Birth Blog and Upcoming Events
I would like to invite you to attend two different birth documentaries that I will be hosting this month. Both films explore modern maternity care in the United States. Both are beautiful, important, inspiring, and thought provoking. The newest documentary entitled "Orgasmic Birth" (Don't be frightened by the title. It is a beautiful film) will be viewed at the Ridgway Community Library on Sunday, April 5th from 6-8 PM. Seating is limited to the first 20 people. "The Business of Being Born" will be viewed at the Montrose Library (320 S 2nd St) on Wednesday, April 15 from 6-8 PM. Please do foward this invitation along to anyone who may be interested. Husbands, mothers, grandmothers and friends are encouraged to attend as well.
I look foward to meeting you there and thank you for your support.
Hope Coulter R.M., CPM
PO Box 891
Ridgway CO 81432
970-626-4175
www.breathoflifemidwifery.com
The Business of Being Born Synopsis:
"Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business.
Compelled to explore the subject after the delivery of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to question the way American women have babies.
The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal.
Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?"
Orgasmic Birth Synopsis:
"Joyous, sensuous and revolutionary, Orgasmic Birth brings the ultimate challenge to our cultural myths by inviting viewers to see the emotional, spiritual, and physical heights attainable through birth. Five years in the making, Filmmaker Debra Pascali-Bonaro reveals a revolutionary approach to birth that is statistically safer for both mother and child than the birthing and delivery methods that are standard in many parts of the world today. The viewer becomes an intimate part of the birth stories of 11 women during this 85 minute documentary
Tonight I sit in a tea shop in the heart of beautiful Ridgway, Colorado.
The sky grows darker. My breath slows. My heart sighs. My mind clears.
And I can hear again.
I can still hear the precious cries of the ones who depend on me, but I can also hear the rhythm of my own heart again... and the trickle of a water fountain...the hum of a refrigerator...footsteps...creaking walls...silence...
I'm relishing a short, but very necessary, 'mommie moment'.
My life is characterized by small things.
Small hands that trace my face with curiosity.
Small feet that pitter patter across the tiled floor.
Small smiles. Small cries. Small hearts.
And it seems as though the bulk of life requires a sort of waiting.
Waiting for labor to begin, for the baby to be born, for the kids to grow, for the day to end.
And somewhere in the midst of waiting, we grow anxious, impatient, discontent.
I believe that when we wait with impatience and anxious discontent, instead of with gratitude and hope, we miss out on the infinite value of the small things.
Weeks, months, and years later, we look back and realize that the small things were the big things.
What will it take for us to slow down and really enjoy the small things...to escape the anxious waiting and enter into fully being?
A pregnant belly is swollen with life for only a moment.
The tiny hands of a newborn are tiny for only a moment.
The small bodies to bathe, handprints to wipe, diapers to change, nights to wake... these things will pass in only a moment.
My longing and intention as a wife, mother, midwife, and woman, is to deeply, conciously, and completely enjoy the small things, and to give daily heartfelt thanks to my Maker that the small things in life really are the big things.