Since I’m in mode of asking for stories I thought I’d make one more request of all my wonderful readers. I’ve mentioned before that I am working on a book with some other LDS women called, “The Gift of Giving Life: Rediscovering the Divine Nature of Pregnancy and Birth.” There are lots of books on how to prepare physically for birth but this book is about how to prepare spiritually. We are including a lot of stories from LDS women about their spiritual insights into their birth experiences. We have some amazing stories so far but we still would like some more.
Here is what we are looking for. If you feel AT ALL prompted to share your story PLEASE don’t hesitate to share it. I’ve re-posted the call for stories that we posted on the blog for the book.
Calling all LDS women who have given birth. We have received many great stories that have made us feel even more in awe of women. We are still looking for a few more on specific topics.
Meditation – How did you meditate during your pregnancy? How did meditation prepare you for birth/motherhood? Share any growth, insights, or anything about meditation.
Preparation – What ceremonies/rituals did you participate in to prepare you for birth/motherhood/letting go of maidenhood? How did you spiritually prepare for the birth? Physically? Mentally and Emotionally? What would you write on a spiritual birth plan? We are also looking for stories about preparation and agency/consequences as they relate to pregnancy, birth, and beyond.
Healing from Sexual Abuse – How giving birth helped you heal from sexual abuse?
Your Legacy – How knowing your Mother’s (or another person’s) story affected your birth.
Constant Nourishment – How your nourished your body, mind, or spirit during pregnancy, labor, motherhood.
The Spirit/Mind/Body Connection – How did your mind affect your body, or your spirit effect your body?
Re-birth – Whatever that means to you.
Unity – We are looking for stories about unity with your partner, unity with caregivers, unity with baby, unity with God, and any other kind of unity.
The Atonement – Any stories or essays about pregnancy and birth and how it relates to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Experiences with Medicated Births – We’re short on these. We aren’t sure why. We know birth can be spiritual no matter what, but for some reason, natural birthers are more excited to talk about their experiences. So if you have had spiritual Cesarean births or spiritual medicated births, please share. Birth is a miracle no matter how babies come. The point of this book is to bring that back into primary focus.
Please send us your story as a word document or in the body of an email. Try to keep them somewhat short. I know it’s hard. Please don’t send links. Also, this is a spiritual birthing book for LDS women, so please do not edit things of a spiritual nature. Don’t worry about being a fabulous writer. We are good editors.
We can’t promise we’ll use them, but we can promise to get your final approval before we publish them. So sit down and writer yours today and send it to me at ldsbirthstories at gmail dot com.
