Natural Birth is Actually BETTER

I received a comment recently on the blog about a natural birth post. I don't want to single out this person individually so I won't quote it directly but the basic point she made was this:

"Natural birth might be a great choice for you, but it isn't for everybody. I was perfectly happy with my birth involving XYZ interventions, and so are lots of women. It is about choices."

I have to disagree. This isn't just about "choices." Natural birth is not just a great choice for women like me. It is almost always the best choice for the mother and baby.

Yes- I just said that. Natural birth is usually the best choice for mother and baby. And, I can prove it.

~Choices~

There is an interesting aspect to a lot of natural birth discussions these days. I notice many people wanting so much not to be judgmental that they talk about natural birth like it is all about the mother's choice. If mama feels like she needs an epidural, then that is her choice. If mama is fearful of labor for whatever reason, she has the choice to schedule an abdominal surgery. If she is tired of being pregnant, she can choose an induction. Basically it is up to her.

There is a lot of truth in this and I do think that women should be allowed to choose whatever they feel is best for them. Partly I think this because I don't want my choices taken away from me just because somebody disagrees or thinks that home birth or not vaccinating or whatever is unsafe. So, don't get me wrong, I am not advocating taking away a woman's right to choose how she births. I do however want to point out that there is much more to this topic than what is best for the mother or our ability to choose whatever we are comfy with.

At some point we need to recognize though that birth doesn't just involve the well being of the mother. There are TWO people involved. The other one is silent and is the BABY.

Is an epidural the best choice for the baby? Is a scheduled c-section the best choice for the baby? Is pitocin the best choice for the baby? Are we being honest with ourselves when we answer these questions, or are we just thinking about how the choice will make us feel?

~Our Choices Affect the Baby~

Let's first consider the choice for non-medical induction with pitocin. (Yes, this happens because mom is tired, uncomfortable, or just "done" with her pregnancy.)

Some possible side effects of pitocin administration:

"Because of maternal and fetal risks, oxytocin must be administered with caution . It has been reported to cause fetal bradycardia, neonatal retinal hemorrhage, and neonatal jaundice, in addition to maternal effects . Fetal deaths due to various causes have reportedly been associated with the parenteral use of oxytocics for induction or augmentation of labor . Excessive dosage or administration of oxytocin to hypersensitive patients may cause uterine hypertonicity with spasm and tetanic contraction or uterine rupture . Abruptio placentae, impaired uterine blood flow, amniotic fluid embolism, and fetal trauma including cardiac arrhythmias, intracranial hemorrhage, and asphyxia may occur as a result ."

-You can find more information from the package insert for pitocin here.-

Do you still think natural birth is all about the mother's "choice" and what she is comfortable with?

Let's consider one of the drugs common in epidural anaesthesia, Bupivacaine.

"Adverse reactions in the parturient, fetus, and neonate involve alterations of the central nervous system, peripheral vascular tone, and cardiac function. Maternal hypotension has resulted from regional anesthesia. Local anesthetics produce vasodilation by blocking sympathetic nerves. Elevating the patient’s legs and positioning her on her left side will help prevent decreases in blood pressure. The fetal heart rate also should be monitored continuously and electronic fetal monitoring is highly advisable. Epidural, caudal, or pudendal anesthesia may alter the forces of parturition through changes in uterine contractility or maternal expulsive efforts. Epidural anesthesia has been reported to prolong the second stage of labor by removing the parturient’s reflex urge to bear down or by interfering with motor function. The use of obstetrical anesthesia may increase the need for forceps assistance."
You can read more about this drug here.

Still think natural birth is all about what is best for the mother? Do you still think this is just about what mama wants? Do you believe that an increase in forceps delivery has no negative implications for the newborn?

Let's take a look at some of the con's related to the elective c-section from a mainstream news source.

"Cons: Possible pre-term delivery if due date calculation is inaccurate Rare: Possible infant injury when the doctor makes the uterine incision Risk of damage to the mother's bowels and/or bladder Increased maternal blood loss and risk of needing a transfusion Risk of complications from anesthesia (pneumonia, allergic reactions, low blood pressure) Slightly higher mortality rate for the mother Twice the risk of infant mortality Higher risk of infection and blood clots for the mother"
You can read this article in full here.

