Guest Post: An Open Letter To the Who Trained My Midwife, RE: Sexual Abuse

This is from Mandala Mom. Recently the Powerbirth Midwives have shown that they have no willingness whatsoever to accept responsibility for the harm that they have inflicted on women. They continue to call them liars, continue to hide behind a "Philosophy" (though it was labeled a "technique" by them until it was brought out what they were doing with said "technique") that allows for no understanding whatsoever of the physiology of birth, only physically and emotionally harmful practices that serve the Midwife only.

Mandala Mom talks about the reason she continues to be vocal, and I couldn't agree with her more, nor applaud her more for her bravery and willingness to speak out. Women who have been traumatized at home NEED just as much of a voice (if not more) than those who have been traumatized in the hospital.

My purpose for continuing to write and talk about PowerBirth is to do what I can to make certain that mothers in my community are not having their rights to informed consent and informed decision-making stripped away during their home births. There are others championing patient autonomy and reform in hospital settings. But when women decide to have homebirths and end up with hospital-births-at-home, having hired midwives whose standards of practice include routine, unnecessary, not-evidence-based interventions that are not being disclosed prior to labor, I feel an obligation to sound the alarm.

Regardless of her history, every birthing mother deserves to be involved in all decisions that affect her body, her baby, and her birth. She deserves the truth right from the beginning about what prejudices and practices her midwife brings to birth.

An Open Letter To the Midwife Who Trained My Midwife, RE: Sexual Abuse


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Hands-On Midwifery Versus Instictive Birth:

Lately there has been much discussion in my area regarding hands-on Midwifery versus hands-off Midwifery. There has been accusations that a hands-off Midwife is more dangerous than even a scheduled cesarean. However, this seems to be a diversion tactic amongst the Midwives here who believe that it is okay to control a woman's birth, and not let her know that it is the intention to do so, until the woman is at her most vulnerable.

I am a hands-off Midwife, and proud of it. I do not do unnecessary vaginal exams (and yes - an exam upon arrival and an exam when mom says she feels like pushing *ARE* unnecessary!), I won't induce labor at home unless there is a reason that would necessitate a hospital induction if labor didn't begin in x amount of time, I don't tell women how/where/with whom they can birth, and I don't tell women how/when to start pushing. Women are quite intelligent, believe it or not. Dr. Michel Odent and Dr. Sarah Buckley have written extensively about instinctual birth being the most optimal for women. I firmly believe that labor and birth happen in the best way possible when a woman is not directed, controlled, or interrupted.

The confusion surrounding this also lies in the same accusation that hands-off Midwifery is dangerous. It is assumed that a hands-off Midwife is hands-off no matter what. That apparently we hands-off Midwives (aka, "Instinctual Birth" supporters) would sit in the corner and twiddle our thumbs if a labor were abnormal, or if complications should arise with mom or baby. Quite the contrary. We are very well trained in handling complications - but the catch is that by not interfering with a woman in labor, we also do not *cause* complications to arise.

This is a blog post by The Mandala Mom that fits this so appropriately, from the standpoint of the consumer. From the standpoint of a woman and mother who has had both a hands-on Midwife, and then intuitive births. From the standpoint of a woman who has seen first hand how a hands-off Midwife supports a woman during labor and birth.

Enjoy!

Bulls in the China Shop: Hands-On Midwifery Versus Instinctive Birth

"Dear Ms. Birthkeeper" - A message from the PowerBirth founder:

I received this today, and from what I understand about dealing with bullies who like to feel they can intimidate people, I am responding in a public manner instead of dealing privately.

Hi Ms. Birthkeeper,
I pray that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you and heal you from whatever it is that makes you so unhappy that you feel the need to attack me and PowerBirth the way you and your peers have done for the last two years!
You really do not understand what it is that you are doing and how wrong you are in what you write and make the world believe, which I can tell you in truth, is wrong!
Know this, though, that for every negative untruth you speak or write about me, it will be turned around and used for good- in ways you don't even understand.
I pray for your healing!
Lydi Owen

The people who need prayers, are the many women who have been traumatized - both physically and emotionally - from your technique. The women who need prayer are the ones who have ended up with recurring nightmares of what was done to them at the hands of you, and the Midwives like you, during what should have been a beautiful and peaceful time in their lives. Thankfully because of more women coming out with the truth, more are able to see that they are not alone and can begin to heal. Or the ones who had experiences like this and were happy with it, because they didn't know any better, can see that what was done to them was *wrong*. Just like the women who have cesareans or traumatic births in the hospital for no good reason, and don't know that there could have been better. They are simply happy to be alive, and to have a healthy baby.

