Thank you for this. As a pediatrician who cares for the babies once they arrive, I could not agree more. It is heartbreaking when the birth does not go as planned, but I am always so thankful for a healthy mother and a healthy baby.
No. Respect the birth plan. Get consent for every single thing you do and do not ASK REPEATEDLY or use THREATS or else you are committing assault.
If "does not go as planned" includes bullying from some control freak whitecoat or bitter nurse who aged out of the strip club, or includes off label use of syntocinon (as in, DURING labor instead of for 3rd stage management) - which causes chance of post partum hemorrhage to *skyrocket*, or threatening "do what I say or uR bAbY WiLL diEeeeE", or putting women on their backs to push from *beginning* of 2nd stage, or letting junkies on staff continue to steal the narcotics out of epidural kits and replace with saline in the vial, or cutting the cord before it is completely clear and done pulsing so they can STEAL AND SELL CORD BLOOD AND HARVEST ORGANS (like placenta) FOR ORGAN TRAFFICKING, etc etc ..
Then the baby and mother are dealing with far more danger and risk. Being spoken to disrespectfully, condescendingly, dismissively or being treated like she is not the one in charge of her own body and baby, those things MAKE HER UNHEALTHY.
There is this thing called "mental health". Allopaths are bulls in china shops and have no real skills at this point. No clue about breech maneuvers, no clue about how to leave a most twin births the hell alone. In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.
Time for medical staff to develop some discipline and educate themselves instead of blindly serving their mid-level masters. Those guys and gals are just going to keep creating protocol and "standard of care" that is designed to *create problems so that they can solve them and bill for all of it*.
Yes, "misadventures" is what the courts call them when quacks settle for millions. Good girl. Pat pat.
Thank you for the writing prompt; it facilitated a portion of a draft soon to be published. Also upcoming is a podcast on the topic of Rockefeller "obstetrics" crashing and burning.
Multiple quacks have taken part in boosting The Long Game's visibility; your contribution is appreciated.
I agree with the assessment that pre-39 wk births are sometimes needed in certain high risk circumstances but not good as a norm. Cholestasis of pregnancy, preeclampsia, IUGR are obviously examples where the risk of continuing a pregnancy is generally greater than the risk of delivery before 39 wk
Thank you for writing this. I couldn’t agree more. A friend had a home delivery in the UK even after learning the baby was in breach. The baby didn’t make it due to loss of oxygen. There’s so much misinformation floating around and the results can be really tragic.
I wrote a longer comment but I want to be polite and give you the benefit of the doubt here.
Please can you share some *evidence* that childbirth is medically complex and benefits from medical management?
Can you share cross-cultural validation of said evidence from, e.g., the Netherlands and other first world countries with far better outcomes where midwifery is normative? Why do Dutch OBs enthusiastically support home birth? What physiologic processes are they blind to that you have a special insight into?
Your claim would rather obviously be influenced by your ascertainment bias as a neonatologist. I know an EMT who believes driving is the most dangerous thing a person can do - you understand what I mean. This is why I am interested in evidence. Please share!
I find that expectations often are influenced by our work. I would expect neonatalogists and OBs to consider births as medically complex and risky because their lives are steeped in the "bad outcomes". As in so many other things, perspective plays a large role in our beliefs.
My first birth was a compound presentation. And yet I still managed to push her out, because I had an attendant that kept a close eye on how baby and mom were doing. Did everything go according to my birth plan? No, but baby arrived and thrived. Baby two had a jagged fingernail, hence I was started on Pit to get a reluctant labor started. She was born at 37 weeks. A healthy 6 lbs 14 oz. After a two our active labor she came roaring out. Third baby was the only one that came according to my birth plan--no medical intervention.
