Monday, September 7, 2009

"I'm ALL about the drugs!"

Nothing causes me to have to pull together every single ounce of self-control, like this phrase when it comes to childbirth:

"I'm ALL about the drugs!"

I had a booth at a local fair here this past weekend. It was for my Midwifery services, and some slings and nursing covers ( which I'm not entirely for, lol ) that I've made. Several women walked by, and when they saw that it was for home birth, laughed and said "I think it's great. But I'm personally ALL about the drugs. ALL about the drugs!" I had to choke back the comments that wanted to pour out of my mouth. Such as, "Yeah, I used to be selfish too." and "Oh. Your poor baby isn't though, do you care about that?"

I really have a very hard time restraining myself from these things. And it seems so harsh, but this is really something I am passionate about, after knowing first hand what drugs and intervention can do. And half of me gets it - I was like that too. When I didn't know any better. But I can't avoid thinking of Noah lying sedated in a NICU bed, because of my poor choices, when I hear these women say this. Maybe they truly don't know what drugs do to babies. Mostly, as I've done some informal polls in many mommy-sites, just don't care. Their comfort is more important than the risks to baby. This is a TRAVESTY! When you know better, and you still put your baby at risk ... you can no longer claim ignorance.

My heart breaks for these women who don't know better, and for the babies that have no choice. And it KILLS me to hear women say "I just don't like pain". Life is painful. You get injured, you get sick, you go through pain in working out or training for a marathon. But you can't go through childbirth without numbing yourself from the chest down?

I just really wish more women knew that they are capable of going through childbirth without drugging themselves and their babies. I wish they knew of how empowering natural childbirth is, and how very rewarding it is to get that HUGE release of endorphins after birth when no drugs are involved. Really, they are robbing themselves of a life-changing experience, and putting their baby at risk at the same time.

9 comments:

Sarah A.T.J. said...

I HEAR YOU!!! :)

said...

Thank you! You put into words exactly how I feel :)

Sarah H said...

Great post!

Kayce said...

EXACTLY!!!!!!

Amber said...

amen! Ive never had a better high!!!

Enjoy Birth said...

This is so true! I think it is the fear of pain that makes them not even open to the idea of natural birth. I like telling moms about hypnosis for childbirth, because then they can let go of that fear and move forward for a natural birth without that fear holding them back.

It doesn't help that the medical community is telling them there are no risks with epidurals.

Krista said...

First off, let me say "I totally get that!" I find myself silently shaking my head at what I hear some women say (example: a friend asked a newly-pregnant-lady at church what kind of birth she wanted and the lady snarkily said "well, I'm definitely getting drugs...I'm not some kind of martyr you know!") Its sad that some women really do see birth as something to fear and a woman laboring without drugs as "a martyr". However, I also don't think we need to go as far as say those women are being selfish for their choices. They are afraid, yes. These are the same women who say WE are selfish for "putting our experience above our babies safety" and other such nonsense! Sometimes we need to close our ears to the horribleness that comes out of their mouths since they obviously don't know what they are talking about. But we can also have compassion for these women. Some of these women will say these things now, have a horrible birth experience, THEN take time to educate themselves for a next birth and that may be the journey they need to go on to change their thinking....but I know how hard it is to let those comments slide like water off a duck's back...its tough!

tie-dyed doula said...

right? Well said. Shine on!

Jessica said...

Maybe you should come up with a card with the facts about what effects those drugs have on the babies. That way when someone says that walking by, you can just hand them the card and smile. :-) I would LOVE to have something like that. Someone said that to me once and I just said, "Really, it was so much easier without the drugs!" :-D