This is a nice article that talks about what moms are not told about childbirth.
http://www.alternet.org/story/65608/?page=1
So..........here is my question.
Since I have been thinking about my birth and all the other births I have done as a doula/apprentice.
Since I read the blog (below) about a mom who was abused by her doctor during her birth.
Since I have personally seen doctors and nurses abuse moms in labor.
If a women makes the choice to have a scheduled c-section...
If a mom makes the choice to have a medicalized birth...
If a mom makes the choice to be induced for no medical reason...
...she is not looked down upon by the medical profession. She is making her own choice (based on informed consent...which is a whole 'nother post) about how she wants to give birth to her own child. She should be able to decided if she wants an epidural...if she wants pitocin...if she wants to just get it over with and have a c-section...RIGHT?
Well...............................what about the mom who wants to make the choice to have a natural, intervention free birth? Is she touted as educated and in control of her body and her choices by the medical profession...or is she degraded, told she is crazy, patronized and labeled? (for those who do not know...it is the latter)
Why is this mom not as supported and encouraged for her choices just like the other moms would be about their choices? Why does the mom who wants an evidence-based birth have to fight, argue and endure all sorts of crap because of it?
Ladies and gentlemen...that is my question.
And I am not just ranting...I have been to some awful births in the hospital where moms are yelled at, threatened and forced to do things they did not want to do...all because they wanted a natural birth. All because they wanted to hold their baby immediately at the moment of birth. All because they wanted to nurse right away. All because they want to have a safe birth as defined by scientific studies, research and evidenced based practices...not as defined by the doctors or insurance companies.
I went to a birth in Ga. as a doula a few years back...with a "supportive" midwife. She "encouraged" mom in her quest for a natural birth. It was a nightmare. The mom had PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) for months afterwards. In my opinion, this mom was raped by a person in a trust position (her "medwife"). It was terrible.
I did a birth in Ga a few years back where mom was yelled at, cursed at and forced to lay in bed...forced to have pitocin...and ultimately forced into a c-section. We later found out she was lied to about her progress and the condition of the baby because the doc was mad at her and wanted her to be sectioned. (we read all about it in her medical charts)
Another birth...here in Co. A mom wanted a VBAC. (vaginal birth after c-section) The docs said she could "try"...so she labored at home for many hours. We got to the hospital and she was 5 cm and in active labor. They forced her to stay in bed...and she downright refused to have an internal fetal monitor (you know that they are little screws forced into the baby's head, right?). The docs were mad at her. The nurses were "Setting up the OR" for her (I overheard them talking about the mom in the hall). This mom labored on...very well. The docs came in to "talk to her" about a c-section as the mom began feeling like she needed to push. She decided to just push (you really cannot help it anyway) and the baby FLEW out onto the bed...first push. The docs freaked. They got mad. They basically raped her after her birth by stitching her up with no lidocaine because "you wanted to go natural..."
All this (and there are many more) I have seen over the past 10 years...without things getting any better. All this I have seen intertwined with beautiful births at home...no interference, no abuse, no yelling, no PTSD, no rapes. Yes, some births at home end up in the hospital, but those moms are still treated better than if they had started out at the hospital.
A homebirth is just another world.
It is respect. Encouragement. Trust. Comfort. Relaxing. Support. Evidence based. Safe. Secure. Loving. Quiet. It smells good...like home. Low lights. Only close loved ones (that are handpicked by mom) are there. Your own food. Your own bed. Your own sheets. Your baby...for unlimited amounts of time. Your shower. Your tub. Rest. JOY. Peace. Those great love hormones that hit you the nanosecond the baby is born...aawww. (unhindered by pitocin and an epidural) Sleep. Nursing. Snuggling. Gazing. Kissing. All about me. :)
It is just another world......
http://mamasmotives.blogspot.com/
So this blog is written by a mom who had her 3rd baby at the hospital in August and was verbally and physically abused by the doc on call. She is not just letting it go...she is fighting back...good for her! Scroll down to read her story and her dealings with the hospital/practice after writing a letter of complaint. Like they even care....
Yesterday (Saturday) it was 78 degrees outside. The kids had on shorts and sandals and we ran the air conditioner.
We awoke this morning to the kids yelling, "It's snowing"!!!!!!! and sure enough, it was snowing pretty hard. It snowed about 4-6 inches and, being the first snow of the year, the kids were SO excited to go out and play in it!
I think this is a cool picture....the snow-white trees and behind them you can still see the red leaves of fall.
The kids and their friends were having a snowball fight with Josiah...running in between the cars trying to "get" each other....
....and Josiah GOT Ethan pretty good! Notice little Maddie kneeling down to avoid the onslaught :)
Lily in the snow....she LOVES it.
Tarin Tarin Bo-Barin
Pres-Pres
I have to brag a little on my oldest son........he is shoveling the driveway of a single mom down the street. He hoped she would not see him and she would just be surprised that someone shoveled for her :)
He calls her "a by-herself mom" and says that she needs extra help from us. How true...and what a good boy to think of that!!!
