Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Words, words, words.

I just adore this post on the etymology surrounding the constellation Pyxis. It's fascinating to me how words can be so influential on how we think.

Back in June, Rixa Freeze mentioned an article in the NY Times entitled Letting the Patient Call the Shots, in which Dr. Donald M. Berwick, president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, discussed the idea of "patient-centered" care and effects of words like "noncompliance" on the patient. Compelling ideas!

I did a lot of thinking before I settled on the name for my doula service, because I wanted to find the words that best described the core of what I can offer a pregnant family. I knew I wanted it to describe or relate to the idea of pathfinding. As a doula, I offer myself as a partner on a mother's journey toward childbirth; I help her find information and research, and I hold her hand when she needs support that's less logical and more emotional in nature.

I'm not so much a leader as a partner, not a guide but a traveling companion. And I don't call any of the shots - the choices are up to my client, and it's my job to stand in her corner and help her achieve what she has determined to be the best birth possible. Once my client has found her guiding birth principals, we build upon them and use them as a compass.

The compass rose grabbed me, then - what a wonderful image. It represents all of the directions in which one can travel, and the empowerment of knowing where one is going.

Just like my clients are on a path, I'm on one, too. Their births are a gift to me; because they share their experiences by allowing me to be part of their support team, I'm better informed for the benefit of future clients and myself as a potential parent. I've learned a lot through independent study and my DONA training, but putting that education into action by serving women during pregnancy and birth gives meaning to all of the words I've absorbed.

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