I’d like to spend the next few weeks sharing some of the reasons behind the creation of Homebirth: Safe & Sacred with you.
We’ll begin with this one.
A reader commented on a Facebook post recently that she wonders if the overuse of birth interventions in American hospitals might be inspired by a desire for financial gain.
I honestly doubt that.
I wrote it in the book, and I’ll say it again here — I sincerely believe the American medical system has good intentions toward those they serve.
I feel the overuse of interventions marking American medicine is simply a classic case of circular reasoning.
The poor outcomes unwittingly produced by the interventions employed to prevent potentially poor outcomes appears on the surface to justify the employment of those interventions, therefore almost demanding the perpetuation of those interventions in order to continue attempting to prevent additional poor outcomes.
I consider the heart of the issue to be the philosophy under girding that drive to intervene.
A perfect example of that philosophy may be illustrated by something I heard a doctor say this summer, “Giving birth is the most dangerous thing a woman can do with her body.”
Giving birth is the most dangerous thing a woman can do with her body?
Really?
Statistically speaking, that just isn’t true.
Here’s a bit of what is true, taken from chapter two of Homebirth: Safe & Sacred:
The wonderful outcomes enjoyed by the majority of homebirthing families flow from a deeply basic understanding of and trust in the processes of carrying, birthing, and nurturing babies midwives term The Midwifery Model of Care.
Midwives understand and trust the carrying, birthing, and nurturing of babies are remarkably normal processes that most commonly occur without incident or the need for intervention.
Midwives understand and trust that because the carrying, birthing, and nurturing of babies are remarkably normal processes, what birthing souls require most is sensitive, respectful attention as the process unfurls.
Additionally, also from chapter two of Homebirth: Safe & Sacred:
Marsden Wagner, perinatologist and perinatal epidemiologist, among others, estimate 80-85% of women and their babies bear an adequately low burden of risk through pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period to receive midwifery care either in their homes or at independent birthing centers.
So, why would the doctor I talked to in the summertime say anything like, “Giving birth is the most dangerous thing a woman can do with her body?”
Because birth can occasionally be remarkably dangerous, especially when the people tending to birthing women believe it is and behave like it is.
If American medicine’s starting point is that the process of birth is the most dangerous thing a woman can do with her body, the most natural thing for American medicine to do is intervene.
Thus and again, the poor outcomes unwittingly produced by the interventions employed to prevent potentially poor outcomes appears on the surface to justify the employment of those interventions, therefore almost demanding the perpetuation of those interventions in order to continue attempting to prevent additional poor outcomes.
And serving 99% of the American populace with the most excellent of intentions, round and round and round they go, fostering the worst birthing outcomes in the developed world.
My hope is Homebirth: Safe & Sacred will shed a bit of light on this dilemma for everyone eager to get off this crazy merry-go-round.
Surely, we’re all eager to get off!
The full text of Homebirth: Safe & Sacred contains references for the claims made in this article.
Photo by IStock.
Kim Woodard Osterholzer, Colorado Springs Homebirth Midwife and Author
Books by Kim:
A Midwife in Amish Country: Celebrating God’s Gift of Life
Nourish + Thrive: Happy, Healthy Childbearing
One Little Life at a Time: Recommendations + Record Keeping for Aspiring Homebirth Midwives