Thanks for this. I plan to delve into some of these issues next week. Cultural influences are strong. Interesting that some European OBs promote home births - probably only for low risk patients and with a nurse midwife.
https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d7400 See e.g. the Birthplace cohort. It's not "some European OBs." There is extensive literature from multiple first-world countries proving home birth can be safe in countries with integrated care. I'd suggest looking at professional guidance in European countries on home birth for a start. ACOG's statement against home birth is genuinely aberrant.
Again- ascertainment is everything. In Europe women can access continuity of midwifery care, the gold standard, and are counseled about birthplace. The VBAC rate in Sweden is about 45%. Here in the US about 1 in 3 hospitals ban VBAC entirely, and many rural hospitals have shut down maternity care, which is why women have freebirths alone in their homes. OBs enthusiastically call the cops and CPS on home birthers leading to delayed transfers- pregnancy criminalization has a chilling effect, as does prosecution for stillbirth and miscarriage and "pro life" OBs who court-order cesareans. Of course our home birth outcomes are much worse than in other countries. Our hospital birth outcomes are *also* worse than in other countries.
It is very frustrating to deal with patients who have "plans" or have done their "research" and then it becomes an absolute.
In this era of being "under-babied" and "Instagram" medicine, many people do not realize that childbirth remains one of the greatest risks a woman faces.
My brother's daughter was born with HLHS. It was not picked up on any of the ultrasounds (still don't know how). She is alive today only because my sister-in-law had heavy postpartum bleeding, which kept her and my niece in the hospital two extra days. My niece is in college now. Having a physician attend a birth and monitor a new born child and mother I believe is vital in preventative medicine. I don't see how this can really happen with some of the alternative births scenarios.
There is far more to maternal, fetal, and infant health than what we provide in many settings. I'm an advocate for hospital or hospital-adjacent birth centers. Too much can go south fast.
I can easily believe that, but as a birthing mother it is downright traumatic to be cared for by people whose first concern seems to be making sure that you don’t get any ideas about having control of your body! Being forbidden to stand up, feeling like you have to agree to interventions that you don’t really want (in my case an epidural) lest you be “refusing treatment”, watching the interventions pile up while they pretend to ask for “informed consent” and clearly don’t want you making any decisions… followed, of course, by smug statements about how it was always going to go that way so you’re just being precious if you wish they’d been kinder and more honest about which things were truly necessary and which things weren’t.
Doctors who ask us to be “flexible” are really asking for trust. And most of us know that we have no choice, in the end, but to give that trust—warranted or not. So try to use your power kindly and responsibly.
Sounds like you did not have a great anesthsiologist or obstetrician with which to discuss all of your options. That is crucial in making moms feel heard and allowing you to trust your providers. Smug statements are never appropriate.
Yeah. The doctor who actually performed my C-section was very sweet about it—she told me “It all went a bit pear-shaped at the end, didn’t it?” and I said “It went pear-shaped at the START” and she said I should raise a complaint. I’m glad I did, even though that process was also pretty traumatic. Case in point:
Me (written a couple of weeks after birth): The anaesthesiologist came in and said “I hear there’s a woman who wants pain relief!” and I said “No!” and then the obstetrician said something to the anaesthesiologist and then they gave me an epidural.
Anaesthesiologist (writing six months later): I don’t remember anything like that but I am sure I would have remembered if something as unusual as that had happened and it definitely doesn’t sound like anything I’d do.
Obstetrician: [neglects to address this part in any way]
Midwife: I did not hear what the obstetrician said so I can’t address this part.
Review board: Well, this anaesthesiologist sounds very credible, so I’m sure you’ll understand that we can’t address this issue, and while we’re at it let’s just ignore the rest of your complaint, too, even in places where the evidence is stronger.
The obstetrician did eventually say that I had changed the way she thinks about things, though. That meant a lot to me. I do think her intentions were good, I think she just didn’t understand that she wasn’t doing me a favour. She was pretty inexperienced, and I later learned that the midwife had overtly presented my pain to her as a problem to be solved even though I did not see it as such.