This article also mentions that more than half of the c-sections were done on an elective basis. You can read the study by the New England Journal of Medicine on their website, here. The idea that all cesareans are necessary is false.

~Educated Choices, Not Just Choices~

The access to natural birth is not just a feminist issue. It is not just a woman's issue. It is a human rights issue. Whatever we "want" is not necessarily best for our baby. In fact, it might not even be best for us.

I realize that this argument goes both ways. Sometimes a c-section is best for mom and baby even when mama desperately wants a beautiful home birth. That is life and that is just how it goes.

For my commenter who thinks that "natural birth might be great for me, but not everybody," well, I just think you are wrong. I truly believe that birth is intended to be a natural process. All common sense and logic tends to point in this direction. Most women throughout history have birthed without drugs and considering the current population of the earth, it looks like it was pretty safe.

I am frankly just plain tired of hearing people talk about all this like it is just choices and what is right for you. Natural birth really is better. It is safer. It is normal. It is how it should be. Drugs used unnecessarily cause problems for both the mother and baby. The drug manufacturers themselves will tell you this in their own package inserts. The negative effect of drugs on the baby is the same whether you "felt comfortable" with your choice or not.

(As with anything, there are of course, exceptions.)

36 Obvious Reasons You Are Capable of Natural Birth

We hear so much negativity about birth these days that it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle that women are divinely designed to birth babies. This is a miracle, but it is also so totally normal and a simple bodily function. Here are a few reminders (yes, many of them obvious) of the truth that we have forgotten about our bodies.

1. You are a woman
2. Your mother was a woman and she gave birth to you.
3. As was your grandmother and all of their mothers before them.
4. Women have literally for 1000's of years been doing this and surviving. The proof is that we are all HERE.
5. Medical doctors stepped into birth only about 100 years ago, and yet people were breeding successfully all that time before.
6. You have a vagina.
7. You got pregnant.
8. You are gestating beautifully.
9. All the discomforts and aches and pains, though possibly annoying, prove that your body is DOING its job.
10. You have breasts.
11. Those breasts exist in large part for one reason: to feed your offspring.
12. Your monthly cycle.
13. Many natural urges exist in part to bring about this child.
14. Your growing abdomen.
15. Your extra weight gain.
16. Your full breasts.
17. Your food cravings.
18. Your pre-labor or Braxton-Hicks contractions show that your body is preparing to birth.
19. Stretch marks indicate growth and fertility.
20. The epidural= new invention.
21. The episiotomy= also, new (and unnecessary).
22. The c-section= again new, and yet, women most often survived birth during all those years.
23. Your bones and ligaments are moving and softening to open for the baby.
24. You have hips.
25. You have a pelvis, and it is very different than that of a man.
26. Your pelvis, though bony is movable.
27. Have a big butt? Embrace it- it is a sign of your fertility.
28. Small butt? That's OK too- you will just fit in your skinny jeans faster. Your pelvis still moves.
29. Your ancestors for 1000's of years gave birth with no medical intervention, and they must have survived, because, here you are! (I know, a repeat- it is important!)
30. Birth is the natural end and climax of the act of making love.
31. Worried about birth pain? Don't be. Contractions are natures way of letting you know that your baby is coming. Without this warning system, we could drop our babies ANYWHERE, safe or not. The birth process is necessary preparation for a safe arrival.
32. Your baby moves- he or she is preparing you to love them.
33. Your babies movement also shows how good you are (without even trying I might add) at feeding and growing a baby.
34. All prenatal tests are new inventions. Your ancestors also gave birth without these.
35. Even 50 years ago the c-section rate was around 4%. This "need" for constant surgery is a new occurrence.
36. Worried about motherhood? The birth process and all its stages are also helping prepare you to mother with confidence. The lessons you learn in labor (faith, excitement, hard work, pain, joy, giving up, euphoria) will all be repeated over and over as you raise your children. It is natures preparation for mothering.

