People often ask if I wasn’t scared to have a home birth. It’s easy to understand, since I was nervous about the idea when I first heard about it. Wouldn’t it be scary to have no doctors or nurses or emergency equipment ready to rush in and save the day?
And so the process of research began. I tend to be cautious when investing time, energy or money into something, so I began to look up information on home births versus hospital births. It was quickly apparent that home births were as safe as a hospital birth for someone without a high risk pregnancy. It was also obvious that there is a sort of downward spiral that can occur in a hospital birth.
It starts with stress. This is not really the hospital’s fault, but there is no way you can truly feel relaxed, cozy and comfy while in a hospital, no matter how nice the room looks. This stress can keep your body from producing hormones that act like a natural anesthetic and relieve the pain of labor.
The second step is the bed. Many hospitals still want women in labor to lie down, have fetal monitors strapped to their body and not move much. My wife, a certified pre-natal yoga teacher, wanted to sit on a balance ball and let gravity help deliver the baby. When my wife laid down momentarily while giving birth, she was so uncomfortable that she immediately got up again.
Next comes the epidural. Once the mother is in pain and laying down, they give her a nerve block. This reduces the effectiveness of the contractions and may reduce how much the baby can push as well.
Ineffective contractions?Bring on the pitocin! They then give you a drug to mimic the hormones that your body is not producing to make contractions stronger. This may cause the baby to emerge faster than nature intended, causing more tearing and damage than neccesary.
If all that doesn’t work, they give the mom a C-section and just rip the baby out through the stomach. It’s a downward spiral that we could hear in the stories and experiences of friends and family. One friend had a C-section after being in labor 11 hours and told that it was needed. Our midwives said that most of their first time moms labor for almost 24 hours.
It’s hard to know what and who to believe out there. I encourage you to doubt everyone – including me – and do some research on your own. Birth is not like buying a new stereo. If you have a crappy one, you can’t take it back. You only get one shot at how you bring each baby into the world. Don’t you owe it to them – and yourself – to make it the best birth possible?
Filed under: Birth and Babies | Tags: baby, birth pool, gentle birth, home birth, labor, peace, pregnancy, water birth
“Peace on Earth begins with Birth”. Those were the words on the midwife’s T-shirt when she came to check on my wife the day her water broke. Those 6 words summed up a journey through pregnancy that began months before.
It all began when we realized what kind of entrance into the world our baby would have if she was born in a hospital. She would leave a warm womb of soft gushing sound and low light and be pushed – and probably pulled – into a harsh world of bright lights, strange voices, beeps, buzzes and schedules.
I wanted something different for my baby and for my wife. I didn’t want to watch my wife labor in a room with frequent interuptions and unfamiliar people. After all, you never know who will deliver the baby in a hospital or who happens to be the nurse that day. They may or may not agree with how you want to give birth.
All of these things equal stress. Stress on the mom is automatically stressing on the baby since they are chemically entwined through pregnancy and labor.
We ended up having the baby at home. Picture a room lit by candles with soft music playing in the background. The midwife sits quietly off to the side. Her job is not to interfere with the natural process of labor, but to observe and make sure things are going smoothly. She occasionally checks the fetal heartbeat and offers words of encouragement, but mostly lets the process unfold.
My wife labored in a pool of warm water, allowing the buoyancy and warmth to soothe her. She labored in the position most comfortable to her, in this case on her hands and knees. I held my wife’s hands through the whole experience, offering my support and love.
Our baby was born underwater by the light of candles and a flashlight. She let out one quick cry, then settled on her mother’s breast and began to coo.
Peace on earth begins with birth. Compare that experience with that of a baby who is dragged out of the womb through an incision, or is pulled out and then taken away from the only voices he knows and into a room of strangers who poke and prod, strangers that even the parents don’t know.
Is it possible that the first hours of a babies life sets a tone for how that life will go? If so, what tone are we setting with the birth of our children?
In many cases, it is a feeling of harshness, separation, anxiety and discomfort. Is it any wonder that so many children have so many problems?
Birth is not and should not be a traumatic, scarring event, either for the parents or the baby. It is possible to bring a baby into the world in a gentle, peaceful way for most women. (There are, of course, women with medical issues that cause problems that need special treatment.)
Peace on Earth begins with Birth. It is possible to create a peaceful birth for your family and your baby . . . and everyone who does so makes the world a slightly better place.
Peace.
