Empowering Childbirth: A Collection of Inspirational Quotes

"birth is not only about making babies. birth is about making mothers...strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength."

- Barbara Katz Rothman

"A woman in birth is at once her most powerful, and most vulnerable. But any woman who has birthed unhindered understands that we are stronger than we know."

- Marcie Macari

"The whole point of woman-centered birth is the knowledge that a woman is the birth power source. She may need, and deserve, help, but in essence, she always had, currently has, and will have the power."

- Heather McCue

"I think one of the best things we could do would be to help women/parents/families discover their own birth power, from within themselves. And to let them know it’s always been there, they just needed to tap into it."

- John H. Kennell, MD

"Just as a woman’s heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth."

- Virginia DiOrio

"There is power that comes to women when they give birth. They don’t ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it."

- Sheryl Feldman

"If a doula were a drug, it would be unethical not to use it."

- John H. Kennell, MD

"Only with trust, faith, and support can the woman allow the birth experience to enlighten and empower her."

- Annie Kennedy and Penny Simkin

"When enough women realize that birth is a time of great opportunity to get in touch with their true power, and when they are willing to assume responsibility for this, we will reclaim the power of birth and help move technology where it belongs–in the service of birthing women, not their master."

- Christiane Northrup

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new."

- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

"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

"Birth should not be a time in a woman’s life when she has to FIGHT for anything."

- Carla Hartley

"the knowledge of how to give birth without outside interventions lies deep within each woman. successful childbirth depends on the acceptance of the process."

- Suzanne Arms

"Women are strong, strong, terribly strong. We don’t know how strong until we’re pushing out our babies."

- Louise Erdrich

"if a doula were a drug, it would be unethical not to use it."

- John H. Kennell, MD

"Childbirth is an experience in a woman’s life that holds the power to transform her forever. Passing through these powerful gates – in her own way – remembering all the generations of women who walk with her… She is never alone."

- Suzanne Arms

"You are a birth servant. Do good without show or fuss. If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in charge. When the baby is born, they will rightly say: ‘We did it ourselves!'"

- Tao Te Ching

"there is power that comes to women when they give birth. they don't ask for it, it simply invades them. accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it."

- Sheryl Feldman

"Giving birth should be your greatest achievement not your greatest fear."

- Jane Weideman

"midwives see birth as a miracle and only mess with it if there’s a problem; doctors see birth as a problem and if they don’t mess with it, it’s a miracle!"

- Barbara Harper

"Birth isn’t something we suffer, but something we actively do and exult in."

- Sheila Kitzinger

"It is not only that we want to bring about an easy labor, without risking injury to the mother or the child; we must go further. We must understand that childbirth is fundamentally a spiritual, as well as a physical, achievement. The birth of a child is the ultimate perfection of human love."

- Dr. Grantly Dick-Read

"Labor is not about dilation. Your body knows how to give birth whether or not you ever have a pelvic exam during labor. Birthing women need encouragement to trust their bodies, and to be the stars of their own labors."

- The Doula Guide to Birth

"There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong."

- Laura Stavoe Harm

"just as a women's heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth."

- Virginia Di Orio

"In giving birth to our babies, we may find that we give birth to new possibilities within ourselves."

- Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn

"Birth is an opportunity to transcend. To rise above what we are accustomed to, reach deeper inside ourselves than we are familiar with, and to see not only what we are truly made of, but the strength we can access in and through birth."

- Marcie Macari

"The knowledge about how to give birth is born within every woman: women do not need to be taught how to give birth but rather to have more trust and faith in their own body knowledge."

- BirthWorks

"Giving birth should be your greatest achievement, not your greatest fear."

- Jane Weideman

"for far too many women pregnancy and birth is something that happens to them rather than something they set out consciously and joyfully to do themselves."

- Sheila Kitzinger

"All natural birth has a purpose and a plan; who would think of tearing open the chrysalis as the butterfly is emerging? Who would break the shell to pull the chick out?"

- Marie Mongon

"birthing is the most profound initiation to spirituality a woman can have."

- Robin Lim

"women's bodies have near-perfect knowledge of childbirth; it's when their brains get involved that things can go wrong."

- Peggy Vincent

"Postpartum is not just about the physical recovery from childbirth, it's about the emotional, mental, and holistic recovery that truly allows a mother to thrive."

- Maranda Bower

"the first intervention in birth that a healthy woman takes is when she walks out the front door of her home in labor. from that first intervention, all others will follow."

- Michael Rosenthal, OB/GYN

"The wisdom and compassion a woman can intuitively experience in childbirth can make her a source of healing and understanding for other women."

- Stephen Gaskin

"A strong intention, a relaxed body and an open mind are the main ingredients for an active birth."

- Janet Balaskas

"When you change the way you view birth, the way you birth will change."

- Marie Mongan, Hypnobirthing

"If we want to find safe alternatives to obstetrics, we must rediscover midwifery. To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women. And imagine the future if surgical teams were at the service of the midwives and the women instead of controlling them."

- Michel Odent, MD

"So the question remains. Is childbirth painful? Yes. It can be, along with a thousand amazing sensations for which we have yet to find adequate language. Every birth is different, and every woman’s experience and telling of her story will be unique."

- Marcie Macari

"Keeping active during labour and adopting natural, upright or crouching birth positions is the safest, most enjoyable, most economical and sensible way for the majority of women to give birth."

- Janet Balaskas

"Giving birth is a transformation and it doesn’t matter whether you’ve had eight babies before. It’s still a transformation the next time you have another baby, because you are no longer the same woman you were before you had that baby."