Thanks, Joshua. You are so kind. Your niece with HLHS is so fortunate. I worry today about the “pulse oximeter test” that we perform, generally at 24 hrs, to check for ductal dependent lesions (like HLHS). When parents want to leave early and the test gets done early there may be false negatives. I’ve seen too many missed.
Having worked in a level 4 neonatal unit for 35 years that catered mostly to surgical ( cardiac) neonates and out born infants requiring complex surgical interventions I can tell you that the best laid plans for a noninvasive birth can go out the window very quickly when you encounter the unexpected, the undiagnosed, the unmonitored. Many neonatal transports are those babies . Or the neonate in full collapse at day 4 with undiagnosed cardiac issues. Or the home birth that goes tragically wrong. Lack of compassionate inclusive culturally sensitive prenatal care is our greatest failure.
Great article, thanks for taking the time to put this together.
I’m a Canadian paramedic and it’s a relief to see more articles like this. I think unfortunately, many pregnancies and deliveries are preyed on by people with a little bit of knowledge trying to sell something.
Hate to see it. Always enjoy education on the other side of things from licensed practitioners.
Thank you so much, Dr. Landers, for this powerful, deeply informative post and for sharing your own personal and professional experience.
As a fellow physician, your words resonate with me on so many levels. If I may, I would love to share a bit of my own story here.
When I first became pregnant, I knew without a doubt that I would give birth in a hospital. My perspective was shaped by a family tragedy: my mother’s first pregnancy was a very large baby (5 kg). She couldn't deliver naturally, and by the time they realized it, it was too late for a C-section. The medical team had to make the agonizing choice to save the mother, and the baby was lost. Even though it wasn't my personal experience, my mother's trauma stayed with me, and I carried that deep worry into my own pregnancies.
My first birth was at 40 weeks in a hospital. Things didn't go as planned, requiring induction and an epidural, but thankfully it ended safely for both me and my baby. My second and third births both started naturally at 39 weeks in the hospital and went beautifully without any intervention.
Every single time, I was acutely aware of how unpredictable childbirth can be. Having the continuous supervision of an OB and a midwife was the only thing that gave me true peace of mind. Now, as I am expecting my fourth baby, my choice remains the same - I will be delivering in a hospital.
I deeply understand your perspective, and based on my own history, I choose what feels right and safe for my family. At the same time, I can understand mothers who choose home births; I truly believe that as mothers, we all act out of the absolute best intentions for ourselves and our babies.
I sincerely hope and pray that every mother’s birthing journey brings her and her little one home safely and peacefully. Wishing you all the very best! ❤️
I have given birth three times in hospitals and would never consider a home birth knowing the dangers.
However, I was nervous every time, knowing that it is much easier for a doctor to do a quick c section than it is for a mother to endure it and live with the consequences. Some women also have to worry about eugenic abuse:
Once you have a C section, your future reproductive choices are controlled by doctors. If you want another kid, you are usually forced to endure another c section. If you always dreamed of a large family, too bad. Your doctor will tell you no more babies for you, or you will die.
I always find it interesting that in first-world countries with high-quality maternity care, the VBAC rate is a lot higher than in the States.
My own mother had 5 cesareans - one for "big" 7lb baby and then refused vbac because she carried late. I know several other mothers who were forcibly sterilized after multiple medically unnecessary cesareans for similarly frivolous reasons. OBs of course do not warn patients about the risks of major surgery and the first time they learn about e.g. accreta is usually when they're diagnosed. And, of course, as a Puerto Rican woman, I am keenly aware of the bloody history of sterilization, cesarean, and experimentation on that island.
I think a major issue is that OBs typically suffer no consequences for obstetric violence. There is no mechanism that can force an OB to be held accountable to their patients besides suing. There are some wonderful attorneys, such as Hermine Hayes Klein, who are working hard to change that.
