What is the significance of birth? Birth creates a shift in the universe. Pregnancy and birth are the most transformative moments of your life, they change everything.
Birth changes your life, the life of your family, and your partner in ways you may not even realize for years to come. The very process of pregnancy demands you to devote your energy and vibrations toward a new life, a soul with a purpose in a new body. This creates mothers and a bond between two souls. You experience vibrancy, emotions you never knew you were cable of experiencing, thoughts you never expected to have, overwhelming sensations that are both positive and negative.
Creating and welcoming a new life takes you down a rabbit hole you had not known existed. You go through the gates alone and come out on the other side completely transformed.
I realized this after having my three children. The process of pregnancy and birth drew me into the world of midwifery. I had my first experience with new life at the age of 14 while attending to my sister’s birth. I knew then that I was destined to be around birthing women. I have studied birth since 2008 and have been a birth doula since 2010.
Now, I am a student senior midwife working towards a license for home birth. I currently attend births in and out of hospital as a non-medical, informational, emotional, and physical support person, also known as a doula. I have attended births at home, in birth centers, and in many of the hospitals in San Diego. I support medicated and non-medicated births.
My strongest desire is for women to know their options and to protect the sacred space of their birth.
After the birth of my first child in the hospital I knew there had to be a different way. The experience I had was not what I wanted. I lacked support, knowledge, and trust in my body’s ability to welcome my child. When it was time to welcome another member to the family I quickly did research and desperately sought another way. I went on to birth two babies at home, in birth tubs, in my living room with midwives and doulas. My experiences inspired the need to come to understand the birth process, our culture’s way of birth, and how it could be different.
This journey of attaining knowledge and understanding of the sanctity of birth lit a flame in me. This flame is what drives me to be a support person for women during their pregnancies and births.
-Donna Irwin
Student Midwife, Birth Doula, Placenta Encapsulator
