“The birthing realms envelop the woman, but she is not lost in them, she is not drowning”
After her radical birth experience Audrey knew she had to do something to help other women walk into their own… insert Delighted Birth Support
I want every woman to be reminded of the freedom they already have, the power they already hold. I want them to know the layers of beauty, nourishment, and healing that come from a birth team who is for you and for birth.
Delighted Birth Support started as a conversation in my living room 4 weeks after giving birth. I was basically yelling at my midwife (I get a little passionate sometimes… Sorry Liv!) telling her that I was overflowing with how amazing my birth experience was. I was bubbling over with passion for sovereign birth and the power of a woman who decides to give herself freedom in her own birth space. I wanted to help other women remember this in themselves. She heard me loud and clear and took me under her wing as she offered months of training, mentorship, and loads of encouragement, then pushed me out into the birth worker world.
This passion continues to grow as I learn, witness, and continue to remember the beauty of birth, the gifts of motherhood, and the radical joy that exists in this community I am privileged to cultivate.
CORE BELIEFS:
- Birth is a normal physiological experience designed by God for women and is best left undisturbed if possible. Interventions have their places of necessity, but care should always be truly informed, fully understood, and driven by the mother and her wise intuition.
~Doulas are not a necessity but a gift. A gift to the mother to have someone hold and witness her just as she is. Advocating for her and relishing in her unique birth experience. A gift to the doula to be invited into such a sacred space. To be allowed to witness and hold the beauty of a birthing woman as she transforms through her unique birth experience into the gift of motherhood.
~Labor and birth are not things to be saved from. The birthing realms envelop the woman, but she is not lost in them, she is not drowning. This rite of passage produces a new woman on the other side. She comes out seasoned with wisdom, grace, and femininity. Ready to embark on her lifelong journey of learning how to embody her ever-changing definition of woman and mother.
~The body was designed with incredible intelligence. We owe it to ourselves to learn how to hear the whispers it speaks and follow through on what we are being asked to do.
~Birth cannot be standardized, for no woman or birth is the same. Therefore, I will not create a one-size-fits-all approach for any woman I am privileged to serve.
Where
“Delighted”
came from
On a backpacking trip with my parents, looking over an incredible mountain-top view, all I could think was “How in the world am I your prized possession when you made something as beautiful as this?!” Looking out upon creation I have always been enamored with God’s beauty and intricacy. There was a feeling I could never describe until one day in college I randomly opened to Psalm 18.
“He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” (Psalm 18:19 NIV)
I delighted in God’s creation. I delighted in the physical representation of his grandeur and majesty. Those spacious places, I delighted in THEM… and you’re telling me that the God of the universe who created it all could look at the glory of creation and choose to delight in ME?! It’s just too good to be true.
Then we come to the creation of a child being knit together in their mother’s womb. His craftsmanship is on daily display as you witness creation inside of you. Bearing witness to this in myself and other women brings me that same joy.
Now, I get to see His grandeur in the tenderness of a mother, In her smile when she hears her baby’s heartbeat, and in the world-stopping moment when a mother finally gets to see her baby in her arms for the first time. I get to witness it, and boy do I delight in it.