Women-Where do you stand? A tribute...

Peggy O'Mara

A Tribute to Peggy O’Mara
Women in History who have changed Pregnancy and Birth

I can always tell when I am inspired-I usually cry.  Tears of inspiration are unlike any other emotion.  In that sensation I feel hope, encouragement, excitement and a connection.  In researching my heroine-my advocate for childbirth reform-I spent a good amount of time in tears. 

I wasn’t sure where all this digging would take me.  I don’t think I truly realized how deep her influence permeated through me.  All I know is that by the end of my research-I was ready for a revolution.

Peggy O’Mara has been an advocate for natural childbirth for over thirty years.  She is the Publisher and Editor of Mothering Magazine and the author of Having a Baby Naturally; The Mothering Magazine Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth and Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Parenting.  Peggy has also served on the New Mexico Midwifery Advisory Board and has lectured and conducted workshops internationally. Her greatest accomplishments -of course- are her four grown children.

I was not sure how I was going to approach this task. I was feeling overhwlemed and intimidated.  The mere thought of summing up the influences and accomplishments of this woman was keeping me up at night.  I figured I would start with what I do best-I would read.  I called upon some of my favorites-The demedicalization of childbirth, Having a baby in America, Wake up!, and  Birth: a powerful focus to name just a few.  I was looking for messages-ideas that have shaped my perspective. 

I read and I heard myself speaking to my doula clients, I read and I saw myself in front of my childbirth education classes, I read and I remembered how empowered I felt as a woman in labor, I read and I felt grounded-supported-backed up.  I read and I thought these words, these ideas-they have a history-they are part of a foundation that has been laid beneath me and set down over decades of advocacy and activism. 

I have thrown around the title “Birth Activist” in the past but I don’t think I was fully committed-that I truly understood birth as a political act until I read all of these articles together and at one time.  I understood Peggy’s message as if she was shouting it loud and clear right in front of me.  I read words like consumer efforts, grassroots movements, advocacy, community, birth as a political act. I heard her when she asked “mothers-where do you stand?” I was mobilized.  I was moved to action by words written decades ago.  How many other women have been ignited in the same way over the years? How many women did she encourage to ask questions, to educate themselves, to trust the power of their bodies and their instincts?  How can I ever express my gratitude?

Her messages were profound then and continue to inspire today.  I will leave you with a few quotes that just might have you ready to join the revolution.

“It is the powerful focus of these women that will transform birth as we know it. By refusing unnecessary cesareans and interventions and by refusing to see themselves as victims of birth.” (Birth: A powerful focus 1987)

“We must expand our sense of ourselves in order to birth normally. We must radicalize ourselves….Having a baby in America is a political act because to birth normally you must keep your vision of your own inherent capacity strongly in focus to resist the competing special interests that vie for dominance of your birth experience.  (Having a Baby in America 2002)

“We need older women to come forward  to tell younger women the stories about normal birth.  We need childbirth educators who are independent enough to tell families the truth about the politics of birth…What we really need is an awakening of mothers…we need women who believe in the normalcy of birth. We need families to advocate for normal birth and for midwifery…it will be up to the women. I believe in women. “ (Wake up! 2003)

*This blog is part of the Birth Activist carnival celebrating Women’s History Month.

http://www.birthactivist.com/2010/03/famous-women-blog-carnival/