learning more...

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"Each pregnancy and birth is a rite passage that initiates the woman into motherhood, even if she has no baby in her arms. What occurs during childbirth teaches the woman about herself and about how her culture values motherhood."(5)

Even an abortion or pregnancy loss is a form of transformation in the motherhood realm.

During pregnancy and birth self transformation occurs regardless of how the experience unfolds.

Pregnancy and childbirth can feel wonderfully powerful and a woman goes through an initiation into matrescence. Yet many women do not have a positive or empowering birth experience however, "transformation occurs regardless because the childbirth rite of passage is not about eliminating every challenge or negative experience; it is about learning and growing from the experience...

A disappointing or disempowering experience can be the catalyst for positive transformation in a future rite of passage or subsequent birth... there are always patterns to see in lessons to learn about ourselves and what we need."(6)

What you think and feel about your pregnancy, the loss of a pregnancy, the way we give birth, how we feed our baby, how we are treated during and though these experiences?.. all the 'what ifs' that come later, the judgements of our decisions, ALL have an impact on how we live, how we parent and how look after ourselves - months and even years afterwards

There can be a real shift in how you think and feel about your story in just one session. 

Imagine being able to tell a different story tomorrow because you were more at peace with it. 

Not the story about the birth, the losses, the achievements, the postpartum, but the story about you and who you are.  

Birth Story Listening sessions can help "you see how your (fertility)/birth story is connected to your past and the framework of birth in your culture" (7) Then your story can take on new dimensions.

"The birth story is also significant for the baby and/or siblings, shaping their sense of self and place in the family." (8) Therefore finding new meaning in their story can be passed down to them and theirs future families.

"Humans are storytelling animals, and our stories illustrate and affirm who we are, providing identity, purpose and meaning to our lives." (9) We tell stories to make sense of complicated and difficult times. 

 A woman can have what they'd feel was a positive birth and then have a difficult experience postpartum. Or maybe pregnancy was wonderful and the moment after birth felt like a let down. A much hoped for baby did not survive. The inner loss felt when we have a baby with a genetic condition or we can't breastfeed or we didn't have our VBAC. 

We create a story about these times, or someone else does it for us and we can settle on being grateful for a healthy baby or a healthy mother. 

What we share about childbirth has changed so much over the years. From women who were sedated giving birth and have very little story to the Instagram-perfect presentation of every detail. 

Stories can become a fixed account of what happened and how we feel about it. 

Stories are actually timeless and alive and we are living our stories unconsciously everyday.  

"Birthing a baby and becoming a mother changes a woman physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually; it also transforms her relationships with her family and friends."(10)

A recent research study of new parents found a value in how birth stories are shared and shaped.  The parents who made more 'meaning-making' in their stories had improved relationship quality and buffered parenting stress in the child’s first months.(11)