OBs are Surgeons

One thing that I don't think a lot of women realize, is that OBs are trained surgeons. They are not trained in the art of natural childbirth, nor do they often know how to just let labor "be". I wonder, if things were worded differently, would the birthing climate change?

Instead of "My doctor delivered my son...."

• "I delivered my son...."

No one delivers your baby but you. I am always honest when I say that I have only ever delivered 2 babies. And I have three children. But one was a cesarean. *I* didn't deliver him, my OB did. And I have caught 2 babies as a midwife, but I certainly have never "delivered" anyone else's baby. Why give the credit to someone else for the hard and fulfilling work that you have done?

Instead of "Well, I am going to have this done because my doctor said....."

• "I am going/not going to have this done because I have researched this thoroughly..."

We cannot rely on what anyone else tells us about anything, without doing our own research. An OB on a OB/GYN forum once put the blame on inductions and elective c-sections on us women. And you know? He was 100% correct. He made the pefectly factual statement that most women research what car they're going to buy, more than they research childbirth or the procedures that are being done. How very true. How many women actually research the risks and side effects of inductions? Of labor drugs? Of having their water artificially broken? Of ANY of the things routinely done in childbirth that have no place in a natural process?

Instead of "My doctor said this baby is getting very big..."

• "I am going to eat healthy during my pregnancy, and I believe that God has given me the ability to birth whatever size baby grows in my womb."

There needs to be less fear surrounding childbirth. God designed the process so intricately. And we are supposed to have trust in every other area of our lives, but I hardly see this subject tackled without vehement accusations of "judgement" when it's brought up that God needs to be trusted in childbirth as well. That we shouldn't be going in to be induced when there's no reason, that we shouldn't be drugging ourselves and our babies for the most amazing experience that God designed us for. Why is there such a disconnect with Christian women and birth? We are entrusted with the life of another human being. We are supposed to do our very best from the moment of conception. This doesn't stop when we're in temporary pain. The wonderful thing is, God designed our bodies to release the *highest* amount of endorphins that our bodies will ever see at once, after natural childbirth. If you're induced, have pain meds or an epidural...the endorphins are blocked. What a shame that we don't get to fully bask in the glory of our baby's birth, just to escape temporary pain. God is awesome in His design.


So going back to it....

"You don't go to a Chinese Food Restaurant if You Don't Want Chinese Food!" ~ Nancy Wainer-Cohen.

You don't go to a surgeon if you don't want surgery. You don't go to a place for the ill and dying if you want to give life. The hospital is not for healthy people. The hospital is, again, for the sick and dying. Why would a perfectly healthy woman go to a place like that to deliver a perfectly healthy baby? Not always do both walk out in the same condition. Read this.

And what always makes me laugh....why do women go to male OBs? They will never know what it's like to give birth. They will never physically understand the physiological aspects of birth. The emotional aspects, or the psychological aspects. That would be like taking driving instructions from a mechanic who knew *everything* about the car, inside and out, but who had never driven before. Umm....

Women, unless changes are made NOW....birth will be the same or worse with our daughters. Why not open the path to them growing up knowing that birth is NORMAL, rather than a medical event? Why not teach them that they have been given an extremely honorable task and privilege by God in giving birth? It's a wonderful experience, and it far outweighs any labor pains.