Maternal Evolution

 by Kara Maia Spencer, LMT, CD, www.MaiaHealingArts.com

 

My great-grandmother was the village midwife in a little town in Quebec. She birthed fifteen children of her own, raising a total of eighteen children. The whole family worked on the farm which provided their entire sustenance. The local women called upon great-grandmother when needing assistance birthing their children, due to her vast experience. On the morning my grandmother was born, great-grandmother went out to the barn at 5 a.m. and milked 30 cows. She then gave unassisted birth at home to twins at 9 a.m.

When my grandmother was five, the family sold the farm in Quebec and three generations moved to a coastal town in Maine. My grandmother stills lives in that town, in the house she has now lived in for over 60 years. Just a few blocks away from her house is the hospital where she gave birth.

When my grandmother was pregnant in the early 1940’s, she gave birth at the local hospital under twilight sleep. My grandfather dropped her off at the door, she changed into her hospital gown, and the nurses administered the drugs. She gave birth unconscious in a ward full of women.

When she woke up the day after the birth, a nurse came to her bedside. “Guess what you have!” said the nurse. “A boy?” asked my grandmother. “No.”, said the nurse. “Well a girl then!” said my grandmother. “No again.” said the nurse. “Well then, what do I have?” asked my grandmother, very confused and disturbed. “Twins!” announced the nurse.

I am the youngest of my mother’s three daughters. I have been involved in work and study of the healing arts for the last twelve years. My passion for massage, herbs, midwifery, storytelling, nature, and writing is inherited from my mother. I have a professional practice as a perinatal massage therapist, doula, and midwifery assistant

Becoming a parent was a radicalizing experience. I was pregnant in Seattle in 1999 during the Y2K frenzy and the WTO demonstrations. With the emerging responsibility of becoming a mother, it became clear to me that the current economic system, governmental policies, and global oil addiction are not creating a healthy future for the next generations. My son was born at home with two midwives and a doula attending in the spring of 2000. I see that my role as a parent today is to help create a positive sustainable future for my family.

Sustainable living and a healthy planet begins with our birthing practices. There is a correlation between the cultural epidemic of cutting babies out of women, and the global addiction to cutting the earth’s mantle and pumping out oil. Yet, I believe the trouble and rapid changes we are experiencing is akin to earthly pains of labor and that we are on the verge of birthing global consciousness. Human culture is still young, we are evolutionary babies. With love to guide us, we can birth ourselves with awareness into the future.