My Experience Giving Birth with Santo Daime by Vera Froés

At Colonia 5000 I was impressed by the fact that small children and pregnant woman would take Daime. To help children be born in a birthing with Daime was a marking experience for me.

Birthing happens in the following way: the Daime is served to the woman in labor in doses of a little more than half a cup, and in lesser quantity for the two or three women who accompany the delivery. Immediately the attendants begin to sing the hymn “Sol, Lua, Estrela” of Mestre Irineu, until the birth is finished. Then the baby is placed on the mother’s belly until the umbilical cord stops pulsing and is cut. For the placenta to come out, a specific prayer is said, along with massage in the belly region.

I was present in cases in which the child was breech and couldn’t be born, and when the mother took Daime, the child turned and was born in the correct position. Another woman, who became a good friend of mine, Vera Viana, had two girls by caesarian and, pregnant with her third child opted for a normal birth. Judá, the name the child was given, from a miração her father had with Santo Daime, is the child who is being baptized by Padrinho [Sebastião] on the cover of the book.

All these experiences motivated me to try a natural childbirth with Daime myself, when I was living in Boca do Acre, Amazonas, and was Director of the Municipal House of Culture, collaborating in the general administration of the rubber-camp [seringal] Céu do Mapiá.

Fourteen years ago I did a caesarian with my daughter Luciana; the doctors thought I had a very narrow pelvis, which would not permit a normal birth. I suffered a lot from the anesthetic, besides not having participated in any of the success of becoming a mother.

I tell now what became the most important and emotional experience I had with Santo Daime.

On December 22nd, 1986, at exactly five o’clock in the morning, I was surprised to wake up and notice that my water had broken. We had arranged—myself and Marco, my husband—that we would take Daime, but owing to my prior births and as a precaution, we would go to the hospital, apparently the only one in the area.

I started to ingest the liquid at 7 in the morning, and from there took another dose every half hour. I remember that I took almost a liter, always leaving a little in the cup, which obliged Marco to take a dose every time I did.

I felt the contractions accelerate quickly; I had never felt that before, and by two in the afternoon, already suffering a lot, the mirações gave me relief. I had the impression that I would abandon my body and not return, had visions of several people in my family who had already died, and especially of my father, deceased 26 years, that put me in the shadow of the fear of death. The consolation came on remembering what Mestre Irineu said:

“A woman who takes Daime doesn’t die in labor.”

The Daime seemed to have reunited the right people to give me help, beginning with Dr. José, director of the hospital, a spiritualized and competent person; my friend Dorinha, who massaged me a lot; Sônia, the hospital dentist who, in my mirações seemed to irradiate laser rays from her blue eyes; her assistant, Benízia, who stayed at the ready from the first hours of suffering; and naturally, my untiring companion Marco, who always encouraged me to take more Daime, in order to, together, take the experience to the end.

The nurses of the hospital looked, scared, on seeing me take that yellowish-brown liquid. On that day, the hospital was deserted, not one sick person coming in, nor any women giving birth; the party was all for me. At 4 o’clock the doctor didn’t think the Daime would resolve the labor, and spoke with Marco to prepare me for a caesarian. Marco didn’t hesitate; he came to me with a three-finger glass of Daime and said:

“Vera, if you don’t take it, you’ll go under the knife.”

At this time I could not stand the pains anymore and said it was impossible because I was mirando too much, objects danced in front of me and everything shone. At the same time, the words “go under the knife” transported me 14 years back to the horror of the caesarian, but I didn’t have the courage to take even a drop more. At that moment I had a vision of Our Lady giving me the cup and saying:

“Take it, my daughter, it is your last dose.”

Believing what I saw and heard, I grabbed the cup and drank.

Right afterwards I entered into labor and the baby began to “crown.” The time had arrived, and Marco, who was singing the hymn “Sol, Lua, Estrela,” wanted to help me, but it depended all on me. There was some metal near my legs and the instruction was to pull the metal and push when the pain came. On the first try I vomited the Daime, which came out like a jet through my mouth and nose; immediately I drew back, feeling the baby’s head coming and going.

The miração grew: I saw the room filling up with people (spirits) and a legion of angels floating. I found myself present and distant at the same time, I felt myself balancing on a fine cord stretched between two side, one side life and the other, death. Someone whispered in my ear:

“Give life, let’s go, it’s now!”

At that instant I promised everything to Our Lady of the Conception, the image that stayed with me, I asked for strength to get through, because in the middle of each strong contraction, I vomited the Daime and drew back.

All of a sudden the room filled with light, it seemed that the sun itself was coming up. Another time I heard:

“It’s this time, let’s go!”

I pushed hard and there came the pain, tearing from the inside, giving the impression that my bones were breaking. It was a painful and marvelous moment, especially qhen I felt the baby’s head come out, stimulated by the voice of Dr. José, which sounded “atuado” (~ “possessed”) to me, guiding the little being with his hands.

“Pay attention because your child is being born, it is your child who is arriving, a little more effort, Vera, he is coming!”
It was time to vomit the last Daime for the baby to come into the world, in this moment I saw that all the spirits who were helping me turned and looked at the spirit that would incarnate in the baby, a burst of light lit up everything and the baby cried, I felt an indescribable happiness, was in harmony with all the world, floating on clouds of light. Thus Veraluz was born.
Overjoyed, Marco photographed everything, and as soon as the child left the room, dropped drops on Daime in its mouth following the custom of the People of Juramidam. I was in a state of grace for two days, neither hungry nor sleepy. I had a feeling of fullness and a certainty that the Daime achieved true miracles in women’s childbirth.
Later I became friends with Frederico Arruda, professor of pharmacology at the University of Amazonas, who together with the psychologist Luíza Garnello and other member of her team, performed experiments with Daime in pregnant rats. They verified that in fact, the rats that took Daime has a quicker labor and the offspring were born more alert that those of the rats that didn’t receive Daime. Naturally this didn’t surprise me, but it proved scientifically the positive effects of Daime in pregnancy.