Protect Birth

So I was studying the placenta yesterday and I just have to share with you how amazing this organ is.

First let me point out that the placenta is a foreign organ in the mother’s body.  It belongs to the baby.  Logically, the mother’s body should reject the placenta.  But it doesn’t.  Early in pregnancy the placenta anchors itself into the lining of the uterus (via protein).  The lining, in turn, protects the mother’s body from making abortive cells and rejecting the placenta and baby.

The function of the placenta is to provide the baby with nutrients and nicely oxygenated blood in exchange for waste and deoxygenated blood.  Here’s how it works:

Mom’s blood temporarily leaves her circulation and pools beneath the placenta.  There it is projected into the placenta in tiny jets.  Once inside the placenta, mom’s blood bathes the part that houses baby’s blood circulating through.  Then mom’s blood reenters her circulation through uterine veins.  The other half of this process is baby’s blood, which enters the placenta through arteries in the umbilical cord.  Down in the placenta, baby’s blood exchanges nutrients and wastes and reenters the baby’s circulatory system through the vein in the umbilical cord.

As technical as the process may sound, the two most important things to learn from this process aren’t very technical.  First, all of this happens with absolutely no effort on anyone’s part, save the being who created us.  That’s right, yet another part of the birth process that works flawlessly and we have nothing to do with it.  The second lesson is this, mom’s blood makes the placenta work, and her blood cannot do its job without proper nutrition!  Yet another reason among the countless others why nutrition is THE most important part of pregnancy.

I simply adore the placenta.  I always have, even before this.  But this deeper understanding I have of such an amazing organ and process has made me adore it even more.  At every birth I attend, I respect the placenta greatly.  I wait respectfully for the placenta to let go of the uterine wall and birth itself.  I talk to it and let it know that it has done a wonderful job and can let go of its attachment to mom.   When parents ask me what should be done with the placenta, I let them know that I would prefer it not be thrown away or destroyed, and if that is their choice I ask permission to take it so that it can be buried.

I am amazed by the process, but even more amazed by the fact that it continues to amaze me even more.

“The first intervention in birth that a healthy woman takes, is when she walks out the front door of her home in labor. From that first intervention all others will follow.” ~Dr. Michael Rosenthal OB/GYN

Now I’m a huge fan of Dr. Rosenthal’s. Actually, I am a huge fan of absolutely anyone who is working to further the birth cause. (Yep, that means you!) And I am amiss to make any statement even slightly contrary to such wise words. Even so, I’d like to put this out there. Because this is something midwives MUST remember.

WE are an intervention. We are a foreign introduction to the birthing woman’s environment.

Time and time again we hear proponents of gentle birth say it, birthing women need privacy, security, and an undisturbed environment. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but I’ve read many a time that birthing is like having sex (gasp!). And I don’t know about you, but I don’t invite spectators into my bedroom when my partner and I are doing the deed. It’s an intimate time. We know it by heart. No one needs to critique our love making, offer position ideas, remind us to breathe, or let us know when it is time to climax. I’m not sure how we’ve managed all these years without this guidance, but we make do.

Am I saying I don’t think midwives belong at birth?

Certainly not.

But I do think we have to remember to stay invisible unless our presence is needed. We have to keep in mind that all of our work for a birth should have been done over the prior 8-9 months while caring for and educating the birthing woman. When midwives do their jobs well prenatally, our presence at a birth is rarely actually required. And until it is…hands off, mouth shut, lights down low. Any person who was not in the house at the time of conception is a foreigner. That’s usually mom, dad, and any children they may have already been blessed enough to be parenting.

What about support? What about checking on the well-being of mom and baby? Even then, you’re still a foreigner but don’t act like a tourist. Upset mom’s environment as little as possible. Speak softly in low, sure tones. Keep your energy in check and slow your speech down. In emergencies, use the same tones and look mom in the eye as much as you can. And talk to the baby. Babies are the partners in the lovemaking ritual of birth.

Staying quiet and keeping our intrusions to ourselves helps us tune into our intuition in birth as well. Makes balancing intuition versus clinical knowledge seem like a much less daunting task.

Being an intervention isn’t meant to be an insult. We are invited, we are welcome. If we are not, then we don’t belong there. But this doesn’t mean we aren’t doing women a disservice when we insist they birth our way, or interrupt the birth process continually because of our fears.

