Strollerderby

Wow - does anyone out there really think that doctors don't care?  Sad.

It is a lot easier for the "earthy birthies" to make doctors the "bad guy" of the whole birth industrial complex (I like the term!).  After 2 out of hospital births f my own and 5+ years working in a busy birth hospital, I'd have to say that the situation is not nearly that simple.  The truth is that the whole system is broken and isn't really working for any particular group (except the insurance companies, they seem to be doing okay).  Doctors have high malpractice fees, hospitals have nursing shortages, nurses are overtaxed, consumers are inundated with a culture that is horrified of birth and most of us aren't exposed to birth until our own pregnancies.  A recipe for disaster if there ever was one.  It effects us all, even the doctors.

Speaking as a husband to a natural birth mom, I think the activism of crunchy moms is more directed at the process of hospital birth:  get her in, pump her with pitocin, and more pitocin, lose patience, cut her up, yank the kid out, and boot them both out the door to make room for the next mom.  

To say that natural birth mothers don't trust doctors is equivalent to saying that people who grow their own food don't trust the checkout lady at the supermarket.  No, actually, they probably just like growing their own food and dislike groceries; they don't hate the grocer, just the business.  

Well, screw you too. Why are you directing so much hate at women who have been actively working to make the birthing experiences of ALL women better and the birthing options of all women greater? Midwives are also educated, so your comment on going to school longer doesn't hold any weight. It's not that women who choose home or midwife births have a strong disdain and distrust of doctors. It's that midwives are able to provide all around care and experience that a doctor cannot. It's knowing that pregnancy is not a disease, but a natural part of life that women can usually go through with few interventions. It's knowing that in the US we have the highest rate of maternal death and c-sections in the industrialized world and the lowest rates of midwife aided home births.

Hey, I see you have worked hard to justify having your children cut out of you instead of giving birth like a normal, healthy woman.  

And, yeah, I have a reflexive mistrust of anyone who plans to control my body in spite of my wishes and needs.  The Dr's may be motivated by "fear" or "Worry" that something will go wrong and they will be scarred for life, but their fear should not give ME scars.  

And, hey, post blogs like this on your personal website.  Your snotty opinions don't belong on Babble.

Rikki Lake: Bite me. "Normal, healthy women" have C-sections, too. Personally I have a reflexive mistrust of anyone as judgmental as you.

I went without drugs with my first.  My second and third were emergency c-sections.  

I was considered high risk.  Both my babies and I could have DIED......So, Rikki, should I trust my doctor or argue with him about having the birth I want????  Considering if I choose wrong, I could DIE or come home from the hospital without a baby????  Hmmmm....

Not everyone has an awful hospital birth.  A birth plan cannot be written in stone.  Shit happens.  And not all women experience pregnancy and birth in the same way.  

So get off your high horse and get over yourself.  I'm all for doing things as naturally as possible, but sometimes advanced medicine can save lives too, and that isn't such a bad thing.

I am an ICU RN, and I had a homebirth. I don't think of myself as "earthy-birthy."  To me, the risks associated with being a hospital patient are not trivial. There are med errors, drug-resistant infections, patient identity mistakes, and the need to refuse routine care if it is not in your best interest.

Entering a hospital increases the probability that you will end up delivering via c-section. I did not want major abdominal surgery. period.

I think my OB-GYN is a terrific doc, but I got tired of countless 5 minute appointments which, frankly, covered her ass, but offered no new information.

For women who have healthy, low-risk pregnancies, and who desire a birth experience that trusts the mother as a participant, the hospital is rarely the place. I was not willing to turn my experience over to "experts." This is not to say that my midwives were untrained: between them, they had 40+ years of experience; spent an hour per appointment with me; and 1 is a certified lactation consultant. I got top-notch care, including strep B testing, fetal monitoring, and blood pressure checks. They explained all the situations that would necessitate a hospital transfer. Thankfully, none arose during labor, though I had a large post-partum hemorrhage that she was able to control without transferring me.

I was able to stay in my bedroom. No strangers ever touched me or my baby. Neither of us was exposed to foreign pathogens. They cleaned up & when they determined I was fine, they left us to enjoy our new family. They returned the next day to check & again 3 days later. They called every day for a week. Rather than a package of formula samples and J&J coupons, I got a sling, some onesies made by my midwife's daughter; and great lactation support.

Homebirth is not about being "crunchy" or "earthy." It is one choice an informed health care consumer can make, and one that should be offered and supported much more frequently than it is.

My hospital birth was nothing like the horror stories I hear described (like the stuff in ticktock's post).  Maybe there's still a hospital out there that behaves that way, but mine did not.  

I really don't care how other people have their babies.  I did the research and decided how to have mine. I know that to some women a natural birth is a deeply personal choice that they feel strongly about.  For me, a late-stage low-dose epidural was the right choice.  No one strapped me down on my back the moment I walked in the door or forced needles into me.  No one even mentioned pain meds until I did (this is my hospital's policy)  My OBGYN had been my doctor for years and I trusted her implicitly.  

And then I run into people who will blithely inform me that I'm not a real woman or a real mom because I did not fully actualize my birth experience or some nonsense like that.  At first it made me angry; now it just makes me roll my eyes.  

