Birth Doesn't Have to be so Routine
Imagine sitting in the forest, right behind your home in a cleared out path with your supportive husband, a midwife and your little one sitting nearby as you peacefully and spiritually bring your new life into this world. You’re sitting on a soft pallet of fresh blankets, the only sounds you hear are the sounds of the birds chirping nearby and the rustling of the beautiful orange and yellow trees overhead and nothing, not anyone is there to take away from the glorious moment that you bring life into this world.
It sounds almost too good to be true. It doesn’t sound real. But the fact of the matter is that this scenario is real and has in fact been done. And while this scenario may not be appealing to everyone, most people read this and are intrigued.
If you know me by now, you know that I adore talking about birth. Not in a pushy, “You have to do it this way” kinda way, but in a general school girl excited over a pack of unicorn scrunchies kinda way. Childbirth has been the most amazing adventure for me each time, with each time bringing more power and peace to life.
After three births and currently awaiting my fourth birth, it’s just something I am passionate about because there is so much to share about birth that many mamas are still not quite aware of. Somehow over time our culture has gravitated into a complete “routine and protocol” over birth. Hospital births became the mainstream, surgical births became popular (a blessing indeed when needed) and things just took a turn from the days of birthing at home. Things took a turn so much that at some point many years ago babies didn’t even recover with their mother for the first several hours and instead all resided in a nursery cared for by nurses. I don’t know about you, but after growing this human for nine months there’s no one that’s about to care for it other than me (and I suppose that baby daddy too).
Now if you know my story, you know I didn’t birth in the woods like a fairy goddess. But the reason why I shared this true example with you, is because I believe that every woman deserves to know one thing: birth doesn’t have to be so routine.
Millennials are taking back birth with a rise in home births, birth centers and unassisted births. We are yearning to get back to the basics of natural childbirth in a peaceful setting with less tubes, IVs and humming machines. The beauty of bringing childbirth back to the basics NOW, is that we have come so far medically. With a good OB or midwife, women are able to get the best care possible for their baby and themselves and can determine if there are any red flags that would keep a mother from birthing like a fairy goddess in the woods. We can now go into a natural childbirth knowing that a mother is low risk, or we can go into a birth knowing that a mother may have some risks and therefore will need a hospital setting. Either way, the merging of advanced technology and prenatal care is paving the way for confidence in the home birth and midwife birth settings.
Birth doesn’t have to be so routine. It’s the basis of what every mama has to remember. Most women are fully capable of birthing without complications because of one thing - God designed our bodies to do this. By focusing on the physiological birth - we can remind ourselves that birth is a natural process that doesn’t generally require medical routines, equipment and “rules.”
If I choose to birth in a forest, I can.
If I choose to birth in a tub, I can.
If I choose to birth in a beautiful lace gown, I can.
If I choose to deny an epidural at my hospital, I can.
If I choose to walk around the hospital room, I can.
If my doctor suggests an induction just because I am a day or two over due, I can reject it.
If my doctor says my hips are small and my baby is big, I can reject his assumption.
If my doctor says my baby is going to be big and I should consider an induction, I can reject it.
If I am over my due date and healthy, there’s no need to intervene.
The list goes on. While yes, there are times where certain medical red flags insist that a mother and baby would benefit from an induced labor or a surgical birth, the truth of the matter is that this is an overused approach that is unfortunately done sometimes only for the convenience of the doctor or the patient. Somehow along the way, we’ve accepted “scheduling” births (when not medically necessary) as normal; and we’ve accepted that our country has the highest rate of surgical birth (Louisiana leads the way). Do you know once that a doctor admitted to a patient AFTER her surgical birth that he only pushed for the surgery because he believed the mother was tired? Or that there’s a connection between inductions and surgical births? Did you know that you can tell your doctor that you don’t want an epidural, don’t want an IV (instead they will put a lock in) and that you want to roam freely during birth? YES, YOU CAN.
Here’s the thing to remember, doctors are blessings. Hospitals don’t have to be scary and so routine. You have the right to go in with a birth plan and voice your requests up until the second you’re pushing new life out into this world. Just because there’s a typical routine or protocol that some providers go by, doesn’t mean that YOU have to. And if your provider isn’t wanting to cooperate or work with your birth plan, there are many other fish in the sea. There are truly some amazing, wonderful doctors out there who work hard to help a mother reach her birth plan and from my own experience, there’s nurses who get a thrill from helping mothers birth naturally in a hospital setting.
And the same goes for the setting. Birth for a healthy woman doesn’t have to look so standard. White hospital sheets and a plethora of machines nearby doesn’t have to be the norm for you if that’s not what you desire. If a overhang of trees is more appealing to you than fluorescent lights are, go for it. It’s all about what you’re comfortable in. Whether that means to birth in the forest, to birth at home or to birth in a hospital with an epidural, you have to choose what works for you.
But remember, birth doesn’t have to be so routine.
Want to hear more about my personal birth stories, find them here, here and here. I believe that with the right doctor and a great staff of nurses, natural hospital births can not only be achieved but can also be beautiful. Stay tuned as we shed light on preparing for our first non hospital birth this spring at a free standing birth center.
For more information on natural childbirth, check out our posts and suggestions here
Photography By Gray Photography
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