misplaced mama

I have been trying to write this for a week. This daily writing thing has it’s good and bad points. I am just not clever enough to attempt to entertain on a daily basis. Some days I want absolutely no outside communication. At all. So to come and un-peel myself in this format is a real challenge. And the time I would have liked to spend thinking about writing a great Diva of the Day, (a subsidiary of Shameless Sistah Promotions:-) I had to spend figuring out a way to burp something, anything out on paper. Anyway, I hope I can do justice when I speak of this marvelous, talented Diva.

Since my first Diva was a sex activist, my second obviously should be a birth activist.

Her name is Jeanette and she is amazing.

When I first moved to the Phoenix area, specifically Scottsdale, I knew only my much older brother and his wife and their kids. That’s it. I had no idea how as new mom whose birthing and parenting and lifestyle choices seemed practically illegal in this relatively conservative and uptight little community I had landed in would meet others I could vibe with. Where was I to start? Anytime I pulled my boob out to feed my year old in public it felt like I had a scarlet letter across my forehead. It all seemed overwhelming and being the kind of person who feels perfectly fine alone, figuring I only planned on being here a very short time, who really cared? I’d just consider it an experiment in hibernation and not worry about making friends. I had loads of good ones other places. No need to struggle looking here. How was I going to find anyone special?

One day, while doing research for a book I was writing on homebirth, I came across an announcement for a Birth Circle. It was opened to women all over the phoenix area and it offered support, community, advocacy and education for women and their birthing choices. It was put on by The Arizona Birth Network, a non-profit organization which was a fresh voice for mother-centered birth, i.e. safe birth. Being a happy homebirther, trying to write a book on the exact subject, and being disbelief that something like this could exist here, I ran to the Circle.

The first time I saw Jeanette LeBlanc at that birth circle, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that a women that young was the resposible for this gathering. I immediately saw her wisdom twinkling in her eyes. She was beyond her years in knowledge and skill. Yet, when I saw her dipping a chocolate- chocolate chip cookie in a plateful of ambrosia salad (there was even food there for all of us) I knew she was a kid at heart and I knew I was meant to just adore her forever. I had little Mia in a sling and found a slew of other mamas slinging surrounding me, breastfeeding! Talking about their births! We shared joy and pain and healing experiences and the blood and guts. We told stories of homebirth heaven and hospital rapes. There was crying and laughing. People spoke of homebirth like it was normal and non-abusive! Wow! Everyone looked relaxed and at home. It was indeed a true Circle. A fellowship. A tribe of healers who were really just women-mothers but by joining together in such intimate ways, grand things were occurring. Mystical. Important. It was a sign to be that birth rites were about to change and that these women were going to have everything to do with it. And this young women, this brown haired, blue-eyes, long legged beauty who was excited and well spoken started it all. She was my hero.

Jeanette likes to un-deservingly criticize herself for not “having it together”, or not doing all she “needs to”. But how many women do you know who come here from another country, under the age of 30, with a husband and a child, living in somewhat secluded suburbia, start a city wide non-profit that educates through workshops, birth circles, and a free-exceptionally high quality newsletter (she even made me the features editor because she loves me so much and does not mind I don’t know how to spell)? Sounds so me like a bit of an achiever, right? Every bit of an activist, political and personal, because peace and justice starts for women when they can connect their yoni, their hearts and their minds and gather for others and just begin to change the way things are. She is a goddess. Not only is she type-A (in a good way, her work is perfect pretty much all the time) she she’s creative and can visualize change and she actually has the energy to do something about it. She doesn’t just talk about how awesome it would be to start and connect powerful systems of women who care about birthing and babies and families…SHE DID IT. She draws in world-renown birth professionals and best-selling authors to come to Birth Circles. She refers to the great Henci Goer and Sarah Buckley as her friends…and they are! One of the coolest things I was thinking about when pondering Jeanette and what she has done for my life and undoubtedly for so many others is that 90% of the women/mothers I am lucky to know now, I met because of Jeanette. And even cooler, 98% of those 90% either had a homebirth/planned one/are planning on birthed un-medicated and/or the way the wanted/are birth savvy all around. These facts apply to approx. 1.5% of the entire US population, and for me the stats falls in the 90th percentile. Where else on earth can you easily find so many people who believe power and healing in birth, whether you are looking for a friend or a care-provider? Jeanette has had a hand in creating this fact. She is a connector, like a magnetic orb she spins a silvery and strong web of people that are good to know.

I am in awe.

And not only is she a birth worker, a doula and a non-profit organization founder, she is also a child and birth photographer. And she is not just any photographer. She captures the inner light and love of the lucky people who get in the way of her shutter. I’ve seen her explode in less than a year from a really good picture-taker to someone who is a breathtakingly artistic and precise photographer, developing style and composition at the speed of light. Literally.

Jeanette can support you through your pregnancy, take photos of your blooming belly, be utterly with you at your birth; placing her hands of peace on that lower back spot where the baby’s skull is pressing and relieve with magical counter pressure, and all the while snapping photos capturing the essence of your deepest birthing warrior. And when she is done with all that she can take some heartwarming photos of your new life. Phew. I’m tired just writing about all her talents. Her lack of sleep has nothing to do with her 1 year old daughter. No, it has to do with the fact she is helping to heal the world.

So the last person in the world who should think they are not doing enough work or not getting to what’s ’suppose’ to be done, is Jeanette. She is a diva. And I bet she could do all that she does in smooth black stilettos holding a girly drink of her choice.

Jeanette is helping change the world for all women, babies and families. That is no small feat. I am honored to be her friend.