When birth brings you to your knees

Wowza, right?! What a capture by Utah based photographer Danielle Wilstead, on Instagram @wildoakbirth.

I was looking for a shot demonstrating how natural birthing on our knees can be. To some that may be obvious, but recently I attended a hospital birth where the position that worked best for the mother was on her hands and knees, (which thankfully was fully supported by her midwife) and after the birth, our labor and delivery nurse who's worked for decades in NYC hospitals commented that that was actually the FIRST birth she'd ever witnessed on hands and knees!!!

How can this be?!

It's funny too because at one point during pushing the mother wanted to flip onto her back so she could see the baby crowning in a mirror, but birthing in that position proved to be uncomfortable and ineffective, so she herself surrendered to the way this baby wanted to come, and went back to hands and knees where she birthed her baby just a couple minutes later.

Even though my focus is so often on the power of touch to bring comfort to people in labor, freedom of movement and birthing in whatever position feels right is so often the greatest source of comfort for birthing people.

The baby is what largely dictates what feels right in the birthing person's body, and ideally, to this, everyone surrenders. Surrender in birth is not just some passive 'la la la' experience. More often I'd even say it can put us in quite an active and fierce position wherein we go wherever birth asks us to go, without opposition to reality, or a fight against our instincts and intuition.

In other news I think it fitting that I recently discovered this Utah based birth photographer because for the first time ever I'm actually going to be teaching a Comforting Touch for Doulas workshop in Salt Lake City, with the support of the amazing BirthSmarter team. If you don't know about BirthSmarter, you must check out all of their amazing classes and resources for birthing families, including our Comforting Touch for Babies on-demand class!

I'm excited to announce that this spring is FILLED with an abundance of opportunities for doulas and birth workers to learn Comforting Touch for Doulas with me in-person. In NYC, Salt Lake City Utah, AND Northern California!

Catch me in the flesh, literally, at any one of these spots on my Spring Comforting Touch for Doulas "Tour"...and please help me spread the word if you know anyone who should be there!