Ask the Author: M.B. Antevasin
Answered Questions (3)
M.B. Antevasin
I gather a lot of resources and short stories/essays over the years and I start to see a theme emerge, and then when the last line and the title come to me, I know it is time to start writing the book.
M.B. Antevasin
There are so many women that may hear or read things about the medical system of birth in America, but do not believe them. Then, after their first birth ends in trauma, or surgery, or worse, they find themselves wondering what happened. Then they find support groups, do more research, and find a doula for their second birth.
So, in writing this book, I want to try to do my part to save women from that first birth. I want them to learn from my mistakes. I know that we have our own life lessons that we need to learn from birth, but I am talking more about avoiding the pitfalls in the system. But, even if we are told about the Cascade of Interventions, the birth statistics, the horror stories etc. none of us believes that it will happen to us. Before we even start to think about actually giving birth and becoming mothers, we have decades of beliefs ingrained in us, like a lack of trust in our bodies, or beliefs that women are not strong. We are trained to be a good student, and to be a good patient and to listen to people in authority.
So, what can I do to help women? Will it help if I share my story so that they will be inspired to recognize their own self-limiting beliefs and their triggers and deal with those before they attempt to give birth in this American medical system?
I want the book to be a combination of reading through this autobiographical birth story, and also an inspiration to go look at these other great resources. When I was first pregnant, I read the pregnancy books, but I wouldn't have thought to read books on Self-Esteem or herbs or chakras or art therapy. I would never have gone to physical therapy; isn't pregnancy supposed to be uncomfortable? I wouldn't have thought to try to help position my baby; don't babies just do that naturally?
So, this idea of pregnancy and birth as "natural" is not really true, in that it doesn't just happen on its own. There are so many factors: physical, emotional, and spiritual. And whether your birth goes well, or not, is not just luck, there are things that you can do. The idea that you can have power over your own body is in itself so empowering throughout the whole pregnancy, and for the rest of your life.
So, in writing this book, I want to try to do my part to save women from that first birth. I want them to learn from my mistakes. I know that we have our own life lessons that we need to learn from birth, but I am talking more about avoiding the pitfalls in the system. But, even if we are told about the Cascade of Interventions, the birth statistics, the horror stories etc. none of us believes that it will happen to us. Before we even start to think about actually giving birth and becoming mothers, we have decades of beliefs ingrained in us, like a lack of trust in our bodies, or beliefs that women are not strong. We are trained to be a good student, and to be a good patient and to listen to people in authority.
So, what can I do to help women? Will it help if I share my story so that they will be inspired to recognize their own self-limiting beliefs and their triggers and deal with those before they attempt to give birth in this American medical system?
I want the book to be a combination of reading through this autobiographical birth story, and also an inspiration to go look at these other great resources. When I was first pregnant, I read the pregnancy books, but I wouldn't have thought to read books on Self-Esteem or herbs or chakras or art therapy. I would never have gone to physical therapy; isn't pregnancy supposed to be uncomfortable? I wouldn't have thought to try to help position my baby; don't babies just do that naturally?
So, this idea of pregnancy and birth as "natural" is not really true, in that it doesn't just happen on its own. There are so many factors: physical, emotional, and spiritual. And whether your birth goes well, or not, is not just luck, there are things that you can do. The idea that you can have power over your own body is in itself so empowering throughout the whole pregnancy, and for the rest of your life.
M.B. Antevasin
I am currently working on the second book which is a follow up to The Birth of Magdalena.
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