If You're Going To Give Birth, Watch This
- Thread starter thanka2
- Start date
Hi Thanka, I'm glad you posted this. Even though I'm not brave enough to do a home birth with no drugs, I watched the whole thing.
This documentary made me even angrier (than I already was) with the way my first doctor tried to frighten and bully us into a C-section when I was just barely pregnant -- 5 weeks! The day of my BFP! He used many of the same arguments here -- natural birth wasn't safe, it wasn't convenient, etc. He warned my husband that he would be putting "his wife at risk." (I love this mano a mano talk -- like the Monty Python guy says, as a woman, I'm not "qualified" to make these decisions!
Then his nurse pressured me to book C-section right away -- 8 months in advance. She also tried to scare me with stories about how I'd never get a hospital booking otherwise.
I'm not as skeptical of the medical community as these women are. I will deliver in a hospital, and I have no problem with other women choosing C-sections.
But the more I think about it, the more I believe many doctors here are downright dishonest when it comes to pushing C-sections. If my first doc said, "I personally prefer C-sections, but there are pros and cons to both. If you want a natural birth, please go to another doctor." Well, at least that would have been honest.
But to paint all natural birth as some backwards, dangerous act?
It's good to see a different perspective on things -- that, while medical intervention is great for emergencies, maybe it's used too much.
This documentary made me even angrier (than I already was) with the way my first doctor tried to frighten and bully us into a C-section when I was just barely pregnant -- 5 weeks! The day of my BFP! He used many of the same arguments here -- natural birth wasn't safe, it wasn't convenient, etc. He warned my husband that he would be putting "his wife at risk." (I love this mano a mano talk -- like the Monty Python guy says, as a woman, I'm not "qualified" to make these decisions!
Then his nurse pressured me to book C-section right away -- 8 months in advance. She also tried to scare me with stories about how I'd never get a hospital booking otherwise.
I'm not as skeptical of the medical community as these women are. I will deliver in a hospital, and I have no problem with other women choosing C-sections.
But the more I think about it, the more I believe many doctors here are downright dishonest when it comes to pushing C-sections. If my first doc said, "I personally prefer C-sections, but there are pros and cons to both. If you want a natural birth, please go to another doctor." Well, at least that would have been honest.
But to paint all natural birth as some backwards, dangerous act?
It's good to see a different perspective on things -- that, while medical intervention is great for emergencies, maybe it's used too much.
I have the DVD too...it's very eye opening to the way a birth could be, instead of the fear and sense of medical emergency that is perpetuated around birth in our culture. If anyone has the Home & Health channel, there is a plethora of programs depicting birth as something that is painful, scary and must be attended to immediately by doctors, or it will all go wrong. Just about every woman on the programs are having inductions or c-sects (probably because it's easier to schedule filming around planned events rather than spontaneous birth) but it presents only one view - which is that of the medical establishment. It strikes me that the women in labour are always shown as powerless victims. No wonder so many women are petrified of giving birth naturally. If that's all you ever see of birth then it makes it a heck of a lot easier for a doc to talk you into an unnecessary c-sect!
Very true, ozmerc. Actually, the promotional video clip talking about the baby programs on TLC literally says: "the fear, the pain, the agony..." when referring to birth and shows an overweight woman looking helpless and saying, "Get it out, get it out." What a "great" picture of childbirth, eh? And the show "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" always emphasizes that "OH MY GOSH! SHE GAVE BIRTH WITHOUT PAIN MEDICATION!" (because the women go into labor not know they are actually pregnant and usually only go to the hospital when the baby is almost born so hence, they don't get to choose to have drugs etc.) Giving birth without pain medication used to be the norm and if you're prepared to do so, most women can do it well. Pain perception is largely a product of beliefs about pain and oneself and one's ability to perform the task at hand. So, the women who only watch these ridiculous shows are getting that message drilled into their brains over and over again and then they believe what they see and hear--no wonder they go into birth with a mindset that sets them up for being helpless. It actually makes me very sad.
Thanka2 - I know EXACTLY the promo you are talking about...it gets me every time. If you don't know any different, and you don't ever take the time to consider alternatives, then that is what a 'normal' birth has become. I hate those baby birth shows where they always show the women meekly submitting to the doctors, 'oh well, he/she is the doctor and therefore they know what's best for me.' I saw one recently where the nurse/midwives kept coming in to the delivery suite and saying 'right, are you ready for an epidural yet?' until this poor woman, flat on her back in bed, finally gives in. They also NEVER show anything as offensive as a new mother breastfeeding - the newborns are always being fed from a bottle. I wonder if they ask them to do that for the purposes of filming, because surely the b/f rates can't be that low!
Imagine if the TV programs about birth showed lots of women having natural/home births/water births/birth centres, etc, how different our perception would be and how differently we might view our own birth experiences. Unfortunately I'd imagine this might be very unpalatable for audiences accustomed to nice 'tidy' and quick surgical procedures!
Imagine if the TV programs about birth showed lots of women having natural/home births/water births/birth centres, etc, how different our perception would be and how differently we might view our own birth experiences. Unfortunately I'd imagine this might be very unpalatable for audiences accustomed to nice 'tidy' and quick surgical procedures!