01/24/2026
“To sit with women”
Not to manage her.
Not to rush her.
Not to fix what was never broken.
To sit with women is to stay when things are loud,
dark, primal, and uncertain.
It is to trust her body’s ancient remembering
even when the modern world has forgotten how.
This is the work of doulas, midwives, elders.
Soft hands. Steady breath. Unwavering presence.
Birth is not something we do.
It is something we witness. ✨
To “sit with women,” as Rachel Reed, author of Reclaiming Childbirth as a Right of Passage, names it, it is a reclamation of birth itself.
In modern systems, birth is often treated as something to be monitored, timed, and managed. Sitting with women asks us to step out of urgency and back into relationship. It reminds us that birth is not only physiological—it is emotional, spiritual, and deeply human.
For doulas, aunties, midwives, and elders, sitting with women means trusting the unfolding. It is advocacy rooted in connection, not authority. It is knowing when to speak and when silence is the most powerful support. It is staying present through uncertainty, intensity, and transformation.
To sit with women is to honor birth as a rite of passage with only one voice with the power, the mother ✨🤍
