The Business of Being Born

There are some of you who know that I am a doula.  There are many of you who do not.  My own mother often forgets this fact and didn't even know that I was a doula until quite recently.  It's okay, really.  It's not like I go around with a sign on my naked body saying, "DOULA".  Plus, so few people actually even know what a doula is or what a doula does. 

I have been a doula since 1990.  I have been blessed to share in the birth of over 135 babies.  The majority of them at home.  I have cried at every single one.  There is nothing, I assure you, nothing quite as beautiful as a woman giving all of herself to bring another life into this world.

Of those 135 births that I have been blessed to share, only one has ever opted for an epidural or drugs of any kind, actually.  Of course, a very small percentage of my births have been hospital births so that also is one of the reasons that so many of the births I have participated in have been drug free.  However, it is important to remember that a woman's body produces its own drugs when allowed to experience the birth process naturally.  Oxytocin is a very powerful drug, indeed.  And a woman in labor, during the course of birth, produces a huge amount all on her own.

I have just finished watching the film, The Business of Being Born.  Again, I am a doula.  I also am a master herbalist and I work with women all over the world to help them become pregnant when other methods haven't helped. 

I don't care if you are a woman or a man, if you've already given birth or are thinking about having children one day, I urge you to watch this film.  Watch it with open eyes, an open mind and an open heart.  It is so compelling and says a lot about how far we as a country have moved away from the natural birth process. 

Our hospital system is just that.  A system.  A system that is in the business of making money.  Scheduled C-sections in this country are an alarmingly high rate and it bothers me that we're becoming a society that is too posh to push.  A c-section is MAJOR SURGERY, people.   It comes with its own set of very high-risk complications.  And yet we have lots of women in this country who are purposely choosing both a c-section and a tummy tuck together in one simple visit. 

Gah.

I am not saying that the C-section does not have its place.  Of course it does.  But there is also a very valid place in our birth community for midwives and doulas and home births.  The scare tactics that modern OB's use to discourage women from persuing a home birth should be criminal.  The fact that many insurance companies will not pay for a home birth should also be criminal. 

Women have been giving birth to babies for millions of years.  What makes our current hospital system believe that they have the best answers for birth confounds me.  Having a woman lie on her back, feet prone in the air, actually makes the pelvis SMALLER and doesn't allow the baby to turn or move the way it needs to in order to descend and be born!

I don't have all the answers.  I just know from my own beautiful experiences that the birth experience and choices should really belong to the mother.  And be honored above all else.  Babies know how to be born.  We just need to let them come as they will. 

And they will.  I promise.

Comments

[denisem]

Beautiful post, Jen. Both of my boys were born at home with the assistance of midwives in 1991 and 1993. Homebirth is an amazing experience for the whole family.

I love the "too posh to push"- ain't that the truth. Natural childbirth literally changed me as a woman and prepared me for motherhood.

[mossum]

I, too, loved the "too posh to push" quote!

Jen, I had my first son at home in 1981. He came out sideways; I didn't scream er nuthin! (Just kidding - at least on the first count.) We had a huge BIRTHday party complete with invitations, 17 friends and family, pizza and backgammon. When it came time to push I just went for it and everyone got to see him born. Now he and his wife have their own bun in the oven. I'm sending this link to them in the hopes that they'll see I'm not the only one who promotes this kind of natural experience! (I think I'm kinda the hippie, new-age, oogie-boogie mom in their eyes.)

[mossum]

P.S. I would have had my second son at home if I could have. When he was born in 1988, midwives in Sacramento were under attack by the law. They'd had to go "underground" and I couldn't find anyone willing to even admit they were a midwife, let alone attend a home birth. So instead, I found myself an awesome hippie-dippy OB/GYN lady. Even though I was forced to have him in a hospital, she pretty much just let me do my thing. But, again, if I'd had my druthers, it'd be home birth every time.

[Heathen]

Just wanted to shout out as another home birth-er.