You show your hand when you refer to the mother as “a big girl” who should cede all autonomy to her clinician. There are certainly cases where patients warrant intervention, but that doesn’t mean unquestioning reliance is the only way. Women should be supported in making goal-concordant decisions that balance their safety, the health of their baby’s safety, and their preferences. That balance is not going to be the same for all women.
Well said, The mom as “a big girl” was intended to mean when things do not go as she wanted, because of the baby’s wellbeing, that she could accept what her body needed and try not to feel so traumatized. The birth experience is meant to produce a healthy baby, not a mother who has a perfect delivery.
...and a healthy mom. And a healthy mom. And a healthy mom.
Why do clinicians insist on disappearing the mother from the birth? Why do maternal outcomes not matter?
"Try not to feel so traumatized" dear God. I'm imagining a mental health professional saying this to a patient and the professional consequences that would ensue....
I have given birth three times in hospitals and would never consider a home birth knowing the dangers.
However, I was nervous every time, knowing that it is much easier for a doctor to do a quick c section than it is for a mother to endure it and live with the consequences. Some women also have to worry about eugenic abuse:
Once you have a C section, your future reproductive choices are controlled by doctors. If you want another kid, you are usually forced to endure another c section. If you always dreamed of a large family, too bad. Your doctor will tell you no more babies for you, or you will die. For Catholic women who can’t use birth control, this brings even more horrors.
Lots of c sections happen because you get an epidural and it causes a concerning reading on the fetal monitor. This is a known issue. It almost happened to me, but I managed to get the baby out and he was fine.
Thank you for this. As a pediatrician who cares for the babies once they arrive, I could not agree more. It is heartbreaking when the birth does not go as planned, but I am always so thankful for a healthy mother and a healthy baby.
No. Respect the birth plan. Get consent for every single thing you do and do not ASK REPEATEDLY or use THREATS or else you are committing assault.
If "does not go as planned" includes bullying from some control freak whitecoat or bitter nurse who aged out of the strip club, or includes off label use of syntocinon (as in, DURING labor instead of for 3rd stage management) - which causes chance of post partum hemorrhage to *skyrocket*, or threatening "do what I say or uR bAbY WiLL diEeeeE", or putting women on their backs to push from *beginning* of 2nd stage, or letting junkies on staff continue to steal the narcotics out of epidural kits and replace with saline in the vial, or cutting the cord before it is completely clear and done pulsing so they can STEAL AND SELL CORD BLOOD AND HARVEST ORGANS (like placenta) FOR ORGAN TRAFFICKING, etc etc ..
Then the baby and mother are dealing with far more danger and risk. Being spoken to disrespectfully, condescendingly, dismissively or being treated like she is not the one in charge of her own body and baby, those things MAKE HER UNHEALTHY.
There is this thing called "mental health". Allopaths are bulls in china shops and have no real skills at this point. No clue about breech maneuvers, no clue about how to leave a most twin births the hell alone. In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.
Time for medical staff to develop some discipline and educate themselves instead of blindly serving their mid-level masters. Those guys and gals are just going to keep creating protocol and "standard of care" that is designed to *create problems so that they can solve them and bill for all of it*.
Wow, such a litany of misadventures. I hope you have not actually seen these things you mention.
Yes, "misadventures" is what the courts call them when quacks settle for millions. Good girl. Pat pat.
Thank you for the writing prompt; it facilitated a portion of a draft soon to be published. Also upcoming is a podcast on the topic of Rockefeller "obstetrics" crashing and burning.
Multiple quacks have taken part in boosting The Long Game's visibility; your contribution is appreciated.
I agree with the assessment that pre-39 wk births are sometimes needed in certain high risk circumstances but not good as a norm. Cholestasis of pregnancy, preeclampsia, IUGR are obviously examples where the risk of continuing a pregnancy is generally greater than the risk of delivery before 39 wk
Thank you for writing this. I couldn’t agree more. A friend had a home delivery in the UK even after learning the baby was in breach. The baby didn’t make it due to loss of oxygen. There’s so much misinformation floating around and the results can be really tragic.
