The investigators freely admit that planned home birth with a certified
birth attendant did not have any greater risks than planned hospital birth.
[More information]
Fathers often get short shrift, sometimes for good reason.
Today, we of the Fatherhood Vision Circle invite you to open to some
positive images of fatherhood:
A man loving himself and his future children enough to heal himself of
his past wounds before he chooses a woman to conceive with.
A man nourishing himself by choosing a good woman & committing to a
consciously-loving relationship into which to warmly welcome wished-for
children.
A man nourishing his woman by speaking total truth, by taking 100% responsibility
for his reality, by supporting her highest good as well as his own, by
co-creating equally with her the safe nest of home & family.
A man who tells his 8-month pregnant wife how beautiful she is.
A man who creates lullabies to sing to his baby in the womb.
A man who also wants a home birth with a midwife & is completely present
during the labor & delivery.
A man who protects children, male & female, from genital mutilation
& sexual abuse.
A man who chooses to work half-time so he can parent half-time.
A man who changes all the diapers.
A man who dispenses with diapers & becomes the Permanent Pooper Scooper
for as many years as it takes.
A man who loves skin-to-skin contact with his babies.
A man who welcomes a family bed.
A man who carries his baby in a Snuggli or a Gerry-pack.
A man who plays the piano with one hand while holding his baby with the
other.
A man who kills his television & reads his children stories.
A man who wrestles with his children and always lets them win.
A man who coaches co-ed sports teams for his children and, when they ask
who won, tells them that whoever had fun won.
A man who creates an alternative schooling for children who need it.
A man who will gladly teach, & gladly learn. A man who listens.
A man who says it's OK to cry, or be afraid, or angry, or excited.
A man who can cry, & be afraid, & be angry without violence or
blaming.
A man who knows that he is the caretaker of Divine Souls, who come trailing
clouds of Glory from God who is their home.
A man who celebrates his childrens' differences from him & encourages
them to become whoever & whatever they wish to become.
A man who, when the time comes, can let the birds fly the nest & bless
them on their way out into the global family.
A man who fathers all children, & weeps for the fatherless.
These images are true & real. Such fathers are now among us.
Bless them & their fatherhood.
(Collected, arranged, and presented by Belden Johnson before
the Association for Pre- & Perinatal Psychology & Health, San Francisco,
December 6, 1999.)
