lovelovelove
"When I was in physical therapy after I injured my knee, my therapist learned that I’d had homebirths. He asked about the “pain” of labor and how I dealt with it at home. My answer, as it usually is, was, “It’s not PAIN as you think of it…my knee was pain. Birth is powerful, but it’s not the same as the pain you experience in life where something is wrong with you.”
His response was, “Then why do women scream?” Heh…you have to love television, right? So I told him that I rarely see women “scream” in labor….but that yes, some women are very vocal and make lots of noise. So he asked why they would make so much noise if they weren’t in pain.
So I told him, “Some women are very loud and make lots of noise during love making…you wouldn’t say they were in pain, right?” Interestingly, he stammered and walked away and the conversation was over.
VITA MUTARI
I don’t believe that there is a word in the English language to express what it feels like, as it’s totally unique to anything else you will ever feel in your life. It demands full attention of your body, your mind, your soul….it is one of the few experiences we have that transcends the physical and is all encompassing, taking everything you have and everything that you are….only to have you emerge on the other side transformed, changed permanently – you will never be the same. Sometimes you have a really difficult experience and you come out the other side feeling beaten down, feeling weak and dealing with the consequences of the negativity for the rest of your life. Other times you will emerge with an entirely new respect for yourself, your body, your strength…you will suddenly see yourself as the amazing person that you are!
VITA MUTARI
Which (finally) brings me to these two words…my new favorite words. I think I will start using these words from now on when someone asks about what labor feels like or the pain of giving birth…. VITA MUTARI!! Labor feels like “mutari”….the contractions will grow and you will feel Vita Mutari …the vita mutari will grow in intensity….as the mutari increases, you may vocalize or call out…The literal translation from Latin to English is “Life Transformation”. That is the closest thing I could think of the feeling of labor/birth…what you are feeling isn’t pain, it’s life transformation. Is it dramatic? You bet! I think it should be!" - Stephanie Soderblom
http://www.nurturingheartsbirthservices.com/blog/?p=16
