When the "Waves" Crash

I went surfing during the third week of my first pregnancy.  Of course I was careful with my body, and hesitant to put all force and effort on form... but quickly I realized that my approach to surfing had nothing to do with surfing.  

The wave comes.  The wave carries you. The wave breaks.  

And in birth, those waves do the same.  We can call them contractions, or rushes, or birthquakes.  They come. They carry. They break. This image for North American Spine jumped off the page at me as I boarded a plane for vacation a day or two after a particularly "rough" birth.  The real-ness of labor still fresh on my mind was put to an image and this one simple truth:

Normal birth is still labor.  Normal birth is still a powerful force. Normal birth is expecting and accepting the waves to come, carry, and break. 

I came away from that surf excursion bruised and scraped and sore, and invigorated and happy.  The waves and the rocks on Oahu's North Shore kicked my ass - as they will.  Because mother nature will always show you who's boss.  As a birth doula I help you prepare for the waves.  I'll help you read the surf, tell you when to paddle and when to dive.  I'll tell you where the reefbreak is, and the direction the current is trying to take you.   But YOU paddle.  YOU get brave and pop-up. YOU ride the tide, and when the wave overtakes, as sometimes it will, I'll be there to salve the scrape and help you back on.  With some knowledge, practice and confidence, you're going to ride high and meet your baby on the other side at the shore.