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Abstract: Pregnancy is a significant and transformative life event, resulting in growth on several levels for the mother. Sometimes pregnancy can be uncomplicated, while at other times, pregnancy can pose serious health issues for mother and child. The course of the pregnancy will have an effect on how the experience is perceived and addressed by the mother and child. Using the rite of passage framework, extrapolated from the work of van Gennep, the authors describe changes in a woman's role during the three stages (separation, limen, and aggregation). In addition, the authors suggest that issues emerging during each stage provide opportunities for birth educators to work with the mother-to-be during pregnancy, birth, and post-partum experiences. Honoring changes in each stage and encouraging new mothers to embrace the anticipated challenges that accompany parenting are discussed.
Keywords: birth, pregnancy, rites of passage
Childbirth has been described as a spiritual event that is a peak experience for some women (Blum, 1980; Colman & Colman, 1 97 1; Leifer, 1980). Some women describe the birth journey as an encounter with a higher power that travels with the mother and child from conception to birth and serves as a protective force during the pregnancy. Those who are able to discuss their understanding of birth relative to their spiritual and religious beliefs are more likely to experience a positive birth experience (Schneider, 2012).
The peak experience that accompanies birth often leads to a transformation of the mother's self-concept as she transitions from pregnancy to motherhood (Benedek, 1959). The feeling of being betwixt and between the roles of a woman who is self-contained to one who is thrust into emotional and bodily change during pregnancy offers a mother the condition for the possibility of "profound interior change" (Davis- Floyd, 1992, p. 19). A holistic approach that includes the bio-psycho-social-spiritual dimensions of personhood will assist mothers in developing a perspective that allows them to perceive birth as a peak experience (Ayers-Gould, 2000).
When a woman gives birth to her child, she experiences the culmination of a rite of passage (Davis- Floyd, 1992; Schneider, 2012). Pregnancy is also a rite of passage her child experiences. Both mother and child are on the margins of life and death as the perilous process of pregnancy...