i woke up early today and caught up on the news a little. so the duchess of kate is in early labour and taken to the hospital. i have no national feeling of love and connection because this is a royal baby but i spend my life walking alongside women trying hard to help them achieve safe, happy, joyous and private birth. we are taking this womans birth to be public property – much like we do with everyones birth. our society actively encourages judgement and commentary on decison making and the turn of events. oooh would you do that? i wouldn’t do that! she did that and it was awful! did you not have that baby yet? you are gigantic/too small/subtext look fat/can’t grow a big enough healthy enough baby etc etc etc

why private? because privacy enables your body to optimise its production of oxytocin. oxytocin is possibly the coolest chemical we produce – in the context of birth it creates contractile energy which loosens the cervix and pushes the baby out whether you are joining in or not.  its also the hormone of love helping us to bond heavily with our baby, feel at peace, encourages production of opiates and endorphins, builds our self-esteem, connects us as human beings and what we produce in copious amounts when we have sex, kiss, hug and orgasm.  its generally counteracted by adrenaline produced by fear, bright lights and being observed! being watched! by the nation! if you really love this woman and this baby and this family – LOOK AWAY! Look away so she can birth in peace and safety. i’m pretty sure we will all find out everything they want us to know about it in due course.

My teacher and birthkeeper daddy michel odent is the absolute expert on this incredible thing – read an article about why we shouldn’t disturb this process during birth and immediately afterwards here and what the consequences of fiddling around with this process is here.

don’t even get me started on the idea this baby is overdue! babies come when they are ready – they are not library books – read more about this here

so hey how about we engage with the election which will determine whether or not some children will have enough to eat in the next few years. maybe catch up on the nepal situation and donate some money – raise some awareness on what is happening in baltimore and the #blacklivesmatter campaign and if you really must celebrity stalk – choose one who isn’t trying to give birth.

this article is written by nicola mahdiyyah goodall who is a revert muslim who grew up with hip hop based in edinburgh, scotland and london, england. she works with women trying and mainly succeeding to build circles of knowledge and community primarily with birth.

she is also the director of wysewomen publishing and facilitates wysewomen workshops and red tent doula courses.  she’s giving a TEDx talk about reframing the way we see birth 10th may – find out more about it here.

michel odent is bringing his paramana workshop to edinburgh in october – i could listen to this man all year long – get involved and come along and learn more about private birth and many many other amazing oxytocic things – find out more about it here