While walking out the door of the home in labor is sometimes the first intervention, also is walking in. Remembering this can make all the difference in the world.

“Some women just weren’t meant to give birth vaginally.”

“My body just doesn’t work right.”

“Oh, well I just don’t dilate [past x centimeters].”

“Thank goodness I was at the hospital…I wasn’t able to have my baby naturally.”

These are just a small sample of things I’ve heard over the years.  Each of them kinda make me throw up in my mouth a little.  Women carry these things as badges.  All women carry their birth experiences as badges.  And why shouldn’t we?

But what no one stops to tell these women is this:

Yes, they were.

Yes, it does.

Yes, you can.

Yes, you could.

I was talking to a new friend and colleague yesterday on the phone and she brought up the phrase that the first intervention in birth is walking out your front door to the hospital.  I think Mardsen Wagner said that.  He’s almost right.  Right enough that it will allow me to branch off here on a semi-rant.  Whenever I talk to women about their births, which is constantly if you couldn’t guess.  I hear the phrases like I quoted to begin with.  I never criticize, there isn’t any place for that.  But I do ask questions.  What was your labor like?  Did you go into labor on your own?  (Almost ALWAYS this is a no.)  Why did they induce you?  Had you dilated before the induction?

Women are being lied to.  They are being told that their babies NEED to come out NOW.  They are being told their bodies are too small to birth their babies, their bodies quit working properly past a certain point in pregnancy, their babies are going to die, almost ANYTHING to get that baby out.  And, because we trust the medical profession like we trust God in this country we allow them to induce.  We believe them when they say the baby has to come out.  We don’t question.  And if we do, we only do it once because our questions are inevitably met with “Well I’m the doctor and I want to do what is best for your baby.  You do want a healthy baby don’t you?”

Here is what I would like to know.  How do you know you can’t?  If no body ever gave you the chance to dilate, how do you know you can’t.

Be patient.  It’s your baby’s job to start labor.  S/he has the wisdom of knowing when to come out, and s/he has the powerful job of sending out the hormones that start all of the other hormones flowing in labor.  And if you never went into labor or couldn’t dilate past a certain point, take a look at what happened in the beginning hours of your birth.  Were you induced?  Did they give you pitocin, break your water?  Did THEY cause your labor to break down?

It’s time to start telling women birth was stolen from them rather then painting the robbers as saviors.  I refuse to participate any longer.

Empty

A moving depiction of the cesarean experience. Very powerful, very moving.

Question CPD

A victorious video of women who have successfully VBAC’ed, at home and in the hospital, some after multiple cesareans. All of these women were told they had babies too big to fit in their previous cesareans. Most of the vaginally born babies are bigger than their “CPD” siblings. Inspiring video!!

Our Journey to Homebirth

Incredibly moving and inspiring video of a mom who finally had her dream homebirth after three Cesarean surgeries.

VBAmultipleC

Yet another inspiring video who have done it!

Pass these videos along to every woman! It’s women like these that get the word out…birth is NORMAL!

This blog is a birth of sorts for me.

While attending the amazing Trust Birth Conference a little over a week ago in beautiful Redondo Beach, CA, I came to the realization it is time for me to stop…and start. That is…to stop contributing to the lies being told to birthing women, stop perpetuating the stripping of power. And to start telling the truth…my truth.

Birth is safe. Interference is Risky. Carla Hartley, truly one of the most amazing women I know, coined that phrase. She had it printed on a sign, about the size of a yard campaign sign, and was displaying it at the conference. She was told by the hotel staff that she would have to remove it from public display as it had offended some of the hotel guests. Imagine something so small causing offense. Simply because it is true.

And up until now, that had been my fear. Offending.

I can promise you that at some point something I will say will offend you. I can promise you that I will piss you off no matter how much you may like me or agree with me. The difference between me now and the me two weeks back is that I can’t let that stand in the way of me telling the truth. About birth. About being born. About the amazing, empowering experience it can and was intended to be.

So this is me. Unapologetic about who I am and what I believe in. Birth, women, intact baby boys, attachment parenting, the family bed.

Welcome to my latest evolution.