The business of being born

Today I watched the documentary "The business of being born" and it's something that I feel strongly about... I don't necessarily think that every woman should have a home birth - but I certainly think that less intervention during labor and birth should be done.

Birth is a natural process IMO - and though I believe in a woman's choice to pain control - I also believe that birth takes time and as shown in this documentary, many hospitals don't give women the time it takes to have a baby.

I know that in this day and age, we want immediate results and as such this has affected how labor and delivery occurs. What is too often seen is a pt getting pitocin or being brought back for a c-section, which isn't always necessary. That's not to say that c-sections aren't required for some circumstances, but I often think that these are being done too often because establishments (hospital policies, doctors, etc) are saying that it's unsafe for a woman to be in labor without changing on a regular basis.

I postulate this - approx. 20-30 yrs ago - my mother's generation, how likely was it to hear that women had labor that existed for DAYS???!!! And this was alright with physicians!!! I think that a page from yesteryear should be brought back.

It's ALRIGHT to let women labor, and to deliver without interventions like vaccums and pitocin augmentation. There is a time and place for these things but it shouldn't be a majority like it is currently.

I think that doctors and hospitals are too concerned that they're going to be sued by patients if they let women labor for too long and if something should happen for mom or baby, then law suites will occur. Nothing will change unless the patients share responsibility and stop suing doctors for things like this.... become informed, take responsibility for your own labor and take the position that if you want to labor for longer than an institutions' policy, then sign off that you're taking responsibility for this and should anything happen, then you can't sue unless malpractice occurs.

Doubt anything will ever change tho, it's sad, it would reduce c-section rates.