prepare ourselves as pregnant mothers and how we birth our babies, for they make up an important experience for babies and most of all for mothers.
As we look at the important changes in a woman and as we look into the eyes of babies, we will realize that motherhood is an important task and that babies are responsive to their environment. We can create a good environment for both mothers and babies by becoming aware of our decisions and choices from the time of conception onward.
Pregnancy – a sacred experience
One day as I was strolling in downtown San Jose with my husband, a man bowed down in front of me. I was on my last trimester of pregnancy then. As I recall this episode to one of my mother friends who was raised in Russia, she related how in her culture people believed in the sacredness of fertility and pregnancy. I know that in the Philippines women who want to get pregnant sometimes flock to the street of a famous town to dance and sing to a patron saint. It is known that praying and chanting to the Saint brings not only fertility but a successful birth.
Over many generations we have changed in the way we view pregnancy and birth. Blessed are those mothers who are exposed to a culture which allows the woman’s body to use its full capacity to deliver babies. Some mothers have seen how other mothers breastfeed their babies as a natural part of mothering. We who have lived in the industrialized communities assigned the caring of pregnant mothers to the professional community of health care givers. We ridicule those who are old fashioned and traditional, knowing that our current knowledge is enough to make babies.
I who believe in technology, and my husband who is so progressive in many ways, have both struggled in planning for my pregnancies. Even my husband who believes in natural foods, protecting the environment, and the lesser use of technology did not agree with homebirth and midwives at first. But after learning that the midwifery model of care is what birthing women need, he changed his perception about midwives, who are really the keepers of natural birth, powers of women’s bodies during birth, breastfeeding, family bed, and conscious parenting. He even decisively agreed not to circumcise our son.
For Mothers: Life is a set of choices that can either make or break our passage into a more rewarding one. As mothers you are endowed with the capacity to birth beyond your imagination.
My dear sister and friend don’t be surprised about the power of your body to birth life! Do you want to celebrate? Do you feel overwhelmed with the fact that you are carrying life in your womb? Are you scared or feeling some sense of responsibility? My friend, don’t be afraid, for your body is designed to carry life.
Know that there are resources around you that will help you nurture the life inside you. Talking to many grandmas, mothers, my own mother, midwives and other health care professionals prepared me for the coming of my new baby. Books (see Authors), support groups, childbirth classes, and my partner’s assistance in seeing to it that I get my daily exercise of pelvic rocks, walks, swims and excellent nutrition from natural sources provided the right environment for my new baby. Your new baby needs your positive energy and sense of well being.
Welcome to the world of mothers. Mother you will now be called. Isn’t it uplifting to know that you are carrying new life within you? In the months ahead of you, you will feel very sensitive emotionally and physically. This is because of the varying levels of hormones during your pregnancy. The nine months of pregnancy allows you to understand yourself and appreciate the strength that comes with carrying a growing life within you. Many first time mothers are anxious to deliver their babies and that’s ok.
Your partner
This period is an important time for yourself and your husband to bond to each other. This bonding will help you through the demands of caring for a newborn. Both you and your partner will feel the rewards of parenting which only you and your partner know. It is important that your partner should take part in your activities and plans. Your partner will then feel that sense of responsibility and will be an even better ally.