So Amy, "I've got no beef with midwives, homebirth, natural childbirth or anything else that lets someone give birth the way she wants, but I expect the same respect accorded to how I chose to give birth."  Indeed!

I gave birth to a premature baby by emergency C-section.  Had I decided I was going going to "go all natural" and have my baby at home, we both would have died.  If I hadn't been getting regular pre-natal care, he would have come so early that there would have been no chance of saving him.  So what was I supposed to do?  Lose my baby because I didn't want medical interventions?  Hemorage to death on my bathroom floor?  Yea, right.  I think I'll go to the doctor.

Wow, this debate again? No one is forcing anyone to give birth in a hut, nor is anyone knocking moms who had a genuine emergency, either. We are lucky to live in a country where top-notch medical services are available. If you're more comfortable going to a hospital--or if you have complications--hey, that's what hospitals are there for. If you are low-risk and prefer a natural, drug-free birth, hey, you could do that, too. I hate how people get so defensive about this. Really, who cares as long as you do what's right for YOU?

If you'd actually SEEN The Business of Being Born, you'd know that one of the two filmmakers had her baby by emergency c-section during the filming of the movie. And Rikki Lake was, of course, totally supportive. Nobody is forcing you to have a natural childbirth, so why don't you stop acting so defensive? You're like one of those carnivores who flips out on every vegetarian she meets because she thinks they're judging her.

Good god, can't we all get along? Why is everyone so judge-y of each other's choices? Some people want the all-natural option, and some people want the fully-medicalized option, and it's absolutely possible for a well-informed woman to choose either.

It would be lovely if homebirth was fully legal and easily accessible, since in many cases, it seems safer and better, but access to doctors for high-risk pregnancies (and for women who just prefer to do it that way) is so essential. If everyone would stop being so high-and-mighty about their own choices, admit that neither option is perfect, and work together, maybe we could improve access to homebirth and fix the current problems with hospital birth. and wouldn't that be nice?

Thank you Bunny, CoolAuntie, Laura2 and get some therapy for your rational open-minded thoughts!

Not all people who choose homebirth or midwives are distrustful of doctors.  

My first was born in a hospital and the experience was wonderful.  The doctors and nurses were helpful and I received excellent help with breastfeeding.  

Two years later, I delivered my second at the same hospital, but this time the doctor who delivered me was more interested in his next cup of coffee then in letting me get off my back so I could get some pain relief.  My concerns, opinions and obvious distress were ignored.

I guess that comes with delivering at a large teaching hosital where they don't page "your" doctor when you are in labor.  But I'd rather do it any other way than the way things went the second time.  If that means a midwife at home, then so be it.  I don't distrust doctors.  But I'm afraid of ending up with a shitty one like Mr Coffee.

"Hey, I see you have worked hard to justify having your children cut out of you instead of giving birth like a normal, healthy woman. "

I am a normal, healthy woman, and I would have survived a vaginal birth pretty well, I think. My baby wouldn't have, and it wasn't a problem diagnosable pre-labor (and would not have been found by a midwife at home). So I had him "cut out" of me, as you'd say, and that's terrifically disrespectful phrasing of something even Michel Odent thinks is a "magnificent rescue."

Personally, once a person has crossed the line into outright denigration of another form of birth, I stop listening to their points - so whatever you're really trying to say gets lost in the noise. That seems like a tad bit ineffective at advocacy strategies go.

People who are mistrustful of doctors are one thing. People who have never met you but have decided you are ignorant, uninformed, or acting out of fear and/or mindless slavish devotion to the "birth complex" ... well, pardon me if I don't want to hear the rest of what you have to say. I feel insulted enough, thanks.

Hey, sure there are real emergencies, but everyone that has had a csection claims that it saved their (kid's) life....but the statistics speak differently.  The csection rate in the US is nearly %30, while in other countries with lower infant mortality rates have sub %10 rates.....so, logically, many moms are having csections who DID NOT NEED THEM.  I get tired of the pro-hospital set talking about the "natural" childbirth moms as earthy-birthy and rikki-lake esque...those are not meant as compliments.  Where is the respect and maybe awe for moms who go it naturally?  Giving birth at home with no meds, no Dr's, no ultrasounds and trusting themselves and their bodies to do what is indeed natural and healthy...that is awesome.  These moms are not silly or crunchy or stereo-typable....they are brave, strong and I wish I was one of them.  

Being a mom is hard.  Being pregnant can be hard.  Giving birth is hard!  Mom's should be respected....but mom's like amyinmotown are dismissive of mom's who deserve her respect.  And, whether you had an unnecessary csection, or one that saved your (kid's) life, you dont get a badge for loving your child more by trusting your doctor.

Couple things... I've worked with enough doctors to know that they are people.  Some are good, some are bad, some are empathic, some are uncaring.  Here in Germany, natural births supervised by a midwife are the norm, even in hospitals.  We're friends with a top obgyn at a top US hospital and he told my husband once that vaginal births are boring and he usually pushes for C-sections just to make his day a little more interesting.  Apart from that, he's a great, nice guy.

"some of us just do feel more comfortable with someone who went to school  a lot longer than we did keeping an eye on things"

Or maybe that's the point... As a biostatistician, I'm just as educated as the doctor sitting across from me, and they're often coming to me for advice.