It began with an innocent comment.
Bella and I were outside checking the mail a little while ago. The Hispanic lady that lives down the street from us was walking her toddler (in a stroller) along with another lady I'd never seen before. We wave, they wave. Bella waves to the kid, the kid looks at Bella like Bella is wearing bloomers on her head.
The lady I'd never met asked when I was due. I told her. She asked what it was. I told her that it's a girl and she congratulated me. Yadda, yadda, yadda ... the usual conversation.
Then, this lady (again, whom i've NEVER met) goes, "Where you mowing the lawn the other day?"
I look at her with one eyebrow cocked up and go, "Yes."
Then she starts in on how I should not be doing that, that my husband should be doing it, that my doula would have a heart attack. I put a hand up and set her straight. I said, "No. One, I do NOT have a stupid little doula, that I would not even flirt with the idea of allowing an incompetent person in my hospital room." Before she could respond, I explained that I pay good money for a top-notch obstetric team. And that THEY see no problem with walking during labor. My mower is self-propelled so that is essentially all I am doing when mowing the lawn -- walking. I can move my mower with one hand when it's running and self-propel is on. Furthermore, my husband recently had major surgery not that it's any of her damn business.
She was like, "You trust a doctor more than a doula?" I was like, "You damn right." Obstetricians and LDPP RNs go through years and years of schooling and training unlike a doula who really doesn't have to have any training at all -- since there is no standard of training or oversight (they aren't monitored or licenced at all), anyone can say that they're a doula. Anyone. Many of them haven't even got a high school diploma let along have stepped foot in a single college classroom.
The "discussion" went from there to this asshat making the following comment, "Oh, you must be one of those people who think shooting up drugs in pregnancy is OK, too." WTF? After the look at amusement that I gave her she asked if I was getting an epidural. I was like, "Yep. I've asked them to have it on standby for me."
Curious I asked what an epidural has to do with drug usage. She was like, "You wouldn't shoot up heroine during pregnancy so why would you get an epidural."
I laughed and asked her what medical and/or pharmaceutical training she'd had. Guess what? She said "NONE."
Go freaking figure. As I waved and told her to go educate herself she goes, "Yeah, well I hope for the safety of your baby that you get some real information on pregnancy and delivery!" Had the kids not been there, she would have gotten a one-finger reply. However I mockingly reply, "Oh where oh where should I turn?"
"GivingBirthNaturally.com is a great place!" was her reply. She was still talking when I walked back into my house. Moron.
Curious, I got online and looked up this site. Lo-and-behold, the site states that women whow opt for a modern birth don't "trust their bodies" and that:
"Whenever we interfere with the normal process of birthing, we increase the risks to both the mother and her child. ... Women who choose natural birth realize that all medications taken during pregnancy are passed to the baby to one degree or another. The majority of mothers would baulk at the idea of shooting up drugs during their pregnancy. When in labor, choosing an epidural or intravenous medication means willingly exposing the baby to any combination of opiods (narcotics) such as morphine, pethidine, and fentanyl or dissociative anesthetics such as ketamine or clonidine. The cocktail of drugs is at the discretion of the anesthesiologist and can include any of these options. These mothers choose not to expose their babies to the possibility of allergic reactions, respiratory distress or the host of other complications that can arise from exposure to such drugs." (from http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/natural-childbirth.html)
My word. Talk about perpetuating myth and using scare tactics to further an agenda.
More interesting B.S. from this website:
"doctors are not taught to view birth for the natural process it is, but are indoctrinated with a medical perspective which can even include the use of practices and procedures documented as harmful to pregnant women"
"There are many drugs that are not FDA-approved that are used on a daily basis to induce labor, or as part of the cocktail of drugs in epidural, spinal, or injectable anesthesia. There is no documentation of their efficacy, long-term effects, delayed reactions, or impact on pregnant women or babies, including their neurological and general development.
In short, there is no telling what these drugs could do to women and babies in their future.
The cold, hard truth is that electively choosing medications in pregnancy, labor, and delivery exposes the mother and her unborn child to risks that would otherwise not exist. What mother would knowingly do such a thing? The fact of the matter is that mothers don't know what it means to choose drugs in labor.
They are told these drugs are perfectly safe. They've put misplaced faith in their doctor to provide quality care . If all mothers had the true risks of these medications in pregnancy explained to them, how many would still choose elective inductions, epidurals, or c-sections?
Not many, I hope." (from http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/medications-in-pregnancy.html ... bold emphasis is theirs.)
This website scares women into thinking that obstetricians are NOT trained properly in pregnancy, labor, and delivery, that they do not care about their patients (maternal or fetal), that the FDA has not approved the use of most medications during labor and delivery (which, again, is B.S.) or that anesthesiologists place the life of an unborn child on the line needlessly. These Nature Nazis want to plant a seed of doubt, as well as fear, into the heart of the pregnant woman.
Notice that there are NO references to their claims AND there is a state-by-state DOULA DIRECTORY.
Trust an uneducated rube (doula) over a professional who has spent years and yeard in maternity education (doctor). Great advice there. Of course, for this particular site, they are trying not only to undermine the medical professuion and further their agenda, they are trying to make money. After they scare the crap out of you, you can enroll in their childbirth education series "For less than the price of a nice dinner out - just $48.95 - you can learn to be fully mentally, emotionally and physically prepared to meet your child, free of any fears or anxiety about giving birth." (from http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/natural-child-birth-education.html
Yeah. I'll trust my medical team instead and use that $48.95 to buy something nice and fun for the kiddos.
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