About ME
First, I am not a homebirth advocate.
Homebirth frightens me, though I understand that for most women the risks for birth at home taking a life-threatening turn are very, very low. I have studied birth for about four years, since my first pregnancy, and I have found that while not very much can go wrong during a normal low-risk birth, when it does, it is serious. I admire the women who trust in themselves so much that they want to be at home. For many of these women, they have never considered that birth should occur any other way. Many others have been scarred by horrific hospital experiences. I sympathize with them but I still feel like an outsider.
I have had two natural births.
My births were both midwife-attended in a birthing center which was hooked to a hospital. Let me be clear about this arrangement, because it is an important one. It was not a floor or a handful of rooms within the hospital; it was a separate building, attached by only a hallway, which was run by nurses and midwives. The birthing center had labor tubs and birth balls and encouraged unmedicated births for low-risk women. If anything should go wrong, the doctors were down the hallway, but they were otherwise not involved. To me this was an ideal arrangement, since I was low-risk and wanted no medical interference, I did have occasion to be grateful for the availability of medical help, during my second birth. I had a water birth, which was not exactly a gentle experience, because it was a very fast labor and my baby was born not breathing. She was given oxygen and rubbed with a towel and in a few minutes was fine, but this experience is the main cause for my mixed feelings about homebirth. A qualified midwife would have the necessary skills to handle this situation at home, though I felt safe in an environment where emergency care was quick and reliable, and I am grateful I was there instead of at my house.
I am a doula.
I became a doula because of my satisfaction with my births. I wish all women the same confidence and joy in their births that I experienced through mine. I believe that women have a lot to learn from birth, that it turns out best when left alone, and I truly believe that most women would not require pain medication if they had education before childbirth and the right amount of support during labor. But I would not condemn any woman for choosing pain relief. You can't be judgmental and be a good doula; women are always going to make choices that you don't agree with. I have never attended a homebirth; all my knowledge about it is from research and the experiences of friends and associates who have. I have nothing against attending a homebirth - I would be honored to. The opportunity hasn't yet arrived. I am still a very green doula.
I believe in birth.
Fear is the largest obstacle between women and a satisfying birth. We have been taught that birth is like pushing a watermelon out of a hole the size of a pea, that it is the worst pain you will ever feel, that major surgery is a reasonable escape from the misery of birth. No wonder our epidural rates are so high and that elective cesareans are increasing! Women are terrified of birth. Even though they were made to give birth, they have been frightened away from it.
I wish all women could have the experience of working with their bodies to bring babies into the world. I wish there was not so much focus on the pain of labor. I did not have what I would call easy labors, nor do I have a particularly high tolerance for pain. I learned relaxation skills, and during labor, I felt the difference between being completely relaxed during a contraction and tensing up against it. The pain was sometimes very high, but it was completely unbearable if I was tense. I believe that women have much to learn from childbirth, and it is knowledge we cannot gain anywhere else. We need to learn to trust. We need to learn to sacrifice. We need to do hard things to prove our strength to ourselves - we are indelibly strong and tough. That is what we have to gain from childbirth. And I can see no better preparation for motherhood than learning to work through difficulty.
You can tell from this that I certainly have my biases, but I believe I can be even-handed and rational on the topic of birth. I am a student of birth and hope to never assume I am no longer teachable.
Homebirth frightens me, though I understand that for most women the risks for birth at home taking a life-threatening turn are very, very low. I have studied birth for about four years, since my first pregnancy, and I have found that while not very much can go wrong during a normal low-risk birth, when it does, it is serious. I admire the women who trust in themselves so much that they want to be at home. For many of these women, they have never considered that birth should occur any other way. Many others have been scarred by horrific hospital experiences. I sympathize with them but I still feel like an outsider.
I have had two natural births.
My births were both midwife-attended in a birthing center which was hooked to a hospital. Let me be clear about this arrangement, because it is an important one. It was not a floor or a handful of rooms within the hospital; it was a separate building, attached by only a hallway, which was run by nurses and midwives. The birthing center had labor tubs and birth balls and encouraged unmedicated births for low-risk women. If anything should go wrong, the doctors were down the hallway, but they were otherwise not involved. To me this was an ideal arrangement, since I was low-risk and wanted no medical interference, I did have occasion to be grateful for the availability of medical help, during my second birth. I had a water birth, which was not exactly a gentle experience, because it was a very fast labor and my baby was born not breathing. She was given oxygen and rubbed with a towel and in a few minutes was fine, but this experience is the main cause for my mixed feelings about homebirth. A qualified midwife would have the necessary skills to handle this situation at home, though I felt safe in an environment where emergency care was quick and reliable, and I am grateful I was there instead of at my house.
I am a doula.
I became a doula because of my satisfaction with my births. I wish all women the same confidence and joy in their births that I experienced through mine. I believe that women have a lot to learn from birth, that it turns out best when left alone, and I truly believe that most women would not require pain medication if they had education before childbirth and the right amount of support during labor. But I would not condemn any woman for choosing pain relief. You can't be judgmental and be a good doula; women are always going to make choices that you don't agree with. I have never attended a homebirth; all my knowledge about it is from research and the experiences of friends and associates who have. I have nothing against attending a homebirth - I would be honored to. The opportunity hasn't yet arrived. I am still a very green doula.
I believe in birth.
Fear is the largest obstacle between women and a satisfying birth. We have been taught that birth is like pushing a watermelon out of a hole the size of a pea, that it is the worst pain you will ever feel, that major surgery is a reasonable escape from the misery of birth. No wonder our epidural rates are so high and that elective cesareans are increasing! Women are terrified of birth. Even though they were made to give birth, they have been frightened away from it.
I wish all women could have the experience of working with their bodies to bring babies into the world. I wish there was not so much focus on the pain of labor. I did not have what I would call easy labors, nor do I have a particularly high tolerance for pain. I learned relaxation skills, and during labor, I felt the difference between being completely relaxed during a contraction and tensing up against it. The pain was sometimes very high, but it was completely unbearable if I was tense. I believe that women have much to learn from childbirth, and it is knowledge we cannot gain anywhere else. We need to learn to trust. We need to learn to sacrifice. We need to do hard things to prove our strength to ourselves - we are indelibly strong and tough. That is what we have to gain from childbirth. And I can see no better preparation for motherhood than learning to work through difficulty.
You can tell from this that I certainly have my biases, but I believe I can be even-handed and rational on the topic of birth. I am a student of birth and hope to never assume I am no longer teachable.
posted by jenn at 7:31 AM
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