What's Wrong with Nonconformity?

We're almost 5 weeks away from giving birth, and while I've already achieved two drug-free, all natural births, this pregnancy left me striving for something greater. Not that I had horrible birth experiences, but something just felt MISSING (never mind the fact that I've always wanted a water birth and none of the local hospitals offer such a thing). More specifically, the entire hospital birth process felt INVASIVE, even considering the lack of drugs and interventions. I (along with millions of pregnant women each year) was denied so many birth freedoms and all because of what? Because hospital birth is designed to be easy for the DOCTOR, not the mother and baby.

For the past few months, we have been preparing ourselves for a homebirth. I will save the details until AFTER the actual birth, but I'd like to share the source(s) of my inspiration in reaching this decision:

The Business of Being Born (can be watched on Netflix)

More recently, another documentary has come to light:

Pregnant In America (can be watched here)

I have also read several books, but these videos are readily available to Blog readers. Perhaps someone else will find inspiration and strength in one or both of these documentaries. Women in the United States have been tricked into thinking that a hospital is the best place to give birth. And some of those women who are told they NEED a C-Section? Your baby is too big, you need a C-Section! Your baby is breech, you need a C-Section! Not always the case. In the case of a large baby, labor may take a bit longer, but the vagina still does its job! It isn't rendered useless just because the baby's weight is outside some limit set by your obstetrician. Every woman's body is DIFFERENT. A breech baby CAN be delivered vaginally! Just do a search on YouTube for breech births! Homebirths! Unassisted homebirths!

But there are DRUGS! PAIN FREE BIRTH! NUMB YOURSELF! Women have been taught to be weak and that childbirth is OMG the most painful thing ever! WHY would you want to numb yourself to one of the most memorable experiences of your entire life and, in the process, pass those same drugs to your baby? Is it just to make your life more convenient? Tsk-Tsk-Tsk.

Women need to TRUST their bodies. Have FAITH. A woman's body is engineered to give birth (that's pretty much the main reason we exist - to procreate - how on earth did we give birth BEFORE OBGYNs and hospitals? Gee I wonder!) and works PERFECTLY if left alone.

It has taken months of research, but we are confident this is the best decision for us and our soon-to-be-born child. Medical involvement in the birth process now seems UNNATURAL. Either Shane or I will be the first person to hold our child - not some obstetrician that will never see my child again. I will get to breastfeed our child immediately, not 30 minutes after birth, after the nurses have given him a bath and done all their medically invasive procedures and essentially robbed Shane and I and the baby of those most-important first moments of a newborn's life.

I can't wait to give birth to our son... AT HOME!