Michel Odent: In Memoriam 

It has been deeply moving to read all the stories and eulogies coming out from the birthing community in honour of one of childbirths most devoted servants.

This past week has seen an onslaught of deep love and appreciation for a true light bearer who was also my doula teacher.  

Only this afternoon  before his passing was announced ,  a boiler engineer stood in my kitchen said to me:  yeah I know what a doula is. My sister had a water birth. She loved it.”

Little did I know that a few hours later, the father of water birth Michel Odent would leave his body and this plane. 

How many women have I watched reach down in birth pools over the  years to scoop up their babies tears of joy and disbelief running down their faces.. 

A few hours later, the man who pioneered water births is gone; the man I was lucky enough to train with and whose books line my bookshelves and whose theories  I practice to this day.

Back in 2008, in an Islington basement kitchen, I sat with other trainee doulas and listened to Michel’s theories of physiology  and learned how to be a hands off doula with his partner Liliana Lamis.

Warm, dark and private. Homebirth was the safest. 

Hands off, leave the mother alone, let her connect with her instinct.

Keep the fathers out of the birthing room. (The irony was not lost on him).

He was instrumental in the introduction of dimly lit “home-like” rooms, and initiating breastfeeding in the first golden hour.

I recall well his expression of deep frustration  that day at the use of CTG  in Labour wards. He called it a travesty and shared how the inventor of CTG had also lamented that it was being used in this way.  That conversation always stayed with me. 

His primal health institute set up in the UK charted the impact and consequence of interventions on future health. He warned about the unseen impact of caesarean sections on human development; he made connections between induction and future health issues.

Insightful work that has more relevance now than ever as intervention skyrockets and the long term consequences are ignored.

During that training, I discovered he had attended the home birth of my next door neighbour. I promptly went round and introduced myself.  Bonded by Michel Odent we became firm friends. I became a doula. So did she. Later ,she later became a midwife. 

Last year, I was lucky enough to attend an online webinar with Michel Odent on Induction. At 94, he was as passionate as ever; as up-to-ate with his research as ever: as insightful as ever.  

I know his words to be true. As a doula I have lived the truth of his insights.  

Odent was the ultimate social hero, turning his back on the establishment to serve Life instead.  No wonder he is loved by an army of women. A true light bearer illuminating the way for us all to follow on in his footsteps. 

May your soul rest in Infinite Love and Peace.🙏❤️