Sexism, Men, and Stupid Obstetrics

I am routinely amazed by the ridiculous things done in obstetrics. So much of what is practiced is obviously not natural or normal, and yet has been normalized by years and years of use. Some examples:

Vaginal Exams
Continuous Fetal Monitoring
Labor and Birth in the Supine Position
Medication For Labor and Birth
Routine Immediate Cord Clamping
The Overused C-Section

These are just a few things that upon even gentle examination make no sense, harm the birth experience, and ultimately harm the mother and baby.

We are starting to see some progress in obstetrics as research shows just how STUPID so many of the above things are. They are not supported by better outcomes or better experiences. And yet research backed by the almighty dollar seems to be the only thing that can change ridiculous practices that never should have started in the first place.

Why the prevalence of STUPID obstetrics?

The answer is simple- MEN.

When women give birth with other women, particularly generations of women who have given birth themselves and have seen many other women give birth, they are led by instinct and fact based wisdom of what works. They birth in positions that they FEEL like giving birth in. They listen to baby or simply FEEL it move. They would not think of cutting the private parts of one of their own sisters. They know she can do it because they have done it themselves. There is nothing more natural and sacred, and there is nothing scary about it.

When birth became the subject matter of men, everything changed.

A man literally has NO IDEA that it is uncomfortable to lie on your back when full term with an eight pound baby. He of course has never even been pregnant. He might believe it- if you can prove it.

He has no idea that a vaginal exam is humiliating, uncomfortable and tells you nothing about the time of birth. He looks at the female body as a mysterious machine, that can and should work in a predictable manner.

When he sees a woman moaning and moving in labor, he is in awe of her power. But awe turns to fear and doubt because he does not understand how these primal rituals can influence something that seems to be only a physical process that should be kept as controlled as possible. He also thinks her noises mean she is in pain, when they are in fact a way to deal with the overwhelming sensations of birth.

When he sees the miracle of the baby emerging from the "tiny" vagina, he thinks- "That must hurt, I can help her by numbing her or making the opening larger." He doesn't know that the moment of birth is more climactic than painful. He doesn't know that her body is meant to do this. He doesn't know that that "tiny hole" can both make love and birth babies with equal skill. It looks incomprehensible, and because he has never done it, it is incomprehensible to him.

Forcing the woman to be conveniently still and medicated to the gills on her back of course increase the "need" for instrumental and surgical delivery. He sees the female body as flawed and failing rather than powerful and amazing. After all, the woman probably needs and even wants to be "saved" from pushing that huge thing out of that tiny hole. The c-section is more and more necessary the less we understand the female body and her abilities.

When the baby is finally ripped from the malfunctioning body of it's mother, it is important to cut the ties that bind and pass the baby to another penis yielding expert who can handle things. The cord is cut, the baby is passed. Does it need anything more from that placenta and that mother? Of course not! Missed is the miracle of the placenta, the need for the precious cord blood, and the common sense of thousands of years of evolution and divine design. The wisdom of ages is replaced with cold hands and steel instruments.

We should not have to "prove" what is obvious. The female body is made to give birth. This is the RULE. The exception are the rare cases where something else is needed. With modern health and sanitation, the exception (the woman who can't give birth without help) is even more rare than ever. And yet, we seem to be surrounded by women who "needed" intervention, now more than ever before.

The sad fact is that the introduction of men to the art of birth has changed it, probably forever. It introduced so many foreign, silly, and yes, STUPID practices that never would have been there had birth stayed within the realm of wise women, intuition, and sisterhood.

I want to close with a quote from Ina May Gaskin, found in the movie, Orgasmic Birth (my emphasis added).

"The United States has a peculiar history about childbirth. There is a higher level of fear of birth in this country than we see in so many cultures around the world. I think it has to do with our own peculiar history of absolutely destroying the profession of midwifery in the early twentieth century. When you destroy midwives, you also destroy a body of knowledge that is shared by women, that can’t be put together by a bunch of surgeons or a bunch of male obstetricians, because physiologically, birth doesn’t happen the same way around surgeons, medically trained doctors, as it does around sympathetic women."

