On Birth

I'm gonna hop on my birth soapbox for a moment.  Feel free to disagree with me, I take no offense to others having a different opinion than me.

As you all may have guessed since I'm having a homebirth...I believe strongly in a woman's ability to birth her baby without medical intervention.

The way the US views and treats birth as something that needs to be fixed and handled and "taken care of", as though it's a disease or affliction, bothers me...a lot.

This is NOT to say that I believe everyone should have their babies at home.  For some women this would be hell and I would never recommend anyone have a homebirth who wasn't fully committed to the whole concept of homebirth.  A woman needs to feel safe and secure to birth her baby, if this ISN'T her home than she should not be at home!

This is NOT to say that I don't believe in pain management in labor.  Again I don't think every woman is comfortable with the idea of childbirth without drug pain management and that's totally fine, I'm not against pain management if that's what the woman WANTS.

This is also NOT to say I don't believe in C-sections.  The fact that we CAN perform C-sections to save mamas and babies is amazing, I would never ever say that C-sections should be stopped completely.

What I am saying is this:

The C-section rate in the US is absolutely appalling.  It's somewhere around 30% and the WHO recommends it never go above 10%.  Some hospitals hover near 50% and higher.  If somehow these crazy C-section rates were saving mamas and babies I might be singing a different tune but considering maternal death rates in the US are somewhere around 50th in the world and infant mortality rates are somewhere around 30th it looks as though our C-sections are NOT saving mamas and babies.  This is astounding and needs to change.

I believe every woman should birth her baby in the environment that is most comfortable FOR HER.  If this is her home I believe all insurance should cover homebirths and I am appalled that there are still states that make homebirth illegal.  By the way my insurance does NOT cover my homebirth, this pisses me off but I refuse to let my insurance dictate where and how I will have my baby.

If a woman is more comfortable in a hospital I believe she should have the right to labor at the hospital WITHOUT PRESSURE to have the baby in a certain amount of time.  And WITHOUT PRESSURE to take pain medications if she doesn't want them.  And WITHOUT PRESSURE to have a  C-section if her labor isn't progressing as swiftly as Dr.'s would like.  AS LONG AS MAMA AND BABY ARE NOT IN DANGER.  I also wish all hospitals would let their mamas move around and eat and drink during labor, statistically, just allowing these small changes would lower the C-section rate DRAMATICALLY.  As my yoga instructor put it refusing to let laboring women eat or drink just in case they need surgery is like saying you should never eat or drink 8 hours before you're going to get in a car just in case you get into an accident and need surgery.  I'm pretty sure in a true emergency, which is when C-sections SHOULD be done, it really doesn't matter if you have food in your stomach.

I don't believe any woman should ever be induced unless it is an emergency or if the woman is past 42 weeks.  A normal healthy pregnancy is 37-42 weeks, not 36-40.

A baby that is "too big" does not count as a reason to be induced.  I know way too many women who were induced for their "too big" baby only to pop out a little 6 or 7 lber.  I also know women who've popped out 9 lbers without a tear, so who's to say that baby is too big?  An ultrasound to determine size is really unreliable that late in pregnancy.  And you know what?  Babies are rarely too big to fit out of the mamas that made them.  Evolutionarily speaking it's ridiculous to think there are all these women who make huge babies and can't fit them out of their bodies.  The female body doesn't work like that...it does a damn good job of making a baby that will fit, even if it takes some maneuvering and work from both mama and baby.

Complications from gestational diabetes or preeclampsia or issues with amniotic fluid, either too low or too high do count as emergencies if they are causing distress in mama or baby and valid reasons to induce before 42 weeks.  I'm not saying I don't believe in inductions for real reasons.

I don't believe any Dr. EVER should suggest a C-section for any reason other than a true emergency.  The first rule of medicine is DO NO HARM and yet we have OB's all over the country promoting major surgery over a normal bodily process.  A C-section is way more harmful to both baby and mama than a vaginal birth.

Hemorrhaging, baby heart decelerations, mama's blood pressure, baby in distress are all valid reasons to C-section to save both mama and baby...but failure to dilate 24 hours after an induction IS NOT A REASON TO C-SECTION!!!!

Baby getting "stuck"?  Oh for goodness sake, unhook that woman and let her labor on her hands and knees and see if she can't UNSTICK baby before you C-section her!!!  A "stuck" baby should not automatically mean surgery.  There ARE situations in which a baby is stuck and baby is in distress and baby needs to come out NOW, but again...it's actually quite rare and that would be a TRUE emergency.  A "stuck" baby with no signs of fetal distress should not be sectioned, mama should just be allowed to change positions.

Elective C-sections.  Big Sigh.  This is America, I guess if you let people have plastic surgery to within an inch of their life you gotta let them elect to have major surgery to get a baby out as well.  But I disagree with elective C-sections.

Most importantly I BELIEVE IN APPROPRIATE BIRTHING.

That means you need to be birthing your baby in an appropriate environment for your particular pregnancy and birth.

There is a reason that midwives won't accept clients that are high-risk.  High-risk pregnancies are outside the norm and become a MEDICAL issue.  The appropriate place for them is with a Dr. and at a hospital.  That's what OB's are trained for, problems in pregnancy.  They are NOT well trained in low-risk normal healthy pregnancy, labor and deliveries.  We're coming to a point in this country in which many OB's have literally NEVER seen a natural birth.

A normal low-risk pregnancy is not a medical issue and does not need to be "treated".  In this day and age it's awesome that we are all monitored so that we can avoid or treat preventable problems, such as gestational hypertension but regardless of whether the medical community is involved women, with the help of midwives, will continue to get pregnant and have babies all on their own, the process doesn't NEED medical help.  And the help it does need should be all about SAVING MORE mamas and babies not about saving Dr.'s from being sued.