After catching a baby for the first time in my apprenticeship I am even more committed to encouraging parents to catch their own. There's something so special and so amazing about having your hands on a baby as it is born and I felt a much deeper attachment to the baby than I have at births where I just observed. Those amazing feelings belong to the parents! That connection and energy I received would have been better placed with the mom, dad, grandma, aunt - someone more intimately and long-term involved with the child.
My number one goal as a midwife is to find and eliminate the ways in which I might inadvertently take what is not mine to take. Birth energy is strong. Gratitude from parents is a big warm fuzzy. Catching a baby is amazing. Our society promotes a birth attendant as necessary for safety. It's no wonder that some midwives fall into the trap of self-importance; viewing themselves as an authority in the situation. But everything about the birth belongs to the parents. The energy, the oxytocin pheromones, the news, the announcement, the details, the story, the accomplishment, the grief, the joy, the pain, the baby, the first moments of parenthood; all belong to them. Midwifery is above all service work. If you want to be a director, go to Hollywood.