Give birth on your terms with others who believe in birth. We have moved so far from this sisterly knowledge that now even female midwives and practitioners sometimes doubt the power of the female. Surround yourself with people who trust birth.

A Dangerous Bowel Movement

"It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." Dr Bradley

Scene 1

A man walks into a hospital.

He normally has a bowel movement on Monday. It is Wednesday. Something must be done.

Attendants quickly surround him in preparation to remove the bowel movement that stayed too long.

The man is instructed to lay down so that special drugs can be give that will "get things started". The administration of these procedures and drugs is painful and humiliating. It involves other people unknown to him touching and seeing parts of his body which he normally keeps private.

Sadly the drugs do not appear to work.

The man does eventually feel the "urge" to use the bathroom and attempts to stand.

"NO!" shout the attendants. "You can not get up or use the bathroom! We would not be able to monitor the progress of your bowel movement! Nor would we be able to help it come out should it be the proper time!"

The man is instructed to lay down on his back. He actually raises his feet in the air in stirrup's so that the attendants can see what is going on.

He is thirsty. He asks for water. An IV is given.

The man is numbed because he is in a lot of pain from all the procedures, the BM and the pressure.

Eventually he feels an urge to push. But the drugs have made his pushing ineffective. The attendants inform him that it needs to come out- NOW!

They use tools to help speed the process.

All involved are grateful when it is all over. The man is grateful that he was in a hospital with all the associated technology so that there were others there to help him with the process. Things could have been pretty dangerous otherwise.

Scene 2

A man needs to go to the bathroom.

He stays home. He goes when he feels the urge. He eats well, moves, and is in a place comfortable to him. The experience is pleasant, quick, and relatively easy.

Natural Birth- Where Are You?

I show a video in my classes that only consists of squatting births. It is an old but powerful video, in part because you can see NO care providers at the births. Each woman gives birth with nobody assisting or touching her body. She simply squats and the baby drops out softly onto some towels below her. (They are all hospital births so the care provider is there, just in the back round).

What is amazing, and really shocking, about these videos is that they show that the act of birth usually needs nobody but the mother and the baby. You can see the baby twist and turn to exit the birth canal. Baby twists his head, baby turns his shoulders, one at a time, and the baby comes out. Mother pushes. Her body is prepared. She is giving birth NATURALLY.

Does natural birth happen in this country?

It probably depends what you consider "natural." I did a post the other day about "natural c-sections." I have heard moms say their doctor asked them if they wanted a "c-section or a natural birth."

Ummmm- I hate to break it to everybody but having a baby vaginally does not mean you had a baby naturally. In fact, I would go so far as to say that having a baby without pain medications does not mean you had a baby naturally.

I know, I just made myself sound like a heartless witch. Here is the truth- I have had three babies. All were born with midwives. Two were born outside of the hospital. Only one was born without head traction (pulling on the baby to help it deliver). Only one was born without medication for hemorrhage postpartum (I did hemorrhage with one of them, not with the other.) Only one was in my arms for two hours before anybody else touched her. Only once was the cord NOT cut until the placenta delivered.

It looks to me that we have moved so far from natural birth in this country that we don't even remember what it looks like.

We can have a woman induced, strapped to monitors, giving birth in a supine position, and we call it "natural" because she didn't have an epidural. This is ludicrous. It is also an unnecessary cruelty to women, babies and their families.

I had a good friend once who had been a nurse. She believed in natural birth. She thought it was better. Then she had two natural births. Both involved her pushing on her back. Both involved massive tearing. Both involved painful repairs. Guess what, she had epidurals for her other children, in part, because it made repairs that much less painful. She liked the idea of a natural birth, but in practice, it was incredibly painful in the hospital setting.

