A word on Intuition 🤓
A word on INTUITION.
I just heard someone commenting on the BRAIN acronym saying: ‘well, intuition never saved any babies, a good birth team and birth plan do. Intuition stops women from seeking help as it gives false reassurance.’
Well, a good team and plan are important.......BUT, and that’s a huge ‘but’, as a midwife I would say intuition is MASSIVE for pregnant people.
NEVER ignore it!
It’s the sixth sense that makes women prick their ears up at a quieter than usual baby, it makes them investigate weird symptoms more. It makes them feel unease without being able to put their finger on what exactly is causing the unease. It makes women wake up before their tiny ones need feeding, it makes them start awake just BEFORE the toddler is sick in bed.
And I would say that intuition RARELY leads to *not seeking help*.
What leads to not seeking help is the *thinking mind* doing a good job rationalising to QUIETEN that intuition.
That is what I see again and again. I honestly have not really seen it the other way round.
I can remember one incident where I shut down my intuition and I will never forgive myself for it.
Fear (intrinsic or brought on by outside influence) can also quieten the powerful voice of intuition, which is difficult to work though, as it’s sometimes hard to see what came first, intuition or fear.
Ultimately, intuition/gut feeling is a vitally important part of the decision making process, but of course it can be informed by actual clinical information/evidence base too.
Any midwife ignoring a mother’s intuition is a fool
Art by Louise Bourgeois