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Friday, December 7, 2007

I Am Not a Womb Pod!

I have been rather outspoken about birth and cesareans over the last year and I've been met with some harsh criticism, blind ignorance and some very tough, very important questions. I believe those who criticize the loudest are very scared. They don't want to believe that they misplaced their trust, were lied to and possibly made terrible decisions about their pregnancies and births of their babies. "After all," a woman sighs as she painfully limps around her home, trying to nurse both a newborn baby and an ugly, fresh gash on her abdomen, "all that matters is," she winces, "a healthy baby."

Those who blindly follow the seductively deceptive tune of the obstetric pied piper simply hear the music and follow. They don't know where they're headed and they don't care. "My doctor said…" "my doctor won't allow…" "my doctor wants…" Wake up, ladies! You're being lead over a drug-induced cliff and awaiting you at the bottom are slicing rocks and jagged scalpels, not healthy babies and mothers.

Finally, there are those women who ask, "why is it so important how a baby is born? Why does it matter?" This is an excellent question and I have hope for the women who ask it. Just by asking why means a woman is open to more than one answer—possibly answers she wasn't expecting or answers she's uncomfortable with.

Yet, how a baby comes into this world does matter. If a laboring woman enters a hospital, has needles and wires plugged into her with beeping machines to tell her how she's doing, then is strapped to the bed and numbed… what has she become? This once beautiful, powerful, ancient and timeless woman has been reduced to nothing more than an artificial womb. That's frightening, and it's exactly what's happening in modern maternity care around the world. Women are being relegated to the demeaning and insulting task of being living "womb pods".

I will not be a womb pod, and I will keep talking, writing, screaming if necessary, until all womb pods have been "unplugged".


To learn more about cesarean prevention, please visit www.ican-online.org

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I *hear* you. Enjoying reading your blog!

Shannon said...

Good for you! I for one am sickened to DEATH by the amounts of c sections done in this country for sheer convenience or as a result of harried, impatient hospital staffers that don't want to let a mother birth in her own time. Have you read a book called Immaculate Deception? I forget the author, but it was an awesome eye opening book that directly led to my having my 4th baby at home.

Becky said...

No, I've not read that book. I have read Birth as an American Rite of Passage and Silent Knife though. All books of the same subject and tone, I believe :) Welcome to my blog, btw.