birth choices

My main passion in life is reading and learning about pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, babies, fertility and natural family planning/fertility awareness method (hence my desire to be a doula/midwife). Because of that, I've learned a lot. The more I've read, the more I've discovered that the majority of women don't do their own research and really learn about what their bodies and babies are going to go through. So many women just take what their doctor says as "truth," without bothering to question any of it. I'm sure there are some doctors out there that really truly want what's best for women, and run their practice that way. Unfortunately, there are many doctors out there who practice with their own interests in mind: money, time, malpractice risk, convenience. These are the doctors that most women see. The doctors that prescribe birth control for anything and everything that is cycle-related, to shut down the ovaries rather than actually dealing with the root of whatever the issue is. The doctors that encourage a C-Section so that they don't have to worry about going to the hospital on Christmas to deliver a baby (true story). The doctors that cut an episiotomy for no reason. The doctors that keep women from eating during labor. The list goes on and on.

Women need to EDUCATE themselves about their pregnancy, and their childbirth! Epidurals, convenience C-Sections, Pitocin, constant internal fetal monitoring...there are so many things that women just blinding go with without even finding out the risks or benefits on their own.

• For starters, watch The Business of Being Born. It's a great documentary, full of research and facts about the way that many hospitals function.
• Find out about your hospital's C-Section rate. In C-U, Carle Hospital has a 31.8% C-Section rate from 2008, and Provena is at 31.5%. Chances are, most of those c/s are because of "failure to progress." (Now, believe me, I know that some c/s are necessary. I have friends who have been in those situations, and they deserve just as much honor as women who do it "naturally.")
• Many women, unfortunately, are subject to the cascade of interventions that inevitably cause them to have a c/s when they would have been just fine birthing naturally had they been left alone. Find out about your doctor's practice as far as interventions go. Ask for statistics!
• Read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. It will change not only your views on childbirth, but probably your life, as well.
• Research your options for Doulas or Midwives, and see if one or both would be right for you.
• Create a birth plan for your labor, delivery, and post-partum instructions to give to your doctor and nursing staff.
• Find out about what happens immediately after the baby is born. When do you want your baby's umbilical cord cut? Did you know there are even options for that? Do you want the Vitamin K shot? Do you want to breastfeed immediately? Do you want to bathe your baby right away? What about vaccines and circumcision?

All of this to say: YOU HAVE OPTIONS. Do research! Learn as much as you can about labor and childbirth, about how your hospital works, about your home-birth or birth center options. Learn about the miracles that your body can perform, and learn about how you want to work with your body to have the best birth possible. No one has 100% your best interest at heart except for YOU.