It is always sad to talk with women in my mom's group.  About 98% of them
have had some kind of intervention (drugs, epidural, etc).  Of those roughly
90% had cesareans.  It's sad because they are raised with the preconceived
notion that birth is bad...it is painful...it is a horrible experience.  I
can see when they talk exactly how their births are going to go.  Instead of
having people around them talking about the intensity of the contractions,
they have people who talk about the excruciating pain and how it is only
relieved with drugs/epi's, etc.  

I rarely talk about my birth experience with them, because they look at me
as some kind of freak.  ;)  Where my first child was 21 days late (in a
highly respected research hospital) and only because I fought with the
doctors and told them that my baby was not ready.  When my bag ripped and I
did not go into labor, I allowed them to induce but only because I felt that
it was time.  Where they came in and pushed me on the idea of having a
epidural would make my "life so much easier" and I banished them from my
room.  I had a pitocin induced labor with no complications...all natural
birth with no other interventions.  I remember one nurse told me (I was told
not to push, so I was yelling a bit...) "If you had just gotten the
epidural, you wouldn't be in this pain.  You don't have to scream."  And
that just cemented that they just want to you shut up and push.  Then and
there I knew that I would never have another baby in a hospital setting
ever, ever again.  Hospitals are for people who cannot do for themselves.

With my son, I had him at home.  It was the most beautiful, relaxing, and
comforting environment I could have done that in.  It was what I wanted when
I had my daughter.  As a first time mom, though, I didn't know I had that
choice.  My next baby will be a home birth, as well.

Women are raised with the idea that birthing is a horrific, painful, and
life-threatening event.  It is sad that they don't know or trust their own
bodies enough to let go and let it do what it was made to do.

My goal, since my daughter was born, is to inform people that there are
choices...and that the way they think of birth is the way that their birth
will go.  If they believe that birth is a horrific, terrifying, life
threatening event...this is what they will experience.  If they can truly
open their minds and see birth as a powerful, transitional, beautiful, and
intense event...it can be so much more empowering.  And, then they realize
that everything else seems so meager.  They've gained the power of
birth...and not succumbed to the "beat of the clock" that the doctors have
put them on.

Birth is supposed to be a powerful transformation in every woman's
life...and yet we are taught, from a young age, that it is a losing battle.
 How sad.  How truly, truly sad.  

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome