A few weeks ago (rather months ...) we celebrated the World Respected Birth Week, and by then I asked Monica Manso to grant us an interview. I have to say that Monica was very helpful and made my job easier, giving me her answers on time. However, the interview has been postponed for different reasons.
I think I can't let any more time go by, and that you have to get to know her. Monica is a coach for moms and future moms, and also doula. Her professional activity focuses on enabling the women who come to her a conscious motherhood which becomes an experience of personal growth. Childbirth can be positive and parenting can be happy… perhaps we just need to find a way to overcome fears and feel more secure. I hope I have aroused your curiosity, and now yes, I leave you with the interview.
Madres Hoy: You are a coach, and also a doula, could you explain to us what the functions of doulas are during pregnancy and postpartum?
Monica Manso: A doula provides emotional, physical, and informational support during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. A doula:
- Believe in the birthing process and the impact it has on parenting.
- She is respectful and knows how to listen deeply
- Does not impose its own thoughts and beliefs
- Trust a woman's instincts
- Recognize the power of birth
- It does not replace the partner. But it also helps him to cheer up his wife.
- She believes in childbirth as a rite of passage for a woman to give birth to her baby where, with whom she wants, and how she wants.
Many studies carried out in the US highlight the big difference a doula can make to labor and delivery. In the US, UK and different parts of Europe doulas are a recognized part of the birthing and postnatal services team.
Living a conscious pregnancy will help mothers to live their pregnancy in a calmer way, away from stress and rush
MH: What does it mean to live a conscious pregnancy? How important is that awareness for the gestation process itself?
MM:Living a conscious pregnancy is an invitation to live the process of change in which the woman is immersed as an opportunity for self-knowledge, internal growth and transformation.
It has to do with stopping the fast pace we live in and offer herself spaces of connection with herself and with the baby that grows inside her.
It also has to do with taking care of yourself emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually.
Living a conscious pregnancy will help mothers to live their pregnancy in a calmer way, away from stress and rush, which will have an impact on having more positive energy and developing confidence in it and in its innate abilities to gestate, give birth and raise your baby.
MH: Speaking of consciousness, is it more difficult to resume it with a fast pace of life? Is it advisable to "slow down" the speed with which we live when we are pregnant?
MM: Yes, it is very important, in general always, at any time of our life, and in particular in pregnancy because stress, according to scientific research, negatively affects the baby.
To stop implies to stop being in the mind and begin to inhabit the body, and from the body a new consciousness arises, a new way of being and being sweeter and kinder with yourself, with the baby and with your environment.
MH: Since I mentioned the vital rhythm in which we get caught up, what could be the consequences of stress for childbirth and parenting?
MM:I can tell you about everything On an emotional level: It is very simple: The more stress, the more tension, the more emotional tension, the greater body tension, the more body tension the more rigid the uterus is and there is more pain and labor progresses much slower and it may not even succeed. Stress also has a negative influence on fear management and fear is directly related to the above, the more fear, the more tension and the circle begins again.
In parenting, having much less patience affects, loss of emotional control, possible postpartum depression ...
You have to think that our grandmothers gave birth at home, there is only a generational jump
MH: How do you explain that lack of confidence in our bodies and that fear that we live with during pregnancy and that blocks us in childbirth?
MM: I think that the medicalization of childbirth in the 60s had a positive and negative impact on society.. Positive because it has helped many births progress and save many lives, The negative has been that we have believed (or they have made us believe, they are two sides of the same coin) that alone we can no longer give birth and that we need medicine to it.
You have to think that our grandmothers gave birth at home, there is only a generational leap, the generations who gave birth without so much medical help are not SO far away.
MH: Finally, I would like to know what you would say to a woman who has reached the 41st week, to increase her confidence in her body.
MM: That you talk a lot with your baby, that you connect with him or her, and tell him that it is time to go out and wait for him with all his love, that he see if he has any pending issue and solve it, that he walk, jump, make love and dance. And trust that everything is possible.
After the interview, I must reiterate my thanks to the coach and doula Mónica Manso, and apologize for the delay. To you, readers, I hope you have enjoyed this simple and powerful reading that tells us about conscious pregnancies, connection with the baby, and personal growth of the woman / mother.
I keep the phrase "Living a conscious pregnancy is an invitation to live the process of change in which the woman is immersed as an opportunity for self-knowledge, internal growth and transformation" and I hope that more and more future mothers have the opportunity to consciously enjoy their pregnancies, and the power to take a leading role in the processes of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.
Images / More information - Conscious Motherhood. Monica Manso