There is not one ounce of untruth in what I have written or spoken about - nor in any of the birth stories of the women who have been greatly harmed. It is shameful that their stories have been twisted, manipulated, and pointed out as being lies. Women have and are still coming forward with their stories. All along the same lines. Complications that have been twisted to say that there was cause to intervene - when all the while they were in fact iatrogenic. Control by the Midwife. Hands violently shoved into their vagina for every contraction. Being *told* to push, even though they didn't have the urge. Shoulder dystocias as a result of the forced pushing, hemorrhages, a feeling of being raped. This is not untruth. This has been proven on video footage. You cannot call something an "untruth" if there are both first-hand witnesses, and the act was caught on tape and in testimonials (albeit positive - again, going back to not knowing any better) for Powerbirth.

You have said that you have never, nor have you advocated for a Midwife telling a mom when to push or manual dilation. However, you do this very thing on video. One of the moms actually turns to the camera and says how wonderful it is to have the Midwife open your cervix for her, so that she has less work.

On one testimonials page, pushing because a Midwife says so and manual dilation are spoken of repeatedly, as seen in these comments:

"...I decided to go ahead and do the "powerbirth" that I had done with my first child. This is where you push before you are fully dilated and your midwife helps to push your cervix aside until you are complete. This was "invented" by Lydi Owen, the midwife I had for my first birth and the midwife who trained K."

"What a surprise I was at 8 and with a light push opened to 10 instantly."

"She had me pushing with some of the contractions after I was out of the tub and that opened me right up. I remember going from a 7 to a 10 in almost no time at all. Then I remember K saying, "Your a 10, push that baby out!" So I did."

And some anonymous comments from women who have been traumatized or know women who have been:

"I happen to know of the creator of powerbirth (from the same city), and all the women who I knew who walked away from her powerbirthing were traumatized like you were."

"Oh wow. I had no idea there was a name for it, but this very thing happened to me in Las Vegas with a very experienced mw. I was in shock for weeks, unable to believe it had really happened. I believe, though cannot prove, that her interventions led directly to birth trauma that affected my baby for weeks after the birth and led to a serious disruption in our breastfeeding relationship. I guess she thought I was taking too long when she decided to dilate me from a 6 to a 10 all the while just telling me I had a "little lip." It wasn't until after the birth that she told me what she'd really done, complete with a giggle and a "aren't I cute?" look."

"When I was a student midwife, I attended a few births with one of Lydi's associates and one birth with Lydi. I had no clue what I was witnessing at the time. All I knew was that there was no way I'd ever have a baby with either of them. It did shape the way I practiced though - It strengthened my resolve to be hands off, to shut my mouth and to keep the power and choices firmly in the birthing mothers hands."

"This is like reading a page from my own life! I also had a meddlesome midwife who manually dilated me and broke my water with her fingernail during both of my births. I found my own peace by becoming a midwife who genuinely respects women and the beauty of their births."

"I didn't realize it until reading this but my experience with my first birth was the same! So, it just hit me, I too had a power birth that I was unaware of and totally against! I had a very hard time getting over it. I moved away from Southern Utah and had two other babies, natural, at home and they were both amazing experiences. I educated myself a lot but could never pin point what went wrong with that first birth, until now!!!"

"I am so sorry you had to go through this... but at the same time, I feel almost a relief that there is a name for this kind of abuse and it wasn't a figment of my imagination....What you wrote is almost exactly what I went through - the stretching of the cervix while being held down and yelled at to push, her hand up there with every push, lithotomy position, begging her to stop... I couldn't push like that! It's no wonder my baby never moved down. We eventually made our escape to the hospital and I'd never been so relieved to see an OB... until he tried to do a vaginal exam and I was already traumatized - yelling at him to stop and screaming. I still couldn't push my baby out and ended up with another c/s. But I was horrified with my experience and traumatized."

