A good friend of mine just had a beautiful birth attended by an obstetrician who respected her wishes and her body. I think we need to hear stories like that one, as well as stories about skilled and compassionate midwives, to remind us that in any setting, with any type of provider, we are all entitled to respectful, competent care.

I do mention it when it comes up in conversation, but I don’t usually go farther than that unless someone asks. Except here. I don’t know if that’s enough. I think you’re right: on a good day, be more open. On a good day, be willing to deflect unwarranted judgment. And make more days be good days.

I’m always surprised when people are hostile to the idea that birth can be a nonmedical event. I understand that bodies sometimes don’t work the way they’re supposed to, and that’s what intervention is for. But much of the time, birth can take place safely as a natural process. One wouldn’t think that would be an offensive notion.

Thanks for writing this note. I am a homebirther too after having my first babies in the hospital. And I am a healthcare worker, a respiratory therapist to be exact. Which you think would change my view of childbirth. It does not. I agree with you whole heartedly. Homebirthing was right for me but I understand that it’s not right for many. And in my province I paid for my homebirth. It was not covered by our universal healthcare plan. So I saved my government (an average of) $10,000/birth. I feel like I deserve a rebate (jk). I am just happy that in the last year this changed for the better, homebirthing is now funded by our healthcare plan, but good luck finding a midwife. That’s a whole post in itself!

Anyhow. I was a mostly quiet homebirther in that I didn’t share my homebirth plans with a lot of people. A lot of people felt it necessary to comment about how scary it was that I would choose that option and I would feel it necessary to point out the increasing infant mortality rates and the increasing incidence of hospital-acquired infections. So mostly it was just better not to have the conversation in the first place.

Plus I found that trying to convince people about how one’s body protects itself. That delivering without drugs was not excessively painful, that I avoided IVs, catheters, etc. and that my post partum recovery was much easier. Did not work. A lot of women seem determined not to trust their own bodies.

Sorry for the rant like comment. Wishing you happy mostly comfortable pregnancy and a peaceful birth.

Ah, money. The article we discussed last week also has an interesting bit about the relationship between money and birth outcomes, too. And this piece at rhrealitycheck talks about the fact that many women won’t have access to options in birth until and unless Medicaid starts covering birth alternatives. It’s always money, isn’t it? But short of a public health care system (which isn’t presently an option), how to demonetize riskier birth practices? Sigh.