I'm trying to figure out why more women don't choose homebirth.
Currently, only a very small percentage of informed women choose to have a homebirth. Even highly educated women, who seem aware of their options, often elect to have natural births. So what is keeping them from wanting what I consider the "optimum" birth experience?
If safety is the issue, there are studies touting safety... showing homebirth is just as safe, if not safer than hospital birth. And there is a lot of helpful information available in the form of birth stories and birth videos to give mothers an idea of what a homebirth is really like. Even in your local community, you can find out who the homebirth midwives are and interview them, ask them about all your questions and concerns. So why aren't most women doing these things? Why do they just choose the default option, hospital birth?
So if there's enough supporting information to show that homebirth is in fact a viable option for giving birth, it seems that women are choosing a hospital birth based on emotion. The problem is, that this emotion is most likely fear. And fear, while a healthy emotion, is not what you want controlling your birth choices.
Birth needs to be respected, not controlled. I view birth as a very miraculous process. But it does not always happen as we envision or want it to happen. On the flipside of birth is death, and that is something that must be respected as well. Because I respect birth, I do not and would not try to control it or relinquish the responsibility of my body or my baby to anyone else, regardless of the situation.
I think that choosing hospital birth is relinquishing this responsibility, and the sad fact is I think many women consciously choose this path over homebirth because the respect for birth is not there.
In the end, many women do not really want to accept the responsibility that comes with birth.
The sad part is that you can't really get rid of this responsibility. What many women choose to do instead is transfer it. That's what often happens in a hospital birth. But still I ask, why would any women want to transfer the responsibility of her own health and her baby's health to anyone else?
It really comes down to informed consent.
Informed consent does not mean you have to know it all, or that you can simply tune out things you'd rather not hear. It is about being provided all of the options and information you need to make your own decisions and your own choices. And that's the big difference between homebirth and hospital birth and also the reason I think most women choose the latter.
They don't know that informed consent exists, and ultimately they don't want to have to do the work to make their own choices and live with them. They choose "the doctor says" over what their body is telling them to do, and there is no worse place for that than in birth.
I challenge you to ask yourself a few really hard questions during your pregnancy that only you know the answer to. For many women, the way to a homebirth comes after soul-searching and connecting with the innate ability we all have to give birth naturally and with minimal interference.
How do I view birth? What experiences have I had that have influenced this view?
Deep down, do I feel like I need "help" in having a baby?
Am I willing to truly accept the responsibility that comes with being pregnant, giving birth, being a parent? Am I willing to accept that responsibility even when (and especially when) I can't control every part of those things?
Am I concerned with being socially acceptable in my birthing choices (often choosing hospital birth)? How important is it to me to "fit in" and make choices that everyone else agrees with?
So invest your time to learn about your options and learn about homebirth. Watch birth videos, home and hospital. Close your eyes and visualize what you want for your baby. What do you see?
The greatest power we are given in pregnancy and birth is the ability to examine our fears and make conscious choices. When you think you have gotten to the bottom of it for yourself, tell me what you think.
Do you respect birth? Is fear holding you back from a homebirth? If not, what is? I'd like to hear your thoughts.
About the Author:
Maryn Leister is Founder and Publisher of Indie Birth, an online magazine devoted to homebirth, and natural living. Get your free subscription to Indie Birth and join the homebirth conversation.
0 comments:
Post a Comment