Our culture of birth

An Australian blog posted a comment from a midwife stating that "we as a society have just about lost the ability to talk about labor and birth in a healthy, positive manner".


What does this mean? Will we find ourselves becoming so scared of natural birth that we create babies to be grown in plastic pods that we can break open when we are ready to admit them into our lives? Scary thought.


I read this posting shortly after hearing a NPR clip of a study documenting the risk statistics of babies born before the 39th week from elective, scheduled cesareans. This subject (also covered by the New York Times) outlined the problem as being that most people don't understand how important those last few weeks are to the babies' health. The occurrence of problems when babies being cut out early are: 37 weeks: 15.3%, 38 weeks: 11%, 40 weeks (full term): 7.3% . The point for me wasn't so much about the gestational timing of the surgery, but of the cruel intervention into an otherwise healthy pregnancy.


Why do we control the normal birth process as much as we do? Does it stem from past fears of pain and dying? Why do women have these fears towards labor and birth? I have a fascination with the history of birth, not only with natural births (this "fad" has a bit of historical mileage behind it), but with the way the birth process has changed over the years. There are many books chronicling birth in the United States that make a fascinating read.


Someday I will seek out and write down women's birth stories.
Have you ever asked an elder about their birth experience? Chances are the memories are painful and traumatic. It was routine to make women be shaved, drugged out of their minds, tied to a table (because they were drugged out of their minds), then savagely cut to make room for the baby to emerge. Because the women's bodies were so stressed and couldn't birth properly, their babies were then most likely yanked out using metal forceps and taken away to another room for a few hours.

One story I read told of a women who progressed so rapidly that the hospital policies couldn't keep up with her. She birthed her baby drug-free, then asked to hold her baby. The nurses were shocked at her request.
"She will drop it" one exclaimed.
The nurses were so used to seeing women incapable of rational action so soon after a birth that the idea of a women holding her own newborn was astonishing.
(Baby-Catcher, Peggy Vincent)

Imagine having to ask permission to hold your own child? Can you imagine not even knowing you have a child because your mind is so foggy you can't even focus? These memories must be part of the reason why our culture fears birth. Who would want that same situation for their own daughters? We pass along birth trama like child abuse passes through generations.


We may have medically changed from those dark years, but how have our cultural attitudes changed? The Australian blog referenced above, spoke of a woman who was afraid of her "vagina exploding". I haven't ever met a women who has admitted to that particular fear. But I do know that most women fear the pain of labor. Why do we not teach more women to work within the pain process? Women could have a stronger belief in the changes their bodies naturally make to balance the intensity of labor. Labor isn't all about the pain. It is about expansion and softness.
A give and take between two bodies.

I have also heard of women speak of fears of their baby being "too big". Take, for example, a women in the pushing stage of labor being told that her pelvis was to small for her baby's head. Picture that women laying on her back with her feet stretched out above the height of her back. An existing fear added to an inefficient labor position adds up to a Cesarean very quickly. Now picture the same woman squatting with her legs relaxed into a round, open position. Does gravity even factor into peoples' minds when they think of the standard "birthing position"?

We know that the mind and the body have a close working relationship. If the mind believes, the body will follow. By helping women to be more in touch with the natural capacities of their own bodies, we could be helping the initial attachment process of mother and child and lessen the chances of post-partum depression. We know that establishing a strong attachment minutes after birth is important for both the mental health of the mother and the physical well-being of the newborn. How can a mother be fully present for her baby if she has come into the process with fear, a fear that has been traumatically realized?

I think we need to come to a place where we can talk about birth in a positive manner. Birth is not just something that we must endure so that we may have children. It should be an empowering process, a rite of passage, a new awareness of inner confidence and strength. Women should look forward to labor and birth as an adventure, not as torture.

Showing women a healthy way to birth will allow our birth history to progress to a place in which babies and mothers have a better chance of health and happiness from the moment of emergence.

(...step down from soap box...)