Apparently the whole country is aghast at the newest figures to emerge from the CDC.... the number of MOTHERS dying during childbirth have RISEN. Well for the love of Pete people, what do you expect? We already have one of the highest infant death rates in the world...the second highest of ALL developed countries...so why are we shocked? Because we are so "safe" here giving birth? Cause we have the highest trained doctors in the entire world? Because a doctor would NEVER do something that would hurt a mom or baby?
Whatever.
To believe all that then a person is just in denial and living in fear.
The number of moms having c-sections is steadily rising every year...and a section means a mom is 3 times more likely to die during the birth or right after...so put that together and you have the answer. To many cesarean sections. And since the number of babies surviving birth has NOT gotten better...they are still premature and dying at a higher rate than in 25 other countries...and since moms are now more likely to die than in the past 50 years....OBVIOUSLY these c-sections are medically unnecessary and causing harm and even death to moms and babies.
See this article in the LATimes:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-block24sep24,0,6378847.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
So what in the heckfire has to happen for moms to STOP the madness????????????? How bad does it all have to get? How many more moms and babies have to needlessly die before women stand up and say NO to their doctors? Until moms realize that the OBs "standard of care" is killing our children and us? That hospital and medicalized birth is NOT safe and NOT proven healthy and NOT the best way to give birth to a child?
Do you realize that if we had the same infant mortality as Cuba (that little country near Florida) that 2,200 more babies would LIVE each year here in the USA?????? They have a better outcome for their newborns than we do. It's a fact people. Look it up.
So how do we stop the epidemic of needless major abdominal surgery to give birth?
*sigh*
Another post for another day :)
Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!
OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,
building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and
dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press
conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well
fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the
shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home
with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp
contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor
Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and
everybody Cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's
house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome."
Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the
grasshopper's sake.
Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry
King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both
call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity &
Anti-Grasshopper Act Retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number
of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his
home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a
Defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a
panel of Federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of
single-parent Welfare recipients.
The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the
last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just
happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't
maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and
the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who
terrorize the Once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote.
Dear Abby,
My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the
beginning, and, when I confront him, he denies everything.. What's worse,
everyone knows that he cheats on me. It is so humiliating.
Also, since he lost his job seven years ago, he hasn't even looked for a
new one. All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and shoot
the bull with his buddies, while I have to work to pay the bills.
Since our daughter went away to college he doesn't even pretend to
like me, and even hints that I may be a lesbian.
What should I do?
Signed: Clueless
Dear Clueless:
Grow up and dump him. Good grief woman! You don't need him anymore!
You're a Senator from New York, running for President of the United
States. ..... Act like it!!
30 full weeks....or should I say....only 10 more weeks to go!!!!!!!!!!!!
And if all goes weird...and I have this baby early (ha...HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA!) only 9 more weeks to go!!!! If I am lucky...and the trampoline jumping works, only 8 more weeks to go!!!!! And if I am really cutting it close with a homebirth....only 7 more weeks to go!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah. Dare to dream.
Keep hope alive.
With my track record, I will be 2 or 3 weeks late. 
At the birth I did last week I was checking in at the nurses station and they asked if I was there for MY induction. Apparently I am just HUGE and look inducable. Ha.
www.itsmybodymybabymybirth.com/
I want to get this video! It looks really neat and a good way to educate moms on natural birth. Even the website has some great information on it.
Besides, I like the title :)
"Normal birth is something that a woman DOES, not something that happens to her". -Marsden Wagner, MD in his book, "Born in the USA"
I was a doula at a birth this past Tuesday. This was a sweet friend from my church having her 2nd baby. Her first birth was very disappointing for her and she wanted to do something very different this time. She planned for a natural birth in a hospital here known for low intervention and waterbirths. After much reading, childbirth classes, etc, she was still apprehensive about having no epidural...and wanted a natural birth, but was somewhat unsure about this choice. Her husband, although a great guy, was totally freaked out by this and could not understand why on earth any woman would want a natural birth. It was funny having him in class :) I enjoyed it greatly! I could not wait to hear his thoughts after the birth.
Tuesday afternoon, labor began. (no induction this time!!!!) She called and told me that contractions were sporadic and not to bad...she would take a shower then a nap. One hour later she called and in mid sentence threw the phone down (a contraction began) and I knew she should head into the hospital. (I found out later that she was basically lying naked in the floor of her room......a BIG sign that she should be at the hospital!!!!). I headed out during rush hour to the hospital....45 minutes away. Thankfully rush hour here is nothing...a joke really compared to Atlanta traffic.
I walked into her hospital room at about 6:18 p.m. and she was side-laying on the bed...pushing! WOW. That was fast! What I missed............she got to the hospital around 5:50 p.m. and was laboring on her hands and knees...8 cm. The midwife asked if she could break the bag of water to "speed things along"....thankfully the mom had enough sense to say no (gee wiz, how fast did the midwife want it to go?????). A minute later, her water broke on it's own and mom began to push.
I rushed in the room and helped support mom and dad....cold cloths on her forehead (I love those in labor) and helped her know the most effective way to push. (note: I do NOT like coached pushing. A mom knows what to do if she follows what her body is saying. "Purple pushing" is NOT good (those three long pushes with each contraction with someone counting to 10) and I hate it. However, in a hospital setting, if mom can "fake" like she is doing this then the nurses will usually leave her alone and let her do her own thing...so I try and guide mom enough to have everyone shut up and let her push)
So this mom began to do some really great pushes and the nurse hushed.
