2011 - Talk Birth

Molly Remer, MSW, ICCE, CCCE is a certified birth educator and activist. She is editor of the Friends
of Missouri Midwives newsletter, a breastfeeding counselor, and the mother of two young sons and a baby
girl on the way. She loves to write and blogs about birth at [3]http://talkbirth.wordpress.com, midwifery at
[4]http://cfmidwifery.blogspot.com, and miscarriage at http://tinyfootprintsonmyheart.wordpress.com.
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This is a preprint of Birth Lessons from a Chicken, an article published in Midwifery Today,
2009 Spring;(89):49. Copyright © 2009 Midwifery Today. Midwifery Today’s website is located at:
http://www.midwiferytoday.com
1. http://www.midwiferytoday.com/
2. http://talkbirth.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/100_1695.jpg
3. file://localhost/mnt/ext/blogbooker/tmp/
4. http://cfmidwifery.blogspot.com/
Kim (2011-01-12 11:39:47)
This is such a wonderful article. I have given birth safely at home unassisted to both of my beautiful children, and I
am so blessed to have done so. I had a 7 hour, twenty minute later with my daughter and a 6 hour labor with my son,
both nursed right away with no problems, and both are spectacularly healthy, smart, caring, and wonderful. I also
have chickens who have naturally hatched their babies. I had one chicken who had two clutches – the first had a single
egg, the second had a single egg also, but I ”helped” her by giving another egg from her sister, and both hatched.
The other two hens each hid their nests from me out in the yard, and we found that one had six of her eight eggs
hatch, and the other had all eight of her eggs hatch! They also have feathered feet, and they are even bantam hens,
so they are ”too small” to keep all eight eggs sufficiently warm, right? So we went from four chickens to EIGHTEEN,
practically overnight! I think you either see birth (of a baby or a chicken) as poorly designed, fraught with danger,
in desperate need of intervention and control, or you see it as a beautiful, natural thing that needs hands off until it
proves that it needs intervention. (If you break your leg, then you get it set. If you cut your hand badly, then you get
stitches or a butterfly bandage or whatever is called for. If you run into trouble giving birth, THEN you get help.)
The VAST majority of women and babies, the VAST majority of time would do perfectly well to birth/be born at
home. Nutrition, exercise, education, and personal responsibility are the hallmarks of a successful pregnancy. Our
society looks at pregnancy as either a time to just sit around and do nothing or a time to eat like a pig or a time to
complain. We need to look at it properly as a normal part of our lives, one marked by good food, long walks, healthy
relationships, and lots of research. I have been pregnant or nursing since 2004, and, although I did have some doubts
early on about my ability to get pregnant, carry a baby to term, nurse, etc., I have proven that I am great at it! If
you let the doubts sabotage your success, you will never know that YOU CAN DO IT! Your kids need (and deserve!)
to know it, too!
Miranda (2011-01-11 22:33:45)
This is a wonderful post - and so TRUE! Isn’t it crazy that these ”experts” think they know better about birthing baby
chickens than the mother chicken herself! You’d think that chickens in the wild were never able to hatch anything,
wouldn’t you? Just like human mothers in ”the wild” probably couldn’t birth their own babies without being hacked
open or injected with labour inducing drugs, or having their baby forcibly removed with big BBQ tongs...
Nora Hayes (2011-01-11 17:49:07)
I love this post!!! As a doula and a Childbirth Educator, many, many times I’ve said to women that even if no one
was there to help you give birth, you WILL give birth. Your body knows what to do and it WILL do it. It’s best if
you can let go of any preconceived ideas of what ”should” happen and of whatever ”your plan” is. Be in the moment
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