Sharing Stories by T. L. Wiens

I recently got the privilege of being my daughter’s birth coach. Nothing about this birth followed the rules I learned during prenatal classes with my daughter going into labour a week before the baby made an appearance. I know medical people like to refer to this as “false labour.” Midwives hate that term and won’t use it. I have to agree with the midwives. For seven days, my daughter had contractions that did not stop. It left her exhausted which tells me that her body was working very hard—nothing false about it. Together, we worked at breathing and trying different things for my daughter’s comfort. By the time we got to the hospital, we had a system. When it came time to push, the nurse stood back.

            “Mama’s got this,” she said as she held back her fellow nurse.

            And we did. I watched as my granddaughter took her first breath and let out her first cry.

So what does this have to do with writing? During this week long ordeal, I abandoned the medical expertise and started doing a lot of research. I went back to things I talked about with my mother and my own experiences with birth. I searched the internet for stories and information. It was during these searches that I read several entries in different blogs that upset me. What I found was a lack of older women helping the younger women. So many of the entries were scared first time mothers trying to help other scared first time mothers.

In Titus 2:3-5, it says “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

It made me realize how blessed I am to have a mother who taught me, told her stories and passed on the lessons she learned. As a writer, I can now share her wisdom and add some of my own. There is a great amount of wisdom being lost because we are failing to teach and guide our daughters as the Bible instructs. It’s something I’m going to be more aware of and do my best to change.