"Normal" vs. "Natural" what is the AWOB and why is it so alienated?

The American way of birth has now become a battle between the "normal" vs. "natural" way to deliver babies into this world, it is becoming harder and harder to find couples that have have a "natural" birth and harder to find couples that have not have a "normal" one. The majority of American women choose to give birth in hospitals with the pressure of impersonal doctors, unneeded drugs, and dangerous surgeries, rather than the natural and much safer way, based on the relationship you have with your own body, not being told to rush and just having as much help as you want from a Dula or midwife in the comfort of your own home.American women follow what they see everyone else doing, without much thought even if it not what is better for there body.

Unlike the rest of the world the idea of a midwife is extremely rare, in Europe and Japan midwives attend over 70% of births. Dating back many many years ago in the united states midwives where represented as dirty, unsafe, germ filled, poor people, they made sure to use propaganda to make everyone think that was true. So it is not a new idea in America that hospitals are the "safer" place to have a child. Are the American women the only reason for this dramatic change in the way we give birth or are the doctors to be blamed? American doctors are only taught one way, according to Susan Hodges from the Documentary The Business of Being Born "Very few doctors have ever seen a natural birth in medical school." Like in the tittle of the documentary, birth had become a business, it had become this very impersonal experience that is being rushed by doctors who want to make as most money in a days work as possible. If the mother's cervix is not dilating fast enough the doctors will speed things up, by inducing them with medicine, they want to get them in and out as fast as they can. A women interviewed said they liked the doctor aspect "surgery is easy, its a one, two, three step process." I think it goes unrecognized how manipulated the doctors really are, most of the time they have no real reason for injecting the women with medicine, inducing labor or calling for an "emergency c-section". in reality they are the ones putting the baby though distress causing things to go wrong. In most counties around the world their "normal" way of birth is our natural birth. according to Marsden Wagner an M.D "every where else in the world that's what they do. They lose less mothers and babies where midwives are used."

Over the past few years this sense of fear had been instilled in most women, because technology has advanced us in ways that allow childbirth to be easier and less painful they choose to take the easy way because they know it is an option.In our culture birth is considered a crisis, the women have got themselves in this mind set that they will not be able to go through the experience with out the help of medicine or the "comfort" of a doctor. In times of crisis, human beings (soon to be mothers) tend to do what the alpha male tells them to do, they follow the orders of ones in charge (the authority figure). Referring back to the documentary a source who's name i did not catch said "the medical field had convinced most women that they can not birth." I believe if the women embraces her sexuality and women hood they are more willing to go through with a natural birth,because they have mentally prepared themselves for what to expect, but if they are worried their body will let them down and they do not want to experience the "pain" as some describe it they will go to a doctor where the choice of medication is available. I feel as if the women are forgotten in this process it is supposed to be about the mother and the baby, we were born to give birth, out bodies are designed specifically for that purpose.

Home births or births in birthing centers are a completely different experience for the soon to be mother, midwives give the power back to the women, instead of being told what to do, they figure it out for them self. Women in America need to "rediscover how easy birth can be."

In general women are scared the pain of going though a natural childbirth will cause them, that's why they take medication, "its not natural, but its normal." In America we are spoiled with the option of even being able to control that, in most of the world they do not have that option they are forced to really experience the process to the fullest. It seems much more raw but relaxed and worshiped in other countries than in America. They have the support of family and friends, they are in the natural position and lets the body do what it wants to do, in the way there body feels most comfortable in and they are in a calm serene environments. The American way of birth has become this high paced rush for both mother and doctor, bright bright lights, medication and unnatural birth positions, its a race to see who can get out faster.