A Letter To Our Midwife | Winnipeg Doula
Found this on Facebook today, and all of a sudden I was sniffling and smiling. Shoutout to all the amazing humans lucky enough to call themselves a Winnipeg Midwife.My first birth was with a new-ish OB in Winnipeg who was friendly, and acknowledged my requests, but was not empowering, was not understanding. She was there for medical reasons, and I never felt anything else from her. At the end of my pregnancy, even after countless visits, I still felt no connection to her.My second birth, my magical homebirth, was completely different. Right from our first meeting, I could tell I'd been blessed with a Winnipeg Midwife who got birth. She understood the emotional, the spiritual component of it. She knew there was more than mechanics at play. Every step of the way she nurtured us, both my husband and I. And we felt supported and listened to. We felt equal in making decisions about the birth of our son. During my first pregnancy, I was a patient who was a consumer of the medical profession. This time around, I was able to form a relationship with the amazing midwife who stood by my side through everything.Our little E decided to be born really unexpectedly unassisted, and a bit more 'exciting' than we would have preferred. But from the moment our midwife D walked in the door, we knew we were ok. We were in control again, and she was there to hold us up and remind us that we were capable. We were enough. The courage and normalcy she lent to those first hours cannot be given a price. We are forever grateful to her.And so I want to share this article, this letter. Hopefully you too have been lucky enough to be supported like this by a caregiver, maybe even a Winnipeg midwife, or maybe you will be in the future. One day I hope everyone has this experience.
I don't know if midwives like you are rare or if all share the same grace and understanding. But here is what I am truly thankful for, as a mother, as a woman and as a human being.Thank you for speaking to me throughout the whole experience of giving birth with compassion, kindness and love. You made me feel at ease. You enabled me to feel strong and powerful. You reminded me how capable I was, how amazing my body was... how I could keep going, even though the pain was great and I was tired.