At first I thought maybe you actually believed what you wrote. That you believed none of the stories could possibly be true. That women haven't been harmed because of what you have taught. But then your story changed. Multiple times. Your website has been re-written numerous times and has gone from a staunch opposition to the idea that you have ever manually dilated a cervix or have advocated for it, to a near admission of guilt when you posted an article by Ina May Gaskin about using forceful cervical pressure in an emergency. Except none of the situations in where you are viewed on video, and in none of the births of the women who have come forward contained emergent situations that necessitated the immediate delivery of the baby.

Let me say that no Midwife is perfect. I am *far* from perfect. Every Midwife must continue to educate, research, learn, and most of all ... change the way she practices if she comes to an understanding that there may be harm in what she has done. I have changed the way that I am with laboring mothers since I began, and continually assess myself. Unfortunately, instead of seeing remorse from you or from the other Midwives who practice this technique, there has only been a continuation of lies and manipulation and slander. Slander their character, and in turn cry out that you have been slandered. With every beat of my heart I pray that you please just stop.

As I have watched the PowerBirth promotional video, and nearly cry for how the women and babies are treated ... I have also had the founder of ICPA (International Chiropractic Pediatric Association) view a clip of it. This was her response:

"I have questions as to why the midwife is internal, why the mother is on her back and I am most concerned about the apparent amount of force applied to the baby's delicate spine by the midwife during the actual delivery. This is far from the usual 'hands off' approach I am used to seeing with midwives and I cannot help but wonder about the negative effects of these interventions on both mother and baby."

You say on your website that a woman would be better off having a cesarean section than to be attended by a hands-off Midwife. I am distraught by this statement, because of what damage it may do. Do you assume or tell women that a hands-off Midwife would sit in the corner and do nothing if an emergency were to arise? That because we believe that a woman's body is designed to birth without intervention and does *best* hormonally when she does so (as seen by the works of Dr. Michel Odent, Dr. Sarah Buckley and many others), we would not jump into action if something went awry? I cannot speak for all hands-off Midwives, but all of the ones that I know personally are thoroughly trained in the event of any type of birth emergency. But we understand that from a hormonal and physiological standpoint that birth is safest when not interfered with.

I will reiterate that women have and are still coming forward who have been traumatized by Powerbirth and its practitioners, whether or not they (the practitioner) actually uses the term "Powerbirth". They are coming forward, no longer feeling alone. No longer allowing themselves to feel intimidated or manipulated.

So to you, Ms. Owen, I wish you a good day and a sincere thank you for directing people to my blog. My writings, and the writings of the brave women who have come forward already have been turned around for good. Victims of this no longer feel alone. That is a bittersweet victory in and of itself. As to the statement of what "me and my peers" have done over the past 2 years, I assure you that we are each working to expose this individually. I am not professionally associated with any of the other women who have spoken out about this. We are simply working to bring awareness to women that there is harm being done, and to allow space for the women who have been traumatized to come forward and not be alone.

To the women out there - if you have been negatively affected by this technique, even if unnamed by your care provider, please come forward. You are not alone. You can contact me, or any of the other women who have put their story out there, as seen in these blogs:

MandalaMom

Complete Beginnings

Powerbirth! Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics (Or Videos, in this case)

It's interesting to me that the entire Powerbirth site has been completely re-worded. This blog has been referenced, stating that I have slandered the Powerbirth Midwives. Perhaps this is because of the outcry that has come about with exposure to what the Powerbirth Technique has done to women. PTSD, PPD, and even reconstructive surgery to name a few of the consequences. Some of the women who have been brave enough to come out about their births have now been called liars. They have been treated with the same sort of behavior that one would receive from a rapist when being confronted by their victim.

"You asked for it."

I only wish I weren't being literal here. But that's exactly what they are being told. They are now accusing me of slander because of my blog post from nearly 2 years ago, after watching the PROMOTIONAL video for this "technique". Ironically enough, it can't be slander if it's true. The ONLY thing I wrote about in my blog is what I observed through the very video you can order from the website, as well as my interactions with one of the women who had used a Powerbirth Midwife, and ended up traumatized. Was she lying? I believed her. As well as the fact that she has her birth on VIDEO. I also quoted directly from the Powerbirth website, which again has now been TOTALLY re-worded.

Here is the definition of Slander:

slan·der (slndr)
n.
1. Law Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation.
2. A false and malicious statement or report about someone.

It can't be considered false if what is said is verified by video footage of the very thing that is being communicated. Or perhaps they don't understand that they are on VIDEO doing the things they swear they don't do? I'm not sure.

