Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Too Posh to Push or Too Scared to Squat
I taught a lovely little infant CPR class last night for parents at a local baby store. All the expectant parents come out to learn the skills in preparation for newborn care. When I introduce myself, I talk about my experience with childbirth and I mention my homebirths and passion for breastfeeding. One very pregnant mom lingered after class to clarify that all nine of my births had been 'natural.' "You didn't have a cesarean or anything?" she asked. "Oh no, nothing like that" I answered. We chatted for just a moment. She remained amazed that I could have so many births without a cesarean. So this is what we've come to. I find this all very sad. Women have been socialized in the last 30 years to believe they cannot birth. I want to do my part to convince them that they can.
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2 comments:
I agree that Doctors are generally too quick to go to the cesearean. Mine wanted to several hours before I did finally go have one. I don't regret it in my case because there were problems. However so many women who I know had them scheduled it to fit in their life easier. Or their doctor convinced them to do it before they ever even tried.
With at least 1/3 of births being c-section, that's going to be a LOT of women who had a c-section. Especially considering there are many like me who have had six babies without any pain medication or c-section. I still would question whether mine were all "natural" since the first birth the doctor broke the water about an hour before birth.
Dawn
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