|
 |
|
|
Rites of Passage II
By Atalanta Lloyd-haynes
My daughter was born at dawn 5 years ago next week. At this time of year, when I wake at dawn, I am always reminded strongly of birthing her. Something about the quality of the light, the crispness and the autumn scents in the air. It is a bitter-sweet recollection. Sweet, as my daughter is a most radiant, beautiful and switched on little being, and a little bitter as I recall how a most natural event such as giving birth was turned into a medical drama in which I was an extremely unwilling player. You may have read Rites of Passage I. Well, with my lovely Aurora, this did not happen for us. I was not enfolded in the love and wisdom of my sisters. I was not in a place of empowerment or control over my situation, as I am today. I was also living in the inner suburbs of a large major city. I can’t even remember now why I was so ignorant and just blindly followed medical instruction. That is not true, I do remember...I was under medical supervision for another issue altogether and so was completely tied in to the so-called health system. On one level, it was a train-wreck, on another it was a most valuable spiritual lesson. Never mind. It was what it was, we both survived relatively unscathed. I say relatively, as since then, I have heard even more harrowing stories of escalating medical intervention resulting in huge trauma for mother and child. You see, once intervention in birthing begins, it seems to only escalate as the natural progression is unable to occur. So, today, after waking at dawn and contemplating my darling’s birth, I attended a rally about birth choices with a goodly number of other women, several midwives, a few men and many children. There were similar rallies held across the country. I have never been a particular proponent of homebirthing. It was not an option that I considered for either of my daughters given my particular circumstances at the time. However, I support totally freedom of choice, and the use of midwives in preference to Obstetricians. A choice that may no longer be legally available come mid-year. Hence attending the rally. There, I heard some stories of both hospital and home births, and of how statistics have been manipulated to present homebirth as something dangerous. Dangerous to the income of Australia’s obstetricians mostly I suspect. Anyway, I am not wanting to get into a debate about the pros and cons of either option, I just know that giving birth is not a medical condition and that the less the process is interfered with (unless there really is due cause), the better. But to return to dawn’s early light. She is a joy, that daughter of mine named after the Goddess of the Dawn. Her other name is Djindamalla, a variation on the Gamilaroi name for the Morning Star. A blessing in my life, and a challenge. I give thanks I did not lose her during the passage perilous that was her birth.
Atalanta Lloyd-Haynes is a mother who in her spare time (snort) works as a Certified MEM™ Practitioner, business consultant and coach based in Bellingen, Australia. Atalanta recently contributed to “One Page Wisdom - Book One”, and is researching and writing a book on effective and simple spiritual practice for everyday life.
|
Contributor's Note
If you are interested in learning more about birth choices - google it. Also, it is worth mentioning that NZ has run an extremely successful midwife managed homebirth service as part of their public health system for a number of years. The level of usage of obstetricians in that country has declined markedly.
|
|
 
Nearly 5
Just Born
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
Spines & Spirit
We remove emotional splinters using MEM.
spinesandspirit.com
|
|
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
|
 |
|
There are far too many medical professionals chasing far too few customers so whenever they 'get one' it's all hands to the pumps and drain that wallet dry!
Intervention in child birth is all too often to do with the clock nowadays. Fortunately the UK still allows mothers to dictate to doctors unless there is an immediate and over-riding emergency. I find it so strange that a woman is assumed to have the right over her body to hack a living foetus to pieces but she is not granted the right to say how a foetus should be born - what is wrong with this picture? Congratulations on Dawn - she looks a little smasher.
thanks for the article. I guess I didnt really know that the choice as to where you will have your baby and under whose care may no longer be available. That really makes me upset.
You know... I would foolish to presume any kind of expertise on the subject that would allow me to render any kind of considered opinion. But... Your daughter is definitely a cutie. Nice picture.
Regards.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Thank you She is a cutie.
The copyright for this content entitled "Rites of Passage II" has been specified by the contributor as:
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Details 
This content may be copied and distributed (but not modified), as long as a) it's for non-commercial use and b) the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page.
If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL:
http://freedomsbridge.qondio.com/
|
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
