Birth Words: Language For a Better Birth

This episode features a very special guest: Dr. Rebecca Dekker, founder of Evidence Based Birth. Dr. Dekker shares her thoughts and experiences surrounding problematic and empowering language used during birth.

In this episode--an extension of Episode 9 (Complexities)--Sara examines two excerpts from birth stories to further consider the complexities of our communicative interactions. She dissects the underlying beliefs accompanying the utterances exchanged during a birth to discover why some interactions are negative and others are positive.

Episode 16 features Lisa Cowan, a Utah-based birth doula with a unique birth story. She shares her story about her unexpected cesarean birth and how the words of others affected her throughout her birth and postpartum journey.

In this episode, I take a linguistic lens to consider the role and implications of birth affirmations.

REFERENCES:

Austin, J.L. (2014). How to do things with words. In Jaworski & N. Coupland (Eds.), The discourse reader (pp. 51-61). New York, NY: Routledge.

Butler, J. (1997). On linguistic vulnerability. In J. Butler, Excitable speech: A politics of the performative (pp. 1-41). New York, NY: Routledge.

Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk (pp. 124-159). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Meyer, C. F. (2009). Introducing English linguistics. Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press.

Searle, J. (1972). What is a speech act? In P. P. Giglioli (Ed.), Language and social context: Selected readings (pp. 136-154). Harmondsworth: Penguin

In this episode, I welcome Heidi Pyper, a fellow doula who shares her experiences about a difficult postpartum period. She discusses how problematic language made it challenging to get the help she needed at first, but she moved forward to find healing.

In this episode, I talk with Carla Belliard, a bilingual doula serving Utah. We discuss her linguistic background and how it affects her work as a doula.

In this episode, I consider the power of drawing on imagery and symbols during the birth experience.

In this episode, I pick the brains of Julie Francom and Meagan Heaton of The VBAC Link. We discuss the important way that the words we choose affect the experiences of women giving birth after a previous cesarean.

URLS mentioned in this episode:

www.thevbaclink.com

In this episode, my friend Crystal discusses her two birth experiences and how she felt supported through positive language.

​In this episode, Sara considers some complexities of communication. When we speak, we're not only producing phrases or sentences. Our speech also communicates our underlying beliefs and assumptions. In a birth setting, this becomes especially important. Sara unpacks several utterances produced by a variety of speakers in various birth stories to discuss their underlying beliefs and assumptions.