I totally agree with Bears. Also, another
"UO" is that it irritates me everytime I see one of those posts that
goes on and on about "your body was made to birth a child" and
"your body won't grow a child that you can't birth vaginally," etc.
In early days in America (1700s and 1800s), 1
out of 8 mothers died in childbirth. Just think about that. 1 out of 8! Women
were so likely to die in childbirth that they were scared their entire
pregnancy of the inevitable birthing experience. In their letters to
friends/family, colonial women often referred to childbirth as "the
Dreaded apperation," "the greatest of earthly miserys," or
"that evel hour I loock forward to with dread." It wasn't some earth
mother, incredibly close to God, perfect experience that people seem to want
today with their elaborate birth plans, candles, birthing tubs with fragrances,
etc. Even though every birth was, by definition, a home birth attended by a midwife, a lot of moms and babies died due to being breach, having heads that simply wouldn't fit out, poor hygeine, massive blood loss, preeclampsia, etc.
We can talk all day about the "overmedicalization of the birthing process" all we want, but I was so grateful to be living in a time when I could give birth in a hospital with a NICU just down the hall, with a doppler monitor keeping a careful eye on my sweet little girl, blood pressure cuff ensuring that I wasn't suddenly about to stroke out, air conditioning and ice to suck on, etc. We have it so good these days--and I just don't understand the incredible hate on the medical profession surrounding the birthing process. Yes, some babies are birthed through c/s that could have been pushed out vaginally. And yes, there are some consequences to that.
But holy cow, if you read the number of lawsuits filed every day, you would see that ob/gyns have pretty much the suckiest profession in the world. They truly are damned if they do, damned if they don't. If a kid is hurt in the birthing process, their parents will pretty much ALWAYS sue. Shoulder distocias pretty much guarantee a huge black mark against an Ob/gyns career. So, if they see that the baby appears to be measuring pretty big, and they are concerned about distocia, why would they not start talking about c/s? Their entire livelihood (and their family's financial stablility) is centered around getting babies out healthy and moms through the process healthy. A malpractice case could jeopardize everything they have worked so hard for over the past 10-15 years. Yes, doctors in Canada and in the UK, etc. are less likely to push for c/s--they have a legal system that doesn't allow the kinds of obscene tort recoveries that the American system so regularly sees. Our legal system is broken. And until it is fixed, doctors will have to continue to protect themselves and their families by trying to maximize their patients' likelihood of healthy procedures--even if that means that the occassional unnecessary c/s happens.
Sorry--this got long. I am just so sick of the rampant doctor/hospital hate on these boards. I have way more than 8 friends/family members who have given birth since I was born and I don't personally know a single woman who has died in childbirth. I know plenty who have come close, and were saved by heroic actions of their medical team. So, if any nurses or docs are reading this--I am so grateful for your service, and I don't know how you put up with reading the kind of stuff on here without suffering rage blackouts!
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