Everything begins with a story or more. So let’s tell some stories.
STORY #1: Throughout Time and across the global until the 20th Century, there were no Obstetricians. 100% of pregnant women gave birth one way or another. Every culture accept the good and the bad. There was little anyone could do. Birth control wasn’t available. 20-30% of children globally died of childhood diseases before the age of 5 before immunizations (19th/20th Centuries). Birth was natural and normal in all it’s forms: laboring for hours or days: suffering or easy; good outcome or poor outcome. There was and still is no way to know what your birth will be like. Risks occurred. Some risks became problems or not. Some problems became tragedies or not.
STORY #2: The medical profession (in general) grew as people ‘modernized’ (1st World Countries compared to 3rd World Countries). Modern people demanded that health risks be reduced. Obstetrics was an area of health care where ‘risks’ might become ‘problems’ and ‘problems’ might become ‘tragedies’. Immunizations became available and fewer children died. Birth control became available and families became smaller because your children were likely to survive. The Medical Profession and People have an entangled and complex relationship
Your Obstetrician knows that there are two elements of childbirth: SUFFERING (use of pain relief) and RISKS/PROBLEMS/TRAGEDIES (assessments, monitoring and procedures = interventions).
SUFFERING: Until Lamaze, Bradley Method and Grantly Dick-Read, there was no global concept that women could use skills to cope with the naturally occurring pain of labor contractions. These men sadly focused only on ‘low-risk’ women with the belief they could use skills to achieve: natural birth, pain-free labor with no medical intervention. In Hind-sight, had the targeted 100% of pregnant women with the goal to reduce ‘suffering’, we’d be having a different conversation. 100% of pregnant women will to the ‘activity’ of giving birth. Skills can hugely reduce suffering. Obstetricians see that in how you cope, manage, work through, deal with, handle, stay on top of and feel in control. Keep that in mind!
RISKS: No pregnant woman has every possible risk. There are many risks during pregnancy and birth. Few risks become ‘problems’ and very, very, very few ‘problems’ become tragedies. But we can’t be sure. We don’t know and why Obstetricians and midwives use heaps of assessments, monitoring and procedures. They do these things to catch risks and try to reduce or prevent risks from becoming problems and tragedies. They also have high technical skills never available in our humanity.
YOU AND YOUR OBSTETRICIAN:
1) You might want to follow their advice … go for it. Still become skilled so you don’t suffer so much and if you want to use medical pain relief that’s fine.
2) You might want a natural birth yet have an Obstetrician as a birth provider. They don’t want you to suffer … so become skilled so they see and hear you cope and manage well in response to the naturally occurring pain of labor contractions. They don’t want to see any ‘risks’ become a ‘problem’. Skills may prevent or reduce some risks from becoming a problem such as long 1st and 2nd Stages that elicit more medical interventions.
3) When your Obstetrician sees and hears that you are coping well, they are much more likely to negotiate with you even when there are risks as long as everything seems fine.
4) When you are skilled, you are more likely to continue to use your skills to work through your baby’s birth journey even if ‘risks’ require more medical care because you feel more in control and committed to being thoroughly engaged in your baby’s birth journey.
www.birthingbetter.org … online birthing classes full of skills that hundreds of fathers and mothers developed and used in all births without exception