From Kathy Leeper.

"Ok, I agree the medicalization of birth is out of control in the US.

I agree there are greedy/lazy/ (fill-in-the-blank) OBs out there just as
there are people in every profession who do not share the same values that
we do.

However, I feel compelled to point out that here in the US I have watched
OBs get more "interventionist" as a group over the past 20 years in response
to fear of being sued.  How many of you have been sued?  I have, and it is a
life-altering experience.  Those of us MDs who have not been sued at least
know someone who has, and it is not pretty. SHouldwe have to practice
"defensive" medicine?  No--of course not.  But it is reality in the US.

As for the "battle" about home births, I am sure it will continue, but I am
not sure it should continue on this list. Once you have seen one baby with
severe neurologic defecits from birth asphyxia, you can become irrationally
adverse to the perceived risks of home deliveries.

Please--no flames.  Of course I believe a woman should be able to make a
fully informed choice.  Am just pointing out that some of us come with
different experiences, thus differrent points of view."

This is not to dismiss the very real response anyone might have when they are either sued (I was sued once--not 
as an LC, but in a work capacity--and it was awful and even though I won, it left significant scars) or anyone
who experienced a tragic birth outcome (I have had two very, very close friends have babies at home who 
were stillborn). But, our own fears should never direct the choices another person has the right to make (and Kathy, 
you definitely make that clear!). For every baby who dies while sleeping with his mother, how many die in isolated sleep?
For every child who dies or is severely injured due to breastfeeding failure, how many die b/c they are AF? For every
baby born at home who dies or is injured, how many do so born in hospital? Even proportionally, the numbers are far
greater. No "safe" little box that we can squeeze everyone into isn't going to make it any less likely that every person 
who is born will die. What that box does is strip us of our humanity, our greatest potential for growth and evolution and 
define us in very limited terms. No one has the right to build a box around another human being. Birth and mothering through
breastfeeding, in all of their organic, unfettered, unboxed uncertainty are a fertile ground for our very best possibilities. 

So, while I will always respect the decision of the list-mothers, I think birth is THE issue by which all of the other issues 
we ever discuss are defined. 



Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC

 








 


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