Today I ‘saw”, or heard, myself in a new podcast I listened to. I’ve always been a podcast listener but with the pandemic, have found even more interesting podcasts to be my adult friends who talk to me during the day since my in-person interaction has greatly diminished. 

This ImagineMKE Podcast about Historic Milwaukee touched me in a special way. Julia Griffith, Program Director for Historic Milwaukee, shared a story about Milwaukee’s impact in shaping the world. Did you know there would be no Panama Canal without Milwaukee? It also included a story about how important Wisconsin was in licensing midwives. I’m a doula, not a midwife, but I am Italian and do live in the Lower East Side (not far from the Third Ward), so close enough. 

Julia says “Wisconsin was an early pioneer in licensing midwives. Because Italian immigrant women who lived in the Third Ward were vital to their communities, well trained in Italy, and wanted to be licensed in America. So the state of Wisconsin said ‘great, we can handle that’. ..Thank you immigrant Italian women who give us prenatal care.” 

So maybe I come to this work not only through a lifelong desire to walk the sacred journey of pregnancy and labor and help women achieve the birth they desire but empowered on a cellular level by my Italian ancestors to be a part of the birth experience.