This looks WONDERFUL! You can read more about what is happening to create this rally at Improving Birth.org
I have signed up to be a rally coordinator. If you live here in Utah and would like to help join as well, SIGN UP! We will need ALL the help we can get to make the needed changes in the world of birth.
Above is a sign that is on the wall in front of one of the busiest local OB/GYN offices. You might even have seen it. It was circulating the internet awhile back. Many, many families were in an UPROAR about it. They felt this doctor was striving to control birthing women and he even had the arrogance to post a sign to show it.
I must be honest, I have absolutely NO problem with this sign. In fact, I’m quite grateful for it. Why do I feel that way, you might ask? Because I believe that there are many doctors who feel the same way as the doctor above but do not put signs in front of their offices warning women of the personal beliefs on birth. Now the doctors who aren’t doing that….are the ones to be even more concerned about…in my opinion. They can then say one thing but when they enter the space of birth….actually do another.
No, I’m not worried about the doctor above, in the least! Now I am very concerned about his sign. But my concern is about something else entirely. My concern is that we live in a world where, even when a doctor makes it VERY clear how he sees birth and what he expects from his patients, women are STILL entering his office in the droves asking for his services.
I’m not only concerned by that fact, I’m very disheartened and disappointed that FEAR has pervaded the birth scene to the extend that, as POWERFUL women, we will hand over our births to someone we barely know and who has very blatantly shared with you HIS expectations of your birth experience. That if you want HIM as your provider, you must be willing to hand over all your rights as a birthing women, all in the name of being afraid of birth and/or struggling to believe in yourself and your baby.
Please feel free to let me know if there is some other reason I am missing here, If FEAR really isn’t the prevailing factor in our decision making as birthing women. So, if your not afraid of anything going wrong with your birth, then your MOST definitely afraid of the pain. Either way your afraid of something and making choices based upon that fear.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again OVER and OVER until everyone is so sick of hearing me say it, that just maybe they’ll sit down and REALLY think about it. Making ANY choice based on FEAR is most likely NOT the best choice to be making. The reason I say that is because ANY time we make choices based on FEAR, we inevitebly make concessions with what we really want only to feel dissatisfied when all is said and done.
The video above gives me HOPE! It give me hope in women. It gives me hope in babies. It gives me hope in fathers and most importantly, it gives me hope for BIRTH! I hope ALL of you will ACT NOW!
YOU are the ones who create the change! I can sit here all day long rambling about how I think birth should and needs to change. I will even show up for the rally and do my part in whatever regard I can…. But its YOUR voice that makes that difference. Doctors are a business! Yes, I believe doctors care and want to do what’s best but they are also a business, striving to make money just like the rest of us.
Any good business will strive to MEET the NEEDS of their customers. I’m still racking my brain trying to figure out what went awry that in the world of birth, it seems to be the opposite. We actually PAY our doctors/midwives to do things we didn’t appreciate or like. Even worse, they might have done things that looking back were down right abusive or mutilating. But we still PAY them for it.
If we want our cars fixed, then we take them in with the hopes they will get fixed the way we need them too. If that doesn’t happen then we…A. take our car someone where else to get fixed the way we need. B. DON’T pay the person who didn’t fix it properly. I’m at a complete loss as to how we got here in the world of birth. How we still pay someone for services that were potentially hurtful for the Mom or the baby.
When we want change to take place, especially when we are currently where we are at in the world of birth, then WE as women and families need to be willing to PEACEFULLY stand up for what are our human rights. Our health care rights! YOU make the change by saying you will have NOTHING LESS than EVERYTHING YOU want in your birth experience.
If you want to have your baby in a hospital but want it the way you want it….then EDUCATE yourself. Take classes. Find out what hospital protocols and routines are. Create a DETAILED birth plan. Talk with your doctor about what your options are and what you are wanting and MAKE SURE they support it. You can change health care providers at ANY TIME in your pregnancy. You are NEVER stuck with the one you have. PLEASE remember that!
If you have a midwife or even having a home birth, again…make sure she provides EVERYTHING you are wanting for your birth. You don’t have to make concessions with what you want in ANY setting. Your birth is UP to YOU! No one else. To believe someone else is making decisions for you IS nothing less than giving over your power to someone else. And when we do that….we are NEVER happy! Believe me…I’ve tried it OVER and OVER again in my life. The only results I’ve found are where I feel discontent and even frustration over letting someone else dictate what I felt passionate about in the first place.
Lastly, Go and sign up for the national rally above. Do your part to help change birth. To help change mamas, babies and families experiences so that EVERY person giving birth has MANY options laid before her and she CHOOSES what she wants and how she wants it.
Don’t forget…in order to STAND UP for birth…first you need to TRUST birth. You need to have FAITH in you, your body and your baby! You need to believe in the inherent safety of birth and start moving forward from that place!
I believe ALL women should desire for change in birth. If they are NOT desiring for change, they have yet to feel the GLORIOUS empowerment, bliss, joy, ecstasy, and LOVE that are present when a women takes FULL responsibility of her pregnancy/birth experience. I’m not saying they weren’t satisfied with it. I’m talking about feelings ABOVE and BEYOND satisfaction.
My prayer and hope is that all WOMEN long for a level of connection, understanding and charity that they are currently not be given by their care providers. That they recognize their own strengths, gifts and clarity to educate themselves about birth and make conscious choices based only out of faith and peace.
But I’m not telling you all anything you don’t already know I wish for. 🙂
In Peace,
Rachel
