Kirsten

I would be amiss if I didn't include at least one blog proclaiming how awesome midwifery and natural birth is! So, here it goes, my attempt (with some fun quotes from Ina May Gaskin) to scream from the roof top the benefits of midwifery, natural and woman-centered birth.

A question I often get when others find out I'm considering becoming a midwife is "what are the benefits of using a midwife?" and "why would one want a natural child birth especially when you could feel no pain with an epidural?"

A midwife literally means "with-woman" and approaches the labor process and child birth itself very differently from an obstetrician. Midwives view childbirth as a natural process that has been around since the beginning of time (yes, that means before epidurals, iv's, and hospitals!). They view a woman's body as perfectly capable and especially made, in fact, to successfully carry and birth a baby. This means that medical intervention is considered inappropriate unless a true emergency warrants it.

"Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceros, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body." pg. 141-142*

Thus, when women assume a pain-free, hospital birth is the best way, as most women I know do, it leads me to ask 2 questions: Is pain bad and does each woman not view her own body as capable of storing and birthing a baby without another's intervention? Of course no one enjoys pain, but we all too often underestimate a woman's ability to deal with pain during one of the most natural processes.

Then there's the issue of high induction of labor rates in the hospitals in the U.S.

"With so many inductions taking place, a common misconception has arisen that obstetricians are now able to start labor at will, with no disadvantages from the procedures used." pg. 207

Potential harms to mother from induction

"Women tend to have harsher, stronger, significantly more painful contractions with chemically induced labors, so one who can cope with a spontaneous labor often finds that she needs pain medication to bear the more-insistent contractions of an induced one." pg. 208

-woman's mobility is impaired because induction requires drugs given through an IV, which means IV tubing and stand to lug around

-increased postpartum blood loss

Potential harms to baby from induction

-the longer, stronger contractions mentioned above contract the umbilical cord thus decreasing oxygen-rich blood to the fetus

-"A cesarean is more likely to take place in an induced labor than in one that begins naturally." pg. 209

-doctor-caused prematurity is more often likely to take place as doctors induce labor prematurely based on a woman's due date (which is often not exact or all together wrong)

-an induced labor more often leads to a vacuum-extractor or forceps delivery of a baby than a non-induced labor

I know this is a lot, so I'm gonna stop for now!

Here's a funny quote to leave you with:

"There is no other organ quite like the uterus. If men had such an organ, they would brag about it. So should we." Ina May Gaskin in Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.

*all quotes by Ina May Gaskin taken from Ina May's Guide to Childbrith


Here are some pics of me with the first baby I caught all by myself without hands on assistance from a midwife! It was the middle of the night, so I definitely look like I've been up for a long time, but the baby is so cute!