Natural vs. Normal Essay

Midwives are uneducated, unhygienic minorities who are unable to complete the proper procedures necessary for a successful birth. Yet doctors are overbearing, power-hungry people who want nothing more but to fill a hospital bed. These two harsh stereotypes have formed the foundation for women for years about how they would go about the birthing process. For years, men and women have debated over the advantages and disadvantages in “Normal” and “Natural” births. It is said that women rush to the hospital because they fear pain, but many people say that they choose midwives because the doctors in the hospital want to take over women’s bodies. Both of these are valid points so I feel that, women should all have a choice in how they decide to birth their child. Women own their bodies and have been through the birthing process many times over the course of years, but it is also important that a doctor who is properly educated in the birthing procedure is available should the mother want and or need medical assistance.
While watching the movie, I kind of got the sense that birth didn’t hurt as bad as everyone was saying because of the way that the women were acting in the movie. The women weren’t screaming as much as they would in a hospital and they seemed much more relaxed. This made me feel like maybe having a home birth wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t really think that the EHM is that helpful for the women because it kind of cripples the mother and disables her to do what her body is telling her to do. The movie said that “In the 1900’s, 95% births took place at home” and I wonder what changed this. If births were going so well and “everyone was doing it” I wonder why people switched.
When people went to the hospital, they were pumped full of chemicals and that, to me, seems wrong if the mother didn’t ask for those chemicals. Those chemicals also sometimes cause C-sections to become a necessary thing and that hurts women. People in the Netherlands lose fewer mothers and babies and have planned home births where things go perfectly fine but in America, we spend twice as much money on births and more negative side affects and deaths occur. Doctors rush the birthing process for their own personal gain and to “fill the hospital beds.” They rarely let the women decide and based on all of the guest speakers we have had come into our class, it seems that the women know what to do because their body tells them.
The women say that they are able to decipher when they have to push and when they have to move a certain way, which would be an extremely good idea if the doctors would just cater to the mother’s needs. In a specific case that we heard about when a guest speaker came in, the mother knew she needed to start pushing and she knew what was the most comfortable for her and she felt that what the doctors were trying to do was wrong for her body and she shouldn’t have to be put through this. The doctors however did what they pleased and didn’t listen to her wishes. This is a good example of how for years, men have been trying to take over the women’s birthing rights and have the power when labor is in process.
In the 1950’s women were strapped to their beds and forced to have certain chemicals injected into their bodies to “help them through labor.” There was really no alternative because those who resorted to home birth were seen as outcasts because midwives were being portrayed as horrible and abnormal. In the article that I read in class, it talked about how a woman was a gynecologist and she chose to have a home birth with a midwife even though she worked in the medical field. This was seen as abnormal to her colleagues because they were all working in a hospital and knew how the birthing process went. She decided to go through with the natural birth anyway because she knew that it was right for her. Through every woman that has experienced a birth, they have all said that they felt when things were right for them so again I say that the reason that I disagree with hospital births are because they leave little choice for the mother and what to do with her body.
This does not mean however that hospitals should never be used and I disagree with them completely. I feel as if hospitals are necessary in the event that a woman should experience a complication and her body responds the wrong way. Doctors have the experience necessary to help a mother in need, but they automatically decide that the woman cannot do things by herself before they even learn her specific case. They assume that the woman is in desperate need of medical attention right away and that’s where complications can sometimes stem from.
Hospitals can be extremely helpful should the mother or the child (or both) experience a complication during labor. In special cases, this occurs in women who have previously had a C-section and for their second birth want to have a vaginal birth. In the event that the woman’s uterus should rupture, the baby and the mother could both be facing fatal circumstances. This is where a doctor would not be such a bad idea. They are trained to do what is best for the mother and the baby and what will keep the two healthy and ultimately alive. It is also important to keep in mind the fact that midwives don’t have the proper tools in order to perform an emergency procedure in the event of a mishap.
It is also possible to have a normal birthing experience in a hospital. Hospital births can sometimes be quick and semi-painless. A woman in severe pain is asked if she’d like an epidural and in the event that she would like one, the doctors will administer it and the patient will be in less pain and can thereby try and understand what is needed from her from that point on to have a successful birth.
I feel that hospital births are something that we are exposed to from a very young age and this is why we all think that the proper way to have a child would be at a hospital. We as children ask where we were born and most of us receive the answer of a specific hospital. So from a very young age we believe that because our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers have had their babies in a hospital that it is only normal for us to have our child in a hospital as well. This makes it hard for women to acknowledge the fact that they have other options and I think this is the reason why home birth rates have decreased. Women are many times automatically pushed to hospitals because they know nothing else.
For the women that do know about midwives and home birthing, I think it is important that they know they have a choice and why that choice is the best one for them. Women have undergone the birthing process since the beginning of time and never really had that much help from anyone so they should be able to choose to do things on their own and know what is best for their bodies. It is also important that should a women feel she is not capable of completing such a task as birthing a child, that she has experienced doctors on hand that are ready willing and able to help her. Sometimes women feel that their bodies aren’t strong enough to undergo such a giant feat as childbirth and this is where having a doctor comes into play. For those women who are afraid of the pain or are afraid that things might go wrong, it is a good thing that we have doctors that are able to work with the patient to let her know that she can do this, but at the same time, doctors also just want to fill hospital beds.