Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of hearing Suzanne Arms speak. She is a powerhouse advocate for natural birth and midwifery, complete with a vision, and analysis of hospital birth and obstetrics, and how we have ended up where we are…which is with a whole lot of technology and not very good statistics to go along with it. The U.S. is far from the top in preventing infant mortality, for example. Some women prefer hospital birth and the medical model of birth, but for those that don’t, it is an uphill battle to make their birth their own, and to keep it family centered.

Suzanne Arms wrote a book in the early 70’s called ‘Immaculate Deception’, a book I read when I was just getting interested in midwifery. She has been the inspiration for so many women to become midwives, and for so many women to take responsibility for making their pregnancy and birth a healthy one so that they don’t end up making decisions out of fear and giving away their power at the hospital.

It was wonderful to meet her and have the opportunity to tell her how she helped start me on my journey to midwifery! For more information on her current project, go to www.birthingthefuture.org.