I fully support being educated about things, and having an idea about how you would ‘ideally’ like things to proceed. And I won’t deny that there are some interventions that might not be necessary. However I think that one person’s definition of unnecessary might not be another’s — I can read a monitor and gather information that someone who is not experienced in OB simply can’t – and just because the intervention doesn’t seem like it’s needed, doesn’t mean that it isn’t. The idea is to step in before something truly bad happens.

The other thing that I wish had been pointed out in the article is that the patient population is changing, and with that the level of care that many are requiring is also changing. There are people who do not require a change in their level of care, but many do. I have to wonder if some of the rise in interventions is due to the fact that the population in general is not as healthy as it once was.

Homebirth is not something that I believe in, although I know that other people do. Like Lilbet, I have been on the devastating end of some, and it is something that I won’t ever forget. While I know that many people are able to have very lovely births in their homes, all of the perfect home deliveries in the world will never erase the bad outcomes from my mind.

The same can be said of hospital deliveries. Most of my patients are blessed with uncomplicated, easy deliveries that meet the expectations that they laid out. But because I have see some that turn so bad so fast, I am ready for things to change at the drop of a hat.

I was a devoted advocate for homeopathic birthing options until I actually experienced a mind-alteringly painful and violent thirty-hour childbirth. Afterwards I heard this wonderful show of John Ashbrook’s on npr talking to the author of the book Sex, Time and Power and it really altered the way I see gender politics and childbirth (news ends at 6 minutes):
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2003/12/sex-time-and-power/

It really brings together a lot of what everyone is talking about.

For my second childbirth I remained more open-minded. I labored for 7 hours then fell madly in love with the anaesthesiologist. I think I loved my epidural so much that if there was some opportunity for recreational use I would jump at it. My second birth was beautiful and joyous.

I support and applaud any woman who unlike me is physically capable of going it natural and those options should always be open, but I think we also need to be kind and nurturing to ourselves no matter what path we need to take.

And I think I would have been fine with a different OB. He’d already introduced me to the other doctors in the practice just in case.

My second was a very necessary C-section.
Would’ve had a late term miscarriage without due to breech position and lack of amniotic fluid. I don’t resent that one at all.

My current OB wants to do another C-section. I’m working on changing OBs because I want a VBAC! Hubby’s insurance is changing and she’s not on their list, so it should be easy. Found out which hospitals in the area allow VBAC, which was apparently a part of the issue with the current OB.