We are excited to share photos taken by Olena at a home birth she attended a few weeks ago. The birth was wonderfully sweet, at home, in the tub, with dad catching baby. Just magical.

When I started my work in the Birth World, I felt a big disconnect to my family and friends back home. I was born and raised in the Philippines and moved to Canada 8 years ago to marry my highschool sweetheart. Both my birth experiences were in Canada and this is what I knew what birth was like. As a child I didn't have much attention on birth. All I knew was that there was a huge fear around it, which certainly affected the way I approached my first birth. 

After I had my first child, I went back to the Philippines with my new baby. I remember so many people asked me if I birthed vaginally and seemed shocked when I said I did. What was the big deal? This is how most babies are born - through the vagina. As I began to hear more and more birth stories, I realized why everyone was so shocked. It seems that in the society that I was a part of, vaginal was no longer the norm - cesarean births were. The most common reason I heard - "i was too small to give birth to my baby vaginally." I get it, Filipinos are smaller framed, but it didn't make sense. The Philippines is an over populated country with majority living below the poverty line and most certainly could not afford cesarean births. Why could the poor birth vaginally, but the wealthier group not?? 

As I prepared for my home birth for my second pregnancy, I felt even more weird. I would hear stories from friends back home that everyone was talking about it - how I was planning to birth at home with no pain medication. I had apparently become the talk of the town. This feeling of being an oddity grew even further when I started my work as a doula. Were there even doulas in the Philippines?

Then one day, I came across a Facebook group called Gentle Birthing in the Philippines. I had found my tribe - a group of inspiring, kick ass women, who were pushing back against societal norms and fighting for a woman's right to birth beautifully and respectfully. I quickly connected with a local doula, Irina (she is actually Russian but lives in the Philippines and is doing such amazing things for the country!) and with a wonderfully inspiring HBAC (home birth after cesarean) yogi mama Monica. The two of them started gentle birthing retreats in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. When I knew that a trip back to my hometown of Cebu was on the horizon, I quickly contacted Irina and Monica to bring the gentle birthing movement home to Cebu. I wasn't sure what would come of it. Cebu had never had anything like it - not even basic prenatal classes to my knowledge. How would people react to even the thought of being able to birth gently? 

Irina is trained with Sacred Pregnancy and together with yogi Monica, offers the most beautiful birth retreats. It was truly a pleasure to be a part of this day. 

I ended that day with a heart full of hope. Yes there is a LONG way to go (seriously.. you can't even begin to imagine the trauma that is the NORM there), but in the faces of those mothers, fathers, and care providers, I saw their hope and their longing for change. I truly believe it can happen, and it will have started from that simple gathering of people who joined forces to demand it.

For our local Vancouver friends, if you are looking for a beautiful soul filling prenatal experience, have a look at Sacred Pregnancy. I look forward to sitting in on Sarah Dexter, our local Sacred Pregnancy instructor, class over the summer. I hope to see you there! More information below:

We are so happy that we received such amazing feedback from the caesarean birth affirmations post we did! To go along with it, we have prepared birth affirmations for planned vaginal births :)

Preparing for birth isn't just about reading some books and touring the hospital. A huge part of it is preparing the mind for what is to come. If this is your first birth, the unknown of what is to come can be overwhelming, particularly if all you hear are horror stories of birth. If you have had children before, you may be struggling with things that may not have gone as planned. It is important that as we prepare for birth, we welcome it with excitement and love, not fear. Fear can raise the adrenaline in our bodies and that isn't a good match for birth. To combat this, it is important to surround yourself and fill your mind with positivity. That will be your best tool in having the birth that you hope for. One way to do this is with positive birth affirmations, which we are happy to provide here. Print them out, tape them all over your house, have some in your bag if you are birthing in the hospital to surround yourself with positive words as you are birthing your baby. Another terrific way to prepare your mind is with positive birth stories, which we will start featuring shortly on our doula blog shortly.

For now, enjoy these words. Take them in. Believe them. Welcome birth.