Hello, there! I haven't been sending posts out into the world much in recent months, and this is for a few reasons...
One…
I moved across town with my husband and 10-month-old. (Cue much chaos and adventure. Also some mold in the bathroom wall. And some new furniture. And new wire shelves for my pantry that are on a FedEx truck who-knows-where.) (Update: The shelves finally made it here!)
Two…
I’ve been realizing ways that I need to process the birth, emergency transfer, and death of Ioannes before I’m able to write about it in a way that honors both me and my experience and the other people involved when I share it. I’ve been realizing ways in which I still harbor resentment and bitterness (toward others, systems, and myself) that are valid but do not reflect the whole truth and are not how I want to carry that story forward.
Here are the core posts I’ve shared so far about that story:
Three…
I’ve been spending a lot of time in creative rest recently. I’ve read 27 books so far this year—mostly mediocre fiction, which has been delightful. My current read, though, is Michel Odent’s Birth Reborn, and I am loving it.
Despite the apparent silence on my part, however, I have been very slowly outlining and drafting some new posts and a couple of short books!
In the approximate order I plan to publish these over approximately the next few months, here's what I've been writing behind the scenes (titles may change):
Post — Uncovering the Giant Historical Misunderstanding of Pain in Childbirth (Plus, Announcing a Name Change for Rachel Lieberman - Herbwife!)
When I became pregnant for the first time, I did a fairly superficial word study on the concept of “pain in childbirth” in the Bible. I’ve recently dug deeper for this post, and...plot twist!...the Bible isn't primarily or exclusively talking about physical pain. This post will also be an announcement of the new name and focus for my Substack site!
Post — (Pt. 3) The Birth Story of Ioannes James: "But Unattended Birth Isn't Safe!" (It's Actually Safer Than Driving Your Kids to the Grocery Store)
I’ve been drafting a post about how my husband and I prepared for an "unattended" birth with our first baby. This post about the topics of safety and risk in birth, including a snapshot of our discussions along with some statistics, was originally going to be part of a comprehensive post that discussed all the ways we prepared. However, I decided to take this topic—a vast and prevalent conversation in its own right—and publish it as a separate post.
Book — Loving Pregnancy and Birth: Insights for Navigating the Hardships and Happiness of Having Babies
This book will be an exploration of what it means to love pregnancy and birth instead of dreading it or suffering through it. My experiences with pregnancy and birth include life and loss, discomforts, fears, and hardships, so this won't be a book about pain-free ecstatic birth, either. My outline of this book is based on my own experience and rounded out based on the input of midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, childbirth educators, and other moms. And my hope is that this book will empower women to see past the horror stories and glimpse the possibility of a pregnancy, birth, and postpartum full of joy, humor, grace, and grit.
Post — (Pt. 4) The Birth Story of Ioannes James: How We Prepared for His "Unattended" Birth at Home
This is the remainder of the comprehensive post I mentioned above, about how my husband and I prepared for Ioannes's birth.
Post — Birth Prep Bloopers and Outtakes: The Not-So-Serious Side of Preparing for Birth
After writing so much about the serious side of preparing for home birth, internally and externally, I knew I wanted to show the silly side of birth prep, too. The over-preparations. The humorous oopsies. Things I've learned from giving birth at home twice, like... That pile of towels you've got set aside for labor and birth? Yeah, that huge pile. That's not quite enough. Go ahead and get more towels. Okay, now get one more towel. Yeah, there you go.
Book? Post? (TBD) — How to Pack the Hospital Bag You Actually Need (Maybe) for a Home Birth
In addition to the two posts about how I prepared for my first birth at home, I also want to share what I’ve learned about packing a bag for the possibility of a hospital transfer when planning a homebirth. Drawing from my experience with emergency transfer without a bag, and a water outage four days postpartum with a bag—and my brief stint training to be a wilderness medic—I'll discuss:
why packing a hospital bag might be helpful or unhelpful,
what kinds of things to include, and
how to prepare for scary what-ifs without having a fearful or avoidance mindset.
Book — Getting Started with Natural Living
This book began as a post/email series last November. I'm moving away from an herbal and natural living focus with my writing, though, so I've removed those posts from my site for now. They'll return as an expanded book at some point hopefully soon.
I'm excited to keep writing my way through this list now that the move is past and things are getting a bit more settled! Are there any of the coming posts and books that you're most interested in? Which one(s) and why? I'd love to hear more in the comments!
Love and Blessings,
Rachel