To my pregnant friends, Yesterday another one of my friends had a baby. While it is a happy time...it made me mad to see one more woman, because of painful labor, agreeing to interventions, that quickly spiraled down and required a c-section. Ladies, if you dont believe anything else I tell you, please, please believe me here....do not trust your doctors and nurses and hospital to give you a chance to labor naturally and without intervention. If you truly, in your heart and mind, know that you want to labor naturally, without interventions, please, please please hire a doula. If I could afford it, Id pay for it for you myself. I promise I would. You need an advocate to stand up for you (to hospital staff) and a person to be there for you to support you during labor (besides your husband, who will be equally stressed and subject to hospital-staff manipulation). Nurses are not trained to support you through labor, and left to yourself, you will be vulnerable to the suggestions to make things easier. No matter what your doctor is telling you now, dont believe them. EVERY woman (okay, at least 90%) tells her doctor she wants to birth naturally...and all the doctors nod and grin. But they know the deal. They know you have no idea what labor is like and when it gets hard, they will happily offer you something to make you feel better. When you are in labor, is when they will apply pressure to do this and that. Guys...Ive been there. Because of all of my crunchy-mama research and preparation, I knew what they were doing...and they were relentless in putting on the pressure and not respecting my wishes. You cant go into this thing wishy washy... and you cant expect that youll be up for the fight with them while you are in labor. Just dont set yourself up for the okee-doke. Please. Seriously. Dont expect that birthing classes at the hospital will prepare you to deal with labor either. Would you go to a How not to get swindled by a used car salesman class sponsored by a car dealership? The hospital is preparing you to deal with labor on their terms... in a way that doesnt work....so they can shut you up with an epidural, crank up the pit and get you out of there ASAP. And if the drug cocktail doesnt work and stuff starts to spiral out of control, then theyll just c-section you...cause then they can prove (in court) that they did all they could to save the life of mother and baby. The doctors and hospital have competing interests...they are not 100% on your side...and those white coats make them appear to be experts in childbirth. THEY ARE NOT. Remember that they are trained surgeons (which is good for the small percentage of women who need that). They didnt get in deep debt in medical school so they could catch babies and rub laboring womens backs. Hello!!?? I know most of you are on the brink of labor. This is no time to decide to labor at home (well, Ive known people who changed their mind about hospital birth at the last minute...but I know that is probably not what yall are planning). Im not telling you to birth alone (via youtube diy instructions) or have an assisted home birth or even a birth center... I understand this is late in the game to have those discussions...what I am begging you to do is GET A DOULA. The biggest gift you can give yourself and your baby is support and an advocate. I just happen to know people who practice close to where all of you live. These are my personal friends. I would trust them with my life and I recommend them with no reservations. ---CALIFORNIA--- Tonya Brooks - Senior Midwife (she has a bunch of doulas) (she was my midwife and was with me at the hospital) 20201 Sherman Way Suite 109 Canoga Park, CA Tel: 818-386-1082 Tel: 818-885-1012 E-mail: gentlebirthcenter@gmail
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 07:57:41 +0000
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