Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The beginning

Let me introduce myself, I am a 32 year old mother of seven amazing children and I am currently almost 13 weeks pregnant with baby number eight.
I get so many comments and questions about my choice of family size as well as my birthing choices that I have decided to start a blog, quite like the rest of the world (lol).
My birthing history is one filled with births almost every way you can think of. I have been induced three times, had one crash c section (yes this is worse than the typical emergency c section), I have had one VBAC and my last baby, I birthed in a pool in the middle of my living room with just my husband, my children and I there.
I have so much to say and hope this blog reaches other moms to be or even other women who have gone through a "birth rape".
I was recently "fired" from the sOB I was seeing due to my birth choices. I was hoping this time that I could have someone attend my birth. Not because I am afraid of doing it alone (that was the mos amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life!!) but due to the ignorance and often plain stupidity of people and the Obstetric community. I won't get on my soap box, yet, but I will say that the city I live in here in Florida, has a horrifically high c section rate and two hospitals that do not do VBAC's often. I know there are more out there who have heard the sure you can VBAC, we will do a trial of labor, and see what happens" only to be bullied into a repeat c section. First off let me say, this surgery is a MAJOR surgery and should be reserved for true emergencies. And Mr. and Mrs. OB/GYN a true emergency is NOT failure to progress, this is just failure to WAIT on your part, it is also NOT just because we had a previous c section, or we are fat, or might have a big baby. For one true CPD (cephelopelvic disproportion) is RARE. http://www.bellybelly.com.au/articles/birth/small-pelvis-big-baby-cpd

Now, when I tried to have my first VBAC (and I DID) I told a doctor that women have been giving birth since the dawn of man and it worked then, why all of a sudden in the past couple of decades do we have so many women who can't birth naturally? He said many women died back in the day and now we have c sections, thank god, to help these poor women. Yeah, again, let me inform you...back in the day, there were two classes of women who had a higher death, being the very poor and the very rich (such as royalty). The reason the very poor women died during or shortly after childbirth was because they were over worked and underfed, making them weak and unable to recover from the birth. The rich women would encounter problems getting the baby out (CPD??). This would often cause a c section which always resulted in he death of the mother to save the heir to the throne. Why did these women have problems getting the baby out? Well these women were forced to wear corsets from about age 12, while the pelvis was still growing. This would cause an abnormal growth in their pelvis' and often (though not always) make giving birth to a normal healthy sized baby almost impossible.
When I told the sOB this he just picked his mouth up off the floor and walked out. Needless to say I got my VBAC.

I go tomorrow to a birth cottage in hopes of finding some help. But let me tell you that if I do not get help, this will not stop me from having another UC. I know I can do this myself. I will not put the baby or I in danger. This is another thing I need people to understand. Women like me who chose to birth at home do not just sit up one day and go "err duh I wanna home birth" and then not do tons of research and get support from other women. I have done 4 years of research thus far just on the VBAC and UBAC topics. Not to mention the tons of research I did in the last 16 years on the topic of pregnancy and birth. I have attended a few births as well. I am aware of warning signs of emergencies and live close to a hospital.

I feel it is so important for women to come together and stand against the bullies of the medical community. A woman should be able to birth wherever she chooses! I feel as long as a woman has a healthy low risk pregnancy, she should be able to have a home birth without any stress from the medical community. I also feel that a c section should not automatically make a woman a high risk! That is unfair! Perhaps the reason a woman had a c section to begin with should be looked at first, THEN go from there. If a woman has a c section due to failure to progress, that is a bullshit reason and should be struck from the board.

Lets, for one moment, touch upon the topic of uterine rupture. This seems to be a huge cause for concern when it comes to having a VBAC. Here...let the facts speak... http://vbacfacts.com/category/vbac/uterine-rupture/ click on everything on this site. If you are not the type to go by what you read from one site, as am I, here is some more for your reading pleasure... http://pregnancychildbirth.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_facts_about_cesarean_and_vbac

http://pregnancychildbirth.suite101.com/article.cfm/vbac_controversy

I have tons of sites saved on this pc, but I challenge YOU to do your own research and see for yourself what is really going on.

My c section was due to a cord prolapse CAUSED BY THE sOB! She dug her fingers around in there and poked around so much she caused my cord to come out! She pushed on my baby's head and forced his head up and the cord flushed out. I was fine and laboring fairly fast without any "help" from her.

I am passionate about birth and about women's rights when it comes to birthing and breastfeeding.

I am going to end this here for now.

I am going to keep up with this blog and update at least weekly, so please join my blog and keep up with my journey. I am also looking for women to share their stories of birth rape and VBAC's and UBAC's. I am working on a book about free birth and the problems caused by c sections.

Take care all and keep checking in!

P/S- I just realized I am writing this blog on the 4th anniversary of my c section.

1 comment:

  1. I'm proud of your for sticking to your guns. You're one smart cookie and with this kind of platform, you could revolutionize the birthing world. Go Get Em Girl!

    ReplyDelete