I'm really enjoying and learning from all these posts about birth practices
and how they affect breastfeeding and our view of ourselves.  I see this a
lot as I try to help moms recover breastfeeding a week or so after a
hospital birth (which is when they usually call me).  I do everything I can
to encourage pregnant women to really explore their birth *choices*.

I had a hospital birth with my first child and had almost every intervention
except a Caesarian (which at one point the Dr. suggested. When I told her
that I *really did not want* a Caesarian, she found another way!)  I also
ended up back in the hospital with an infection that I'm pretty sure I
caught there.  As I read more widely after the birth, I saw the "cascade
effect" of the interventions I'd had.  It really made me mad that the people
I had trusted with my care had so little clue about the normal course of
labor.

When I was pregnant with my second child, I told my husband that unless
there was a true medical need to be in the hospital, I *did not* want to
give birth there.  I found midwives, friends, and a doula and had a
homebirth.  Labor was 33.5 hours and the hardest work I've ever done, but I
loved it that everyone present was someone I had invited in and the germs
were the ones from my normal environment. No one did anything to me without
asking my permission.  My lovely son was 12 lbs 8 oz and 23 inches long-- I
almost dropped him when the midwife handed him to me! (I had settled on the
birth stool after I couldn't find a good position in the pool...and no, I'm
not a particularly large person).

The thing that always surprises me is the comments I get when women learn
about my birth.  Their focus is always on how "amazing" I am and how they
could never do that. ("What?! a 12 lb baby with  no pain meds?!")   I always
point out that the issue isn't my amazing abilities (although my husband
thinks I'm pretty amazing <grin>), but rather, look what our bodies can do
when we are in a supportive, safe, caring environment with people who know
how birth is supposed to work and don't have a need to interfere
unnecessarily.  I know if I had been in the hospital, I would never have
been "allowed" to go to 42 weeks and 6 days (I was monitered at the end by
midwife and OB/GYN).  I would never have been "allowed" to labor so long.
I'm sure I would've had a Caesarian in the hospital.  I cringe when I hear,
"we're planning an induction/Caesarian because the baby is getting too big
(and then the baby is born at 6 lbs).  There are absolutely times when a
Caesarian is necessary. One woman I know developed placenta abruptio during
labor.  My friend recently had her baby via Caesarian, but she is at peace
with it-- she planned a homebirth, but the baby was persistently breech.
She tried every alternative to turn the baby with no effect.  She found a
doctor who specializes in VBACs and breech births, who told her not to come
until she was actually in labor (he had no plans to induce labor).  After 16
hours of ineffective labor, they realized the baby was in a footling breech
position and they mutually agreed on a surgical birth.  Such a different
experience from most of the women I talk to!

I think the US birth model affects breastfeeding not just because of the
side effects of the physical interventions, but also by undermining the
woman's trust in herself and her abilities. For example, if a woman's body
"can't" birth a large baby, how can it possibly feed a large baby?  I have
seen the positive effects in myself of an empowering birth-- I have become
much more confident in other areas of my life, because I can draw on that
memory of my son's birth.

I'll stop rambling now and get back to what I should be doing....packing for
a vacation!

Dawn Burke
LLLL  Georgia, USA

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