[amyjeans]

I am the norm.
My birth is normal~unhindered~standard~regular~easy and simple.
It troubles me when people hear of how I birth they are astonished, and are so amazed that birth can be like this. That Iwas so brave, so strong, so trusting of myself.
Yes- it was unassisted, no doctor, no midwife, no 911, no emergency, no drugs, no hospital, no nurses, no c-section, no forceps, no episiotomy.
Just my husband and I.
Its been 22 months since my first UC and 4 months since my 2nd. During that time, I have actually relished in the responses from the unlearned.
Now it is wearing thin. I am now of the mind to begin chastising these women who feel it their obligation to entrust their bodies to strangers.
Ina Mae said it best in describing how our society is stuck in this paradigm.
The brainwashing needs to stop. After learning about the history of obstetrics, it infuriates me to no end how these professionals feel the need to manage something unmanageable.
God Bless Asia Carrera for her UC- perhaps she can help enlighten the rest of the world in discovering how their own bodies can function.
Function normal~unhindered~standard~regular~easy and simple at birth.
Thanks for letting me vent- I know this is a hot topic here in UC land-so throw your 2 cents in.
Then lets get this movement on the road...

 

[amyjeans]

I think I'm getting AF...

 

[LavenderMae]

RIGHT ON mama!!!!!!

 

[arlecchina]

I agree with you 100%. last birth was hospital torture. this time I keep being told how me and the baby are gonna die and that's exactly what I deserve. and sad to say when they turn out wrong, they'll start acting like I did something everyone cant do

 

[Skim]

Right on! Doesn't it seem like the more extreme reactions you get, the more "normal" or unexceptional the birth becomes to you? Well, at least it does to me. The demysticfication continues the longer I tell people, even much after the birth.

Isn't that lovely?

Let's keep on keeping on, mamas.

:

 

[cravenab00]

AMEN SISTER!!!!!!!!!

(see my sig)

 

[JanetF]

A woman said to me yesterday "What, you MEANT to give birth at home?'
Well, yes, I did

"Oh well I like to give birth in a BC because it's just "like" home [um yeah aside from the DRUGS and STRANGERS and RULES... maybe her home is different from mine?] but nearer the operating theatre."

I said, "Oh really? I give birth at home because it's a really LONG way from any operating theatres."

And my second birth was anything but easy hahahaha. It was a marathon, a saga, deserves it's own postcode-type birth

 

[augustacherri]

Sorry, this will probably be a long post!

When my mom had her first child in 1975, she really wanted my dad to be in the delivery room. They had done Lamaze I think and it was important to her that my dad be here. Well, in 1975 in Memphis, Tennessee, no respectable obstetrician allowed men in their delivery rooms, so when my mom could not find a hospital that would allow this, she looked for a person who would deliver her at home. This kind of information was not easy for her to find and she basically had to look through underground sources to find anyone! Finally, she found a doc who would do it.

When she delivered my brother, she was told by this "enlightened" homebirth doctor that she was absolutely in false labor (because she wasn't screaming her head off)....yeah....like 15 minutes later my brother was born posterior after my mom instinctively got on her hands and knees. Of course the doctor was a little flabbergasted as he watched on from across the room while my dad caught my brother!

Before that, my mom had never really even heard of women giving birth at home. At least not any educated woman with any DIGNITY, right? So she read more about birth and became a childbirth educator. Because there was nobody else around to do it, she started attending births of women who didn't want to deliver in the hospitals. She attended about 50 or so births in women's homes over the next 8 years or so and this was her experience.

Fast forward to 2004 when I have my first child. I had intended to have a UC with my sister and mother present (no husband--he dumped me while I was pregnant), and after four days of persistent frustrating labor, I freaked out during transition and asked to be taken to the hospital.

This was my mother's first experience with a hospital birth EVER. She was horrified! I was only in the hospital for 30 minutes! I arrived and they said, "PUSHPUSHPUSH" then gave me a huge episiotomy which tore, cut my son's cord before his body was even born and thrust him under the warmer lights with an oxygen mask on his face though he was crying quite lustily. My mother was shocked and dismayed!

She had NO idea that hospital births were so "violent" (her word).

My point is: I think you guys are right! If more women understood birth to be totally normal, then the things they do at hospitals would seem barbaric and unnecessary. Seriously, my mom could LITERALLY not believe how much they managed to medicalize the birth of my son in less than half an hour! She had been to lots of births and NEVER seen anything like it.

