Ah, natural child birth. A topic I am beyond passionate about. My interest in the topic began in 2008 when I met my good friend, Esther, in Kona. We were roommates and she is a midwife from Washington. Babies and pregnancy had always been a huge interest of mine anyway, so meeting a midwife made me want to pick her brain all the time. This I did, and she was happy to share. After becoming friends with her and hearing the natural / wholestic side of childbirth, birth-control etc. I was sold. Upon realizing that it is not necessary to have your baby in a hospital, infused with drugs and constantly being bothered and checked by the nursing staff, I became more and more interested. I decided for a while, then, that I wanted to become a midwife. Then I decided that would be way too much pressure for me and I couldn’t handle it. So, I decided I wanted to become a Doula (childbirth coach). This is doable for me! I took a course, but didn’t really follow through with getting certified. All that to say I am completely sold on all-natural child birth. Some of the reasons being:
~I believe God made woman’s body to do what it’s supposed to do! Women have been giving birth for thousands of years without hospitals, and the earth has remained populated!
~The drugs offered in hospitals have their risks. Epidurals are scary in general – one misjudgment to where that huge needle goes and boom, you’re paralyzed. Epidurals also slow down labor, which most women have gotten induced for in the first place. They get induced with pitocin which speeds up contractions more than your body is prepared to handle, then you have to get an epidural to ease the pain of the dang pitocin. The epidural slows down the progress, which means time to ‘up’ the pitocin. It’s an endless cycle that often ends in c-sections, because the baby goes into distress. Why does the baby go into distress or their heart rate climbs or drops? Because of the pitocin!
~Once you get the drugs in the hospital, you hardly have the option to get up and move. Gravity is childbirth’s best friend! You’re advised not to lay on your back while you’re pregnant because of the lack of circulation, yet that’s the only option you have when you get an epidural. It’s counter-productive! The only reason hospitals have the woman laying down to push is for the convenience of the doctor. Really, though, laying down goes completely against gravity and is the toughest pushing position there is.
~Hospital staff puts pressure on their birthing patients. “You’re not progressing fast enough” is a common saying among nurses and doctors. SAYS WHO?! Is my thought. The hospital has a time limit for their patients, and if you aren’t meeting that then they ‘advise’ you to take further action. This is such a shame. Sometimes it takes a while to progress, that’s your body’s way of preparing itself from trauma. There should be no time limit for women to give birth, it’s just wrong!
~Most hospitals lack the option of letting you bond with your baby right after it’s born. They swoop it away, bath it, weigh it, give shots and whatever other unnecessary things, then a big sense of bonding is lost with the mother and baby. The naturalistic idea of that time after baby’s born is to let it lay on mom’s chest as long as possible. No rush to bathe the baby (most of the time) or weight it right away or anything else. When laying on mom’s chest, baby learns to breathe quickly from the feeling of mom’s breaths. Also, baby is warmed up quickly laying on mom’s bare skin. Nursing is incredible to do as soon as possible, also. Even in those first few moments. It is so good for the baby to eat and it also helps baby get acquainted with how to nurse much quicker than if you first try after a few hours. (Which often is why babies have a hard time latching, and moms give up on breastfeeding right away).
~Oxitocin- when a mom is on drugs during labor, the natural endorphins / hormones that fill moms up with love and a sense of forgetting the pain, becomes blocked. The beauty of going natural is that the natural good feelings come immediately after the birth. This is suppressed quite a bit by drugs.
Okay, so honestly that stuff barely scratches the surface of why I am so strongly opinionated about all-natural childbirth. It can be so peaceful and uninterrupted. More than anything, I am grateful that God designed woman’s body to do such a miraculous thing! Why mess with such a great design if it’s not necessary.
This brings me to my next point. I absolutely am thankful for hospitals. (Might not seem like it after that little speel, does it?) There are absolutely complications that can happen in labor. The big thing that I’ve discovered, though, is that the things that often are considered ‘complications’ really are not, to a trained midwife. But there are scary scenarios where medical interventions are required to save the life of a mother or baby. It is crucial that when deciding to go all-natural, one comes to peace with the idea that they may end up needing to be rushed to the hospital. This happens very rarely, but it happens. I am so grateful for my midwives and the facility that I am delivering our daughter at! They are incredible midwives, who also are grateful for the hospital. They have a great relationship with the Salem hospital and never say anything negatively about it.
All that said, I need the Lord to change my heart. Here’s why. I am more passionate about the subject of birth than I am most things in life. I get completely worked up on the inside if people disagree with me. It frustrates me 100x more than it should, and that is so wrong. My heart is wrong. I am coming to the conclusion that I need a heart change that only Jesus can offer. On this subject, especially, as funny as that seems. I need to lay down my pride when talking to people who may disagree with me and love and respect them anyway. I am so sad with myself - that I find such an identity with the way I view things like this. I need to be more passionate about people who don’t know Jesus or people who choose not to love Jesus. That is what my heart needs to constantly be worked up about! I love when Jesus points out the things in our lives that do not align with Him. He is so faithful to be refining me and making me love the things He loves.
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