<<< I very militantly voiced to him that women may "want"  certain things but 
it is the health care practitioners job to educate women  about the pros/cons 
and risks of these interventions.  His response was  that in our society 
women come into prenatal care  in the first trimester  knowing what they WANT and 
will not be  swayed!!!>>>>

Yet when a mom comes in asking for what she wants that is not the standard  
medical birth she can't sway the doctor or the hospital policy to get what she  
wants. They find a way to sway her usually by heavy arming her into it--  
threatening death for baby or mom or calling child protective services. 
So really how can a woman make change in a hospital setting, if it just one  
woman every blue moon coming requesting such "odd" things for birth and  
breastfeeding? I know for some of you the answer would be for the mom to not  birth 
in the hospital, but I feel like that it is such a far  away reality (at 
least for the U.S.). And it shouldn't be right that a  woman who has a hospital 
birth has to fight for a natural birth and  breastfeeding. To me what glares out 
is that woman who want to have a  natural birth and breastfeeding are not 
asking for things that are "odd"  but just asking the hospital and doctors to 
follow an evidence based  practice and written guidelines already in place (like 
the AAP statement on  breastfeeding and other policies/research on birth 
practices). And it doesn't  matter to them even if you show them the research or 
their own professional  organizations statement/policy. It is very frustrating! 
So again what is a mom  to do as she is getting heavy armed by them? Perhaps 
you say find a good  ob/midwife/ped. But reality is that they are very few and 
far in between that  speak like the drs on Lactnet do.
 
True conversation that I just recently had: While talking to nurses on the  
ob floor--how does a mom get the things she wants for her birth and postpartum  
stay? Nurses say it is all about the dr and what he says. Then I talk to a  
hospital nurse midwife and a ped. they say it is "hospital policy" they have to 
 follow. Sheeze! Talk about passing the buck! 
 
Sorry for the rant, but being pregnant and planning for this hospital birth  
after having 2 homebirths has been real eye opening and frustrating but mostly 
 sad for the woman who are not has knowledgeable and really have no hope of  
getting what they want but having to settle. I hear that a lot from new moms 
in  my breastfeeding meetings. "Well, I had to give in on this or that." Even  
my very supportive nurse midwife has said "Is that something you really want 
to  fight for?" "Can't you just give in on this?" And she doesn't say things 
like  that because she believes in a certain procedure but just that it would  
make things easier and just focus on the bigger things that I want for the 
birth  or postpartum. But why should a mom just give in on even something "little" 
when  the procedure is not evidence based and so much research to support not 
doing  these "little" things that can interfere with breastfeeding and birth? 
 
Kim Ann 
 
 
 

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