True Confessions of a Midwife

sermon monologue by Carrie Eikler
Romans 13:1-8; Exodus 1:8-22

Whew. What a morning. I can’t wait to sit with my cup of tea and my magazine. I’ve just got back from Arthurdale. The work of a homebirth midwife takes you all over. There aren’t many of us around anymore. Women want the comfort of the big hospitals.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I can understand their reasons. Things do go wrong with births. Very wrong. For me and the women I work with, we know this. But we also know that there is nothing wrong with birth. It’s natural. Women’s bodies are made to do it, and for centuries, heck, for thousands and thousands of years women have been trained to help other women bring babies into the world.

But… there are scary moments…whew, really scary moments. Like this morning. What a doozy.

So yeah, I get this call at like, 5:20 this morning. I was having this really great dream about being on the beach in Florida, reading an Agatha Christie novel when out of the water comes this submarine filled with dark chocolate and is playing my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs and would you guess it, out of the submarine pops Antonio Ba--…well, you don’t want to hear about that.

Anyway, the phone rings and Brian is on the phone. Brian’s wife Clara is one of the women I’m working with. She’s not due for three weeks, and Brian sounds tired and a bit nervous. He tells me Clara thinks it’s time. She woke up a half hour ago with some uncomfortable contractions. I get this all the time. Since Clara has already had a child, I expect she knows what she’s feeling is really it, but I tell them to wait a half an hour and call me back. I lay back down, but try not to fall asleep because you know it’s always harder to get up once you fall back asleep than if you just stay up.

Well, I just thought about the dark chocolate Simon and Garfunkel submarine instead of dreaming about it, and about 5 minutes later I get a call. It’s Brian. “The head! I can see the head!” You bet I was bounding out of bed at that.

Well, Arthurdale is about 15 minutes away from my home here so you can imagine…I don't know if I will make it or not. I'm speeding down the curvy roads praying "Please God let her wait! Let her wait!" But when a baby's coming, there's no convincing a woman in labor to stop what she's doing, just so the midwife can get there!

I was only hoping that everything was fine with the delivery, that nothing was wrong with Clara and the baby, that Brian was holding it together. I pull up to their home, bound out of the car, burst inside and Clara is on the bed and sure enough…the baby's coming! And it's not all fine, because the baby's hand is pressed against her head…like she is trying to zoom into this world like superwoman! It can make for a pretty nasty delivery.

But, it's something I've dealt with many times before. I tell Clara to hold on for 30 more seconds. I get my hands washed, my gloves on, I do the move I've done dozens of times before--quite skillfully, if I do say so myself-- and pull the baby's hand free from the head, and she tumbles into my hands. All in about a minute.*

Well, mother and baby are fine. A little shook up. One hour-long labors are not common. I kind of laugh because, even if they tried to get in their car and get to MonGeneral, that baby would have come in the back of their Suburu Forrester. That Clara is amazing. Not many women could endure that…

(chuckle) the things you witness as a midwife. We sure have our stories. Amazing stories, and yes, some tragic stories. But LIFE stories. We witness over and over again the pain and the joy and the miracle of life!

(Sigh) But midwives still aren't so accepted in this society. Don't get me wrong, we're definitely gaining ground. But we've sort of lost our place, the respect that we used to have. It is definitely a calling…it's not for everyone.

(Drink tea and laugh) You know, what happened this morning with Clara and Brian and little Lucy--oh, that's what they called the baby, Lucy--it reminds me of a midwife story. You see, since the lives of midwives aren't documented as well as the lives of doctors and surgeons throughout time, you have to look hard to find the midwives in history. But they're there, alright.

Anyway, I'm reminded of this story in the Old Testament…in Exodus I think it is. You know, that book where Moses leads his people out of slavery into the promise land…at least, you've seen the movie, right? Anyway, BEFORE Moses was born there was a King of Egypt who was scared because the population of these foreigners, the Israelites, were growing.

So he thought, "Well, that's not a good thing for me. First off, they won’t learn the language, they are using up all our social services…But secondly, what if they join my enemies and rise up against me?" So he took them all up and made them his slaves, they basically built Egypt on their backs. But they kept growing and this paranoid king was all "Oh, they could still do something to me Oh! Oh!" So he says that the moment any Israelite boy is born he should be killed. (chuckle) apparently girls weren't a threat. Girls make good slaves. Boys make good soldiers…or terrorists.

