Beautiful discussion. Thank you Nickita & Tess. There is a most beautiful documentary I encourage people to see made by Dr Nicole Ferry. Nicole Ferry, a young doctor in a rural maternity hospital in Greater Kabylia in 1978, was struck by the reluctance of women to give birth at the hospital. Refusing to live her profession as a doctor as an activity cut off from everyday life, she tried to understand their discomfort with technically oriented medicine.
For three years, she carried out research in Algeria on traditional medicine, which led to her making a film on the knowledge and practices of Berber women and their mutual aid during the birth of a child in their village. Knowledge that European women often try to reconstruct in order to appropriate this founding passage of our lives.
This is a slow moving documentary, not much is said. Just the slow pace of the build up to birth, and the care given to mother during and after the birth.
I met Nicole Ferry as she goes around giving conferences. Something that struck me was that when we are told it's time to push, she explains that the Kabyle women know that there's a spiritual moment that must be honoured and often we completely make a shambles of that moment... and it's often then that women are forced to push, but in fact, there's a window at a certain point when nothing should happen at all - it's a moment of silence and of non action ...a moment when mother and baby have to come to terms that there will be separation - a metaphysical moment, and the Kabyle women know this moment.
I haven't watch the video yet but it reminds me Dr. Frédérick Leboyer's technic or method
Birth without Violence.
¨A revised edition of the classic that changed the way children are met when they enter our world
• The original book that challenged society’s beliefs about awareness in the newborn
• Shows how gentle lighting, a quiet atmosphere, and a warm bath allow a newborn to ease the transition from womb to world without trauma or fear
• Includes a new preface by the author, the founder of the gentle birth movement
Birth without Violence is the first book to express what mothers have always known: babies are born complete human beings with the ability to experience a full range of emotions. First published in 1974, it revolutionized the way we perceive the process of birth, urging us to consider the birth from the infant’s point of view. Why must a child emerge from the quiet darkness of the womb into a blaze of blinding light and loud voices? Why must an infant take its first breath in terror, hanging upside down as its vulnerable spine is jerked straight? Why must the infant be separated from its mother after spending nine months inside her nourishing body?
Examining alternatives to technocentric approaches to childbirth, this new edition of the classic text, complete with a new author preface, shows us how we can ease the transition from womb to world without trauma or fear. Birth without Violence illustrates how to create an environment of tranquillity in which to welcome our children: a relaxed mother, gentle lighting, soothing atmosphere, and a warm bath that mirrors the child’s prenatal surroundings. Dr. Leboyer’s simple techniques demonstrate how a birth without violence has far-reaching implications for improving the quality of human life physically, emotionally, and spiritually.¨
Beautiful discussion. Thank you Nickita & Tess. There is a most beautiful documentary I encourage people to see made by Dr Nicole Ferry. Nicole Ferry, a young doctor in a rural maternity hospital in Greater Kabylia in 1978, was struck by the reluctance of women to give birth at the hospital. Refusing to live her profession as a doctor as an activity cut off from everyday life, she tried to understand their discomfort with technically oriented medicine.
For three years, she carried out research in Algeria on traditional medicine, which led to her making a film on the knowledge and practices of Berber women and their mutual aid during the birth of a child in their village. Knowledge that European women often try to reconstruct in order to appropriate this founding passage of our lives.
This is a slow moving documentary, not much is said. Just the slow pace of the build up to birth, and the care given to mother during and after the birth.
I met Nicole Ferry as she goes around giving conferences. Something that struck me was that when we are told it's time to push, she explains that the Kabyle women know that there's a spiritual moment that must be honoured and often we completely make a shambles of that moment... and it's often then that women are forced to push, but in fact, there's a window at a certain point when nothing should happen at all - it's a moment of silence and of non action ...a moment when mother and baby have to come to terms that there will be separation - a metaphysical moment, and the Kabyle women know this moment.
Here's the link to the film.: https://www.capuseen.com/films/7482-pour-que-ses-jours-fleurissent
Thank you so much for sharing this, Geni. Just beautiful.
I haven't watch the video yet but it reminds me Dr. Frédérick Leboyer's technic or method
Birth without Violence.
¨A revised edition of the classic that changed the way children are met when they enter our world
• The original book that challenged society’s beliefs about awareness in the newborn
• Shows how gentle lighting, a quiet atmosphere, and a warm bath allow a newborn to ease the transition from womb to world without trauma or fear
• Includes a new preface by the author, the founder of the gentle birth movement
Birth without Violence is the first book to express what mothers have always known: babies are born complete human beings with the ability to experience a full range of emotions. First published in 1974, it revolutionized the way we perceive the process of birth, urging us to consider the birth from the infant’s point of view. Why must a child emerge from the quiet darkness of the womb into a blaze of blinding light and loud voices? Why must an infant take its first breath in terror, hanging upside down as its vulnerable spine is jerked straight? Why must the infant be separated from its mother after spending nine months inside her nourishing body?
Examining alternatives to technocentric approaches to childbirth, this new edition of the classic text, complete with a new author preface, shows us how we can ease the transition from womb to world without trauma or fear. Birth without Violence illustrates how to create an environment of tranquillity in which to welcome our children: a relaxed mother, gentle lighting, soothing atmosphere, and a warm bath that mirrors the child’s prenatal surroundings. Dr. Leboyer’s simple techniques demonstrate how a birth without violence has far-reaching implications for improving the quality of human life physically, emotionally, and spiritually.¨
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Birth-without-Violence/Frederick-Leboyer/9781594772979
Thanks for all the critical information that you're bringing to the public. You are a hero Tess.
I wrote this in 1998. It is still the norm here for pregnant women to travel 100 miles away.
I had a little pony, her name was Dapple Grey
In foal I sent her to the vet, who sent her far away
It’s for the best I reassured as I packed her up and sent her
You’ll benefit from the safety of the expert foaling centre
They tied her in a horse box, obviously upside down
Poor Dapple was in floods of tears before she left the town
Every pain was followed by another and another
Dapple began to cry out loud “I don’t want to be a mother”
The little foal was jammed in tight, his heartbeat it grew faster
He couldn’t tell which way was out, and felt headed for disaster
He struggled hard to get himself turned the right way round
But there was no hope unless his mum had 4 hooves on the ground
When they finally got there, Dapple’s labour stopped
No problem to the experts, she just had her membranes popped
They also put her on a drip ignoring her complaining
Then panic stations Oh My God, severe meconium staining
“We’ll have to get this foal out now, for his own protection”
Someone called the Crash Team for an equine Caesarean section
The foal was fine, and Dapple lived to fight another day
But did she have another foal?
Neigh Neigh Neigh
Fiona, this is wonderful. You've captured the experience in a way only poetry can.