The Morning Star Birthing Centre is born

What is the philosophy behind Morning Star?

Paula: I strongly believe that physiological, natural birth is the way birth is meant to be. Our mission at Morning Star is to offer women safe childbirth experiences in the centre of Auroville that manifest the highest spiritual qualities during pregnancy, birth and in the months after birth.

Birth is an eternal thing. And the ability to hold that space and to protect that space is the work of a midwife. So I’m happy to be able to create a place in Auroville where I can manifest that highest aspiration of being a midwife.

How did this project come about?

When I started to work as a women’s health provider in Sante, I began to hear stories about women’s lives or about important people in their lives – their daughters and friends. And I heard a lot that disturbed me. They spoke of early initiation of sexual activity, young women seeking abortions and unpleasant, overly medicalized birth experiences. In December 2016, I developed a research project to examine women’s health in Auroville. A total of 216 women participated. The areas explored included puberty, sexual health, maternity and personal safety. In the maternity section we asked about details of place of birth, type of delivery – normal or cesarean section – quality of care received, time off from work and breastfeeding.

The responses showed that 41% of women felt that Auroville was not very welcoming for pregnant women. Many women expressed that they didn’t get enough time off to be with their babies or that they wished they had a better situation when they gave birth. One woman said, “It was a hospital birth – highly medicalized – not what I wanted”. Other comments include, “I did not get enough help while the delivery was happening,” “There were so many people around me making sounds that it made me uncomfortable,” and “I wish that there would have been more consciousness in the community about what mothering means.” Because of that study I realized that there was much more work that needed to be done in this area.

I then went to the Human Rights in Childbirth Conference in Mumbai on birth in India. This made me curious about what it’s like to give birth in the Auroville bioregion. From my research I found that often the women are isolated, no family members are allowed and they are not treated with dignity or the respect due a woman in childbirth. While it is difficult to get accurate statistics because hospitals are not required to report their cesarean section rates, it is estimated that 60 to 80% of childbearing women in India have a surgical delivery. Granted, a cesarean can be life-saving. However, when it is unnecessary it is the ultimate violence in childbirth.

For me, the mistreatment of women during childbirth is a basic violation of human rights. It is, of course, a violation of the mother’s rights. But it’s more than that! What about the baby’s? And what about fathers? How did fathers get so removed from the birthing experience?

Also, on the level of the human microbiome, when the infant is born through the vaginal canal, it begins the colonization of the baby by the mother’s flora, and when it is put on the mother’s skin and gets breast milk, this helps the transfer of healthy microorganisms from the mother to the baby. In hospitals, they tend to disturb this process. They want to bathe the baby, they want to wash the mother. And if you’ve had a cesarean section, it is very difficult because many aspects of the natural process have been disrupted.

When did you conceive of an Auroville birth centre?

It was when I helped Sindhuja and Michael to have their baby a little more than a year ago that I started to imagine a dedicated space for this work in Auroville. Once I had the idea, everything unfolded very fast.

It felt like the right time because there are young women here in Auroville who really want to be midwives. There is Krishna who studied midwifery in the UK, Shanti who is interested in breast feeding and midwifery, Rotem who is a doula (a woman who gives support to another woman during pregnancy and after birth) and is learning midwifery and Osnat who is a physiotherapist with training in women’s postural needs. I wouldn’t go ahead with this project if I didn’t have a team of women working with me.

What facilities will this space provide?

The birthing centre will have two birthing suites with a birthing tub. There will be an open space for family members, a small kitchen, an office for the midwife, and a large space dedicated to multipurpose use such as classes, meetings, and presentations. We want to create a welcoming, homelike ambience. So we’ll have all the comforts of a home but with facilities normally not available at home – a permanent, easy to clean birth tub with warm running water and a neonatal resuscitation area. We’ll also have equipment like birthing balls, and loops of material hung from the ceiling to enable different positions during labour – things that promote natural birth and vaginal deliveries. And then we’ll have enclosed gardens and a walking path on the grounds, where a woman can move and be with nature during labour within a protected, private space.

We want the form of the birthing room to encourage her to give birth naturally.

How did you choose the name?

“Morning Star” is from a passage in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. I had read Savitri even before I became a midwife. This particular passage means so much to me because it’s so hopeful for mothers and for humanity:

I saw the Omnipotent’s flaming pioneers

Over the heavenly verge which turns towards life

Come crowding down the amber stairs of birth;

Forerunners of a divine multitude,

Out of the paths of the morning star they came

Into the little room of mortal life.

What does the experience of assisting in birthing mean for you as a midwife?

I try to be a touchstone of reality, a touchstone of reassurance and of knowledge, for what can otherwise be a very tumultuous, emotionally-charged and fearful time for the woman giving birth and her partner. Even for women who feel the most prepared, the actual intensity of the birthing process can be unnerving.

Midwifery is considered a science and an art. Science has certainly been highly developed in the West, and I value that. It’s incredibly important when you have an opportunity to learn that you use this knowledge. But what I also love is art. The art is in witnessing, supporting, confirming and reassuring the woman that the process is on track, while allowing her to be at the centre. It’s her birth, her creation.

It’s a beautiful work. It has the intellectual aspect, the emotional component which is to have sympathy, empathy and compassion for your patients and for their families, and then the actual hands-on skills of being able to determine what position the baby is in, to determine dilation, and help with the actual delivery. It’s everything – it involves your head, heart and hands all at once.

What does it mean for you to be doing this work in Auroville?

To me, the practical is the spiritual. I stay within the realm of the possible, the realm of what I see and what I know. And the reality of the situation is so profound that it doesn’t require any embellishment. My focus is to be safe, careful, and attentive to the moment by moment details of the work that needs to be done and then consecrate that work in the spirit of Auroville.