I love natural birth and love hearing how women preferred their natural births to their medicated births. It really makes me sad when I talk to women who preferred their medicated births. In fact, I almost want to tell them not to say anything to anybody because I am trying to change the way people think about birth.

But the sad truth is, a real natural birth is pretty difficult to come by these days in America. One of the reasons some women prefer their medicated births is because even if they do manage to have an unmedicated birth, it is pretty darn hard to avoid all the other invasive things that are not even considered unnatural, and yet are totally contrary to the normal birthing process.

It is not natural to be surrounded by strangers when you give birth.

It is not natural to have your babies head tugged on as it delivers. (Babies can and will turn and move to exit the birth canal.)

It is not natural to have drugs in labor to speed the process.

It is not natural to have somebody's HAND in your VAGINA while you are trying to relax through contractions or do pretty much anything else.

It is not natural to cut the cord immediately or even within five minutes.

It is not natural for the baby to be weighed on a steel machine.

It is not natural to poke and prod and clean this precious infant for an hour after it is born.

It is not natural to stick plastic tubes up a babies nose when it is born.

It is not natural to be told what position is best to deliver in. A fearless, unmedicated, unhindered mother should KNOW how she should deliver her baby.

In short, we do many things to laboring women that are nowhere near natural, only one of which is, of course, sticking needle in her spinal cord.

Don't get me wrong- I am not saying that women should think less of their birth experience if they did not have one that was as pure as it would be in the woods. I LOVED the births of ALL of my children. Every single one of them was an incredible empowering experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. (I think too many of us focus on the negative things that happen sometimes in birth as with life. But that is another story.)

What is particularly disturbing to me about modern obstetrics though is how we do not even realize what we are doing anymore. We don't realize that it might just HARM the birth process to do some of these things to a laboring woman and her baby. It might slow labor and make it more painful simply to have an unwanted stranger there. It might alter the mother's hormonal state to simply be asked to spread her legs and have an intern check her vaginal "progress" intermittently. It might change the experience greatly when a drug is given to make things happen quicker.

We must take birth back. We must remember first what it was meant to be before we can even do this. We must rediscover NATURAL BIRTH, and then get it. Fight the power ladies. Nobody is going to take this fight up for you.

A C-Section is a Terrible Thing to Waste

ACOG's recent change of heart about C-section and VBAC has prompted excitement and debate. You can read about it here.

We should be excited about this change- but we should also be aware of some of the big obstacles to lowering the c-section rate. Here are just a few of them.
-C-sections are necessary (some of the time)-
This seems obvious, but because, like many other interventions surrounding birth, they are sometimes needed, it is hard to get rid of them. It can be hard to tell if somebody REALLY needed a c-section or if the doc just jumped the gun. We can not nor should we get rid of the c-section all together. But we also need to be wary of the doctor who talks all the time about how often they are necessary.

-C-sections are so incredibly convenient (for the doctor and the hospital)-
Can you imagine a job where you get called at any time of day or night (probably most likely at night) and on any holiday so you can show up and watch somebody for HOURS labor just in case they need you? Then, when the baby finally does come there is a huge mess.

I love that so many people are willing to do this for a living. I don't think it is an easy lifestyle. I wish people would just stay the heck out of obstetrics if they were not willing to live this way. But the truth is, most OB's no longer practice this way.

And the very sad truth (and one that is driving c-sections and induced managed labors) is that scheduling birth makes more money. Lots more money.

This article is worth the read and has some great info. Here is a quote from it:
"Childbirth has the potential for being made more predictable by manipulating labor (induction, active management of labor) or by scheduling cesarean sections. From 1989-1997 births have become more frequent on weekdays compared to weekends, and "Births delivered by repeat cesarean and vaginal births that were induced are especially likely to occur on weekdays."" (From H. Goer and S Hodges)
-C-sections are very expensive- and insurance companies pay for them-

C-sections cost much much more than a vaginal birth, and considerably more than a home birth.
Consider this table from the same article posted above:

Fees:

Home Birth	$2,300 - $5,000
Birth Center	$3,500 - $8,300
Hospital	$4,300 - $16,000
Cesarean Section *	$9,300 - $26,000

I think that pretty much says it all folks.
-C-sections equal sicker babies with longer hospital stays-

This might sound like a bad thing for the mom and baby, but it is most definitely a GREAT thing for the hospital. Not only do they make gobs more money, they also get your undying gratitude for saving their baby.