How sad. A breech birth at home. No way that would be good. 💙
I wrote a longer comment but I want to be polite and give you the benefit of the doubt here.
Please can you share some *evidence* that childbirth is medically complex and benefits from medical management?
Can you share cross-cultural validation of said evidence from, e.g., the Netherlands and other first world countries with far better outcomes where midwifery is normative? Why do Dutch OBs enthusiastically support home birth? What physiologic processes are they blind to that you have a special insight into?
Your claim would rather obviously be influenced by your ascertainment bias as a neonatologist. I know an EMT who believes driving is the most dangerous thing a person can do - you understand what I mean. This is why I am interested in evidence. Please share!
I find that expectations often are influenced by our work. I would expect neonatalogists and OBs to consider births as medically complex and risky because their lives are steeped in the "bad outcomes". As in so many other things, perspective plays a large role in our beliefs.
My first birth was a compound presentation. And yet I still managed to push her out, because I had an attendant that kept a close eye on how baby and mom were doing. Did everything go according to my birth plan? No, but baby arrived and thrived. Baby two had a jagged fingernail, hence I was started on Pit to get a reluctant labor started. She was born at 37 weeks. A healthy 6 lbs 14 oz. After a two our active labor she came roaring out. Third baby was the only one that came according to my birth plan--no medical intervention.
Thanks for this. I plan to delve into some of these issues next week. Cultural influences are strong. Interesting that some European OBs promote home births - probably only for low risk patients and with a nurse midwife.
https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d7400 See e.g. the Birthplace cohort. It's not "some European OBs." There is extensive literature from multiple first-world countries proving home birth can be safe in countries with integrated care. I'd suggest looking at professional guidance in European countries on home birth for a start. ACOG's statement against home birth is genuinely aberrant.
Again- ascertainment is everything. In Europe women can access continuity of midwifery care, the gold standard, and are counseled about birthplace. The VBAC rate in Sweden is about 45%. Here in the US about 1 in 3 hospitals ban VBAC entirely, and many rural hospitals have shut down maternity care, which is why women have freebirths alone in their homes. OBs enthusiastically call the cops and CPS on home birthers leading to delayed transfers- pregnancy criminalization has a chilling effect, as does prosecution for stillbirth and miscarriage and "pro life" OBs who court-order cesareans. Of course our home birth outcomes are much worse than in other countries. Our hospital birth outcomes are *also* worse than in other countries.
Your points are well taken. I was unaware of European practices, and I will review the content that you sent me. Thank you.
It is very frustrating to deal with patients who have "plans" or have done their "research" and then it becomes an absolute.
In this era of being "under-babied" and "Instagram" medicine, many people do not realize that childbirth remains one of the greatest risks a woman faces.
My brother's daughter was born with HLHS. It was not picked up on any of the ultrasounds (still don't know how). She is alive today only because my sister-in-law had heavy postpartum bleeding, which kept her and my niece in the hospital two extra days. My niece is in college now. Having a physician attend a birth and monitor a new born child and mother I believe is vital in preventative medicine. I don't see how this can really happen with some of the alternative births scenarios.
There is far more to maternal, fetal, and infant health than what we provide in many settings. I'm an advocate for hospital or hospital-adjacent birth centers. Too much can go south fast.
Great article.
I can easily believe that, but as a birthing mother it is downright traumatic to be cared for by people whose first concern seems to be making sure that you don’t get any ideas about having control of your body! Being forbidden to stand up, feeling like you have to agree to interventions that you don’t really want (in my case an epidural) lest you be “refusing treatment”, watching the interventions pile up while they pretend to ask for “informed consent” and clearly don’t want you making any decisions… followed, of course, by smug statements about how it was always going to go that way so you’re just being precious if you wish they’d been kinder and more honest about which things were truly necessary and which things weren’t.
