I have been told that ACOG has asked people to send them stories of home births gone wrong. I would like to see women send them stories of hospital births gone wrong.? There are a lot more of those to tell about. Women have become such “sheep” when it comes to birth that they allow all sorts of improprieties in the name of “hospital protocols” and they do not complain except to each other afterward.? It is wrong. But until women begin to speak up and actually boycott hospitals nothing will change. Lately some hospitals have put a limit on people who are allowed to be with a birthing woman. They are using the trumped “Swine Flu Epidemic” as an excuse to allow only one person to stay with the mother. She must choose between her husband and her doula for instance. This is a form of blackmail. I thought we had solved the problem of fathers not being allowed to stay with the birthing mother years ago. But no woman is going to want to give up her doula when she is about to give birth. I am sure that there are going to be cases where the father is forbidden entry because his wife knows she needs her doula more.? But this is not right or fair.? Hospitals don’t really like doulas being there because they help women focus on what they want even when under stress and perhaps while being very uncomfortable during labor. They can point out things that are happening that are contrary to a woman’s birth plan, contrary to her wishes.? If the doula were not present the woman might not notice till later.
It is vitally important for women to speak up and tell doctors how they really feel. Of course every woman wants a “healthy baby”. But women deserve to have a pleasant birth experience as well.? If a woman feels safe and cared for and listened to she will do much better in labor. When I think of all the absolutely horrific tales I have heard about births in hospitals, I shudder to think of how many women are tortured, with refusal to allow sustenance, refusal to allow movement, refusal to allow them to labor without fetal monitors, and IVs. Then there is the introduction of strangers touching and tugging at them. Staff often belittle or try to terrorize women into compliance. It is so counterproductive to treat women like disease victims instead of healthy birthing mothers. Women are trussed up and attached to machines. Attendants pay more attention to the electronics than to the woman herself. C-sections are doled out like candy on Halloween. Women are threatened and cajoled into giving up their autonomy to the staff. Babies are separated from their mothers immediately after birth. It is barbaric. Yet doctors don’t even seem to know what they are doing wrong. They are ignorant of what a home birth is like. They distrust the woman.? They are scared of lawsuits and fearful of letting nature take it’s course. Doctors say; “Things can go wrong suddenly”. Well, yeah! If the doctor is just there two minutes before the birth,? he might easily be surprised by some last minute problem. But if he has been there all along like a midwife often is, then any problems that arise can be dealt with as they happen not at the 11th hour.
PLEASE send stories of awful hospital births to ACOG. They deserve to have their inbox overflowing with these so that they can see why more and more women are choosing to birth at home. Send them in! Let’s show doctors that they are NOT the best answer to a birthing mother.? Let’s show them that their customers (who are not sick and should not be called patients) are NOT happy with birth in? hospitals. Send them your stories now.