quotations about childbirth
Why did I not know that birth is the pinnacle where women discover the courage to become mothers? But of course, there is no way to tell this or to hear it. Until you are the woman on the bricks, you have no idea how death stands in the corner, ready to play his part. Until you are the woman on the bricks, you do not know the power that rises from other women.
ANITA DIAMANT
The Red Tent
Quests are a huge inconvenience. Don't let anyone tell you differently, even if that person has experience. The problem is that people forget the pain and aggravation as soon as the quest ends successfully, and then they remember only the glorious parts. In this way quests are a bit like childbirth, even to the point of saying that quests often give birth to glory. Maybe.
AMY NEFTZGER
The Orphanage of Miracles
There are two most powerful days in your life: the day you're born, and the day you discover why.
BONIFACE MWANGI
"The day I stood up alone", TEDGlobal, 2014
Childbirth is more admirable than conquest, more amazing than self-defense, and as courageous as either one.
GLORIA STEINEM
Ms. Magazine, April 1981
War and marriage and childbirth had passed over her without touching any deep chord within her and she was unchanged.
MARGARET MITCHELL
Gone with the Wind
Natural childbirth allows the hormones that have been working for women for thousands of years to fulfill their functions. This is more important than just helping a woman through labor and delivery. Birth-related hormones also affect well-being much later in life.
JANET SCHWEGEL
Adventures in Natural Childbirth
Having a baby is painful in order to show how serious a thing life is.
LISA SEE
Shanghai Girls
It is unheard-of, uncivilized barbarism that any woman should still be forced to bear such monstrous torture. It should be remedied. It should be stopped. It is simply absurd that, with our modern science, painless childbirth does not exist as a matter of course.... I tremble with indignation when I think of ... the unspeakable egotism and blindness of men of science who permit such atrocities when they can be remedied.
ISADORA DUNCAN
My Life
A strong intention, a relaxed body and an open mind are the main ingredients for an active birth.
JANET BALASKAS
attributed, "You've got this, mama", Motherly, March 5, 2019
She fervently wished she had paid more attention to the whispered conversations of matrons on the subject of childbirth. If only she had! If only she had been more interested in such matters she'd know whether Melanie was taking a long time or not. She had a vague memory of one of Aunt Pitty's stories of a friend who was in labor for two days and died without ever having the baby. Suppose Melanie should go on like this for two days! But Melanie was so delicate. She couldn't stand two days of this pain. She'd die soon if the baby didn't hurry. And how could she ever face Ashley, if he were still alive, and tell him that Melanie had died--after she had promised to take care of her?
MARGARET MITCHELL
Gone with the Wind
There is a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong.
LAURA STAVOE HARM
attributed, The Official Lamaze Guide: Giving Birth with Confidence
Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.
INA MAY GASKIN
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Many married women who have deliberately spurned the "hour" of childbearing are unhappy and frustrated. They never discovered the joys of marriage because they refused to surrender to the obligation of their state. In saving themselves, they lost themselves!
FULTON J. SHEEN
Seven Words of Jesus and Mary
In the best of all possible worlds, childbirth enriches a marriage. In the worst, it harms it. No matter how good their marriage is, most couples find that having a baby challenges their relationship.
JEAN MARZOLLO
Your Maternity Leave
Childbirth is a time when a woman's power and strength emerge full force, but it is also a vulnerable time, and a time of many changes presenting opportunities for personal growth.
ANNEMARIE VAN OPLOO
attributed, Adventures in Natural Childbirth
While many couples hope that a baby will bring them great happiness, this may occur only if they are able to overcome childbirth's multiple challenges. When they fail, so may their marriages ... Childbirth, after all, turns life upside down. Whereas previously the couple had to nurture only each other, now they are part of a triad. Their entire balance of forces must be recast. Furthermore, this must be negotiated at a time of sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion, and economic pressure. No wonder couples have difficulty.
HILARY HOGE
Women's Stories of Divorce at Childbirth
We were beginning to see that the medical profession, at the time still over 90 percent male, had transformed childbirth from a natural event into a surgical operation performed on an unconscious patient in what approximated a sterile environment. Routinely, the woman about to give birth was subjected to an enema, had her pubic hair shaved off, and was placed in the lithotomy position -- on her back, with knees up and crotch spread wide open. As the baby began to emerge, the obstetrician performed an episiotomy, a surgical enlargement of the vaginal opening, which had to be stitched back together after birth. Each of these procedures came with a medical rationale: The enema was to prevent contamination with feces; the pubic hair was shaved because it might be unclean; the episiotomy was meant to ease the baby's exit. But each of these was also painful, both physically and otherwise, and some came with their own risks, Shaving produces small cuts and abrasions that are open to infection; episiotomy scars heal m ore slowly than natural tears and can make it difficult for the woman to walk or relieve herself for weeks afterward. The lithotomy position may be more congenial for the physician than kneeling before a sitting woman, but it impedes the baby's process through the birth canal and can lead to tailbone injuries in the mother.
BARBARA EHRENREICH
Natural Causes