Unassisted Childbirth Considered More “Normal”
May 18, 2007 by kate baggott
Filed under Labor & Delivery
According to an article in this morning’s Globe and Mail, unassisted childbirth – giving birth without a doctor, midwife or other trained assistant – is becoming more “mainstream”.
- “People who wouldn’t have considered this years ago are considering it now,” says Laura Shanley of Boulder, Colo., who wrote the influential book Unassisted Childbirth in 1994 and runs the website Unassistedchildbirth.com.
- Until recently, “I was hearing more from hippie types, people more on the fringe,” says Ms. Shanley, who gave birth to five children without medical attention – including one breech presentation. “I do think it’s getting more into the mainstream.”
- But most doctors and registered midwives strongly oppose the practice. Skilled attendants play a crucial role in identifying problems such as hemorrhages and fetal distress before they become emergencies, they say.
- In a few cases, child welfare authorities in Canada and the United States have investigated parents who planned unassisted births.
I’ve read many birth stories from women who have given birth alone in their bath tubs and my impression was that their first child was born without help because the family had no health insurance and no means of going into debt to secure a hospital birth or the assistance of a midwife. After the first birth, delivery at home, without help, seemed like the “normal” thing to do.
I do think that women know their bodies and I do think that giving birth is a natural process. I also know that being alone while giving birth would make me scared. I know that I lose a lot of blood when I give birth and that I might need help from someone who knows how to stem the bleeding.
Still, I would never use my own experience to discourage others from making their own choices for their own families. What worries me, in a global sense, is that if this practice is considered “normal” the political pressure to provide all poor women, no matter where they live, with good prenatal and obstetric care, will be diminished. That means efforts to insure the uninsured in the USA will be stopped.
In the developing world, the situation could become even more dire. One of the reasons the Taliban regime in Afghanistan had to be stopped was that they prevented women from getting medical and midwife care while pregnant and in labor. As a result, more women and babies died in childbirth. It was more than a man-made epidemic, it was genocide defined by gender.
Giving up the right to the trained childbirth attendant of your choice is a woman’s right. I just wish I could be secure that the choice of unassisted birth wasn’t going to affect women and children with no options in the future.
Interesting.
I doubt very much that they would not allow women antenatal care.
I think from what I have read that a majority of women want the security of knowing the hospital is available to them.
I had all of my 3 in hospital but I am thinking of having an unassisted pregancy and birth next time.
Kym,
In much of the world, including many poor people in the US, women struggle to get any kind of care during or after their pregnancies. I think this “mainstreaming” of an alternative idea gives greedy politicians more ammunition to deny those who are most vulnerable.
Still, you know the process of birth after doing it 3 times. Going without pain relief options, skilled care or emergency preparation is a choice you are obviously equipped with the experience to make.
i too agree that birthing is a natural process. however not all women can do it, some of us are not even physically built for a natural bith process much less undergo with it unassisted. also, some medical conditions prevents a woman from giving birth normally.
this is already the year 2007 and i believe that no woman and child should die or be impaired even from the birth process. there are reasons why we have healthcare professionals these days.
Thanks for participating in the Carnival of Family Life this week. Your post is a great contribution to the Carnival!
I’m with you – especially on the point of using our own experiences to influence the decisions of others. It’s all so individual. I like the way you always point these things and choices out!
Hugs,
Holly
Here via the Carnival of Family Life.
After having my attempted, and failed (but that’s a whole ‘nother story) unassisted birth I honestly wish it were more mainstream. Why? because there are many areas where going unassisted is not a choice, not an optioni, not allowed. I have talked to many women who had to hide pregnancies because they were going unassisted. because all it takes is 1 person calling the authorities and your peaceful labor and birth because a nightmare. Becoming more mainstream might mean that women who would prefer going unassisted but are afraid may have that option opened up to them.
I really don’t worry that it could mean taking away from health options. Homeschooling is becoming more mainstream yet that does not take away from the public schools. as long as there are people able to get rich from childbirth, and there are, then their jobs will not be in jeopardy.
Summer- I am sorry your birth didn’t go the way you planned it, but I am glad you had support to back you up.
I am not sure that the homeschooling argument supports your comfort, though. There are a lot of people who believe that mainstream homeschooling does “take away” from the public schools, both materially and philosophically, but that is another story.
At the same time, the discussion on the issue doesn’t have the same urgency. No one dies from not learning algebra, I hope, but they can and do die of unforseen birth complications.
Women die from unforseen birth complications in the hospital too. Women who are perfectly health and do not need intervention end up getting them anyways in the hospital because “its protocol”. They see so many high risk births that they have, in many cases, forgotten that there is such a thing as a low risk birth. SO they use interventions that lead to complications that would otherwise not arise. But this is too huge of a debate to have in one comment line.
I had an unassisted birth that went flawlessly. I chose to birth this way BECAUSE the hospital and the doctors were refusing to budge on the interventions that I did not need. (I was actually “fired” by my OB for refusing to schedule a cesarean because they did not do VBACs) I am a natural birth activist and think that hospitals NEED to change, but I was not (and am still not) willing to put myself on the chopping block in order to further that change.
IMO if enough women refuse to use the system while it is broken, maybe it will hurt them where it counts (their wallet) and they will start to make changes. The same could be said for homeschool…if it did not suck for special needs children, I would not have had to pull my son out in 5th grade and homeschool him for the rest of his public school years.
i would have lost all three of my beautiful girls if they had not been born in a hospital. If a woman wants to have a natural child birth that is her desicion but please have your children in a hospital. it is truley dangerous not to . just stop and think about it for one minute . you never know the out come of birth and what complications might arise. my children are not worth the risk, if yours are then that is your opinion.
ruth, what a load of crap for you to suggest that because I did not make the same birth choice as you, I don’t care as much as you about my children. My children are my entire world, and I chose to have my 2nd and 3rd child at home BECAUSE I care so much about them and wanted them to be born in the best environment possible FOR THEM. Until you have walked in my shoes, or actually done the research beyond speaking from your personal pain, I would suggest you keep your opinions to your own life. I could try to educate you on all of the unnecessary interventions that are used in hospitals, and how they are in many situations used for reasons completely unrelated to the mother or child’s well being, but since it is obvious to me that you would not be able to distance yourself from your own experiences enough to listen, it would be a mute point.
I am going to have next bub at home. (15 weeks now)
I don’t think its a dangerous choice.
I still have hospital as back up but I know I am worth a homebirth.
My son was born in German at a small Hospital with a midwife. If I were doing it again, I would seriously consider a home birth, but with a midwife. I see nothing wrong with the option…especially with the ridiculous price of birthing a baby in this country.
I had all four of my babies in a hospital. I think I would’ve preferred to have them at home, in fact if given the options I would’ve. My first son I hemmoraged, doctors never thought they should tell me or my husband until the next day. Second child I hemmoraged again, but three weeks later because the doctor left some placenta in me. Both cases I wasn’t suppose to live through it. My last two pregnancies went just fine at the hospital.
I think if everything were planned and had someone there at the house to assist if needed, it would be a great birth. Now, I’m not having anymore children but I think I’d opt for a homebirth since it would definitely be my choice.
For those with risky pregnancies I wouldn’t recommend it, but those that have had smooth sailing pregnancies or a couple of children I’d say if that’s what you really want. But never do it just because everyone else is or someone is pushing you.