ANZAC day

Written on 05/09/2013
Nadine Richardson

I hope you are enjoying this amazing autumn weather.
As we commemorate the great tragedies and courage of our ANZAC men today I wanted to also highlight some of the great traumas that our mums experienced over the same period of time when there was conscription here in Australia for the Vietnam War. As a mother I cannot think of a worst thing than my son being sent off to war or thrown into prison for conscientious objection.

Throughout the 60’s and 70’s, as you may recall if you watched the TV series; Mad Men, there was a terrible period of time when fathers were locked out of birthing rooms and women were left to birth alone. They were tied to the metal railings of beds, flat on their backs with bandaged heads so they wouldn’t bruise during uncontrollable convulsions and fits and given a concoction of heavy morphine based drugs to induce what was known as ‘Twilight Sleep’.

I suppose today I wanted to highlight the power of evolution and how lucky we are only 30-50 years on. How far we have come as men and women, as mothers and fathers in our education and with our choices and our expectations for our lives, our births and our children. This is the growth of consciousness and love that moves through all of us. We each have a instinct within to protect our sons and our daughters from the pains of war and the pains of childbirth and to keep moving towards greater ease, joy, peace and happiness.
My own mum was one of those labouring women given a concoction of drugs, hallucinating throughout and unable to recall her birthing experience. I was partly aware therefore of the challenges I took into my own labouring experience and felt how very hard it was to remain conscious throughout the sensations and the experience as a whole. Hindsight tells me that I grew from my experience and evolved some of the pain and disconnection my mum had gone through and I was able to be more conscious throughout. Being a part of the next generation I was able to employ my own midwife, include my partner and doula, go into labour spontaneously and be at home as much as possible. I had been given the opportunity through my birth to grow and to heal for our whole family. And after attending labouring women over these last 10 years I know even more what I could have done in preparation to clear a lot of that karma I was carrying and I’ve learnt that we must see the big picture always.
I know that not all of us can have ecstatic birth experiences without medical assistance but I do know that She Births® gives us the greatest chance of creating that. The most important thing however, that She Births® will teach a mother, is that there is a big picture and that you can make your birth a beautiful experience no matter what is unfolding or evolving through you. Thank god for evolution, education and choices.
xxxx
Nadine
I will be giving a FREE TALK this Saturday – all are welcome!
The 3 Essential Ingredients to creating a Beautiful Birth Experience

When: Saturday 27th April, 1.30-2.30pm
Where: 108 Brighton Blvd, North Bondi
shebirths.com