Do hospitals and medical professionals intervene too much with birth?
I have been studying the process of birth for a while now. Recently doing Access to Nursing and starting a Midiwifery degree.
In my own birth I was told I *had* to take pethedine even though my contractions were manageable and I didn't want to. Purely because 'In an hour maybe the pain may cause me to be loud'. This seems like a ridiculous reason to intervene with a natural process. Birth is painful and loud but why should somebody be pressured into taking pain releif they don't want to?
I recently watched the U.S version of 'One Born Every Minute' (a UK original programme) and watched a midwife tell a woman that if she didn't move onto her back she *had* to have an epidural. This is an absolute lie. Lying on your back is only a hinderence to birth unless you already have complication. Squatting, being upright, even on your side is much more benificial to birth. One midwife told a woman she should defnintely have an epidural *incase* she thought the pain was too much in a few hours.
http://www.lightparty.com/Health/Ceasarean.html
Cesereans are often given out for no reason. I was offered one due to being petite and the head on a *rare occasion* may to big. Instead of scanning my baby they made this judgement on looking at me. Needless to say I refused and I gave birth naturally. They also failed to tell me that I could go ahead with labour regardless and if on the *rare* occasion the head was too big they could perform a ceserean at full dilation.
I understand that in medical emergencies and for the health benefit of the mother and child, pain killers and cesereans may be offered. However, the needlessness of a lot of these proceedures lead me to believe people are intervening to much with a natural process that has been happening since time began.
Yes
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No
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Midwives are medical professionals I'm asking if they and other medical professions intervene too much with birth. I'm not denying there presence and medical knowledge helps to save lives or benefit the mother and baby. I'm asking in particular if epidurals and cesareans are offered too freely and that deceit is used to force mothers into having pain relief and cesareans when it isn't necessary. Side: yes
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I don't know much about this topic, but from what I've heard, many midwives and doctors just don't have the kind of expertise required to see through a difficult birth. So when they see an easy way out (like a caesarean), they'll take it, just to be safe. It sucks, but it's better than the alternative of junior medical professionals trying to handle something they're not experienced at, and screwing up. When my mother was giving birth to twins, she was offered a caesarean for the sole reason that she was having twins. She refused. The first baby came out alright, but the second baby slipped into an odd position after the first came out. I don't quite recall what was wrong (I was a little kid during the birth), but I think it turned into a breech birth, and one of the legs got stuck and in danger of being wrenched at the hip. The midwife and doctor present were both really flustered. Luckily a senior doctor happened to be available right then, and he stepped in and took charge of getting the second baby out, and all went well. My mum reckoned that if that doctor hadn't been there, my little sister would be living with a limp. I'm glad we never had to find out if she was right. Side: No
I know that there are a lot of woman who ask to have a C-section done when they give birth and maybe they didn't need to do it but they asked for it. Not all medical centers are the same and not all force people to do something they don't want to and I am not just saying that because I work for a medical center but because I have seen the process for a few. My suggestion for all soon to be mothers is to look up and read up on child birth and your options, if you don't trust the doctor go to another. There are so many classes that pregnant woman can join to learn about child birth and they help. I didn't know anything about childbirth when I had my daughter and I joined a class and loved it. I had a c-section for my daughter but that was because she was breached and they needed to get her out. Now unfortunately for other reasons I am unable to have anymore but I still go to the maternity floor and watch what is going on. Side: No
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I think it's different for our countries. You can only generally request a c-section on non medical grounds for a severe phobia or fear. It's all well and good to say if you don't trust your doctor go to another but as an NHS nation in the UK you don't have much choice unless you pay out to go private which generally isn't an option for most mothers. Also, in the UK you rarely see a doctor throughout your pregnancy unless there is a serious problem. From my pregnancy test to my birth it was completely midwife led. I am currently on a midwife/nursing access course term time and spend a moderate amount of my time on a maternity ward (I have the summer off as it's still classified as education). It's not just about forcing women it's influencing woman through negative language 'oh you will definitely need an epidural with all the pain you'll be having later'. We've been having this discussion in lectures. I'm not sure statistics are a definite comparison but they must correlate to some form of my debate. Around 20% of UK women have epidurals (I do not agree with this articles context by the way though!) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6161727.stm Across the US, about 50 percent of women use epidurals during childbirth Some hospitals, particularly larger ones, have epidural rates as high as 85 percent. http://www.womensweb.ca/pregnancy/birth/ Don't get me wrong I'm not saying women shouldn't have epidurals but I don't think their decision should be anyway influenced by the medical team, especially induced by fear. If a woman asks what is available, tell her. If she requests pain relief give it to her. But don't try and influence her decision based on what you think she might find unbearable. Side: yes
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