If you go to the average American hospital, odds are, you will have a normal baby. You will be ok, but you will not have a normal birth. In the sense of not having all kinds of unnecessary things done to you. When we first brought birth into the hospital, we treated it like it was surgery. The women is put into a wheel chair upon arrival, even though she can walk. They take away her clothes and give her a hospital gown. There is no need for gowns and masks in a normal birth. She is given an i.v. even though we have 4 decades of research showing that it is far better for a women to eat and drink on her own. She will get hooked up to an electronic fetal monitor and when the doctor or nurse comes in, they don't even look at the women, they look at the screen. The monitor was invented to prevent unnecessary intervention, but instead got used in the opposite way. The cesarean rate went from 6%, when the monitor was introduced, to 23% in just a short 10 year span, because the monitor more often than not, gives false alarms.
There is no question that interventions have saved lives. The problem happens when you apply these same interventions to normal, healthy women. Less than 10% of women will actually need interventions, but when you apply the same interventions to the other 90% of healthy women, then you're going to screw up the birth of the normal women.
It used to be ok that labor in hospitals lasted for 26 hours. Then it was 24 hours, then 18 hours and in some hospitals, it is now down to 12 hours. The act of labor takes place when the cervix begins to open the allow the baby to pass through. Normally this muscle is very tightly shut to keep the baby inside. The beginning of this muscle opening up (from about to 4 centimeters) is the first stage of labor. This stage can take hours or days to happen. Then you get into what is called active labor (about 4 to 6 centimeters) where labor moves a bit more quickly. In the hospital, you get frequent cervical checks to see if you are dilating quickly enough and if you're not, you get put on Pitocin. This cases the avalanche of other complications I have previously talked about which likely ends in cesarean delivery. Everyone may say, "Oh thank goodness we were able to do all these things to get the baby out." when in reality, those interventions are what caused the problem in the first place.
Another major cause of the rising cesarean rates is the increasing number of inductions. An induction is a major intervention, that instead of relying on the timing of nature and the mother and baby working together in partnership, it's saying, "Oh, it's 8 o'clock in the morning, you can be out of here by dinner and so can I." This way, the doctor can slot a women in when it's convenient for them.
There are a lot of women dying in this country because of unnecessary interventions. Women often go to their doctors expecting to be cared for during their pregnancy and there are many wonderful doctors and nurses who go into practice really wanting to care for and help mothers and babies. What happens is, the institutional policies and practices override what we know is really good and safe and supportive for mothers and babies. Most people are very uncomfortable with a women in labor, because of the pain. Everyone tries to push the mother into getting an epidural. At least 90% of all hospital births are given epidural. Women often say that they want their epidural in before the pain ever starts. That fact is, you aren't given the epidural until labor is almost over. Also, women are told about the risks of epidural, they are made to believe that it is safe, when in fact it is not.
When you get an epidural, it cuts off your sensory nerves. Think of it as a highway that at your baby is traveling out on. What if you numbed your feet and were expected to walk down a highway? You wouldn't be very good at it, would you? Your muscles work, but if your feet are numb, they don't work the same way. If your birth canal is numb, it won't work the same way.
The pain in childbirth in an essential part to giving birth. The pain you feel down there, goes up to the brain to tell it to release certain hormones and then the hormones go down. It's a cycle and if you take away the pain, the whole physiology is interrupted and causes things like forceps or the vacuum to be needed.
If women are given the right support system and are properly prepared, they won't need interventions like epidural. Water is one of the best forms of pain relief during labor. The heat form the water and the bubbles sooth and relax the muscles and can even speed up labor.
Childbirth is a transformative journey in a women's life. She can transform herself into a totally different women. She can see past all her barriers and come out saying, "I did that. I can do anything." At the same time, if we don't respect this women and give her dignity during childbirth, we can put her into a state of depression and give her a sense of inferiority. She can look at her birth experience and say, "This proves I am a weak women."
We now know that women who have experienced trauma in life, especially sexual trauma, learn that do not carry over well into birth. Some of the ordinary procedures carried out on laboring women become traumatic for the sexual abuse survivor. With the right kind of support, preparation and thorough prenatal care, she can enter into the experience of child birth and be completely transformed.
Women in labor need privacy. They need darkened rooms, and minimal interupton. The very act of observation can impair the release of the critical hormones of birth. A women can feel observed by the doctor, the nurses, or any number of interruptions. Pregnant women and laboring women are very emotionally porous. They will pick up on anything in the room. If your providers knew that you their job was to create a safe relaxing environment for labor, the women in labor would relax, her body would open and it would be totally different.
The hormones being produced during labor are the same hormones produced during sex. These hormones are important for making labor a good and safe experience. When we use interventions, this natural flow of hormones is blocked, causing labor to be less pleasurable and less safe.
If a women wants to have an ecstatic birth, she needs to be conscious of where she wants to give birth as well as who she wants to be present for the birth. The same elements a women would choose for having a wonderful birth are the same elements she would choose for having a great sexual experience
If women are given the right support system and are properly prepared, they won't need interventions like epidural. Water is one of the best forms of pain relief during labor. The heat form the water and the bubbles sooth and relax the muscles and can even speed up labor.
A good Midwife will be warm and welcoming. They will also ascertain whether the baby is in a good position, if the baby is growing well and reacting to the outside world in a healthy way. Her whole health will be observed and noticed by the Midwife. This really is the basis for being able to see whether a women is healthy enough to have a homebirth or if this women needs to be passed onto the doctor as a high risk patient. Homebirth midwives carry with them, all the same medical equipment as midwives at birthing centers have.
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