Manual Dilation? Check - it's on one of the early promotional videos. One of the women who was *clearly* not visibly in transition and was just announced (by the Midwife) to be 6 1/2 centimeters, turned to the camera cheerily and said, "In the hospital they won't push your cervix aside for you!"

Forced Purple Pushing? Check - also on the early promotional video. The same woman from above is said to be only 6cm, is contently watching Ren and Stimpy on the television, is laughing at what is going on .... and then is told to grab her legs, pull them back, and push with the contraction. By the Midwife. Midwife says, "Push! Okay, quick breath. Push!" But according to the newly worded website, Powerbirth doesn't condone this type of pushing. Hmmm.

Hands always in vagina? Check - on both videos. The one thing you will see in plenty is vaginal exams. There is hardly a scene in either of the videos where there ISN'T a hand inside of the woman's vagina. Every. Single. Contraction. On the early video, anyway. Every single contraction, the Midwife's hand goes back inside of the vagina.

And as to the claim that I am writing about this because I am trying to wipe out competition, all I can do is laugh. I wrote my original post before I ever moved here, or had any idea whatsoever that I would eventually move here. Never mind the fact that I will be moving out of the area within the next six months as well. I have no desire to take away Midwives who are truly helping women. Who are practicing in a way that respects women and babies, and does nothing to harm them. Now, are the Powerbirth Midwives doing these things to intentionally harm women and babies? I don't believe so. However, when you have women go to them who are traumatized by what was done to them, and are then publicly accused of lying...we're talking about some seriously unethical practices.

A friend of mine said it perfectly:

I think women in the UC community have always known this...that your body takes over and pushes when it's ready and it doesn't matter how dilated you are (because we never even know how dilated we are since we're not performing exams on ourselves usually...) Anyway, I guess it doesn't really matter but I have been frustrated that people don't seem to realize that her idea that women can push before 10 cm is fine as an article but that CANNOT be all PowerBirth is because that's not enough to base an empire on, kwim? How is that simple idea a foundation for a whole "technique" with it's own branding, videos, manual, etc, etc? It's not. The word "technique" implies something active that the midwife is doing, not just the wisdom to sit back and not stress about how far dilated the mom is when she starts pushing instinctively.

If Powerbirth were only about women pushing instinctively, and it not mattering how far dilated their cervix is then there wouldn't be any issue. It couldn't be coined as someone's "technique", because women who have knowledge about birth have known this for thousands of years. But let's not forget that this Midwife has not only now changed her entire website, but she is caught on video doing dozens of vaginal exams. I think we counted eight times that her hand was inside of ONE woman's vagina during labor in the early promotional video. EIGHT! How is this not a violation?

My only goal in all of this is to bring this type of practice to light. To stand behind the women who have been traumatized, even the ones who are too afraid to come forward. As I thought about this last thing, I read some things about abuse victims, and why some don't come forward. A lot of it made sense with what is going on with some of the women in this area who ARE afraid to speak out publicly about what was done to them.

Sadly, society often questions the authenticity of a victim's claim. She may feel as if she is the one being put on trial due to the nature of the investigation. When questions pertaining to what she was wearing, whether she was provocatively dressed, where she was, how much that she may have had to drink and possible preventive actions are not handled correctly the victim can be made to feel as if she is somehow to blame.

Shame is one reason why some women do not come forward and file complaints or press charges. Rape is the most brutal, invasive crime that a person could ever go through. Some women find it embarrassing to admit that they put themselves in a situation where rape could occur. They may feel dirty or damaged somehow by what was done to them. All of these factors often lead women to decide that they do not want anyone else to know.

These women believed that because they were hiring a home birth Midwife with a large number of births behind them, that they were safe. They were avoiding the hospital and Obstetric Surgeons, so they should be okay. They were led to believe that they would have an Empowering experience in the safety of their own home.

The bottom line is that this is being covered up. What has occurred to women is being brushed under the rug, and labeled as either a lie or slander. However, truth always has a way of coming out. Especially when it's forever caught on video.

For stories of what has been done to two women here in the name of Powerbirth, please visit these blogs. As a warning, the stories are graphic and very disturbing. If you have experienced trauma due to Powerbirthing, I urge you to come forward. There have been more women I have come across with stories like this, but are afraid to come forward. There is strength in numbers, mamas.

