I NCR EA SIN G POSITIV E

ASPEN MIRABAL, INDIGENOUS BIRTH WORKER

BY CINDY BROWN

PHOTOS BY NATHAN BURTON

Worldwide Indigenous practices of birth are woven with community support, land-based practices and continuity. Traditional midwives and birth attendants center and protect the new mother, and continuous support is given by aunties and grandmothers from conception to parenting. Special care, attention and ceremony promote the healthiest outcomes of body and spirit.

Tewa Women United, Expanding Access to Doula Care, Birth Equity & Economic Justice in New Mexico

Women have always supported each other when pregnant and giving birth. Some of this traditional support system began to disappear in the 1930s and later, when medical professionals assisting birthing women in hospitals became the dominant way of giving birth in the US.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in births assisted by midwives and doulas. Doula is a Greek term for a woman who supports a mother through childbirth, according to a 2020 report by Tewa Women United, Expanding Access to Doula Care, Birth Equity and Economic Justice in New Mexico.

The report explains “A doula provides physical, emotional, informational, and spiritual support to a birthing person and their family, at home, at a birth center or in a hospital. A doula may teach a pregnant person about childbirth and breastfeeding; offer continuous labor support and non-medical comfort measures; answer questions about common medical procedures; advocate for her client’s voice to be heard; support with breastfeeding; offer postpartum support; assess for postpartum depression; and provide referrals to community resources.”

Aspen Mirabal of Taos Pueblo has been attending births as a doula for the past five years. She explains, “There are many different forms of doulas; some are specific to gestation, including preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, abortion, infant loss support, and others are end-of-life doulas. All cater to an individual person or family’s experience physically, spiritually and emotionally, and offer educational and communitybased resources.”

Mirabal identifies as an Indigenous birth worker, lactation educator and assistant midwife. “All these roles were created by and for Indigenous people. As a Taos Pueblo member, I feel proud to say that I’m an Indigenous birth worker.”

From a very young age, Mirabal was interested in the birth process. “My interest in midwifery first started when my second sister was born at home at Taos Pueblo. It sparked my interest in doing what the midwives did. I was four years old. Fast forward 10 years: at 14, I participated in a mini-mentorship in clinical midwifery-based care at the Northern New Mexico Birth Center. I saw the realities of midwifery.”

Mirabal changed sheets, saw one birth, and observed the heap of required paperwork. After finishing high school, she went to Guatemala and apprenticed with a traditional rural midwife. “Diving in was a bold move and I realized I needed to slow down. I saw that a midwife was in charge of a huge responsibility. I became aware that there are doulas out there who are not in charge of the delivery of the baby.”

Back in New Mexico, she became fully certified as a doula through Tewa Women United (TWU). She explains that TWU is owned and run by Indigenous women and that the organization developed its own curriculum titled the Yiya Vi Kagingdi Doula Project that is specific to Indigenous and other multiracial people of New Mexico.

The title comes from the Tewa term for mother’s helper. “The approach caters to people’s spiritual and cultural differences,” explains Mirabal. “Being a doula in this way means being respectful and open to each client. We see differences between the pueblos but also similarities in the ways we carry ourselves.”

There are many positive outcomes of doula care documented in studies, as well as through feedback from mothers, Mirabal points out. “Doulas are responsible for lowering inductions, C-sections and com- plications. They increase the number of unmedicated births and births with more positive birth experiences and so much more. When people do not have access to their healers and support people, those numbers go down.”

Seeing With New Eyes

Mirabal recently gave birth herself. When asked if her training and experience helped with her own birth, she says, “Not at all. I’m definitely going through a real-time transformation that is changing everything I thought I knew. The experience was different than I imagined it could be.”

She plans to bring her learning to her future work, including emphasizing following the lead of the mother even more and providing for the mother-father dyad.

“There is very little done to include the papa and partners,” she says. “Dads need to be much more respected. They witness life being given. They often have to be back in the workplace almost immediately, allowing hardly any time to bond. If there could be more paid paternity leave, that would be a dream; to let people be there with their families in that experience.”

Mirabal also learned a new respect for hospital births. Although she had planned a home birth, she ended up at the hospital and realized that you can have a transformative experience in a hospital, just like at home.

Becoming A Doula

Mirabal encourages those who are drawn to the work to pursue it. “It means something if someone has the calling to do the work,” she says. “It is a gift or message from elsewhere. Don’t think of it lightly. There are many doulas needed in this world.”

She suggests watching YouTube birth videos that show home and hospital births, and also situations like C-sections and even the loss of the baby or mom.

“Through the videos, you can hear what birth sounds like and see the birth environment. You can’t smell or taste it or feel the warmth or chill of the room, but you can almost imagine it. The experiences that are recorded are beautiful and sometimes sad and evoke something close to what you might see in the first or second birth you attend. No two are really alike.” Even after years of experience, she watches these videos so she can continue to learn.

Indigenous Birth Support

“Giving birth in your own community with people from your community assisting is the gold standard,” says Mirabal. She adds that such support lifts a huge barrier and adds comfort to the birth process. Those without training in the Indigenous experience may be unaware of both the community traditions and the ancestral traumas of the people and land.

The mothers she has supported have said that they appreciate the resources that Mirabal provides for them, whether it is homeopathic herbal support or referrals to traditional healers.

She also assists mothers and their families in rediscovering Indigenous-based knowledge from Taos Pueblo that had been forgotten, including birth and postpartum rituals. “Mothers say that it really helps to have a familiar person there in times of need. COVID in my community was devastating for families who were denied access in hospitals or even at home. When there was a doula there, that was the closest thing to family the mother might have gotten.”

Mirabal does not charge Indigenous people for her services. “I made a pact with myself not to take money from my own people,” she says. “I won’t turn away an Indigenous mother. If the timing aligns correctly with my availability, I will take them on and find the funding.”

To Find Out More

Resources

Tewa

New

Center

Changing Woman Initiative cwi-health.org

Breath of my Heart Birthplace breathofmyheart.org