Radio talk show
waterbirthqueen
I was on a local NPR station being interviewed yesterday in Columbia,
Missouri.
It was an entire hour about waterbirth and gentle birth. The interview
went really well, including the call in from an obstetrician!! He said
he agreed (essentially) with everything that I was saying, except the
part where I called "standard" obstetrical care abuse to women. We
discussed the fact that he doesn't see what he does as abusive, but
many women who call me describe hourly vag exams, monitored, IVs,
medication, and such as abuse.
Any thoughts on the subject?
Blessings,
Barbara Harper
Director/Founder
Waterbirth International
www.waterbirth.org
800-641-2229-Office
Regine Marton MS CNM
Lori-Dawn
just no reason for all the invasive procedures they do, it doesn't
change the outcome except perhaps to discourage the mom who is laboring
and causing interventions....I may be labeled "high risk" by the medical
community, but I think that is hogwash. I'm diabetic and was appalled
by how the nurses handled my meds while I was in labor...I would've done
it totally different and would NOT have let my sugars get out of wack
during labor, like the nurses did, (because my endocrinologist didn't
phone them back to say increase the insulin drip, at 3 in the am!!)
Unfortunately no midwife will go near me because I'm diabetic...so it's
unassisted waterbirth for me all the way...mostly because of the "abuse"
I've put up with in my two previous pregnancies and births.
My 2 cents...I know lots of women who thank their lucky stars they have
dr.'s who "care enough to save them". It's sad really...
Lori-Dawn
Di
I believe it is all perception, many women do not believe it is abuse,
but perhaps they just don't know any better. =)
My beliefs are that it is abuse. Women need to be left alone to give
birth. You don't see vets interfering with animals. What makes humans
so different that they must be poked, prodded and given meds while we
give birth? I can understand when there are really complications that
interventions are necessary, however, if the pregnancy and birth are
normal, leave the woman alone!!
I look forward to your upcoming visit to Singapore!!
Cheers!
Di
Birthright Singapore Doula Services
Ronnie Falcao
I would bring up the issue of informed consent. Most birthing women
do not feel that they have any choices about their care. Even the
language that hospital professionals use betrays this fact, i.e.
whether or not they "allow" certain things. You never hear the
nurses asking the birthing women whether they'll "allow" them to
strap fetal monitors on them or break their waters or screw
monitors into their babies' heads.
And does anybody really believe that most women would "allow"
someone to cut their perineum unnecessarily?
So, essentially, no informed consent is being obtained for
these procedures from an ethical point of view. And, yes,
I would call it abuse to cut a woman's perineum without her
consent.
My favorite article from an OB point of view about informed
consent is:
<file:///C%7C/MidwifeArchives/Current/gettingToYes.html>Getting a stubborn patient to say Yes - an article written by and for OBs about how to coerce laboring women to agree to routine treatment.
http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gettingToYes.html
This is the actual practice of the theory expounded in <http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/ethics/ethics61.cfm>Patient Choice and the Maternal-Fetal Relationship.
http://www.uhmc.sunysb.edu/prevmed/mns/mcs/1/sched/consentopinion.html
Warm regards,
Ronnie
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Ronnie Falcao, LM, MS - homebirth midwife
Mountain View, California, near San Jose, south of San Francisco, CA, USA
ron...@gentlebirth.org
http://www.gentlebirth.org/ronnie/index.html
Barbara Harper
Thank you.
In talking to the family practice doctor (woman) that interviewed me, the doctor who called in is actually a neonatologist.
He is very disturbed by the reactions of the babies to epidurals and cesareans.
He sees a difference in their affect(how they interact with the world).
I have taught for a long time that we need to focus our efforts to change birth, also on the baby, not just the mother.
But, then that brings up the entire issue of "fetal rights" in a world that has already gone mad with liability issues.
I just want women to work on their emotional relationship with the baby.
I refer a lot of women to Daniel Seigel's book, "Parenting from the Inside Out," which helps couples see that parenting begins with sorting out your own issues of childhood, your style of having been parented, birthed and grown in the fluid of your mother's womb.