So who are the best people to kill new life? Well, those who are meant to bring new life, of course. He told all the midwives that when a woman gives birth to take the boys and kill them. But two midwives, Shiphrah and…and, Puah, that's it Puah, they decide not to do it. Of course, they don't tell the king that. They would probably be killed themselves. But they do their job. They do what they were meant to do…their obligation to help usher in life.

You can imagine what the king thought when he saw all these baby boys in swaddling clothes. He's like "What is this? I told you to kill them." And do you know, those midwives lie right to his face! They say, "Hey these Israelite women are so strong, those babies are already born by the time we get there!" Like Clara, and Lucy…almost.

I read somewhere, that this is the first act of civil disobedience in the Bible. The first time people say no to an oppressive force…to the state. And it was two midwives! Of course, it doesn't surprise me, but I bet it surprises most people.

Most people don't know that story. Or if they do, they know it because what these two women did made it possible for Moses to be born and live. And if Moses wasn't born… we'll I guess the Israelites would still be building up Egypt.

But you know, I think it's a good enough story on its own. I mean, OK, it was important for the whole religious thing that Moses was born, but I think what these women did was a religious act in and of itself. Sure they lied, but apparently God was happy with them--for what they did-- because I think the scriptures say God blessed them.

It's not often we think that God might bless us for doing something that is disobedient. Well, I guess it wasn't just civil disobedience…but divine obedience. (chuckle) Maybe that's why we don't hear this story much in church.

ANYway, some people might wonder what sort of chutzpah these ladies had to stand up to the most powerful man in the country. I remember the story says something about "they feared God." Now, I'm not so big on this fearing God thing. I don't necessarily see God as something to be scared of.

Maybe it's because I see the vulnerability of new life all the time…and that's one way God came to us! You know, Jesus coming as a baby--all slimy and bloody and cold and crying…and vulnerable. Wouldn’t make a very pretty Christmas card, I guess.

But in someway, I can understand this fear. There's lots of fear when new life comes into this world. Fear is something that grabs a hold of you. Maybe that's how they experienced fearing God, as God grabbing a hold of them…or maybe they grabbed hold of God. But not in some violent sort of grabbing. Like, what we do when a baby is born: we grab it, secure it, welcome it into the world

I mean, these midwives literally had to grab a hold of life so much--that was their purpose, they just knew that God wanted life in this world…even the life of these foreigners, these people the state thought would become terrorists. They were entrusted with life. That was their calling. To To listen to the king and to kill, they would have had to let go of God…let go of the thing that helped them bring in new life.

(Thoughtful) You know I think I do what I do--you know, being a midwife--because I'm holding onto God, that God led me in someway to do this, that somehow what I do is important, Kind of like Shiphrah and Puah. They didn’t know that just by doing what they were meant to do would somehow play into a larger birth—the birth of a people from slavery. But it sure did.

But even if I try, I don’t think I’ll totally understand what God wants in this world. Or even…if I am totally sure I know what God wants me to be doing. I mean, I think I get pieces at a time. But each little thing I do I think is important in and of themselves, but also maybe part of something bigger—helping women trust themselves, find strength through their birth, feel cared for and empowered.

Even during those births that are scary, the ones you don’t know how they’ll end up…I trust something will guide me—either my skill, or my intuition, maybe God! Maybe, just the baby that’s being born shows me what needs to happen. So maybe that’s what Shiphrah and Puah felt like--they knew these births needed to happen. They couldn’t stand in the way, and go against their purpose. Maybe they held God so closely to them, like they way we hold that baby when it’s born, they just could sense what needed to be done...just sense what God wanted them to do. (shaking head) But figuring out how they would get away with it, now, that was pretty impressive.

(Waving away) I don't know. All I know is that it is a darn good story. It gives me hope and strength, and maybe a little chutzpah too. It's a shame more people don't know this story.

Well, I've got to get to my midwives’ meeting. We get together once a week and share about the births we’ve attended recently (Chuckling and Standing Up) Just wait till they hear about this morning. I mean, really, I hardly did anything. I got there, did a few maneuvers, and out she came. Clara and Lucy did all the work. I was just there to hold on when she came. (Shake head) M-m-mm what a story.

(*this birth story is a true story of a friend of mine!)