Again, from the above quoted article by Henci Goer and Susan Hodges:

"Admitting babies to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) is a money-maker, especially if the babies are not very sick. A Ross planning associate said: "We can do a better job of budgeting our staff with these longer stays and increased numbers of patients. ... And we're doing procedures – highly technical procedures that cost a lot and can generate higher revenue based on the same occupancy." (Shearer MH. The economics of intensive care for the full-term newborn. Birth 1980;7(4): 1980. p 235"

-Follow the money and you will find your enemy-

I have been accused of encouraging fear or being bitter and angry about the subject of birth in this country. Honestly, I could not make this stuff up!!! It disgusts me that women and babies are being literally SLICED OPEN and poked and prodded and taken from their mothers for MONEY. But that is exactly what is happening.

I am glad that somebody (the National Institute of Health) finally called on ACOG to do something about the outrageous C-section rate in this country. I am glad that ACOG actually changed their policy. But I do not believe that they have any real motivation to change their ACTIONS despite the fact that they are damaging women and children FOR PROFIT. Yes, they are hurting and endangering women and babies to make more money. This is obvious.

I wish I could tell women to trust their care providers when they say they are for natural birth. I wish I could tell them that their hospital really will support them in doing this. But the sad truth is that I would be giving them false hope. You need to fight for this. You need to be educated and you need to be strong. It will only happen because of you.

The Natural Mama's Bucket List

Some things the natural mama must do before she kicks the bucket.

-Sleep with 5 people in a full sized bed.  (This sounds vaguely erotic but is decidedly not, because of course, three of them are your squirming children.)

-Get in an argument with somebody about circumcision, vaccines, or epidurals.

-Have at least one person de-friend you on Facebook because of an "offensive" natural birth post.

-Worry about fluoride.

- Get rid of your microwave.

-Have an inflatable tub set up in your family room.

-Sit on a toilet backwards (possibly for hours).

-Labor for X amount of minutes/hours/days, and instead of talking about it like it was horrible, rave about it being the best experience of your life. 

-Consider a yoga ball furniture.

-Purge your house of plastic cups.

-Spend at least a few minutes of your life buck naked and on all fours in front of people not your husband (again, not at all erotic). 

-Store a human organ in your freezer.  Consider eating it.  (If I have to explain this, you wouldn't understand).

-Encourage at least one tired mom (whom you have never met before) to continue breastfeeding.

-Wake up one morning to discover that you now find Dr Sears to be just a little too mainstream.

-Get excited when the neighbor kids get chicken pox.

-Get excited when you see your hubby wearing a baby in a sling...

-Try to hide your horror when you discover your kids have eaten conventional peanut butter. 

-Attempt to garden organically.

-Curse bugs everywhere when they eat everything before you can harvest it. 

-Seriously consider living off the grid.

-Discover you like your stretched out, stretch marked body way more than that firm cute one you once had, because this one can do anything (even push out babies)!

-Compete with the women in your natural birth class to see who can have the biggest baby. 

-Discover after church one day that your five year old has given his class a vivid description of the birth process.

-Witness your two year old demonstrating said process and afterwards, nursing her own toy baby. 

-Bite your tongue at least once when you learn that somebody is getting induced.  Then go home and rant to your husband about it. 

-Witness somebody nursing a 15 month old, think to yourself, "Weird, that kid is too big to nurse,"  Then realize a year later that you are still nursing your 18 month old. 

-When family visits and asks you for a Tylenol, look at them like they are nuts. 

-Get a headache.  Realize you must be subluxated.  Go see your Chiropractor. 

-Discover you can no longer enjoy a diet soda, the guilt is just too much to bear. 

-Know what ACOG stands for and get really angry when they are brought into a conversation.