By Nickita Stark
Birth. The mind conjures up images of women screaming in agony, the sound of dramatic midwives shouting at women “FIRST”, sound machines, white coats, stirrups, women pushing “uphill” on their backs, episiotomies and tears. During pregnancy we are told not to smoke, not to drink, not to dye our hair, most painkillers are off limits, not sushi or unpasteurized milk. However, the second we go into labor we are pumped full of drugs, told to give birth in hospital as our bodies are no longer trusted to do their job unsupervised. We are attached to machines and experience uncomfortable vaginal exams. Have we put ourselves on a time scale acceptable to the hospital, experience trauma as a pattern, and become conditioned to believe it is normal?
So why has a normal procedure been handed over to a medical team? Is childbirth inherently dangerous? As an experienced laborer, I would say a resounding no!
It saddens me to see countless women surrender their births to the medical profession. Hospital births have become the norm and we have lost confidence in our bodies. We have lost touch with our instinctive wisdom. Why do we fear childbirth so much? When did this happen and how? I have to stress, we are very lucky to have medical intervention when we need it. For the most part, the midwives do a great job. I’m not discussing the hard working midwives here, just the ‘system’ they work in. I have the utmost respect for maternity workers, whether they are independent or NHS. They are mostly wonderful, loving people who just want to help. This article is not about those people, but about the failed maternity system.
I remember over the years, while discussing home birth, people would ask, “What if something goes wrong? women died in childbirth.” To answer the first, we must first understand why things “go well” at birth. The best way to answer this is to compare birth to sex. Babies are made in love and born in love (well that’s the ideal scenario). We have to keep in mind that the same hormones we release during sex are also the hormones we release during birth – oxytocin, the ‘love hormone’ being the most important.
So imagine you are making love with your partner, you are in a happy, beautiful and euphoric state. You are in the moment, it is private and such a wonderful experience. Now imagine a man in a white coat opens your door, turns on the lights, storms in followed by a couple of women wearing scrubs and masks and starts observing you saying, “You can probably do it yourself, but we’re just here in case you can’t. I’m just going to take your blood pressure and have a little fun with your genitals. Don’t worry, I do it all the time, it’s normal.” Do you think you will be able to return to bliss after this rude and arrogant display? Unlikely. Birth is no different.
Oxytocin is released when we are calm and feel safe. If we release adrenaline, it will significantly compromise the flow of oxytocin. Our bodies will not function as they should if our adrenaline levels are telling us to fight or flight.
All the blood needed in our uterus will simply lead to our extremities. Guess what gets the adrenaline going? Bright lights, feelings of observation, strangers and motivated! Where does all of the above take place? Is it any wonder why so many women arrive at the hospital and their labor slows down or stops altogether? This is where you’ll hear that infamous phrase “failure to advance.” This is just basic birth physiology! So why isn’t this hardwired into our brains instead of fear and birth-related trauma?
It is not unusual for them to say “women died in childbirth”. At the end of the 19th century, women were afraid of “baby fever”. We didn’t understand bacteria or hand washing until Semmelweis discovered that women were dying at the hands of doctors. They would perform surgery and then deliver babies without washing their hands. He ordered his staff to wash their hands without understanding why it worked, but maternal death rates dropped significantly. After evidence of bacteria emerged, childhood fever virtually disappeared. Since poverty is one of the leading causes of maternal death, it is not surprising that as poverty rates have declined over the years, so have maternal and infant deaths. Issues such as overpopulation and malnutrition were no longer a common risk factor for women.
After the second world war, there was a massive shift from home to hospital with absolutely no evidence that it improved safety. It became a status symbol to give birth in a hospital. So instead of “high risk” women giving birth in the hospital, it became a common practice for all women. We lost community midwives and more importantly, we lost continuity of care. This is perhaps one of the biggest travesties in obstetrics.
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