Doctors who ask us to be “flexible” are really asking for trust. And most of us know that we have no choice, in the end, but to give that trust—warranted or not. So try to use your power kindly and responsibly.
Sounds like you did not have a great anesthsiologist or obstetrician with which to discuss all of your options. That is crucial in making moms feel heard and allowing you to trust your providers. Smug statements are never appropriate.
Yeah. The doctor who actually performed my C-section was very sweet about it—she told me “It all went a bit pear-shaped at the end, didn’t it?” and I said “It went pear-shaped at the START” and she said I should raise a complaint. I’m glad I did, even though that process was also pretty traumatic. Case in point:
Me (written a couple of weeks after birth): The anaesthesiologist came in and said “I hear there’s a woman who wants pain relief!” and I said “No!” and then the obstetrician said something to the anaesthesiologist and then they gave me an epidural.
Anaesthesiologist (writing six months later): I don’t remember anything like that but I am sure I would have remembered if something as unusual as that had happened and it definitely doesn’t sound like anything I’d do.
Obstetrician: [neglects to address this part in any way]
Midwife: I did not hear what the obstetrician said so I can’t address this part.
Review board: Well, this anaesthesiologist sounds very credible, so I’m sure you’ll understand that we can’t address this issue, and while we’re at it let’s just ignore the rest of your complaint, too, even in places where the evidence is stronger.
The obstetrician did eventually say that I had changed the way she thinks about things, though. That meant a lot to me. I do think her intentions were good, I think she just didn’t understand that she wasn’t doing me a favour. She was pretty inexperienced, and I later learned that the midwife had overtly presented my pain to her as a problem to be solved even though I did not see it as such.
Thanks, Joshua. You are so kind. Your niece with HLHS is so fortunate. I worry today about the “pulse oximeter test” that we perform, generally at 24 hrs, to check for ductal dependent lesions (like HLHS). When parents want to leave early and the test gets done early there may be false negatives. I’ve seen too many missed.
Having worked in a level 4 neonatal unit for 35 years that catered mostly to surgical ( cardiac) neonates and out born infants requiring complex surgical interventions I can tell you that the best laid plans for a noninvasive birth can go out the window very quickly when you encounter the unexpected, the undiagnosed, the unmonitored. Many neonatal transports are those babies . Or the neonate in full collapse at day 4 with undiagnosed cardiac issues. Or the home birth that goes tragically wrong. Lack of compassionate inclusive culturally sensitive prenatal care is our greatest failure.
Great observations. It is pretty scary, is it not, this new push for "free births" without any medical care, and deliver at home!
Great article, thanks for taking the time to put this together.
I’m a Canadian paramedic and it’s a relief to see more articles like this. I think unfortunately, many pregnancies and deliveries are preyed on by people with a little bit of knowledge trying to sell something.
Hate to see it. Always enjoy education on the other side of things from licensed practitioners.
Thank you! I’m trying to offer factual stuff to counterbalance all the “content creators” without medical background.
Thank you so much, Dr. Landers, for this powerful, deeply informative post and for sharing your own personal and professional experience.
As a fellow physician, your words resonate with me on so many levels. If I may, I would love to share a bit of my own story here.
When I first became pregnant, I knew without a doubt that I would give birth in a hospital. My perspective was shaped by a family tragedy: my mother’s first pregnancy was a very large baby (5 kg). She couldn't deliver naturally, and by the time they realized it, it was too late for a C-section. The medical team had to make the agonizing choice to save the mother, and the baby was lost. Even though it wasn't my personal experience, my mother's trauma stayed with me, and I carried that deep worry into my own pregnancies.
My first birth was at 40 weeks in a hospital. Things didn't go as planned, requiring induction and an epidural, but thankfully it ended safely for both me and my baby. My second and third births both started naturally at 39 weeks in the hospital and went beautifully without any intervention.
