After decades of abuse and violence against women during labor and delivery, we are now witnessing what just a month ago would have been hard to believe.
In the midst of the pandemic, doctors are referring low-risk pregnant women to home-birth midwives — once unheard of. Women are taking charge of their bodies and realizing how risky routine hospital interventions are for them and their babies — not just because of the pandemic, but especially because of it.
Home birth midwives are finally receiving the recognition they have been lacking for years, as they take on a higher-profile role. In hospitals, the support of doulas is being missed not just by families, but by the hospital staff that once ignored or even ridiculed them.
For years, evidence-based recommendations were denied to the general population of women giving birth simply because these procedures interfere with hospital routine and are not convenient. Only well-informed women — most of the time through a doula — had access to information that takes their interests and their babies’ into consideration first.
Now home-birth Midwives are overbooked, and Birthing Centers that were second choices before are considered perfect solutions. Women are being asked to at be home as long as possible, just as doulas have been suggesting for decades. Meditation is being used as a way to lower the blood pressure of birthing Moms. Hydrotherapy — once considered “too messy” and “risky”— is being offered as relief for the intensity of contractions, instead of turning to an epidural right away (if ever). It simply makes sense.
And all of these are taking place by doctor recommendation. This pandemic is shaking all of us — inviting Moms to do what makes sense for them, rather than what everybody else is doing.
The way a child is born shapes its perception of the world, defines how the child — and later, the adult — will interact with others. The way a woman gives birth profoundly influences how she perceives herself, how she positions herself in the world, how she mothers her baby, and how she identifies as a mother.
Stop for a moment. Take advantage that now you have the time to think about what makes sense for you. For decades, low-risk women were dragged from their homes to give birth in hospitals, subjected to a routine of mostly unnecessary interventions that lead to more interventions — to more complications, and an epidemic number of c-sections.
We are being shaken; we are waking up. Women — claim your power to give birth on your own terms. Use your voice to say “No” to what is not medically necessary and is being offered just for medical convenience. Understand that giving birth is part of your sexual health; do not let anyone ruin it.
Stand up tall. You can do this! Bring the companion of your choice with you — refuse to go alone, find another way. There is always another way.
It is time for all lies to be silenced. Women do not need major surgery 24 hours after their water has broken. Women do not need to receive an internal examination every hour for the sake of residents trying to improve their skills.
Your pelvic floor does not need a cut. It is not going to explode or be ruined by the passage of your baby. The cut may be suggested to you with the idea that it will make things easier — WRONG! It is most likely to mutilate your pelvic floor, ruin your sexual life, or leave you with urinary and/or fecal incontinence. No kidding.
Get to know your options — and get to know your rights. Hire a Midwife; hire a Doula. Go to a Birthing Center, or have your baby at home. Pick a hospital that really gives you options, respecting you and your baby.
Do it for you, for your baby — and for the whole rest of the world. We have rarely had such a profound opportunity to experience the ultimate truth that we are one, and what happens thousands of miles away will affect all of us somehow, some day. Your birth experience affects us all. Everybody should care.
“To change the world, we must first change the way babies are being born.” — Michel Odent