My son was born at home in 1996 after 20+ hours. I loved every moment of the experience and so thankful for it.

I'll be watching the movie tonight when work is finished.

[gwendomama]

"Oxytocin is a very powerful drug, indeed. And a woman in labor, during the course of birth, produces a huge amount all on her own."

I am going to have to step in here and say...UMM...NOT ENOUH. NOT EVER ENOUGH.

You know me - hippie mama and way to hooked on logic to homebirth at my age and where i live. Glad I made that choice.

I have had TWO Bradley births (one completely natural, one w/ pitocin and NO PAINKILLING DRUGS)and then with my third child I chose to have a spinal.
It was truly THE MOST BEAUTIFUL birth I have ever PARTICIPATED IN - I was not screaming in agony with my eyes screwed shut waiting for it to end. I was a willing participant. I enjoyed and remember every moment of his arrival. It was THE LEAST VIOLENT birth of all my childrens' entries into the world.

I commend and applaud those mothers who have the confidence and faith to birth at home. But to imply that a hospital birth is 'the wrong way to go' or is an invitation to 'cascade failure, ie C-section' is completely unfair.
Many women give birth in hospitals for ONE reason - the safety of their child's LIFE. This is not a factory or system. It is a choice available to mothers who do not see medical options as intervention.

[nakedjen]

I did not mean to imply that a hospital birth is the wrong way to go. I hope that wasn't the way it came across.

I just finished working for a month at our local University of Utah hospital. It is considered one of the TOP hospitals in the country. I won't share all the things I learned and saw there, except to say this. Hospitals are BIG BUSINESS these days. And it made me truly sad, as a person who is devoted to holistic healing on so many levels, to see how very little true caring is provided in a hospital setting.

I was present in both L&D and the neo-natal unit on many occasions while working at the hospital. I've also participated in many births at hospitals in San Jose and Santa Cruz.

Hospitals in this country definitely have their place. I have never tried to dissuade a birth mother from choosing a hospital birth if that is what she feels is absolutely best for her. It is my job to honor her choices and to make sure she has the best birth experience possible.

What does concern me is that many who work in hospital settings are uneducated about what the true capabilities of a birthing mother are and how a "best birth" can be achieved. And they're more concerned with getting home to their families than ensuring that the birthing mother and baby have a truly beautiful birth.

There are statistics that show that the majority of c-sections in this country happen at 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Think about what those times, specifically imply.

Also, we know that hospitals only allow you to labor for so long. They have a "schedule" you need to follow. And if I've learned anything as a doula, babies do not come on a specific schedule.

I know, also, from living and working in Santa Cruz, that we're blessed in that area with far more patient and lovely and open minded OB's and lots of very experienced and wonderful midwives.

But the rest of the country isn't so lucky. And my blog post and this movie is really directed at them.

[gwendomama]

Perhaps living in a bubble in which I have had to defend my choice to NOT birth at home has influenced my defense of hospital births, but for every one story about a successful and peaceful and lovely hospital birth, there are 10 homebirthers standing on pedestals condemning our choices. you rarely hear of a hospital birther condemning a homebirther for taking such a risk. And that is how I see homebirth - as a huge risk. Would i condemn someone else for taking that risk? No, I would just not make that choice for myself.
But posts like this do nothing but slander ALL hospitals, instead of perhaps those who deserve to be called out.
I was trained in childbirth classes by a Bradley instuctor whose #1 methodology to back up her techniques for coping with childbirth pain was: FEAR.
I had a hospital birth but was so brainwashed by this FEAR OF INTERVENTION AND THEREFORE CASCADE FAILURE 'instructor' that I put myself and my baby in danger. and YES, the hospital DID let me do that...they did not intervene as you would have many believe. They allowed me to give birth in a dehydrated state because I INSISTED. I was terrorized into believing that ANY HELP AT ALL was INTERVENTION.

I have strong feelings about this, as you can see.

[Turbomomma]

Well said Gwendomama!