Has Midwifery Really Changed in 20 years?!

My first homebirth was 21 years ago, today.

It isn’t just a home birth to me; it was a transformation.  Personally.  It was life changing for my family.

And his birth (thank you, Egan, and happy birthday my Son!) launched me into becoming a midwife myself.

I hav zero regrets about ANY of it, and his birth and my midwife and my entry into midwifery were absolutely perfect and what they needed to be FOR ME.

But when I reflect on birth culture and midwifery culture, I don’t notice a ton of change in that 21 years.

Of course I see that Indie Birth and my work in the 20 years, plus that of Margo and the creation of our school HAVE changed some things.  Instead of running from the law like my midwife did, I have worked as an unlicensed midwife openly in a couple of licensing states without one and never had an issue.  (And I never hid, or lied about what I was doing or what it was called).

Progress.

But the state of actual midwives and their mental and emotional health comes to mind as something that may not be *that different* from a couple of decades ago.

My midwife at the time, god bless her, barely made it to my birth and was on some kind of adrenaline high!  She was pretty flighty overall and maybe, maybe I got two postpartum visits (my memory is that she was late by about 8 hours for those, but anyway).

So, this is an email to share these personal, precious stories to me, and my son’s initiation into manhood.  

And it is also a last opportunity to join our Indie Birth New Midwifery School as one of the only things/elements that has brought progress and consciousness to the birth arena.  

We care about the emotional and mental well-being of midwives in a new way.

We will see you inside of the school; now or maybe at some future enrollment.

Xoxox

Maryn