Birthsong

“Humanizing birth means understanding that the woman giving birth is a
human being, not a machine and not just a container for making babies.
Showing women—half of all people—that they are inferior and
inadequate by taking away their power to give birth is a tragedy for all
society. On the other hand, respecting the woman as an important and
valuable human being and making certain that the woman’s experience
while giving birth is fulfilling and empowering is not just a nice extra, it
is absolutely essential as it makes the woman strong and therefore makes
society strong.”

- Marsden Wagner, MD, MSPH

What is a birth keeper?
The term ‘birth keeper’ was coined by Jeannine Parvati Baker who stated that many midwives have given up on being guardians and keepers of natural birth at home, in order to survive as professionals’. In many cases I have found this to be true, so I have made an effort to be authentic to my self and my role as a midwife and doula. I don’t feel as though I can honour what ‘midwifery’ is at the moment in our current culture and I am also having difficulty using the word doula, which means ’servant’. I feel as though i am able to marry the two, which to me, creates a ‘birth keeper’.
To me, a birthkeeper is someone who provides care on all levels for a woman during her childbearing journey. It also means someone who is able to hold the space and not intervene unless absolutely necessary. It means being present and witnessing the awesomeness of the journey. It means being there in authenticity and truth.

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If you want the stats, proven benefits of having an experienced birth attendant:

• 50% reduction in the cesarean rate
• 25% shorter labor
• 60% reduction in epidural requests
• 40% reduction in oxytocin use
• 30% reduction in analgesia use
• 40% reduction in forceps delivery

Mothering the Mother: How a Doula Can Help You Have a Shorter Easier and Healthier Birth, Klaus, Kennell, and Klaus (1993).

What does BirthSong mean?

Birthsong is the name of the business  created by Sheree Stewart. The name Birthsong came to Sheree after an experience she had at a 5 day Women’s Mysteries Retreat with one of her teachers, the Pricipal of The International College of Spiritual Midwifery, Shivam Rachana.

In this experience Sheree was in a rebirthing experience when she remembered a part of her life as a student midwife. In the early days of midwifery training, before she had learned any midwifery ’skill’ she had to attend the births of women who she had followed through their pregnancies. All she had to do was observe and wittness and be present to the birth. When she would get the phone call to attend the woman, she would drive to where they were birthing their babies. During this drive and during the birth, she would hear the birth song. A song that came from no one, yet somewhere. It was a rhythm in her head that was soft and continuing. Sometimes there were words, sometimes just a rhythm or tune.  It was so beautiful to hear the song of the baby who was entering the world. How special.

In Sheree’s second year of midwifery training she had to learn the midwifery skills. It was no longer being an observer / wittness to births. It was learning blood pressures, vaginal examinations, timing contractions, learning about  pharmaceutical drugs and how to calculate and administer them. It was so overwhelming for Sheree as she learned these skills that over the duration of her course, her focas was on learning these skills, and the intuitive wittness to birth she was, got lost in the hospital system. She no longer heard the babies birth songs.

After this experience at the Women’s Mysteries retreat, Sheree began the journey of ‘untraining’ herself – where she journeyed deep within her self and through rebirthing, breathwork, cellular memory release, shiatsu therapy, acupuncture and lots and lots and lots of debriefing and unpacking, she has found herself going back to the centre of where she first began. As an intuitive birth keeper who keeps guardian over birth.

And so began BirthSong.

What We Can Offer You:

BirthSong is beginning some awesome transformations!! Originally BirthSong was just Sheree doing her own work but it is starting to become a team of awesome, inspiring and courageous women who want to work with the same philosophy and passion as Sheree.

Through Sheree’s business, BirthSong, we provide services to women and their families as an alternative to the current ’system’ of birthing our children. All of the women who have recently joined in with BirthSong  have come in from their own journey’s. We can offer you so much in your journey from pregnancy and birth support (from midwives, doulas and student midwives), mothering support, workshops on women’s wellbeing, nutrition, natural fertility, holisitc counselling, rebirthing, bodywork, pregnancy and infant massage, reiki and much much more!

The big vision for BirthSong is for all of us women involved to run womens villages at festivals, have birthsong zines, hold documentary/ movie evenings, fundraisers, workshops and retreats with all the focas on being a woman!!

We want to create awareness and community and keep the words ‘with woman’ a real possibility to women

Please look under our practitioner profiles for individual information on these beautiful women and what they have to offer to the world or contact Sheree for any more information on sheree@birthsong.com.au or 0403 882 732