| Martha Ballard "American Eperience - A Midwife's Tale" Video .jpg) "Martha Moore was born in 1735 in the small central Massachusetts town of Oxford, but the real story of her life begins in Maine with the diary she kept from age fifty. Without the diary her biography would be little more than a succession of dates. Her birth in 1735. Her marriage to Ephraim Ballard in 1754. The births of their nine children in 1756, 1758, 1761, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1769, 1772, 1779, and the deaths of three of them in 1769. Her own death in 1812. "The notice of Martha's death in a local paper summed up her life in just one sentence: "Died in Augusta, Mrs. Martha, consort of Mr. Ephraim Ballard, aged 77 years." Without the diary we would know nothing of her life after the last of her children was born, nothing of the 816 deliveries she performed between 1785 and 1812. We would not even be certain she had been a midwife." | |
| --from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale |
Showing posts with label A History Lesson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A History Lesson. Show all posts
Thursday
American Experience - A Midwife's Tale
Celebrating those who came before us
Recently I have been pouring over books and articles on childbirth and pregnancy. Excluding all of the "popular" books of today and instead focusing on books and thoughts that tap into a deeper older wisdom.
One theme continues to rise up...Birth is woman's work.
This simple phrase and seemingly simple thought is really a profound call to all women. Learning to embrace who we are is learning to embrace that the work of birth is ours. Ours to own, ours to change, ours to move and ours to influence.
Living in 2012 sometimes I wonder if I was born in the wrong century. After some of my studying I realize that I was NOT. I am grateful to be alive during a time when I can embrace the deep knowledge of women and the art of birthing and not be accused of being a "heretic", as many of our predecessors were. I am glad that I can voice my opposition or support of issues without needing "permission" to speak my mind. I am thrilled that I can walk down the street or in a mall or anywhere and see, out and about, pregnant women enjoying the day. There was a time when the pregnant belly was hidden behind closed doors and women and their "delicate condition" were kept out of societies view.
So while I yearn to learn more in order to enrich my life and the lives of the women I serve, I realize that I am in great company. There were so many amazing women who served as midwives and birthing attendants and nurses and learned about birth and passed on their knowledge to their daughters until it finally reached me...11 years ago....in a Doula Training in Pembroke Pines, Fl.
I decided then to learn about these women and their art. To study who they are so that I might glean from their knowledge and impart it on the the pregnant women I work with. The next few blog entries, therefore, will be dedicated to different women that have changed my life by teaching me to be who I am and to women who have paved the way for me to do what I do today. If you have a suggestion on someone great to include, let me know. Also, I won't be the only one contributing. Our other doulas will be putting their input in as well, sharing about the people that influenced them and writing their thoughts of birth attendants of the past.
It is my hope that by learning from these women, we can keep that spark of birth alive in all of us and use this awakening of learning to inspire others :)
Lisi Grullon, CD, CBE, LE
Mother's Care
One theme continues to rise up...Birth is woman's work.
This simple phrase and seemingly simple thought is really a profound call to all women. Learning to embrace who we are is learning to embrace that the work of birth is ours. Ours to own, ours to change, ours to move and ours to influence.
Living in 2012 sometimes I wonder if I was born in the wrong century. After some of my studying I realize that I was NOT. I am grateful to be alive during a time when I can embrace the deep knowledge of women and the art of birthing and not be accused of being a "heretic", as many of our predecessors were. I am glad that I can voice my opposition or support of issues without needing "permission" to speak my mind. I am thrilled that I can walk down the street or in a mall or anywhere and see, out and about, pregnant women enjoying the day. There was a time when the pregnant belly was hidden behind closed doors and women and their "delicate condition" were kept out of societies view.
So while I yearn to learn more in order to enrich my life and the lives of the women I serve, I realize that I am in great company. There were so many amazing women who served as midwives and birthing attendants and nurses and learned about birth and passed on their knowledge to their daughters until it finally reached me...11 years ago....in a Doula Training in Pembroke Pines, Fl.
I decided then to learn about these women and their art. To study who they are so that I might glean from their knowledge and impart it on the the pregnant women I work with. The next few blog entries, therefore, will be dedicated to different women that have changed my life by teaching me to be who I am and to women who have paved the way for me to do what I do today. If you have a suggestion on someone great to include, let me know. Also, I won't be the only one contributing. Our other doulas will be putting their input in as well, sharing about the people that influenced them and writing their thoughts of birth attendants of the past.
It is my hope that by learning from these women, we can keep that spark of birth alive in all of us and use this awakening of learning to inspire others :)
Lisi Grullon, CD, CBE, LE
Mother's Care
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