A couple of years ago, I asked a few midwives and doulas what they would dream of for the future of care for pregnant and birthing women—what would it look like? Their collective responses became a letter we called To Future Mothers. The letter is written in the first person, with the "I" representing anyone working with birthing women who feels personally connected to the message.

Dear You, Who Are Giving Birth

I wish to experience the day when you approach your birth without the fear of being unsupported when the time comes. I hope that you can gather all the knowledge you feel you need in order to make a free, informed choice based on your wishes. You may feel anxious about the big event ahead, but you should never have to feel worry or fear that there won't be space for you or that a lack of resources will prevent you from feeling secure. I want you to be more than just a pain level or dilation measurement. I want you to never feel forgotten with pain in an admission room or simply become a number in a system that doesn't take into account the softer values.

However you choose to give birth, I hope that you have built a relationship with the people who will be with you during life's greatest journey. I hope you will receive personal, relationship-based, and adequate care throughout your pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. That those you want close to you will have their full focus on you, your process, your wishes, your fears, and your worries. I hope that you will have the choice to give birth in a hospital, at a midwife-led unit, or at home in your living room, and that your choice will be respected and honored by a system that has been built with you at its heart.

I hope you are never forced to choose between the vital worlds of security and medical safety, between your well-being and that of the healthcare staff, and you should never have to choose between yourself and your baby.

Everything in birth matters and counts, and even more so: you.

Carrying and giving birth to children is sacred, and I hope that we are encouraged and allowed to approach it accordingly. That children can be born as they are conceived, in safety, with vulnerable, open closeness, and unconditional love. Therefore, I hope that you would never feel unsafe, abandoned, or afraid that someone would violate your body or disrespect you when you are in a vulnerable and sensitive situation.

In a few years, I hope we can say – we did it! We succeeded in improving Swedish maternity care, for your sake! So that you can confidently give birth safely and securely, on your own terms.