Dec 25

“…She’s One Of Those “Crunchy” Types…”

Yeah, she’s one of those “crunchy” types who actually WANTS to give birth without drugs.” -OB referring to mother upset about her cesarean for a breech baby.

82 people dislike these words.

There are 10 comments to this post.

Sheva had this to say, Dec 25, 2009 @ 5:39 am (Quote)

You know, they make it sound like we like the pain itself, as if that’s our goal, to torture ourselves, masochism. Which, to be fair, is what I thought, too, when I heard my older sister describe how much she loved giving birth. But now, having had two of each, I wish I could tell them that there is something life affirming and self affirming about giving birth naturally, about overcoming and either mastering or surrendering to the pain, and the exhilaration of actually being able to feel the baby as it’s coming out, and *remembering* the experience afterward. THAT’S what I, personally, get out of birth, and THAT’S why I can’t do it in a hospital.
Not only do they lower my chances of having that life-changing feeling, they also ridicule the existence of it!

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Jane Reply:
December 25th, 2009 at 8:47 am Jane(Quote)

This is my opinion: a lot of these doctors view themselves as skilled surgeons who are saving women’s lives. Their “reason to be” is to intervene and save people.

If 95% of births went along fine, they wouldn’t need to exist.

Therefore the idea that 95% of women might not require a skilled surgeon to be present at their birth is a bit frightening and off-putting to them. The mentality that some of us have, that we can and possibly should (for our personal reasons, as our own decision) turn down the assistance they offer is disquieting.

And if it leaves them feeling bad, the choices they face are either there is somethign wrong with them, or something wrong with the woman who created that feeling in them. (As opposed to a more mature attitude, which is, “This woman has made a different decision than I would like, but it’s her decision.”) Since they don’t want to be wrong or defective, then it must be the woman who is wrong or defective. Hence: ridicule.

What an impoverished view of the world.

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Lori Reply:
December 25th, 2009 at 11:58 am Lori(Quote)

Very well said, Jane.

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Jennifer B. Reply:
December 25th, 2009 at 3:38 pm Jennifer B.(Quote)

I think I love you Jane

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Jane Reply:
December 25th, 2009 at 3:43 pm Jane(Quote)

I love you too.

There’s a book called “How Doctors Think” by Jerome Groopman that really gets inside a doctor’s head (he’s a doctor) and gets into the complex reality that is modern medicine.

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Heather P Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 4:41 pm Heather P(Quote)

Jane, that’s a great way of putting it. But I think that it’s not just doctors that feel this way. Some people seem to take personal offense that somebody would make a different choice in childbirth than they would themselves and attack those who do differently than they did.

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Sheva had this to say, Dec 25, 2009 @ 5:41 am (Quote)

Ok, I made it sound very selfish just now, as if that’s all I get out of birth. That’s not what I meant. There’s so many other simple and complex reasons that I love birth, but I was just addressing the pain/drugs/crunchy issue here.

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Heather (qtberryhead) had this to say, Dec 25, 2009 @ 1:56 pm (Quote)

Being in the same room, or on hand to offer assistance to a laboring woman is one of the most honorable things that I have ever had the pleasure of doing. To me, being invited to the birth of a child is a great compliment.
When I’ve gone into these situations, I’ve known what the desires of the mother were. I’ve seen those desires played out, and I’ve seen them stomped on.
The role of any person who attends a birth is to offer support and assistance. Those roles may be small, or they may be large…but the ultimate goal should be to ensure that the outcome is a positive one…even when things go bad. Nobody wants a stillbirth, a c-section, a complication…but that happens, and I think the best thing for any person to do is to help mom deal with that emotionally, and I think that is where our medical community fails in birth. Instead of having the attitude that they helped a woman through a life altering and profound experience in her life…they pat themselves on the back for averting sure disaster. Instead of looking at a normal uncomplicated birth as “the way it should be” they consider it “luck”. They can’t separate a complication that resulted from intervention, from a complication that resulted from nature. There is a time for intervention, and there is a time to keep your hands in your pockets.
There is no need to belittle a woman by calling her names or ridiculing her desires…even when her desires don’t match yours.
You can call me Crunchy.

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Judith had this to say, Dec 25, 2009 @ 3:02 pm (Quote)

Yeah! would be terrible to have a baby born not exposed to drugs! Like I say to all: please speak up and out! go to birthsurvey.com and rate your experience to help all other expectant parents!

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