A recent LA Times piece that reports "a shockingly high number could not answer basic questions regarding the pros, cons or safety issues associated with epidurals, episiotomies, Cesareans and other childbirth options" has got me thinking alot about why I wrote the play BIRTH.
Back in 2004-2005 when I was interviewing pregnant mothers about their birth experience I continually got the line "I didn't know."
I DIDN'T KNOW that there could be complications from a c-section.
I DIDN'T KNOW that if I had an epidural my baby may get a fever and me too.
I DIDN'T KNOW that once I had the baby they were going to take him from me immediately.
and one of my all-time favorites:
I DIDN'T KNOW midwives delivered babies other than out in a cornfield in Iowa.
I needed a deep breath. And that deep breath turned into my play BIRTH.
While I found it shocking 10 years ago that pregnant mothers did not know so much basic information about childbirth, today it's not only shocking it's inexcusable. Ten years ago women only had a few okay childbirth books and if they were lucky they got to see one of a few low-budget films on childbirth that talked about birth options. Today pregnant women can literally swim in an ocean of empowering childbirth information - both on the web and in the theatre. There is no excuse for not knowing your childbirth options today.
In addition to my play BIRTH which is performed in locations around the world as part of the BOLD movement, there are now widely distributed films like Ricki Lake's super-fantastic The Business of Being Born (and her online community My Best Birth), Debra Pascali-Bonaro's passionate boundary-breaker Orgasmic Birth.
The information is out there for pregnant moms. And these creative efforts have had impact. So the question I ask myself is what next? What is the next step so that even more pregnant women "know"? (so that every pregnant mother knows!)
For me, I have recently gone beyond my play BIRTH to train birth workers in my FEAR to FREEDOM Birth Facilitators Program which uses my play BIRTH and other tools to empower pregnant mothers. And I'm thrilled to hear Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein's next step is doing more too. I believe their soon-to-be-released More Business of Being Born films and my FEAR to FREEDOM Birth education will revolutionize childbirth education to become a hip, upbeat experience where childbirth empowerment is not a dirty word but celebrated as a woman's right.
So when I read the LA Times piece today it made me even more determined to wake pregnant mothers up. (and the young doctors, who the article said, prefer to c-section mothers than encourage vaginal births).
Your birth choice is your birth choice, but to walk into your birth uninformed is not a choice. It's a cop-out. I know pregnant women are better than that. Let's learn how to shed the fear about childbirth that we've been taught by our culture and educate ourselves about an act that affects not only our baby's body, but our body.
As Amanda says in my play, "My Body Rocks!"
Do you want to rock? Know your birth options.
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By the way, you can support More Business of Being Born to distribute it to the most people possible here.
The next FEAR to FREEDOM Birth Facilitators Training starts September 27! Our pre-launch class this summer has 31 women from 4 continents!
7 comments:
When I read the line about "young OB/GYNs perceiving c-section to be the best method of childbirth" I was like, "Why is THAT not the scandalous headline instead?" Sure, we can blame women, but when the people whom possibly undereducated/overwhelmed women need to be able to trust the most think that everyone should give birth via c-section, that's the point of failure. What are we paying these people for?
I agree. Honestly, I thought a piece could be written on that alone! It's scandalous.
I would argue that it's a little more complicated and blaming mothers when they are at their most vulnerable doesn't help anybody. There is an excuse and it's a valid one. Women trust their doctors. It's almost impossible for a pregnant momma to hear that what is in her best interest and the best interest of her baby doesn't always match what is in the best interest of her doctor.
Jill at The Unnecesarean had this to say: "It is common practice for maternity care providers to encourage women to listen to the provider’s advice alone over any other sources of information. They may even downplay the legitimacy of information that the woman obtains on her own. They may even discourage reading books, browsing the internet, or taking childbirth classes that are not sponsored by the hospital (and simply meant to teach women how to be good hospital patients, not actually provide them with the risks, benefits, and alternatives to common interventions). Most pregnant women simply are not aware that their maternity care provider may counsel her about her options with other motivations in mind aside from the health and wellbeing of her and her baby. Pregnant women are trusting of doctors. This is a culturally ingrained idea and I doubt it will be overcome by telling women how stupid they are for trusting the information imparted to them by a well educated and respected member of society."
http://www.theunnecesarean.com/blog/2011/6/16/who-is-responsible-for-educating-pregnant-women.html
So my question is what will wake mothers up to stop blindly trusting their doctors? I absolutely see your point and The Unnecessarian's point - which I've made countless time - but actually think pregnant women do need to take responsibility for their birth experiences and I don't see this as "blaming mothers." I see this as the key to overthrowing the cultural norm and ultimately putting pressure on the forces that do disempower mothers in their birth experiences (ie, hospital birth classes that train them to be a good patient).
I appreciate the Unnecesarean's quote, and I think she's quite accurate that pregnant women trusting doctors is culturally ingrained, but what's the solution? Sure blame the culture, but I sawy let's change the culture!
To me, I think pregnant mothers have the opportunity to be the solution. They just don't have the skills to know how to do it. I want to teach them the skills to own their birth. And no matter what birth experience they chose, to be fully awake with every choice they make.
Our natural, innate tendency is to trust the authority figure. Huge effort is required to think independently. Couple that with the ingrained slavish belief promoted in every culture that 'doctor knows best' and we have a situation ripe for abuse. Yes, it is scandalous that those who we trust are in fact, untrustworthy. Yes, women have to wake up and thanks to efforts like yours, Jill's, work like that of Ricky and Abbey #BOB and #MBOB and the rest of us who write, blog, tweet, teach etc our little hearts out, some are. Men have to wake up too and that is happening slowly. I want doctors to wake up. I want them to wake up to whatever primal fear, buried deep in their psyche, leads them to fear birth and women so much. I want them to wake up to the immense power for good they have when they use their position of authority whenver they meet birthing women to 'capacity build' not undermine these women and disable their embodied wisdom. We are all in this together. Keep going everyone with consciousness raising!
Carolyn, I love your term "capacity build' when it comes to doctors empowering birthing mothers. I think this is a must for the next generation of OBs and anyone working with pregnant moms!
Thanks Karen! I wish I could say that term was mine. Capacity building is one of the tenents of Primary Health Care and Community Development, both of which are embedded in relationship based midwifery practice. Those tenants used to be also embedded in medical practice, but sadly, their elevated sense of self has led to a loss of their therapeutic presence that was a signature of health care.
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