Wonderfully made.

The second "Doula day" has come and gone. Blood circulation, labour and the placenta were the main topics.
Just learning about blood is fascinating. That the placenta is a subject on its own is amazing and I never get tired of hearing about the amazing process of labour and birth.
Did you know that during labour our bodies make the hormone endorfine which is a natural pain-killer that only kicks in if the adrenaline hormone stays low? So, more stress, more pain, less stress, less pain. That fact alone is reason enough to have a doula at your birth...to help you from getting stressed so that your body can produce those natural painkillers.

This reminds me how wonderfully we are made. The design is so perfect, the intricacy of how our body works, the detail. Not only that, but how our bodies then sustain another human being growing inside of us is a masterwork.
I was also reminded how wonderful medicine and science has been throughout history in discovering the pathological reasons that things go wrong during pregnancy and childbirth resulting in saved lives that in years gone by would have resulted in death.

There is a tension between nature and medical science we have to reckon with. We often polarize to a them and us stance, them being the medical world and us being the more natural, anti-medical, world. Its easy to forget where we would be without developing medicine. The tension will always be there but I heard many reasons to be respectful of nature and medicine today.

I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made,
you're breathtaking and that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139