I think when you make a plan you should have reasons for the things you desire. If you are educated and know the facts, when you are in such a circumstance when you need to “stand up for yourself” you’ll be able to recall the facts and your reasons and do it. It’s amazing how even the mouse-iest of us can become a lion when safety and health are at stake! =) And you can change from mouse to lion in seconds with all those pregnancy hormones!!! =D

You really need to stop and think, because you are acting ridiculously hypocritical. The “facts” that you quote oh so often do not seem very reliable to me. Atleast the ones that deal with hospitals and doctors. You have NO idea how loving, caring, and patient oriented these professionals are. Your research has been completely biased. Did you ever give a really talented, compassionate doctor a chance? No, you have stereotyped one of the largest industries in to a small, sterile box. Your research is completely lacking when it comes to hospital births.

I promise you, that the second you are in labor, you will be whistling a different tune. You are taking life saving resources away from your baby, just so you can have selfish comforts. There is no way you can tell me that you think your baby will be just as safe with YOU in control. Do you have any training? Did you spend years through grueling school so you would be able to make split second decisions that saves lives? No. Clearly, you have never even been involved in this process.

You are welcome to your opinion, but for the sake of educated women everywhere, *please* do not boast of your equal education when your research is so obviously lacking on one side. Anyone can find research that backs up their own side, while disrearding others that may be juast as true. All I can say, Jenna, is that you are really showing just how uninformed you really are. Anyone that knows the inner workings of a compassionate hospital staff would agree.

When I took the picture, above, of my fifth child coming into this world- I also had four of my other children around me. The attending medical personel, there was my midwife and she was very hands off. It was a wonderful birth only reduced in happiness with the fact my husband was not able to be there, stuck in Canada.

That was also my first epidural. I chose to have one because my husband was not there, my mother WAS, and I wanted to hide and scream because I did not have a positive environment to birth in.

I will say that, ultimately- birthing naturally is the BEST WAY. Everything about it, the pain included, is beneficial towards the health of your baby and yourself. I knew this at the time but I felt that, instead of torturing myself in panic knowing that I had a volitile environment, I chose to achieve the common goal of getting it done rather than getting it done right.

8 weeks ago I had the opportunity to birth the way I knew it should be, and that was completely natural. I feel so lucky that I have the resourcefulness to know what is best and encourage others along that path too- but many times I feel like a birth Nazi, even to the point of offering to go and buy that evening primrose oil capsules to tutor this person through their doctor’s stupidity in “why not just induce- you are practically term….”.

Im very passionate and opinionated about pregnancy and birth and regarding doctors versus midwives. The older I get the more conspiracy theorist I become because Ive SEEN it first hand and I know what works and what is just business practices railroading me into business agendas.

Sitting here nursing my 6th kiddo knowing Ill be 33 this year, it’s hard to say if we are going to have more but I certainly would choose a midwife, and moreso choose a homebirth because it’s what REALLY is best. God made our bodies productive and efficient.

-Jyn

I don’t have to know how much pain it causes to give birth because I’m not afraid of it. It’s natural and billions of women have done it & I’m confident in myself – so the pain level is actually… the least of my worries. Pain can’t kill me, therefore I don’t factor it in. We simply have different views in that area.

Here are some of the books I’ve read & videos I’ve watched concerning this:

-Birth
-Ina May’s Guide to Child Birth
-A Mother’s Intention (full of research)
-Home Births
-Home Birth
-Gentle Birth Choices
-Business of Being Born
-Orgasmic Birth

Most of the articles I like are found @ Mothering.com in various sections, though I will warn you that of course that site is biased toward natural pregnancy/parenting. Anybody (member or non) can read the forum, to my understanding.

Midwifery Today often has up to date studies as well.

I’m not saying things don’t come up unexpected, because they do, and that’s a part of childbirth too. So don’t think I think I know-it-all. And once I give birth, I hope that my experience will merely back up all of my excitement and passion about natural birthing.

Re: Giving birth versus reading about it -Without having given birth – you have no idea how much pain birth may cause. That’s all. Obviously there are male nurses and doctors that assist with birth, so of course giving birth isn’t a requisite for having knowledge.

I’m certainly sorry that you were so offended.

In my other posted I listed a list of resources. I’m not going to use proper citations in a website comment, when all of those things can be Googled by you within about 10 minutes. There are research studies EVERYwhere. A good forum to start asking questions & finding up to date studies is mothering.com, for example.

I didn’t assume women who choose pain interventions don’t educate themselves about it – I posed a question, which was “Do they know the risks?” If so & they accept them, than I think it’d be horridly hypocritical to make any type of comment about how unsafe homebirth can be, don’t you?

I’m not an expert – I’m a reader of available knowledge, out there for everyone to educate themselves with. I will not apologize for speaking firmly on an issue that is widely misunderstood. Sorry.

OW. I mean, I know it happens… and I’ve never had a kid so I don’t know- maybe it’s not as painful as it sounds- but… OW.

Crossing my legs very tightly here at work… lol.

you said you can piss people off. The only thing that annoyed me about your post was the dramatic capitalization and tone of expertise from someone that hasn’t yet given birth and failed to cite her passionate statements presented as fact.

You’re quick to assume that every woman with a pain intervention hasn’t educated herself, but how can you know that for sure? My mother had a hospital birth plan for me, with a pain-intervention… I’ve gotten through college & grad school on academic scholarships and my mom is my best friend. No ADD, no missed bonding, no health fallout. She weighed the risks and we’re both fine.
No offense, but it’s easier to take Jenna seriously as a well-informed woman because she cites facts and can separate herself from a know-it-all tone. It’s even fine to sound know-it-all… if you’ve proven your statements through citations of research or through sharing your credentials as an expert.

Those personal experiences are terrifying for those women, so they suddenly attribute ALL births as unsafe & risky. This simply isn’t true. Most births (yes, MOST) in the U.S. are NOT high-risk and will end normally. When you begin adding interventions (such as Pitocin or an Epidural) – the RISK. GOES. INCREDIBLY. HIGHER. A matter of fact – epidurals are VERY risky for the mother & baby, but those statistics are ignored for pain relief. Yet the mother complains that she’s having a hospital birth because she’s worried something might happen to the baby? Yet she’s having an Epidural which is risky to the baby?

It’s like… I never get where it starts making sense.

I also get frustrated when women brag about getting an Epidural… like “Yeah! I can’t wait to have another one with ALL my kids!” Okay, that’s fine, but do you understand the risks? Are you willing to accept those for pain relief from something that is temporary anyway?

Anyway. I can probably piss a lot of people off, but it’s not because I think they’re bad mothers (and hey – I might end up getting an epidural myself if I can’t handle the pain but I doubt it) but the thing is… I feel like women are missing out. Of course many of them say they aren’t… but it’s because they don’t know the other side of things, usually.

Give me a mom that has had a natural, peaceful birth & then a birth with interventions in a hospital & if she says the hospital birth was better, happier, more comfortable, and fulfilling – I’ll be shocked.

All that aside yet again… if you *have* to have interventions, that is fine. And you should still be proud of your birth, because things were out of your control & you did what you could.

I love your message of education. I wonder if anyone will listen.