Hey there! I went through 2 births, also read Ina May Gaskins with much intention, really wanted to do “good” and avoid missing out on The Womanly Experience, finally had 2 epidurals (the latter didn’t end very well), and I found the whole experience animalistic, monstrous, chaotic, but also very empowering.

What empowered me is letting my body take control over my mind. What empowered me is surviving the chaos and the labor pain and the sense that all is ending here and now. There is absolutely no moral value associated with giving birth insofar as it is so biological.

It’s empowering in a rite of passage kind of way. Whatever the birth story, the medical interventions, the mother’s choices about dealing with the pain. You realize your body has the power to survive all this.

That said, I’m all the way with you with pushing back the narrative obligation of the empowerment stories and the judgment pressed on other women when they don’t opt for the gutsy no epidural/ home birth stuff.

Pardon my English, I’m a French Feminist.