Where should I start? Please give me your ideas.

[Beppie]

I live in a town with a c/s rate of almost 50%. Every mom I have met who lives here has had a c/s. Most of them are also unhappy with their experience. There's one OB in town who does births, and no midwives closer than 30 miles away.

I feel women need to be educated. I feel so passionately about this, especially the more I read on the subject.

I want to do something about it. But I'm posting here because I have no idea how to swim upstream in a rural town with such backwards birth practices? Is there a place for a childbirth educator in a town like this? I'm so confused about what step I should take. I really want to make a difference, and help women see their options, that birth is natural and these interventions are unnecessary.

Quick background on me:
I'm 28. I'm a SAHM to a 2-year-old, and planning a homebirth with a midwife (she lives 30 miles away) in December for my 2nd child. I'm a lawyer by training, and I'm licensed too, but I've never practiced law.

I've told DH I should've become a midwife. But with my student loans from law school, he is not happy to hear this! (understandably).

But I do not want to waste my life wishing I had done something to better women's lives, esp. when the medical establishment makes me SO angry about the way they treat women's labors and births!!!!!

Please, any direction you can give me is very welcome.

[MidwifeErika]

I have lots of thoughts on this because your town is so close to where i grew up, so it just really hits home for me. I think an excellent place to start would be to become a CBE and/or doula..... I don't really think there are any in that area. And there would be a lot of work to do because there isn't a LLL group close by or any natural parenting groups (at least that I know of) or anything to give you free publicity. But, you could become a CBE and maybe advertise right through the dr. offices. I really think it would be good because you know there are other women there who feel the same as you. Not every woman is happy with the lack of options there and I think if they knew there was a better way and support for that better way, they would start to make changes.

I have recently talked with my husband about moving back to that area in a few years when I am a CPM because there just aren't really any.... but it is easier to live in a place that already supports homebirth and natural birth than it is to go into places where it is unheard of and start a revolution.... ya know?

I would really encourage you to start heading in those directions if they call to you. I think it is important work and needs to be done.

And hey, could you pm me the name of the midwife you found? I would love to know who is attending homebirths in that area yet.

[Doula Gina]

I would start somewhere simple, like start a chapter of BirthNETWORK and hold meetings in your local library, find some interest, start spreading the word about informed consent, midwifery model of care, etc, bringing in speakers from different practices and asking good questions. Advertise at local whole foods, complimentary providers (chiro, acupuncturist, etc), planned parenthood, and so forth.

If you start these meetings, you will find others who feel the same way will come out of the woodwork, then you have something to start grassroots, and you won't have to give up being a lawyer . I would think it would be easy to combine being a CBE with being a working professional in another field, but being a doula or a midwife isn't as simple because of the on call factor (besides all the paperwork, prenatals, overhead, etc of being a midwife).

Start small, it will grow, and others will grow with you. Sponsor a doula training in your area. Host a neonatal resuscitation class.

If the c-section rate is so high, start a chapter of ICAN in your city. Right away.

Use your law training to help you advocate in your state legislature for bills supporting breastfeeding and midwifery.

Just a few things off the top of my head that you could do to start making changes.

[SublimeBirthGirl]

I'll be paying off my law school adventure for a long time to come. I didn't even finish. I'm now a poor childbirth educator and I don't regret it a bit. Fortunately, my husband doesn't seem to care.

I really think a town like yours is in desperate need of normal birth advocates and childbirth education. I live in metro Atlanta so to me, 30 miles is no big deal honestly. With my first I drove to a hospital that was an hour away if it wasn't rush hour because they offered waterbirth. IME the majority of women, even those who want natural births, seem unwilling to do that. I don't know why. Having the birth I wanted was worth the drive (though it wasn't REALLY the birth I wanted and I stayed home for #2). Anyway...just musing on the whole distance thing.

[Mindi22]

Originally Posted by Doula Gina

Advertise at local whole foods, complimentary providers (chiro, acupuncturist, etc), planned parenthood, and so forth.

If you decide to go the CBE route, I would second the talking to chiropractors. Check on www.icpa4kids.org to see if there are any chiropractors in your area that are members and focus on pregnancy and kids. I wouldn't be surprised if you found a like-minded chiropractor who would allow you use of their space and even helped you fill your classes up!