The Importance of Birth and Birth Stories (blong entry 7)

"We now find ourselves in a situation in the US and in many other parts of the world where women are increasingly  being denied what is perhaps the most powerful and primal experience a woman can have: the right to give birth without the use of medical interventions unless these prove necessary," (Gaskin, 6).

                  In The Importance of Birth and Birth Stories by Ina May Gaskin the concept of natural birth is discussed and how it is increasingly being taken away from women by birth being no longer in the hands of women, but more so controlled by men in a medicalized atmosphere where surgery and drugs are playing a bigger role in what is supposed to be a natural process. Ina May Gaskin's purpose for writing her book is to encourage women to become more involved in the maternity care policy and help teach young women and men about birth, and one way to educate others about birth is through birth stories.
                Birth can not be explained in any other way besides a natural process. So why does our society keep trying to make it something it is not by treating it as a disease that needs critical medical attention? "The natural birth philosophy . . . is based upon a fundamental respect for nature that recognizes that nature mostly gets it right in birth," (Gaskin, 8). There is no case where drugs have improved the natural process of birth. Even in cases where the cord is wrapped around the neck of the baby, it almost always still safe for the baby to be born vaginally. One out of every five babies are born with the cord around the neck, proving it is actually rather a normalcy and is not the super dangerous condition that it is made out to be, which usually results in a cesarean section that is not needed (Gaskin, 6). Nature mostly gets it right in birth. Another scenario Gaskin talks about is due dates, and how they are often wrong, being pregnant at 42 weeks alerts doctors as dangerous which results in that woman being induced, instead of letting her natural hormones determine when labor should start. Being induced by synthetic hormones when the body was not ready to begin labor often results in a C-section, which could of been avoided if the body was left to go into labor when it was ready (Gaskin, 6). Again, nature mostly gets it right in birth.
               Birth is an empowering event in a woman's life. It is an event that reaches her innermost self where she discovers her body's capabilities and amazing strengths. This is why it is so critical that every woman should be entitled to an empowering, safe birth. In traditional cultures, birth has always been considered a woman's domain, which makes absolute complete sense since it's women having babies, not men. "Because only women give birth, indigious cultures that were widely separated from each other all considered it obvious that women were the people most qualified to decide what sort of care was necessary during pregnancy, birth, and the newborn period," (Gaskin, 2). However in the US and more frequently in other countries, women's power around decisions that concern their child's birth are limited. Midwifery care is often not heard of and has little influence on present day's birthing "industry". Because hospitals (that consist of mostly male surgeons) have been the primary atmosphere for birth that women and men have been exposed to, it is important that women should be taught that they have a right to a safe, positive birth and that a medicalized hospital birth is not their only option. A way of teaching mothers about birth so they will not be scared and turn to a medicalized birth is by giving them confidence by telling positive birth stories. Stories that do not include the mother on heavy doses of drugs, or mothers who "had to have" a C-section. Stories that talk about the natural process of birth, stories that will diminish the fear that has been placed in them by telling them they will not be able to handle the pain. Stories that will give women the credit they deserve, because our present day medicalized births have one thing behind them: fear. Fear that was created that undermined the confidence of all women. Women need to claim back their domain in birth, because women can handle it, it is part of their nature.


Questions: When did this fear about giving birth start? Why did our society medicalize it so much, when in the beginning we always knew it was natural? When will Midwifery care become more well known again, and more utilized than medicalized birth?
Some thoughts to my questions: Our society is trying to fix something that is not broken. Put birth in the hands of men, and they can't handle it. They can't relate to the process, they think drugs will help, when really all drugs do is increase C-section rates. C-section, being a surgery, surgery something that is really in their domain, making it something they can handle. Because these male doctors that are obstetricians are surgeons. Fear for birth in women started when the painkilling drugs started to be used. This made them think they can't handle the pain and they started to forget how it is a true natural process.

                This chapter by Ina May Gaskin was at the root of all of our class discussions.  When our guests Chris, Dani, and Vanessa came in a lot of what Gaskin wrote about relates to what they had to say. Such as when Chris and Dani discussed how they inform each mother-to-be of the positives and negatives of each test to allow them to make their own decisions on whether or not each test is right for them, whereas a doctor would just tell the mothers-to-be to get the test done. This supports what Gaskin wrote about how in the US medicalized birth's, women have limited say about what happens to them during their birth. Where as in Midwifery care they have every say to what happens to them, and Chris and Dani support and told us that.
                Also how Gaskin wrote how birth is an empowering event that shapes a woman's most innermost self, and how every woman should have a right to this kind of birth relates to what Vanessa had to say during our discussion. She who had a hospitalized birth with doctors and home birth with a midwife said how they were night and day in comparison. After her first hospitalized birth, she said she felt like she missed something. She wanted to hold her baby right after giving birth, but the doctors took her baby away. She had a limited say as to what happened to her. She was given drugs without full knowledge of the side effects, and she was told to rest after giving birth when in reality resting was not something she needed at that moment. What she needed was to see her baby. In contrast to her home birth, she got that positive empowering birth she was was not given the first time. Yes there was pain, but she was able to handle it, and was allowed to be with her baby right after giving birth, she was in full control of what happened the whole time. Her second experience was similar to the empowering births depicted in the "At Home in Maine" films. In these films you get to witness what a true natural birth is by them showing many woman at home giving birth. You can see after birth how happy each mother is after the journey through labor. This happiness is what birth is all about, and this happiness is what Ina May Gaskin wishes for all women.