Many times, people are shocked that as a traditional midwife women’s health activist, holistic wellness and spiritual practitioner, I am always actively warning, educating and building knowledge for people to understand what pregnancy and motherhood really mean and what it looks like, what it could look like and often times that comes with backlash because I’m policing women’s Vulvas or I am trying to enforce Child limits or I’m trying to tell people that having kids is not a blessing or any other ignorant responses. Let me be the 1st to say or write in this case that I have always shared with every single client I’ve ever had the pros and cons of being pregnant. I have always mentioned that while you are pregnant, you are sitting in the thrush hold of life and death, and many women Head over to death, so that is not a surprise to the people who know me. I’m also a death midwife, so I talk about death a lot. I’m very comfortable with loss, and so you have to actually know who I am to understand where my mind goes when I see people getting into habits that are killing us. Pregnancy isn’t just a life event — it’s a biological and spiritual risk. It’s not a cute Instagram announcement. It’s not a “blessing” to be dashed off without intention. It threatens your heart, organs, mind, and life. That’s true every single time.

1. The High Stakes: Pregnancy as Risk

We don’t often hear this, but maternal mortality in the U.S. hovers around 17 per 100,000 births — much higher than in other developed nations. This also does not consider countries that many Western nations caught underdeveloped because they are not taking into consideration the horrific colonialism that has occurred, stripping of land resources, people displacement, genocide, rape, and other violent things that occur. And that doesn’t account for lifelong complications that come after surviving childbirth:

• Organ damage: preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, heart attack, stroke.
• Pelvic trauma: prolapse, obstetric fistula, nerve injury, urinary incontinence—often permanent.
• Severe infections: endometritis, sepsis, necrotising fasciitis.
• Mental health crises: postpartum psychosis, PTSD, suicide.

[source: CDC, WHO]

Yet we’re told it’s natural, expected, even trivial. That you “just need nine months and a good hospital.”

2. Corporations Want You to Normalise Back‑to‑Back Births

There’s an eerie synchronicity: the same brands make diapers for baby and adult incontinence for mama. They market the “instant bond” narrative—siblings close in age, best friends forever. It’s sold as cute on Pinterest and Instagram, but the real cost is on your pelvic floor, your bones, and your mental health.

Advertisement sells fleeting joy and instant toddler Instagram feeds; it doesn’t tell you about pelvic organ prolapse and lifelong leakage—both far more common among women who have pregnancies too close together.

3. Ancestral Wisdom: Spacing Was Intentional

This trend is not ancient; it’s a relatively modern Western phenomenon. Indigenous African, Afro‑Diasporic, and many traditional cultures practised intentional birth spacing to protect maternal health, child survival, and community sustainability.

• Postpartum Taboo Periods: In many West African cultures, women refrained from sexual activity for 6 months to 2 years after birth — the body had time to recover, the bone structures re-ossessed, and the womb healed.
• Herbal Postpartum and Womb‑Healing Protocols: Used by Akan, Yoruba, Igbo, Zulu, Ethiopian, and Maasai women—women drank infusions of red‑root, African basil, blue cohosh equivalent to restore uterine tone and purify the blood.
• Community Care (“Mother Knows Best”): Grandmothers and midwives held ritual spaces, cooked healing foods, monitored postpartum mothers, and ensured rest and gentle movement before resuming heavy work or conception.

This wasn’t deprivation but longevity, rooted in respect for the pregnant body and spiritual alignment. Many traditions emphasise that pregnancy is an initiation into ancestral role‑holding, not a task to be rushed.

4. Real Costs: When You Breach the Wisdom

Failing to respect that recovery leads to real consequences:

1. Pelvic Floor Collapse: Prolapse—bladder, uterus or rectum falling—leaks, pain for decades.
2. Musculoskeletal Injuries: Symphysis pubis dysfunction, hip misalignment, osteoporosis faster.
3. Venous Thrombosis: DVT/PE—fatal if untreated.
4. Impaired Lactation: Insufficient milk drives guilt, anxiety, and formula dependence.
5. Perinatal Depression & Psychosis: Overdose of hormones, underdose of rest
6. Severe Anaemia & Nutrient Depletion: This leads to chronic fatigue, immune collapse, and heart issues.

These are not isolated. They’re expected if you ignore rest, nutrition, ceremony, and womb care.

5. Your Vagina Is an Organ of Power — Guard It Like a Temple

The vagina is not a recovery room. It’s not self‑healing rubber. It:

• Holds babies
• Expands and retracts
• Cleanses
• Holds stories, trauma, birth memory
• Releases life and stores ancestral lineage

It deserves ritual, temperance, herbal treatment, and respect. Chewing a placenta or downing high‑dose vitamins isn’t enough. The power is in intentional rest and spiritual recognition.

6. How to Heal Your Womb and Protect the Future

✧ Honour postpartum rest – If your ancestors paused, so can you.

✧ Spacing matters – Wait until blood and bones are replenished. Six months? A year? Two? You choose.

✧ Practice gentle womb‑healing rituals – Drumming circles, herbal baths (e.g. red raspberry leaf, blue basil), scar massage, and silence.

✧ Build spiritual container – A ritual to honour what your womb has done and what comes next.

✧ Educate your circle – Encourage spacing, not mommy‑wars.

✧ Reclaim your body story – Your lineage endures YOU—but only if your womb thrives, not just survives.

Further Reading & Ancestral Resources

While academic sources may be sparse, these texts offer windows into ancestral practices:

• The African Midwife’s Notebook by Adwoa A. Sarpong — ethnographic insights into Akan postpartum rituals.
• Mothering in the Continent: Traditional Birth Practices in Africa (Journal of Maternal Health, 2019) — online article summarising postpartum taboos and herbal practices among Yoruba, Igbo, and Maasai communities.
• Birthkeepers: Childbirth in African Cultures, edited by E. M. Tournier — collects oral histories and midwife traditions.
• Herbal Womb Wisdom by Malaika Nuru — explores indigenous womb‑healing traditions across Africa and diaspora communities.

Call to Action: For The Brave, The Wise, and The Sacred

Pregnancy is not the red carpet—it’s the initiation. Back‑to‑back births aren’t status; they’re often wounding. We owe it to ourselves—and the future—to reclaim womb wisdom. Let’s start conversations rooted in truth, healing, and legacy.

Share this to honour your ancestors, body, and womb-led pathway. Because what our grandmothers held as sacred, we deserve now more than ever.