- Penny Handford

"Although the popularly desired outcome is ‘healthy mother, healthy baby,’ I think there is room in that equation for ‘happy, non-traumatized, empowered and elated mother and baby.’"

- Midwifery Today

"If our calling is to be mothers, let's be mothers with all our hearts-gladly, simply, and humbly."

- Elisabeth Elliot

"The effort to separate the physical experience of childbirth from the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of this event has served to disempower and violate women."

- Mary Rucklos Hampton

"the parallels between making love and giving birth are clear, not only in terms of passion and love, but also because we need essentially the same conditions for both experiences: privacy and safety."

- Sarah Buckley

"Just because society doesn't make a big deal about postpartum doesn't mean it isn't one."

- @hellopostpartum

"It seems that many health professionals involved in antenatal care have not realized that one of their roles should be to protect the emotional state of pregnant women."

- Michel Odent, M.D.

"We must attempt to tell the whole truth about birth, the truth that includes the transformation, mastery, satisfaction, personal power and the difference between pain and suffering."

- Cheri van Hoover

"if you are an expectant mother, you must eat a good, nutritious, balanced diet every day during your pregnancy. a good diet is the best insurance that your baby will be healthy and strong with a normal weight at birth!"

- Dr.Brewer

"we cannot prepare for the future without embracing the meaning and the relevance of the baby's perspective on life."

- Michel Odent, MD

"Somehow, a pervasive idea has spread in modern times that the mom who is out and about soonest with her baby is somehow the strongest, like an episode of Survivor... But that's all upside down–in a healthy postpartum period, it's she who stays still that wins the prize."

- Heng Ou, The First Forty Days

"A healthy woman who delivers spontaneously performs a job that cannot be improved upon."

- Aidan MacFarlane

"Mothers need to know that their care and their choices won’t be compromised by birth politics."

- Jennifer Rosenberg

"There's beauty and imperfection in every mother's journey, for it is through imperfection that she learns and evolves."

- Milk Moon Herbs

"The skill of being with women in pain in labour often rests in believing in women when they do not believe in themselves."

- Nicky Leaf

"The purpose exceeds the pain."

- Beth Moore

"No other natural bodily function is painful and childbirth should not be an exception."

- Grantley Dick-Read, M.D.

"The instant of birth is exquisite. Pain and joy are one at this moment. Ever after, the dim recollection is so sweet that we speak to our children with a gratitude they never understand."

- Madline Tiger

"Part of birthing without fear is trusting your instincts!"

- Brande Holm

"To speak of birth, to touch people’s hearts and souls and to awaken that part of humankind that has forgotten that it matters enormously how a baby comes into the world – that is our task."

- Vicki Chan and Nick Edmondstone

"life only demands the strength you possess."

- David Hammarskjold

"300,000 women will be giving birth with you today."

- Ina May Gaskin

"birth is an experience that demonstrates that life is not merely function and utility, but form and beauty."

- Christopher Largen

"Let choice whisper in your ear and love murmur in your heart. Be ready. Here comes life."

- Maya Angelou

"Birth matters. It brings us into being, on many levels."

- Ananda Lowe

"However much we know about birth in general, we know nothing about a particular birth. We must let it unfold with its own uniqueness."

- Elizabeth Noble

"Rain, after all is only rain; it is not bad weather. So, also, pain is only pain unless we resist it, then it becomes torment."

- I Ching

"A baby is like the beginning of all things: wonder, hope a dream of possibilities. In a world that is cutting down its trees to build highways, losing its earth to concrete, babies are almost the only remaining link in nature, with the natural world of living things from which we spring."

- Eda J. Leshan

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."

- Marie Curie

"Rain, after all is only rain; it is not bad weather. So also, pain is only pain; unless we resist it, then it becomes torment."

- the I Ching

"Muscles send messages to each other. Clenched fists, a tight mouth, a furrowed brow, all send signals to the birth-passage muscles, the very ones that need to be loosened. Opening up to relax these upper-body parts relaxes the lower ones."

- William and Martha Sears

"When you have come to the edge of all light that you know and are about to drop off into the darkness of the unknown, FAITH is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly."

- Patrick Overton

"It can take a woman TWO whole years after birth to get back to feeling like themselves. And at least ONE year for their hormones to return to normal."

- @thisisanya

"You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith."

- Mary Manin Morrissey

"If I don’t know my options, I don’t have any."

- Diana Korte

"I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it’s only a choice of attitude."

- Judith M. Knowlton

"Fear can be overcome only by Faith."

- Grantly Dick-Read, M.D.

"There is such a special sweetness in being able to participate in creation."

- Pamela S. Nadav

"My OB put it in perspective for me. He’s seen 1 uterine rupture in 29 years…and she had not previously had a c-section."

- Vanessa Spahan

"you gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop and look fear in the face."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

- Bob Parsons

"birth is as safe as life gets."

- Harriette Hartigan

"The same movements that get the baby in, get the baby out."

- From Birthing From Within

"Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile…initially scared me to death."

- Betty Bender

"if you lay down, the baby will never come out."

"300,000 women will be giving birth with you today. Relax and breathe and do nothing else."

"Postpartum is the most neglected period of a woman's life. Check on your postpartum friends."

"All children will eventually sleep alone. All children will eventually stop asking to be carried and cuddled. Before we know it the toys will disappear and they won't need us quite as much. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for wanting to soak in every second you get of parenthood."

"They won't remember, but I will. Their childhood is also my motherhood."

"The power and intensity of your contractions cannot be stronger than you, because it is you."

"There is no force equal to that of a determined woman."

"A well-nourished mother makes a well-nourished child."

"meconium happens."