Perspective: Thoughts on childbirth
We are in the phase of life during which many of our peers are starting their own families. In the past twelve months, all three of my closest friends in DC, several other long-distance friends, and I myself have had babies. Needless to say, I have devoted much time and energy to thinking about babies and childbirth.
Between S & A’s childbirths, I read and researched the topic extensively out of a mixture of curiosity and self interest. Some of what I read included the books Pushed, by Jennifer Block; Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born, by Tina Cassidy; and Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin. I also watched The Business of Being Born, visited a few websites discussing and debating childbirth and maternal medical care, and even researched some public health statistics on childbirth.
My research and personal experiences have lead me to two conclusions. First, I believe that the process of childbirth matters. The techniques and procedures used by medical professionals who attend deliveries are of life-and-death consequence for mother and child. And statistics bear out the fact that, though childbirth in the United States is much safer than in countries without advanced medical technology, it is not nearly as safe as it could or should be. Better birth matters because those statistics are not just numbers. They are actual lives of actual mothers and babies who matter and who deserve the best possible chance at health and life.
My second conclusion is that the discourse surrounding childbirth rapidly deteriorates into a pointless debate between the “natural birth” and “medical intervention” camps, to the detriment of women and babies’ health. In the fight for access to improved health care, women seem to have lost the forest for the trees. The insistence on a certain “birth experience” for the sake of ensuring the safest, least painful outcome for mother and baby is worthwhile. The quest to make childbirth a homey, comfortable experience, though, is not only futile but can also be extremely risky.
I would argue that improved maternal/fetal care is not only desirable but also attainable. Both the “interventionists” and the “naturalists” are doing what they believe is optimal and that both desire the best possible outcome for mother and baby. I acknowledge that other factors can cloud medical professionals’ judgements: profit, convenience, fear of lawsuits, etc. But I seriously doubt that any person who works in labor and delivery does not care when a mother or child dies or is seriously injured. Both “camps” can learn from one another. This requires humility on both sides, along with an acknowledgement that childbirth is and likely always will remain a dangerous prospect.
Finally, I would urge a healthy dose of perspective. One of the dear friends mentioned above did not have the happy, healthy outcome we all desperately desire. Though her loss was not caused by her daughter’s birth experience, it did offer the poignant reminder that anyone whose pregnancy outcome is a heatlhy mother and child have first and foremost an obligation to be grateful and secondmost a reason to do all possible to ensure that other mothers have access to that same outcome.
