quotations about childbirth
In giving birth to our babies, we may find that we give birth to new possibilities within ourselves.
MYLA KABAT-ZINN
Everyday Blessings
I think I began to fear childbirth almost as soon as I could understand what it was. I would hear women's horror stories that always seemed to have a fish tale quality to them, and I would question whether or not this was a club I wanted to join one day.
ROBIN JOHNSON
attributed, Adventures in Natural Childbirth
Making plans for childbirth helps ensure you have as positive an experience as possible. Sometimes plans need to be altered. Sometimes the plan is to wait and see what you want in the moment. Being able to embrace change and alter the plans is valuable, but that doesn't mean you should abandon plan-making altogether. It makes sense to have hopes and desires, to make choices, and to articulate preferences. It makes sense to plan with all of that in mind.
MEGAN DAVIDSON
Your Birth Plan: A Guide to Navigating All of Your Choices in Childbirth
BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Aetna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
Childbirth provided the drama I craved, the thrill of peeking over the primal edge of creation, the rush of the unexpected.
PEGGY VINCENT
Baby Catcher
Birth unites women in the power of oneness; the extraordinary gift we deeply share as mothers.
MAHA AL MUSA
Dance of the Womb
Because they've either conveniently forgotten with time or they're trying to be supportive, most mothers won't tell you how hard pregnancy (and then childbirth) can be. Let me tell you, it is. It's brutal sometimes! But, if I did it, ANYONE can do it. I mean, I always knew I was meant to do something really BIG in life, and now I know that this was it. Screw winning an Academy Award someday ... I GAVE BIRTH!
JENNY MCCARTHY
Belly Laughs
Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers -- strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.
BARBARA KATZ ROTHMAN
A Bun in the Oven
Let choice whisper in your ear and love murmur in your heart. Be ready. Here comes life.
MAYA ANGELOU
attributed, "You've got this, mama", Motherly, March 5, 2019
Women's bodies have near-perfect knowledge of childbirth; it's when their brains get involved that things can go wrong.
PEGGY VINCENT
Baby Catcher
In achieving the depersonalization of childbirth and at the same time solving the problem of pain, our society may have lost more than it has gained. We are left with the physical husk; the transcending significance has been drained away. In doing so, we have reached the goal which is perhaps implicit in all highly developed technological cultures, mechanized control of the human body and the complete obliteration of all disturbing sensations.
SHEILA KITZINGER
Women as Mothers
There should be a song for women to sing at this moment or a prayer to recite. But perhaps there is none because there are no words strong enough to name that moment.
ANITA DIAMANT
The Red Tent
"Delivery" is the wrong word to describe the childbearing process. Delivery is: "Here's your pizza." Takes 30 minutes or less. "Exorcism", I think, is more apt: "Please, get the hell out of my body!"
JEFF STILSON
attributed, Oh Baby, I'm Having a Baby!
Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware ... To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory. She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.
GRANTLY DICK-READ
Childbirth Without Fear
Reclaiming the sacrament of childbirth and returning its control to the family represented to me a powerful step in the direction of creating a saner, more peaceful world.
INA MAY GASKIN
Spiritual Midwifery
Birth isn't something we suffer, but something we actively do and exult in.
SHEILA KITZINGER
attributed, "You've got this, mama", Motherly, March 5, 2019
Giving birth should be your greatest achievement, not your greatest fear.
JANE WEIDEMAN
attributed, Oh Baby, I'm Having a Baby!
Oh, what strange wonderful clocks women are. They nest in Time. They make the flesh that holds fast and binds eternity.
RAY BRADBURY
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Now you know what hurt it brings to women when men come into the world. Remember, and make it up to your Mama and to all women.
RICHARD LLEWELLYN
How Green Was My Valley
The birthing journey requires us as women to get back to a sense of life basics where our connection to intuition and instinct are normal, rather than a forgotten means of expression, when implemented in pregnancy and labour, the birth dance enables a woman to connect to her feminine source without fear or shame.
MAHA AL MUSA
Dance of the Womb