When speaking about their experiences with labor and birth, it is very common to hear women say, "they won't let you do that here" (such as regarding active birth--moving during labor). They seem to have forgotten that they are customers receiving a service, hiring a service provider not a "boss." If you went to a grocery store and were told at the entrance that you couldn't bring your list in with you, that the expert shopping professional would choose your items for you, would you continue to shop in that store? No! If you hired a plumber to fix your toilet and he refused and said he was just going to work on your shower instead, would you pay him, or hire him to work for you again? No! In birth as in the rest of life, YOU are the expert on your own life. In this case, the expert on your body, your labor, your birth, and your baby. The rest are "paid consultants," not experts whose opinions, ideas, and preferences override your own.
As Mary Rucklos Hampton says (quoted in CfM News):
"The effort to separate the physical experience of childbirth from the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of this event has served to disempower and violate women."
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1 comment:
Absolutely! Birth is too important to let someone else handle all the details, even if that person is an "expert." You should be able to give birth your own way, even if you don't have a bunch of letters after your name.
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