But even enlightened women in our society have been so indoctrinated to think that somehow the hospital can "make things better/safer" when it comes to birth. Even I freaked at the last minute and asked to go to the hospital.

How can we get the word out? From my experience there are a special breed of women (who are getting more and more numerous) who wear all their obstetric interventions as badges of honor ("Well, I had to have forceps and an episiotomy" or "I went through an emergency c-section after 15 hours of Pitocin-induced labor"). Women who actually DELIVER their own children are then labeled FREAKS/crazy/insane/stupid/irresponsible.

How can we change things??

 

[freebirth2]

I don't know I wish I could.

I wrote a phamphlet about the dangers of hospital births and the saftey of UC, and have begun handing it out to women. I wish I could do more.

I hope that Asia begins advocating for UC through talk shows etc. I think it would be great to see an article about UC and the dangers of medical intervention in magazines like time, newsweek etc,but seeing the mainstream reactions when I talk about UC. I can see why they would not do that.

I really hope someday women will begin birthing their children the way they were intended to.

 

[kungfumoose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebirth2 I wrote a phamphlet about the dangers of hospital births and the saftey of UC, and have begun handing it out to women. I wish I could do more.

Can I have a copy?
I would love to see what you put together.
A scan would be great.

~Moose

 

[SublimeBirthGirl]

cherri, your mom sounds awesome

 

[amyjeans]

okay gently here please.......

I'm happy to be reassured that women can trust themselves~ humbly obliged to educate the unlearned as best I can without malice.

 

[shell024]

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my UC last August and have been imagining what would have gone on in a hospital...and it REALLY scares me. My babe was NOT turning after 9 hours and was clearly sideways (tilting down a tiny bit). I am almost certain they would have ordered an emergency c-section. Or they would have wanted to strap the monitor on to check if the babe was "distressed" which probably would have stressed me out a LOT (I could barely have dp even touch me!) and stalled labor even more, etc... and ended up with a c-section anyway! It is really frightening to me what could have happened had I gone to a hospital!!!!!!

:

I'd like to get the word out too. The pamphlets are a good idea. Anything else? Maybe I'll write an opinion letter to the newspaper.

 

[Spark]

Ahhh, that's why I love you so, Amyjeans! Such wisdom!

 

[Spark]

Shell, I was writing while you were posting. Your birth taught me SO much reading it. I *do* remember thinking you would have had SO much more go on if you had been in the hospital!

 

[arlecchina]

shell, do you ahve that birth story posted here? could you link me? I'm very interested in how that went and your thoughts on it. (specifically a transverse baby)

 

[amyjeans]

 

[augustacherri]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beebaweewa And someone will always come along and say, But what about the minority of women who have XYZ complications - well, they're the freakin minority! The fact that 30% of women in our society end up having their babies cut out of them does not mean that a statistically significant minority of women need c-sections, it means that the medical system is doing some very, very bad things to women and their babies. In reality, maybe 10% of the women who get sectioned actually "need" it, meaning that they or their baby would have suffered death or irreparable damage if the surgery did not occur. So that's 90% of sections are unnecessary, or only 3 out of 100 women actually needing them. Beebs

And probably only 2 of those 3 had complications that weren't already caused by the DOCTORS themselves! My sister recently had her second baby in a hospital (though I pleaded with her not to) and my mother asked what percentage of women who came into their "progressive, home-like" maternity ward had their labors augmented by Pitocin--the answer? 80 percent! 100% of women got Pitocin augmentation during delivery of the placenta. That means that judging by their standards, at least 80 percent of women are just not equipped to give birth.....now forgive me, but that just seems completely ridiculous even to any REASONABLE person!! Oy vey!

:

 

[shell024]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arlecchina shell, do you ahve that birth story posted here? could you link me? I'm very interested in how that went and your thoughts on it. (specifically a transverse baby)

Here ya go

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...+our+sweet+boy

Spark, throw in the fact that I fainted when I stood up after the birth and snapped the cord (

DUH Michelle, almost 10 hrs of labor, and I didnt really eat or drink much) ...my god, they would have FREAKED in the hospital. oh wait, they would have *saved* me from that through their miracle surgery right? "thank goodness you had a c-section or that babe would have never come out and you both could have died! Plus the cord was around the baby's neck!!" I can hear it now...

 

[CryPixie83]