Birth in the U.S.

We have always seen birth portrayed in the media, always in the same way. A woman in extreme distress, a complication during birth and the doctors who save the day. This is not a normal representation of what birth should look like. The media gives us fear based information and as a result, women distrust their bodies to do what they were so perfectly designed to do; give birth naturally. We think that we need hospital interventions to have a smooth, successful birth. The fact is, there is a direct correlation with hospital interventions and infant mortality rates. More interventions in hospitals means more c-sections and more deaths. Hospitals are a business and to hurry a birth, they inject pitocin (synthetic for of oxytocin made to cause contractions) in order to get more mothers to be in and out as quickly as possible. As a result, birth is much more painful and much more dangerous due to the constant, extremely strong and long contractions. The baby can become distressed and the mother ends on an operating table ready for an emergency c-section. This is not normal, yet this is how we see it every time a birth takes place on t.v. or in movies. Women flock to hospitals to have their babies, thinking it is their only option to have a safe birth. The fact is, giving birth naturally, away from a hospital setting (birthing centers, at home with a midwife etc.) is safer and give the mother the option to birth the way she pleases. Comfort of the mother is crucial to having a successful birth. I have a sneaking suspicion that if the media represented birth the way it was intended to be by nature, we would view the entire birthing process more like a natural process rather than pathological.




http://http://www.storknet.com/cubbies/homebirth/homebirthsafety.htm
http://http://www.gentlebirth.org/format/myths.html#Studies