I just picked this book up from the library today, and already it is amazing me. I have read 13 pages, and been amazed at how many doctors are worried about the situation of our birthing. Doctors who think that inductions are too high, and our c-section rate. I emphasize the doctors, because then it is not some crazy hippie thing. It is not just some crazy home-birthers who like to eat granola who are saying there is a problem with our birthing system. Even the ACOG, which just released a horrible statement saying that they think the hospital is the safest place to birth have said that inductions should not be used as much as they are.
Anyway, I am getting really excited, and also really sad reading this book. I am excited, because here is the evidence, put together in such a nice format that is understandable, but also very credible. But I am also sad that this is the state of birthing in our society. I am sad for all the women who have not been able to experience the empowerment of physiological birth. I am sad that women are not educated about the risks of inductions and c-sections - that these things are normal in our society.
But I also have hope. I have hope that just as we got rid of stirrups, and let men into the delivery room that more advances can be made, that birth can become less medicalized, and that women can be informed, truly informed, about the decisions they make. I believe that we can turn the tides of outlawing midwife-attended homebirths. If so many people can disagree and argue about abortion, I think enough people can care about the insane things that happen to women that take away their rights to choose how they birth.
I am excited to read more.
3 comments:
I haven't read "Pushed" but mostly because I had a friend who told me that if I read it when I was pregnant, I'd be sad and depressed- not what you want to be while pregnant. I'll have to get ahold of it sometime.
Yeah, and isn't it funny that we have the reproductive rights to end our baby's life while in the womb, but they want to take away our rights in how we let the baby live?
I hope you tell us how this book goes.
This sounds very informative.
Although it may appear to my more naturally minded friends that I have given in to the man about childbirth, that is not the case. I do feel that it is VERY important for us to preserve a woman's right to choose her method of childbirth. Women should be able to choose to give birth naturally in their own homes with the assistance of a caring midwife. And women should be able to choose to give birth with reduced pain in a hospital environment where they can know that any medical emergency can be dealt with quickly and competently. They should be able to choose any synthesis of those environments as well. They should be able to have a midwife attend them in a hospital or labor at a birthing center. Although I'm sure everyone knows I think it is very risky, they should DEFINITELY also be able to give birth autonomously. Heather is right when she says that birthing is something the female body is designed to do, even without any assistance. And that choice should be available to all women. Every mother-to-be must be allowed to make the informed decision that fits her desires and level of comfort.
For clarification, I don't think this is comparable to a woman's right to choose abortion. It is a choice of method, not morality.
About inductions: I agree that inductions lead to unnecessary complications and that they are used far too often. My doctor said that with my second baby, I could be induced a week before my due date, just in case I wanted to. That is NOT an acceptable reason to induce. That is the doctor trying to weasel out of his responsibilities early and conveniently. The option of early induction, I feel, should not be offered routinely by competent medical professionals.
I've never thought that you've given into the man, Carolyn. As in, just having friends like me and Heather, I know that you at least have some exposure to different ideas about birth, and so you knew going into it that you had options. And so I feel great about you choosing to give birth the way you wanted. It is for people who don't have the exposure that you have had, and don't have the choice that I think should be available - that is what concerns me.
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