Midwives Conference

So I came with Jenny yesterday to the Midwifery International Conference in Costa Rica. It was an amazing experience!

Not since my Model Mugging days, half a decade ago, can I recall being in a place so filled with women power. I was able to join them briefly for the icing on the cake, the lecture (but then, you absolutely can't call it a lecture) by Ina May Gaskin about, among other things: the Sphincter Law.

Her wry humor, provocative scholarship and sensitivity are all summed up in one of her opening comments which I particularly enjoyed:

"I wonder how the Dr. who screams 'push, push, push' at a woman in labor (right at her face and probably even spitting a little) would fare if someone walked up to him while he was trying to poop and screamed at his face: 'push, push, push'."

I was only going to be there for lunch and to keep Jenny company for a few minutes, but I absolutely couldn't leave, so drawn was I to the energy and the implications of what was happening.

Prejudice, legal pitfalls, egos and the Costa Rican insular distrust have really hit the midewifery community here and made it difficult for people to work together and trust one another. I hope this event helps open the hearts and strengthen the bonds between all women (and a few of us men) who believe that changing the start of life can help change the quality of every day after that...