Birth Advocacy and what it means to me

I've been having numerous discussions with people lately about birth choices. I could just talk for hours and hours! I've recently devoured the documentaries "The Business of Being Born" and "Pregnant in America" as well as numerous internet articles while expanding my library of resources at home. I met with a lactation consultant recently at my new office and we poured out our hearts and souls to each other about our passion for being birth advocates.

Since labeling myself as a birth advocate, I feel compelled to write today to clarify what that means to me. I am not anti-medicine, I am not anti-hospitals, and I am not anti-interventions. This means that if they are used during birth, I will support a mother in the same respectful, honorable role and I won't think any less of her! However, this does not mean that I think they are right for every mother. Being a birth advocate means I work to ensure that a woman's choice about how she births is respected. It is my utmost concern that she and her baby are healthy, and that she emerges a confident, empowered mother. This can be done in a hospital, or in a birth center, and it can be done at home. It is the women whose wishes are not respected in those settings who come away feeling powerless or dejected. It is the women who aren't fully educated or don't understand their options that may not experience birth in a positive way.

I want to be clear about one thing though concerning my position as a birth advocate: I believe that birth is a PROCESS our female bodies were designed to participate in and NOT a medical condition to be controlled like a disease or treated like a symptom of an underlying medical issue. About 90% of women will labor just fine, without issues or complications, and this should not be a shock to the healthcare community since it's the way we were designed to reproduce as a species. Women were laboring for generations and generations before IV's, drugs, forceps, vacuums, ultrasounds, and hospitals were around. Thankfully, with the age of technology and medical advancements, we can now help those other 10% of women with reducing many birth-related risks.

Should how we aid that 10% with complicated pregnancies form the status quo for how we deal with normal pregnancies? No. When we do, we choose to expose the other 90% to a plethora of unnecessary risks.

Some women want pain medication or an epidural during labor. Should they feel any less empowered than a woman who chooses to go "natural?" Absolutely not. Some women end up needing to have C-Sections to ensure the safety of the baby and should not be made to feel that they are any less of a mother. Other women birth at home because it is the right choice for them, and are ridiculed for putting themselves or their babies "at risk." There are two sides to every coin, and what I essentially want to say is that each woman (possibly with her partner) needs to get informed and make the best choice she can.