Fear Mongering of Natural Birth
Posted by January Harshe on April 28, 2009
I do not even know where to begin. Actually, I am going to go away and come back because I am too emotionally worked up right now to write a coherent post about this!
OK, I have calmed down. A little. Today, my emotional fire about birth began with an email. I emailed a doula friend of mine and asked her if she would be willing to support a mama who wanted an unassisted childbirth. This doula is awesome! She truly trusts birth and honoring the choices of the pregnant/birthing mother.
Her reply informed me that she could not due to personal things going on in her life and that she did not know of anyone to recommend to support this mama. Apparently everyone is ‘jumpy’ as she put it. The state they are in is cracking down on midwives and doulas who ‘honor women’s birthing choices’.
WHAT?! Since when does the goverment get to tell a woman how to birth and tell other women that they can not support the birthing mama?! So, here is a mama wanting an unhindered birth and having a hard time of finding any support at all. She wants to birth how God (or nature or whatever you believe in) made her body to birth with no interference from people coming at her with fear (or knives) and no one can or will becasue they are afraid of their butts getting prosecuted for it. Hmmmm, should we get out the stakes and start burning those who are different once again?
We live in a time where it is all about ‘tolerance’. Tolerance for all races (which I agree with of course), for gay marriage, for pornography, abortion, etc. “To each their own”. We live in a day where doctors, the AMA, and the media can push the fear of death all over the place when it comes to things like birth and the swine flu! We live now, right now, when pharmceutical companies jump on these opportunities to make BILLIONS of dollars from the fears of others. We tolerate all of this. But, if someone wants to tune out the media, wants to educate themselves, wants to keep drugs out of their bodies and believe in their innate intelligence, have faith in God and wants to have an unassisted birth, there is NO tolerance! Are you kidding me?!
Fear mongering. That is the best way I can describe it. Fear is contagious and it catches on more quickly than any ‘deadly’ disease! I am not about to be man handled (literally) again because of fear. I have worked through my fears. I have faith in myself, my body, my baby, my God! I know I can birth this baby without having my vagina cut. Without someone pulling on my baby’s head, without DRUGS! The interference is what causes most problems.
Infant mortality rates are still high in our country because of premature babies being born too often. My last baby was born at 44 weeks! If I had just given into fears or listened to any doctor and even some midwives, they would have wanted to cut me open at 38-40 weeks tops! That would have been 4-6 weeks to early for that baby! Can you imagine? As my chiropractor at the time put it, “She would have been severly compromised!” Good thing I fought for what I knew was right.
I do not care who supports what I am doing and who does not. I do not care what others think. I have to live with my birth experiences, no one else. And especially not the government or some doctor who does not know me. With my last birth (my VBA2C), the doctor who I had never met before this, came into my room, looked at me, gloved up and put his hand in my vagina! No introduction, didn’t ask, nothing. He thought because I was a woman on my back in labor that he was in control of me. I literally yelled at him, “GET OUT OF ME”! And he did.
In my opinion home birth is much, much safer than hospital birth. For me, the safest birth option at this point is an unassisted birth. To all the birthing women and any man who may support a birthing mama, read this again and again: EDUCATE YOURSELF, FIND YOUR VOICE AND DO WHAT IS BEST FOR THE MAMA AND BABY! This will be different for everyone. Do not look to others, especially doctors and hospitals for this answer. Look within. Once you find what the right thing is for you, DO NOT WAIVER. EVER.
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henny said,
*applause*
you know I am totally with you on this one!
Miranda said,
BRAVO!! January, you are fantastic!! I am so excited for you!
January Harshe said,
Thank you so much for the positive feedback! I wasn’t expecting to for others to take so well to what I have to say and what I am doing. It’s quite refreshing!
Sarah said,
My comments do not post! AHHHH!
Anyway- I agree but had a question. I don’t understand why an UC mom would want a doula present at her birth. I have read Michael Odent saying that the ideal birth is alone because then the woman has nobody coaching her and nobody to impress or perform for. She is then free to totally tune in and do what she needs to do. The presence of anybody can detract from this- yes?
What do you think?
January Harshe said,
I think this is a personal choice. I think most UC moms want to be alone or with their partner only so that there is NO interference like you are saying. Maybe a mom feels she needs a little more support, but doesn’t want any medical support. Does that make sense? I think when a doula attends an UC they are really out of the picture for the most part. They aren’t assisting like a midwife would at all.
For me personally, I wouldn’t want a doula here. That would kind of defeat the purpose (for me). I want it to be an intimate experience for myself and my hubby.
I guess this goes along with everyone finding what works best for them. BUT, an UC mama should not be hiring a doula to replace not having a midwife and I think any UC friendly doula would make that clear.
Does that answer your question? Sorry if that was round about. That was a really good question. What are your thoughts?
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