The stories around all three of my births circle in my head almost daily. They eke out like a valve release when the topic comes up, but never in a way that is long, languid, and unfolding. It's like the stories live a little stuck somewhere inside my body.
After my experiences, I craved to tell my story. A handful of close friends and family listened. But once I'd birthed my birth story once (often in those first few weeks postpartum) I felt the door close - the natural processing that occurs over time happened mostly in my own head.
Birth is a vacuum of time like no other - intense, wild, disarming and vulnerable. Whether it went “well” or “not so well”, it shapes how we show up in the world and who we become.
I believe telling your birth story is telling a huge part of your entire story.