Based on that, we give a lot of distressing material to babies who absorb the thoughts, feelings, emotions and environment of their mothers.
INCLUDING the terror that so many women face during a medicalized birth.
Is it any wonder that we have as many distressed adults walking around all the time.
I think one of the places to go with changing maternity care practices is healing the providers and nurses from their own birth, pregnancy and early childhood trauma.
When I was lecturing in China last year, I introduced the concept that the baby is a conscious participant in the birth process.
They truly (doctors and midwives) never looked at it that way.
Their goal, as stated by one of the midwives - through a translator - was to get the baby out as quickly as possible.
In order to end the woman's suffering. Many doctors in asia and the middle east now look at cesarean as a more "humane" way of dealing with childbirth.
That is one reason the cesarean rates in private hospitals has been allowed to exceed 90% in Turkey, Iran, Saudia Arabia.
Several doctors told me they can do 10 cesareans in the morning, have office hours, then come back and see all the patients in the evening.
They also said that no women should have to endure the process of childbirth when they have the ability to "save" her from it.
THAT is what is being perpetuated there. I sadly feel that some American doctors feel the same way.
The reason that women in the middle east are not screaming from the roof tops is that the "alternative" to cesarean is half hourly vag exams, shaving, prepping, lots of vacumm, no physical or emotional support, no family, no food or fluids, and really awful labor wards with five or six women together. That kind of treatment or a 40 minute surgery? Guess that they are choosing. And boy do the doctors paint a horrible picture of normal vaginal birth. All to their benefit.
Mind you, this is Iran and Saudia Arabia that I am talking about, but does it sound faintly familiar?
What do you think?
Blessings,
Barbara
Barbara Harper, RN, CLD, CCE
Founder/Director
Waterbirth International
www.waterbirth.org
503-673-0026 - office of WBI
503-710-7975 - cell phone
We LOVE helping women get into Hot Water!!
and have been doing it for 20 years!!
Ellen
Di wrote:
> Women need to be left alone to give
> birth. You don't see vets interfering with animals.
Actually, you do. Not with good results, though. A couple years ago,
a local zoo had and elephant in labor. They were monitoring her
closely, doing ultrasounds, even gave her pitocin if I recall
correctly. It was all over the news. Something inside me screamed
"just leave her alone!".
That baby elephant was stilborn.
Just a thought.
==========
Ellen M. Baumann
Three Boys :: Three Blogs
Christopher(5) Timothy(3) Andrew(7 mos.)
mommyblawg.blogspot.com babyblawg.blogspot.com bookblawg.blogspot.com
Ronnie Falcao
Hi, Barbara,
It's my pleasure to participate in this great discussion.
This is the first time I've heard that neonatologists are
concerned about the high level of interventions. I know
Dr. Frederick Wirth has been out their championing the
rights of newborns, but I thought he was a lone voice.
When I think of the issue of "fetal rights", I think of
the "medical outcome", i.e. live baby, no hypoxia, no
physical birth trauma.
I think we can talk about "what babies want" or what
parents really want for their babies while focusing on
the quality of the baby's welcome into the world.
I've often wanted to write a parody of guests arriving
at a dinner party and being "welcomed" the way newborns
are "welcomed".
I love Daniel Siegel's book, and I have it in my library for
loan, but it seems like a heavy read for pregnant women.
Do your clients like it?
It is so great that you're bringing an awareness of
perinatal psychology to the world, Barbara!!!
I'm a little shocked to hear people talking about getting
the baby out as quickly as possible as the ideal way to
reduce a woman's suffering. Try waterbirth! But I'm sure
you've already suggested that to them. :-)
Warm regards,
Ronnie
><http://www.waterbirth.org>www.waterbirth.org
>503-673-0026 - office of WBI
>503-710-7975 - cell phone
>We LOVE helping women get into Hot Water!!
>and have been doing it for 20 years!!
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