Paradigm Shift

When I first learned that my surgical birth was actually an unecessarean, I blamed myself. I did not read enough books, I did not educate myself on the normal course of pregnancy, labor and birth. I took a Saturday class at the local hospital that only taught me how to be a good patient. I blindly trusted my doctor oblivious that the obstetrical model of care doubled my risk of surgical birth (at the time, with the current cesarean rate that risk is currently triple). Unaware of how the choice in care provider is literally a gamble. At the time of my first pregnancy, the cesarean rate was about 25%. Those are pretty good odds in favor of a surgical birth, but I had no clue that it was even a real risk. I didn't even know the rate!

I spent years thinking the doctor and nurses valiantly tried to keep me out of the operating room. They tried to turn my baby, they applied fundal pressure to assist my pushing efforts, they used forceps to try to turn him. His little body just couldn't handle the stress after abnormal pitocin contractions all day long. They were so caring and concerned about the path we were traveling. Even the anesthesiologist was apologetic that I was being put under general anesthesia for my first birth. I'll never forget the look of sadness on his face.

Then came the understanding that all of the events leading to the surgery were not necessary. That they are done only because of their medical views of pregnancy and birth. They view it as a pathology. Every pregnant woman is a ticking time bomb and disaster is just a moment away. I later learned that there is another model of care for pregnancy and birth. The midwifery model of care. Pregnancy and birth are not viewed as a pathology. Rather, it is viewed as a normal physiological function of the female body. Birth is not an illness.

With this realization, the anger set in. I was angry that I was not given informed consent. Technically, I never really consented to anything. The doctor told the nurse to do this, this and this, then turned to me and informed me what they were doing. Even when it looked like surgery was imminent, she did not talk to ME, but to the hospital staff when she said "I may need to section her." Where was the informed consent? When she started the unnecessary interventions? Why wasn't I told that my chance of a cesarean birth as a first-time mother was 50% when induction methods are used? Why were induction interventions used simply because my amniotic fluid started leaking only an hour prior? Why wasn't I told how an epidural could affect my labor? Why wasn't I told how all of these things could affect the baby's position in the birth canal? Why wasn't I told that known side effects of pitocin are fetal distress and neonatal jaundice, two things that impacted the birth and the immediate postpartum period?

Why was informed consent denied? This was not an emergent situation, just how this particular doctor "likes to do things." I know I am not alone. I hear story after story after story of women who were not given true informed consent. It ranges from not being fully informed to using scare tactics to performing procedures without consent.

The cesarean rate has now surged to 1 out of every 3 births. That is simply unacceptable and it's time that women stood up for their right to a better birth.