In light of the fact that I just had a birthday and my son’s birthday was this past week, a memory came back to me. I remember my mother recapping her own birth story. She was a young woman having her first baby. It was an unmedicated, vaginal birth. She tells about how painful her process was. At one point, the pain peaked and she began to use cuss words. In the same moment, she began to cry out for Jesus. Well, she had an older, black nurse tending to her at the time. This nurse said, very lovingly, “Baby, you can cuss or you can call on Jesus. But, you can’t do both.” To which my mother’s response was, “Ok, I call on Jesus.” She chose, in that moment, to lean on her faith. She tells this story light-heartedly, with laughter and happy memories. As a doula, I have mixed feelings about this. In the Christian community, there is a general understanding that expletives are not of godly character. It’s frowned upon in the conservative values of the Christian faith. And for some, it can bring about feelings of conviction.
Would you want to be reminded of the values you hold dear in a moment of intense pain? I know for me, as a Christian, I am offended at the use of cuss words. However, I have come to overlook them in this work. No judgment here. As a doula and woman who’s given birth three times, I’m sensitive to the fact that we can feel out of control and unlike ourselves in labor. But, would you be able to, in hindsight, overlook this piece of your birth story? Would your spouse? Can we have an open dialogue about this?
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorTenaj is a wife, homeschooling mother of 3, owner of Birthing Arrows, labor doula, and aspiring childbirth educator who brings her Christian faith into all aspects of her life. Archives
December 2017
Categories |