Every single time, I was acutely aware of how unpredictable childbirth can be. Having the continuous supervision of an OB and a midwife was the only thing that gave me true peace of mind. Now, as I am expecting my fourth baby, my choice remains the same - I will be delivering in a hospital.
I deeply understand your perspective, and based on my own history, I choose what feels right and safe for my family. At the same time, I can understand mothers who choose home births; I truly believe that as mothers, we all act out of the absolute best intentions for ourselves and our babies.
I sincerely hope and pray that every mother’s birthing journey brings her and her little one home safely and peacefully. Wishing you all the very best! ❤️
I second Dr Philipp’s comments.
I have given birth three times in hospitals and would never consider a home birth knowing the dangers.
However, I was nervous every time, knowing that it is much easier for a doctor to do a quick c section than it is for a mother to endure it and live with the consequences. Some women also have to worry about eugenic abuse:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-hospital-sterilization-1.6188269
https://www.theroot.com/damning-new-study-reveals-hospitals-bias-with-black-mot-2000073836
Once you have a C section, your future reproductive choices are controlled by doctors. If you want another kid, you are usually forced to endure another c section. If you always dreamed of a large family, too bad. Your doctor will tell you no more babies for you, or you will die.
I think that the two stories you linked above are more proof that systemic racism is (unfortunately) alive and well in America.
I always find it interesting that in first-world countries with high-quality maternity care, the VBAC rate is a lot higher than in the States.
My own mother had 5 cesareans - one for "big" 7lb baby and then refused vbac because she carried late. I know several other mothers who were forcibly sterilized after multiple medically unnecessary cesareans for similarly frivolous reasons. OBs of course do not warn patients about the risks of major surgery and the first time they learn about e.g. accreta is usually when they're diagnosed. And, of course, as a Puerto Rican woman, I am keenly aware of the bloody history of sterilization, cesarean, and experimentation on that island.
I think a major issue is that OBs typically suffer no consequences for obstetric violence. There is no mechanism that can force an OB to be held accountable to their patients besides suing. There are some wonderful attorneys, such as Hermine Hayes Klein, who are working hard to change that.
Yes, I found it very telling that Israel has a very high VBAC rate—they are a famously pronatal country.
You show your hand when you refer to the mother as “a big girl” who should cede all autonomy to her clinician. There are certainly cases where patients warrant intervention, but that doesn’t mean unquestioning reliance is the only way. Women should be supported in making goal-concordant decisions that balance their safety, the health of their baby’s safety, and their preferences. That balance is not going to be the same for all women.
Well said, The mom as “a big girl” was intended to mean when things do not go as she wanted, because of the baby’s wellbeing, that she could accept what her body needed and try not to feel so traumatized. The birth experience is meant to produce a healthy baby, not a mother who has a perfect delivery.
...and a healthy mom. And a healthy mom. And a healthy mom.
Why do clinicians insist on disappearing the mother from the birth? Why do maternal outcomes not matter?
"Try not to feel so traumatized" dear God. I'm imagining a mental health professional saying this to a patient and the professional consequences that would ensue....
I have given birth three times in hospitals and would never consider a home birth knowing the dangers.
However, I was nervous every time, knowing that it is much easier for a doctor to do a quick c section than it is for a mother to endure it and live with the consequences. Some women also have to worry about eugenic abuse:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-hospital-sterilization-1.6188269
https://www.theroot.com/damning-new-study-reveals-hospitals-bias-with-black-mot-2000073836
Once you have a C section, your future reproductive choices are controlled by doctors. If you want another kid, you are usually forced to endure another c section. If you always dreamed of a large family, too bad. Your doctor will tell you no more babies for you, or you will die. For Catholic women who can’t use birth control, this brings even more horrors.
Lots of c sections happen because you get an epidural and it causes a concerning reading on the fetal monitor. This is a known issue. It almost happened to me, but I managed to get the baby out and he was fine.