As a guy, I've never really put a lot of thought into the process of birth. As far as I understood it, you went to the hospital, there was a lot of screaming and yelling, and then the baby came out. The readings for this week, as well as the in class film, have definitely changed how I view the process of birth. In our society, birth is seen as something unclean, and in some ways, even unnatural. We've become so accustomed to the sterilized hospital birth setting that we've forgotten that people have been giving birth without the assistance of modern medicine since the existence of humanity (obviously). Seeing as our entire existence is based around the continuation of our species, one would hope we'd be properly equipped to reproduce.
As it turns out, we are properly equipped. What we aren't, however, is properly informed. What needs to happen is a shift of power from the doctors to the mothers, or to take it one step further, to the fetus itself. As discussed in the article, Late Pregnancy, Labor Induction, and the Occupy Uterus Movement, it may very well be the fetus' decision when to head out into the world, not the mother's. At first, I was fascinated by this concept, but after thinking about it, I realize just how much sense it makes. Life isn't an exact science, and human beings can't be reduced to simple variables. Each person is different, a product of both their environment and genetics. When the baby is ready to come out, it will do so. In my opinion, we should respect that, along with the mother's wishes.
I as well have been oblivious to the process of my own becoming. I knew that women went to hospitals to have babies with the trust that the doctors had the experience and the resources to deliver a baby that was healthy. I never knew the cascade of interventions used could be so harmful or takes away from the bonding moment of child birth. I felt like a child birth in a hospital was the number one choice.
ReplyDeleteI remember a few years ago I did see a documentary on home births and Ricki Lake was one of the participants. I saw that and thought that she was murdering her child. Thinking of being in a birthing situation, the mother has invested so much time, resources, and emotion into the rearing of this child that she would not want to chance it to a mistake that could of been premeditated and performed in a hospital. During the birth she seemed to be completely overwhelmed. The idea of a rock and a hard place was most befitting of this situation. If I were a woman giving birth, I would probably find the same empathy in my actions as well as my thoughts.
I have realized though that birthing outside of hospitals is alright as long as there is an open-minded person with an enormous amount of experience in birthing. My mother had her first 3 children vaginally and me and my twin sister via Cesarian section. With my sister and I there was obviously no choice. If she were to of had my sibling more recently, then more than likely I guarantee at least one of them would of been birthed via a Cesarian section.