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.
We have been discussing our ideas on what the "American Way of Birth" actually is, how it is perceived, and how it has changed over time compared to not only early in American history but world wide (globally). Yesterday the class tried to better understand why it is that Americans want so badly to have kids. Many of the ideas thrown around sounded valid, but the ones that i felt applied to most women were that:
- Child birth and the job of raising a child is a life experience that should not be missed. Women are born with this amazing ability, your body is made to do it so we should take advantage.
- Women are following the social norm. Once we are married the next thing people expect is for a couple to have a baby.
- Family Pressure, Mothers want to see there sons and daughters having kids of there own. Grandchildren become a competition, the proud grandparents want to show off how "beautiful and perfect" there newest additions are.
- Teens especially think it seems like the "cool" thing to do, something to dress up and play around with. They see all the celebrities are want to follow in the same footsteps, not realizing how big a responsibility it is.
How many of the women in the world specifically in the united states are having kids for the right reasons? One idea that was tossed around was the theory that all people have some sort of "deep physical hunger" (something they cant live without), in this case it would be sex. According to Andy "Birth happens because of irrational reasons, a deep physical hunger for sex. People do not give birth because they want to have babies, but because they want more sex." Are a lot of kids alive today a mistake according to there parents? This idea lead to a number of questions yet to be answered leaving us with research to do.
Why has the AWOB become so alienated? Technology has advanced us in ways that allow childbirth to be easier less painful, but that could lead to the reason why women today are having so many more children. How much should the government be able to interfere with families? a specific example, most recently seen all over the news is the case of the women who just gave birth to the octuplets, many people consider her to be selfish, she does not have the money or support of loved ones to care for all 14 of them, why should her kids have to suffer for her "deep physical hunger" for children. Having already had 6 kids, and her doctors fully aware they still decided to fulfill her wishes and implanted all 6 of the embryos, two of which resulted in twins. In an interview on msmbc.com the mother of 14 said "a lot of couples do undergo this procedure and its not as controversial because their 'couples' so its more acceptable to society." Many argue that the doctor is to blame and was completely irresponsible and that knowing her circumstances, they should have not allowed her to go ahead with the pregnancy. Others can argue that its the mothers choice to have as many children as desired. Was this an example of a case where the government should have gotten involved? I believe so because not only is it ecologically horrible for the environment, but she can not support all of them, why should the innocent children have to suffer and why should our tax money go towards paying for her own selfish act.
In general women are scared the pain of going though a natural childbirth will cause them, that 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 it to the fullest. It seems much more raw but relaxed and worshiped in other countries. They have the support of family and friends, they are in the natural position (the way there body feels most comfortable in), they are in a calm serene enviornments. The american way of birth has become this high paced rush for both mother and doctor, bright bright lights, medication and unnatural birth postitions, its a race to see who can get our faster.
No comments:
Post a Comment