By Melanie Grier When we think about advocacy, examples of movements for social change may come to mind before thoughts of how the need for advocacy shows up in our everyday lives, especially if we belong to the dominant culture and generally have less to advocate for. As a cisgendered, white-settler female in a heterosexual partnership living in colonial-Canada, I …
A Home Birth within a Hospital
On July 29th 2007 seated in my doctor’s office holding my husband Paul’s hand tightly, we received the news that we were expecting. I met the wonderful news with tears of Joy, amazement, and tears of fear. This was indeed a miracle pregnancy and a miracle baby. Only a year before in June of 2006 my Husband and junior high …
Journey of healing
The journey of my pregnancy and birth with my third child was one of anticipation, joy, excitement, grief, anxiety, fear, and most of all healing. I became pregnant for the fourth time in May 2008, three months after our second daughter, Gabrielle, was stillborn at 26 weeks gestation. She had a chromosomal condition known as Turner’s syndrome which meant …
The True Strength of a Man
Almost five years have passed since I learned the true meaning of helplessness. An evening that started with a romantic comedy and some popcorn quickly turned into an emotional prizefight in which I was being battered. Learned instincts tell men to fight back in these types of situations, but there was no opponent to be seen. My inability to fight …
Another Answered Prayer
Our first answered prayer, a beautiful little girl named Kailie Sera Jolene was born on June 21, 2003. Although I had had my appendix removed when I was 18.5 weeks pregnant with her, my pregnancy, labor and delivery was absolutely wonderful. We had midwives and had labored at home and then given birth at the hospital, but went home to …
Finding the bliss
Giving birth is one of the most normal everyday kind of things, while at the same time so miraculous. I still get spun out by the fact that a birthing woman’s body is the exact spot in the universe that splits open and allows a new soul to come into this existence. I feel so honoured that I get to …
Things are Different
When Allison told me that she was pregnant it was a very surreal feeling. I felt somewhere between excitement (feeling that we are finally here) and shock (we’re really going to be parents). When week 11 came, it was time for our midwife appointment. Our midwife would try and hear the heartbeat, our excitement began to build. Upon leaving the …
The Place Where Hawks Fly
On November 23rd, 2009 I awoke around 2:00 a.m. with mild contractions that were seven minutes apart. This kept going until 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. I called my midwife JoanMargaret to tell her what was happening. She encouraged me to nap. I scrambled through the baby name book for a name that popped into my head upon waking. I found …
One Day in July
Your father went into Banff on Friday July 25th, 2008 in the evening. He rode his motorcycle out there in case he needed to get back quickly to me. I had a feeling the contractions would start that evening, so I asked your Nana to go to the movies with me as a distraction. Once I got home I lost …
Walking in the Moonlight
It was the weekend of December 12, 2009, the coldest weekend of the year, and we were moving into our new home – I was 39 weeks pregnant. We were planning a home birth for number three so I was relieved to be settling into our new “nest” prior to her arrival. Just as in the past, my due date …