Several pushes later, there was a good amount of bright red blood loss.
This is not a comforting sign. The immediate concern is the placenta. Is it detaching early? If so, the baby must come out NOW. I have only seen this personally once at a birth...a homebirth...and the baby/mom were fine with no problems...just a few tense moments and a few grey hairs.
So what is this bleeding? The midwife was concerned and the nurse flipped mom on her back as to get baby's heart tones. (this will tell if it is placenta and if the baby is getting enough oxygen.) The baby sounded great....no decels. The bleeding stopped on it's own never to return. Mom did not like the flat on the back position (who would???) but the midwife did not want her to move. Thankfully the baby was about to crown so the birth was imminent.
This is when the midwife asked to do an episiotomy. She was concerned about he bleeding that had occurred. It had stopped, the baby was fine, but she wanted the baby out just in case. Mom had an epis with baby #1 and the scar tissue was taking a while to stretch and the midwife did not want to wait. She did ask the moms permission and told mom that they could wait a few more pushes and see what happens. Mom pushed a few more times and then gave permission for the cut to be made. Although I am against all forms of epis and there is Z-E-R-O scienentific evidence of it being useful AT ALL, I was pleased that the midwife gave the decision to mom and was willing to not to it. (typically they just do it without even saying anything) So this mom was able to take control of her own body and decide what she did and did not want. Better than most hospitals, let me tell ya! So the midwife did the epis...a very small one...definitely not a doctors cut! (the midwife came in later and apologized for having to do it...she has only done a few in all her years as a midwife....but she really wanted the baby out so she could assess the bleeding)
So the baby was born in the next two pushes...and mom reached down to help catch her new baby.
The joy at this point was contagious...even the nurses were excited :)
The family did not know the sex of the baby prior to the birth. They have a daughter and REALLY wanted another girl.
So as the baby lay on mom's chest mom asked, "What is it??? Is it a boy or a girl"????? The midwife said, "Well, Dad needs to look and see!" (I thought this was so nice. I HATE it when the staff announces....it is the parents baby, they should get the excitement of looking for themselves...personal opinion, of course!)
So Dad looked and said, "It's a girl....THANK THE LORD!!!!" It was hysterical. Them mom and dad both said, "Daisy! Hi Daisy!!!!" She looks like a Daisy...a little flower :)
The staff did not take the baby from mom till after about 2-3 hours after the birth. How nice is that? Mom got to bond and nurse for these hours before the baby was weighed, measured, foot printed, etc. Nice. Her first daughter was taken and she saw her about 4 hours AFTER she was born...for the first time...so it was so sweet for her to be able to have this baby continually...and they never took her from the room at all. She never left mom.
It was a nice birth. Even being a hospital birth...which I rarely do anymore due to emotional distress...it was nice. They did the typical hospital stuff...cut the cord right away...gave ridiculous nursing advise....kept the baby for jaundice...etc...but overall and compared to other hospital births I have done around here it went very well.
I did the postpartum visit yesterday at the parent’s home. The baby is simply adorable...I cannot wait for my own kid to come out! Mom is feeling great and was very pleased with the birth. She said she felt SO SO SO much better this time after the birth than with her first, and that although natural birth is hard, it is SO worth it.
I asked dad his thoughts..........remember, he was really terrified of the whole natural thing. His main comment was this, "Well, after the birth of our first baby, there was little joy. Mom did not even know the baby was out she was so drugged and she never got to hold her. After this birth, there was SUCH JOY. We were so happy. She worked so hard for this baby and she was able to control what happened during the birth...she has skill. The joy was just so great".
How cool is that?! And mom said that even though they did not plan to have any more babies, this whole experience makes her want to have another baby!!!! I hear this A LOT with moms and natural births....and I think it is so neat. Obviously doing what God made us to do can be extremely rewarding and although temporarily challenging, the overall effect is what God intended birth to be.... Joyful :)
SO...............I have decided to have a baby :)
another fabulous montage about giving birth :)
there IS some nudity.
Enjoy!!! It is so sweet :) I cannot wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://sagefemme.blogspot.com/2007/09/homebirth-montage.html
I just finished reading two books about birthing in the United States.
"Born in the USA" written by a DOCTOR and perinatologist who works with the World Health Organization. He exposes SO MUCH about the US maternity system and it is really shocking. I knew a bunch of it, but he really goes into the "behind the scenes" with doctors and hospitals...seeing as how he knows first hand. He also testifies in a ton of court cases involving birth outcomes and the doctors who are responsible for them.
Very interesting book.
"Pushed" written by a lady after doing much research on birth and being appalled at the current state of things. She went to numerous births to see first hand how things go. A very typical hospital birth (epidural, etc), a scheduled C-section, and a homebirth.
Interesting....yet again :)
I wish every mom would read these books and others of there kind so the moms can make a truly informed choice on what they want for there birth. Moms just do not know. The fear drives them, not the reality.
