I know I'm past my birth experience, but I had bookmarked this article that I wanted to share with my readers, entitled Trusting Birth, Controlling Birth.
Essentially, this article starts with a story about a woman whose water was broken against her will and asks the question:
Inductions without clear medical necessity, breaking the bag of water for no reason, continuous fetal monitoring without an indication, and other common medical interventions may increase my risk of being unable to give birth normally. Is the problem that I could not trust birth, or that my actions made it difficult or impossible for birth to take place normally?
I've read so many stories where women have regretted their birth experiences and have cried and cried. I feel good about mine although I would have wanted to go without drugs, I do appreciate that in my case the epidural worked wonders for me, and I was able to deliver vaginally.
Ultimately the answer to the question of who controls birth is no one.
My feelings on birth seem so complicated now. I read a lot of the crunchy natural birth blogs, but I also read the skeptical type blogs that live to debunk the crunchiness of the "natural birth movement".
ReplyDeleteMy birth experience was not what I wanted, but it isn't anything I sit around and cry about now. Was my C-Section necessary? Who knows? I recognize that on some level OBs are doing what it takes to resolve a potential problem based on their experience. OBs don't get sued for doing C-Sections. They get sued when babies die or are harmed because they did NOT do a C-Section. At some level, it is our own letitgious culture that created this whole issue.
"Trust Birth" and the whole "Trust Your Body" sort of annoys me. It smacks of blame the victim in a situation where you don't really have control. Women miscarry. Babies are stillborn. Babies get stuck and don't want to descend. Did these people not trust their bodies?
Not sure where I'm going with this! I said above that my feelings were complicated. :)
As someone who will probably never be able to deliver vaginally, I still believe in trusting your body and the entire birth process. I do believe the medical profession has totally made the natural approach to birthing seem outdated and unpopular. The medical profession has be bought and paid for by formula companies and pharmaceutical companies that sell medications that simulate natural birth.
ReplyDeleteAs a woman, I judge no one in there birth choices because at the end of the day, all that matters is having a healthy baby.
I have also had two miscarriages and I trusted my body enough to understand that my babies were not strong/viable enough to make it. I would never get an abortion on the onset of medical problems, but when my body miscarries, I trust that it was for the best.
I will never be able to deliver vaginally because I have a flat cervix and that does not deliver well with big babies(my first was 10lbs 11oz and I was not diabetic and only gained 40lbs during pregnancy). However,I support anyone who wants to go natural.
I am sure we all striving to be great mothers to our children and ultimately, that is what matters most.