Power Birth - NOT to be confused with "Empowered Birth"


Birth of My Third- "Chipper" February 6th 2007

Victims of "Power Birth" Speak Out

I wrote a blog post in February of '09 about a horrific practice I had just learned of, called "Power Birth". (You can read it HERE) Since that time, I have come into contact with more than a few women who were completely traumatized by this "technique", which is nothing more than an abuse of perceived power, and flat out birth rape. Unfortunately, abuse in childbirth doesn't just occur in the hospitals with Obstetricians. Abuse is happening by women who are supposed to be upholding the sacred art of Midwifery. By women who are simply supposed to be a support in birth.

Thankfully women are starting to speak out. Read Mandala Mom's recent blog post about her experience with this "technique", and the PTSD that followed her first birth. This needs to be exposed, and it needs to stop.

If you have been a victim of Power Birth - speak up. Change doesn't happen until things are brought to light.

Power Birth--NOT to be Confused with "Empowered Birth"

Powerbirth! Start pushing at 5cm!

So recently I became aware of a "Revolutionary" new birthing technique, called "Powerbirth". I watched a video of this technique, by the founder, Lydi Ronka Owen, as well as checked out her website.

While watching the video, I was horrified. Women are excitedly following this technique, under the false premise that it's what they SHOULD be doing, that it will be faster, and that there is no risk.

In the video, and on the website ( www.powerbirth.com ), Lydi states:

When a woman reaches 5-6 cm's dilation, she
feels like pushing. This is because the
fetus/baby has completed flexion of his/her
head. The occiput is now the presenting part,
the smallest diameter of the skull that has to
pass through the bony pelvis.

EVERY woman feels like bearing down at this
stage of labor, but is generally told that if she
pushes, she will hurt herself or her baby.

WRONG!!! If she pushes, she will be helping her
baby to make the 1/8 rotation from the Ischial
Spine to the Os Pubis, which will enable her
baby/fetus to pivot and enter the birth canal.

If she doesn't help her unborn to make this
rotation, she will be given an epidural to help
her with the pain she will endure because she
refused to listen to her body, and her baby's
suggestion of- "Give me a little help here, MOM,"
and, ultimately - the CESAREAN!

Lydi not only says in a blanket statement that EVERY woman feels the urge to push at 5cm, but that if she DOESN'T do this, then the mom will likely end up in a cesarean section.

This information goes against everything that we ( midwives ) know about the physiology of birth. Those of us who also don't ever tell a woman when it's okay to push ( because we're not in their body ), know for a fact that a woman feeling the complete urge to push at 5cm just doesn't happen. It's very, very rare.

What also bothers me, is that this "technique" is marketed as an EMPOWERING technique for birth, and yet...there is a midwife's hand in mom's vagina quite often. HOW is that empowering? During the video, one can literally see the midwive's hand and arm TREMBLING from the force of manual dilation. Yes, you read that right...manual dilation. Not holding back a lip because mom wanted that done instead of waiting it out...manually causing the cervix to be more open than it is naturally. And quite unnecessarily.

The most dangerous thing about this, is that women are being led to believe that this is SAFE. They are not told of the risks of cervical swelling, cervical tearing, hemorrhage, exhaustion from pushing before the body is 100% ready ( oh wait, according to the powerbirth technique, that's at 5-6cm. ), uterine and/or cervical prolapse.

Nevermind their power being taken away from them by having multiple vaginal checks, being brainwashed to begin pushing at 5-6cm ( how is this ANY different than the hospital staff saying "Okay! You're 10, you can begin pushing now...". Gee thanks for telling me what MY body is ready to do ) and being led to believe that this will lead to much faster births.

An acquaintance had a birth under this technique, and she ended up pushing for hours and hours on end, with the midwife's hand inside of her vagina the whole time, MANUALLY pushing the cervix back. I want to cry when I hear this.

Obstetricians aren't the only ones who are harming women, or putting them in very dangerous situations. Do these midwives believe that they're doing anything intentionally harming? No. But neither do most Obstetricians who believe in Cesarean Sections as whole for safety.

Just because a home birth midwife is a home birth midwife, it doesn't make her safe. Women...know who you're hiring, and thoroughly research what they're selling. There shouldn't be any "technique" for giving birth...women have been giving birth for centuries, without needing a label, a technique, or another woman's hand inside of their vagina, to do her body's job for her.