HOw are we doing today?

A pandemic later, how are we doing? 
I'm interviewed a lot and during the pandemic many journalists wanted to know how the pandemic was impacting births. Of course it affected births as it affected everything, but I did not have the story I felt they were looking for. Do I know personally of women who suffered greatly birthing alone or just otherwise harmed by the added complications of birthing in a pandemic? Yes. But I don't see it as a major increase from before. Before was a disaster and then we put another disaster on top of it. I think the worst of it was just the stress we put on families who are already going through a difficult time. But it was also heartening to attend births during the chaos because it was illustrative that life goes on, and these babies don't care. It was terrible for some to work from home, and of course the massive job layoffs. But there were always families birthing under these extreme conditions, I have worked with many homeless families in crisis, just now we were all in crisis at the same time. 

Since coming to this work unfortunately the numbers on maternal mortality have not improved. And they keep asking me why. Its so many factors and for all the scary moments I have witnessed, I search for a theme of causes. There are many, but overall a cultural disconnect from birth as a being integral to a woman's whole being, life and environment. And seeing birth as an event in a vacuum, vs being as part of continuum of women's sexuality and family and personal evolution. And of course the focus on black women's higher numbers is important as it is distressing, it takes attention away from the fact that we are failing all women in America, and the black women worse. The black women are the canary in the mine, but the whole thing is toxic and if we don't fix it soon, we all will perish.  

Here is a link to an article with some updated stats. 

So what can we do? Be well and focus on your wellness. That means different things to different people and well it should. Focus on whole body wellness and that includes our communities as a whole, our medical providers, our friends and families. Bring all the good things in, the good food, the good exercise and time in nature, the neighborhood you live in (yes consider moving if you hate it where you are), the people you invite in the room. And last but not least, the good thoughts. Your personal spiritual journey, be in tune to yourself. You do not have to be a realized zen human to give birth safely. But it helps to be tuned in to yourself. It helps if you are listening to you first and foremost and then have the supportive people around you to listen to you when say share with us all how you are feeling. It's important you can voice what is going on. Together, being present, being honest and vulnerable with ourselves and each other, we can build safer spaces for our births, children and community.