Birthing From Within
Newsletter
June 2008
Tenth Anniversary of
Birthing From Within
By Pam England
In July
1998, the first Birthing From Within
books arrived at my house "hot off the press." Wow! It's hard to believe it's
been ten years. In 1990, a week after giving
birth to my second son, Lucien, at home, I went
to the computer while he slept on my lap. I was not a "writer," but I wrote
about what I had realized about myself as a mother and midwife in the seven years between
giving birth by cesarean and giving birth at home.
Over the next six years, as my
children grew, I continued to practice homebirth midwifery and to experiment
with and develop various processes and rituals for holistic childbirth classes. I
kept writing in drips and drabs about my
observations, refining my vision of what was possible in childbirth preparation
and initiation.
Encouraged by seeing consistent positive
results
with parents in my childbirth classes, I began to envision an uplifting book, beautiful and illustrated, with short chapters. I wrote a proposal and some
chapters. A book agent in New York plugged the book to lots of publishers, but
every rejection letter said that this book was not unique enough. So, in the
summer of 1996, I rolled up my sleeves, took the book apart, rearranged the
chapters on the floor of my office, added five new chapters and decided to
self-publish it.
As I said, I was not a "writer" when I
started, so my then husband, Rob Horowitz (who was an English major), edited my
writing. Linda Tratechaud, a brilliant book designer who lives in New Mexico,
designed the book with painstaking attention to detail, and she brought my vision
to life. We read books about self-publishing, distribution, and marketing, and then
decided to take the risk of doing it ourselves.
When the finished book finally arrived
in the summer of 1998, so did the bills for designing and printing. Although
all the initial book reviews were generous in their praise of Birthing From Within, there was no money for marketing or publicity.
So I decided I'd better do something to pay off the bills and promote book
sales. As inquiries came in, I began to plan workshops for parents and
professional around the U.S. I had no idea how to lead workshops or what lay
ahead. The first workshop was in March 1999 in Austin, Texas. This workshop,
and every one to follow, received overwhelmingly positive reception.
What
has happened in the past decade?
My
oldest son, Sky, was eight when I unknowingly began this project, and my
younger son, Lucien, was eight when the book was published. My boys played at my feet while I wrote, and saw me coming and going
from over 100 workshop-trips.
My boys are now men: Sky is 26, happily
married to Aja, and they live and garden in
Albuquerque. Lucien is 17, plays the guitar and is leaving in a few weeks to
spend a year in Argentina as a foreign-exchange student.
Developing and managing the workshop
business and the budding Mentor certification program, traveling extensively,
and being a mother all consumed my time, and to some extent my creative energies.
Even so, I began developing our unique product line, including "Lucy" and the
"Next Best Thing Game"; I wrote the Keepsake Journal and a few articles, and
continued to paint.
In the past
nine years, I have been warmly welcomed by the greater birth community and
invited to speak at Lamaze, DONA, MANA and many other organizations. To date, over 100,000 copies of my book have
been sold, which is rare for a self-published book.
Many people have helped grow Birthing From
Within over the
past ten years, and whether they are still active in our organization or not, I
have valued their time, energy, and talents. Britta Bushnell and Virginia Bobro,
who stepped forward to help me and Birthing From Within three years ago, have
taken over work of office and program management, as well as leading workshops.
During this time I have reclaimed some lost
parts of myself and the creative
juices are flowing again. Currently I am writing and painting and creating new
products, as well as leading occasional retreats for Mentors and special workshops on topics of particular interest to me. It is an exciting time at
Birthing From Within, as I see the
influence of our work spreading throughout the birth culture, and across the
planet. Through my work, each of you who have read my book, gone to a Birthing From Within class or workshop, or visited our website, is making
a difference. Thank you for being a part of Birthing From Within!
In the next newsletter, we will
publish our
collective dream of Birthing From Within by her 20th anniversary. If
you have a dream, send it to us, and we'll
dream together.
Love, Pam
