I am unsure if this is correct, but it is one of my favs
"There are two things you will never regret, a dip in the ocean and the birth of your child"
And i am unsure where it came from.

Here's some that Seems Interesting.
1) Perhaps too many of us see pain as a badge of courage -- proof that we are just as strong as men.

2)Birth is an experience that demonstrates that life is not merely function and utility, but form and beauty.

3)To help mothers achieve pain-free childbirth, we must free ourselves from the mechanistic view of life and embrace a new holistic philosophy that does not presume to put arbitrary limits upon women, the experience of giving birth or life itself.

4)The power and intensity of your contractions cannot be stronger than you, because it is you.

5)You're braver than you believe. Stronger than you seem. And smarter than you think.

6)The traditional midwife believes that birth proceeds in a spiral fashion: labor starts, stops and starts, while the baby goes down, up and down, and the cervix opens, closes and opens. Nature has no design for failure; she holds her own meaning for success.

7)Offer hugs, not drugs

"Peace on Earth begins at birth."

the mother-care.ca one isn't working anymore Does anyone have any other similar links?

Oh, and I love this quote


"Having a highly trained obstetrical surgeon attend a normal birth is analogous to having a pediatric surgeon babysit a healthy 2-year-old." M. Wagner

Oh! and this one

..experiences have clearly shown that an approach which "de-medicalizes" birth, restores dignity and humanity to the process of childbirth, and returns control to the mother is also the safest approach.
Michel Odent, MD

Especially poignant to me because of this awful quote the head of anesthesiology uses at our hospital tour
Andrew Doughty in 1978 that "the most impressive effect (of epidural analgesia) is to bring TRANQUILITY and HUMANITY to the delivery suite as well as HAPPINESS and DIGNITY to a woman." Grrrrr! And he strongly believes in this quote (and that the epi gives the woman a chance to regain "composure and control"), no wonder the hospital has like a 95% epidural rate.

i these quotes!!!

This is my favorite-

"However much we know about birth in general, we know nothing about a particular birth. We must let it unfold with its own uniqueness." - Elizabeth Noble

I have it on my website home page and my business cards.

Here are a few of my other favorites. I have a quote at the top of each of my website pages.

“for far too many women pregnancy is something that happens to them rather than something they set out consciously and joyfully to do themselves.” -Sheila Kitzinger

"Doulas are the most positive innovation I've seen. And that's because they fit in anywhere: at home, at the hospital, at birth centers." -Penny Simkin

"the power and intensity of your contractions cannot be stronger than you, because it is you." -Unkown

“the knowledge of how to give birth without outside interventions lies deep within each woman. Successful childbirth depends on the acceptance of the process.” -Suzanne Arms

“you gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop and look fear in the face.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

[quote="Doula Lori"]One of my assignments in Passion for Birth (studying for Lamaze CBE) is to find and list favorite quotes about pregnancy & childbirth. I've noticed that a couple of alldoula posters have this quote in their signatures that I really like:

Pregnancy is the only time in a woman's life she can help God work a miracle.

This is soooo powerful!

two things i find myself saying to moms in prenatal visits, short little "quote like" blips inspired by all the things i've read, couldn't really place the credit, but don't think it's mine...

"labor is kind"- usually followed with an explanation of how the hormones of labor will pace themselves so that you can stay on top of it (oxytocin<catecholamines)....then followed by
"labor is an intricate dance of hormones"- helping illustrate how using pain meds and other interventions affect this "dance".

That's my favorite too!! And I also have it on my business cards

We do not see childbirth in many OB units now. What we see resembles childbirth as much as artificial insemination resembles sexual intercourse." -- Ronald Laung, Psychiatrist.

Some of my favorites have been posted already so I won't post them again. Sorry if I double post any tho.

If we are to heal the planet, we must begin by healing birthing.
Agnes Sallet Von Tannenberg

If I had my life to live over, instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished ever moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
Irma Bombeck

Attending births is like growing roses. You have to marvel at the ones that just open up and bloom at the first kiss of the sun but you wouldn't dream of pulling open the petals of the tightly closed buds and forcing them to blossom to your time line.
Gloria Lemay

Just as a woman's heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.
Virginia Di Orio

The knowledge of how to give birth without outside intervention lies deep within each woman. Successful childbirth depends on an acceptance of the process.
Suzanne Arms

The whole point of woman-centered birth is the knowledge that a woman is the birth power source. She may need, and deserve, help, but in essence, she always had, currently has, and will have the power.
Heather McCue

Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.” William MacNeile Dixon

On the birth of her 2nd son Owen. ‘I wanted to give birth as opposed to being delivered!’ Ricki Lake

Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers ~ strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength. Barbara Katz Rothman

The parallels between making love and giving birth are clear, not only in terms of passion and love, but also because we need essentially the same conditions for both experiences: privacy and safety. Sarah Buckley

We try to give a birthing woman freedom to find the right position for her own needs and comfort. Unfortunately, in our society we think of birthing as something done while lying down. Michel Odent

There is no way out of the experience except through it, because it is not really your experience at all but the baby’s. Your body is the child’s instrument of birth. Penelope LeachWilliam MacNeile Dixon

“A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three.”" Grantly Dick-Read

Midwifery is rooted in the natural approach. Pregnancy and birth are considered fundamentally healthy processes which have many normal variations; it is normal part of life, not a medical condition…Only when complications occur which are beyond the midwife’s expertise, is the woman transferred to obstetric care. Steiger

Treating normal labors as though they were complicated can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Rooks

Natural childbirth has evolved to suit the species, and if mankind chooses to ignore her advice and interfere with her workings we must not complain about the consequences. We have only ourselves to blame. Margaret Jowitt


Going to post those on my website.

My favourite childbirth quote:

“‘If one went to the extreme of giving the patient the full details of
mortality and morbidity related to cesarean section, most of them would
get up and go out and have their baby under a tree,’ [Dr. McDonald] said.”
[Neel J. Medicolegal pressure, MDs' lack of patience cited in cesarean
'epidemic.' Ob.Gyn. News Vol 22 No 10]



Irish physician McDonald’s remarks accord with the 1990 findings of
British research statistician Marjorie Tew who concluded that the British
maternity system is run by obstetricians who “withhold and pervert knowledge in order to maintain public ignorance and delusion.” [Tew M. Safer childbirth? A
critical history of maternity care. London: Chapman and Hall, 1990.] end of Quote.

There's a quote I once read but can't find now that I need for something I'm writing. I wonder if you've come across it in your research. It says something like "the way we treat women in labor is a reflections of... (something about the culture in general)" I've seen this quote more than once but can't find it now.

Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.
Willie Dixon