🌀Ever wonder how a birth worker with over 12 years of births experiences her first journey into motherhood? Sharing this episode with Jerusha Sutton Birth Photographer and birth worker has been an absolute oracle of wisdom! This is a first time mammas birth journey including a pregnancy of co-creating a documentary, Vipassana meditation at 30 weeks, pelvic mapping, homebirth preparation and a complete mammoth blessingway that had her labour started not long after! Jerusha interprets the whole experience so beautifully and I guarantee you will be floating after this story! 💫 If you are looking to enrich yourself with a positive birth story then this is it. This podcast understands the layers of pregnancy, birth and seeing how Jerusha’s journey in 2006 started her on a pathway to her heart centred birthwork.
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We begin the episode by setting the scene into the beauty of birth work. Jerusha began as a Doula after travelling the world and fulfilling her acting profession, however while having those moments contemplating on the hills of Europe she realised this was not fulfilling her. Jerusha attended a birth before she went overseas and this had resonated in her mind so much that she had to pursue this. She come back home and found the word ‘Doula’ 10 minutes later this changed the course of her life and a birthworker was born! Supporting women in birth Jerusha found to be just right for her, something about that connection to our linage perhaps! (Images to follow Tania Boyd)
Jerusha talks about the first birth experience as a Doula, this experience she describes as big learning experience for a young Doula (we talk about he importance of a mentor). It was a big experience and this certainly gave her insight into her gifts. We talk about Jerusha’s next adventures when they all moved to London. Jerusha engaged very much in postnatal work whilst living in the UK, we talked about how much the demand is not available in Australia for postnatal work and how important this time period is. Jerusha’s describes that Australia may have the ‘get on with it’ attitude! (Images to follow Anna Todd Photography)
So we get into the story of Jerusha’s transition from maiden to mother, she describes the pregnancy as just beautiful. Jerusha sourced her birth team and this also included the woman that initially invited Jerusha to her first ever birth! During her pregnancy Jerusha engaged in Vipassana at 30 weeks! This experience we talk in depth about especially how this can prepare you well and truly for labour. This birth prep is definitely no retreat as its hard work, yet as Jerusha describes it was for her a beautiful way to connect with baby, just think 10 days in silence with baby. Jerusha knew this would be incredibly uncomfortable and painful yet one of the most rewarding experiences to go though. Next we talk about Pelvic work in pregnancy and Jerusha talks about having a pregnancy session in Melbourne with vaginal exploration and mapping out the area. This is very interesting work and this work is factored of the great expertise of Jenny Blyth (see podcast episode 39).
The birth experience started to happen in the thick of organising the yet to be releasedBirth Time documentary. Jerusha (as many first time mums) was convinced when the baby was going to come, after 42 weeks! So she organised her blessing way, engaged in the labour and birth conference and looked forward to knowing that there was at least a month to go. We discuss her blessing way and how this was a beautiful way to honour the linage of women in Jerusha’s life.
Labour began at 38 weeks and they had to ship out her mum and dad who was visiting in the house and begin the process! We have a great insight into the process and how Jerusha was supported during this labour. There was a moment when it was time to get labour going and Jerusha talks about the shifts and changes in the labour. 40 minutes of the head crowning Rudi was born! We spoke about this experience in great detail and then importantly spoke about her partner Andy and how important this was to embrace him in the process. This was a supported and held experience where her partner amongst the large birth team made sure he felt his important role.
So the last podcast of the Birth Time Docco trio Jerusha talks about her perspective on the documentary. Check out Zoe Naylors show (episode 14) and Midwife Jo (episode 34). The docco trailer is going to be ready for the 2017 Homebirth Conference in Sydney NSW. This will be the pull to get funding to edit the film and get this out there to the community. Cant wait!!
From Jerusha
“I always had a deep interest in birth”.
“Doing Vipassana at 30 weeks pregnant, was hard, yet such a beautiful way to connect with my baby”.
“Andy my partner said after the birth course, ‘I feel like this has shifted from being your birth to our birth’”.
“There is a whole world of knowledge there that women are onto and WE need to tap into”.
“Even though I have seen 100’s of babies been born, I turned to my midwife Jo at one point in labour and said will it fit”!
“His head was out and then the world stopped”.
“When you realise Its just you in this moment, it was the most powerful moment of my life”.
“My partner looking at me in the birth pool commented. ‘You were everything you needed to be'”.
“Im not there to replace your partner in birth, I am there to make sure your partner can be the best support person they can be”.
“Even though I had an easy and beautiful experience, I still needed lots of care and nurturing after my birth”.
“People that are going through a loss don’t need you to shy away from them and death, they need to show up”.
INSIGHT INTO JERUSHA’S PHOTOGRAPHY
Resources:
Anna Todd Birth Photography – http://www.annatoddphotography.com/birth/
She Births Childbirth Course – https://shebirths.com/about/
Fiona Hallinan Pelvic Work – http://birthwork.com/about-us/
Jane Hardwicke Collings (check out podcast episode 17) – http://www.moonsong.com.au
HeartFelt Volunteer Photography for Loss and Ill Babies and Children – https://www.heartfelt.org.au
Connect with Jerusha Sutton:
Website: http://www.jerusha.com.au/doula-sydney/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JerushaDoulaPhotography
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerushasutton/
About Jerusha
Hi. I’m Jerusha. A Sydney-based birth and postnatal doula and birth and family photographer. (I’m also an actor, but we can chat about that another time). Sounds like a lot? Yeah, I know. Sometimes it feels like a lot, but mostly it works together like an intricate web, connected and seamless. Relationships are my passion. I support, and document, relationships.
The relationship between a mother and her child, a pregnant woman and her partner, a toddler and their new baby sibling and everything in between. I became a doulain 2006. Childbirth was something I had always been drawn to-I grew up surrounded by healthy attitudes towards birth, so I entered the birthing space with an open heart.
From the first birth I attended, I have always picked up a camera to capture the transition from woman into mother, and a babe on its journey earth-side, such is my fascination and awe of this sacred event. The emotion, the strength, the vulnerability, the purity. Thus, to support, and document. To hold up a mirror to you and show you how strong you are, how delicious your family is, how the fleeting moments are as magical as the big ones.
Me. What do I love?
- I love the first light of the day- an early walk or swim and coffee at the beach equals my morning perfection. Lucky for me, I get to do this often.
- I love long lunches with friends on our balcony… especially when they last well past sun down.
- I love a sunshiny wander through the streets of a cute town with my lover. Especially ones with yummy shops.
- I love evenings at my mum and dad’s dinner table, fuelled by too much good food and red wine. Heaven.
- I love trips back to London into the bosom of our hilarious friends; having loved ones on either side of the globe is both a heartache and a treat.
Oh, and if you are wondering about my name, it’s pronounced just as it reads. It’s Hebrew- no heritage connection- my parents just loved it. Found it in a Julie Andrews film called Hawaii.
My brother’s named Asko, but that’s another story…
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