My daughter Holly is 40 weeks+ pregnant.  That's a whole lot of baby in a tiny little space.  She has had a remarkably smooth pregnancy so far; one of her biggest complaints is that after making it through her teenage years with no more than 5 pimples, she now has some acne troubles.  This comes second only to her quite numerous stretch marks, for which she can thank me--getting them or not is mostly a matter of genetics.

About a month ago she and I were discussing what would go on in labor and delivery, and I became concerned--not for her so much as for me.  I was sincerely fearful that I might end up getting arrested before she had the baby, and until this moment, I hadn't considered the situation fully.  You see, I've done this three times, but I was never allowed to even try to do it the "natural" way, and I've learned a heck of a lot since then.  So when (after a lot of research) Holly told me she wants to have a natural childbirth if at all possible, I was excited for her, but worried for me.

The reason I was fearful is that it is quite often difficult to have a drug-free, low-intervention childbirth in the hospital.  Knowing what I know, and knowing that she wants to do this her own way, I just knew I’d be the nightmare grandmother, belligerently pissing off the labor and delivery staff as well as the physicians.  I know they would be doing what they feel is right, but I will not necessarily agree.  Not all hospitals use all of these interventions, but those that use them do so even in normal, uncomplicated pregnancies, and I have my reasons for objecting.

In hospital births, upon arrival and at regular intervals afterward, someone performs a pelvic examination to check the condition of the cervix.  While there may be legitimate reasons to do a cervical exam in some cases, there are some risks which (to me) negate its usefulness for otherwise normal births.  Doctors do the exams largely because they were taught to do them, although the information gained from them is not truly predictive of how the labor is progressing. 

Seeing that the information gotten from the exam is not too useful, it puts the risks in a grim light.  The risk of infection goes up because normal bacteria from the vagina are pushed into the cervix.  Repeated exams of course increase the risk even more.  In late pregnancy, cervical exams can cause premature rupturing of the amniotic sac, which has its own set of risks.  If this happens in the hospital, you can bet they are going to proceed with induction.  Induction by pitocin IV drip has become almost a staple even for women already in labor.   And there's a whole huge post I could do on the benefits of the pain-endorphin/hormone feedback mechanism.

Other reasons I might have gotten arrested:

1.      Hospitals demand moms go “NPO”—nothing to eat or drink.  Think for a moment about the physical demands of labor.  Does it make any sense to deny food and water when this could easily take 24 hours or more?  What about ketosis (produced when your body runs out of available sugar and begins to burn fat, and can lead to maternal vomiting, coma, or death).  And there is absolutely no medical reason for NPO anymore because not only is general anesthesia not used, but no amount of starving empties the stomach to less than 100 mL, the amount that could choke you.

2.     Many hospitals place the laboring mom on her back…the absolute worst position for labor.

3.      Because their attendants attempt to increase the speed of labor and the force of pushing so much, many women have tears of the perineum, whether or not they had an episiotomy.  The slower speed and force in a natural childbirth is necessary to gradually stretch the skin there, and there is less damage.

4.     Fetal monitoring with the monitors everyone has come to expect as normal is just not necessary in most cases.  While sometimes needed, use of these monitors has a high false-positive rate (indicating trouble when there isn’t any), does not reduce the incidence of cerebral palsy, and is associated with an increase in the rate of delivery interventions like forceps, vacuum, and caesarean delivery.

And most of all, could doctors please stop taking the baby away for long periods immediately after birth??  That first hour of baby with her mom is so important for proper bonding, effective breastfeeding, delivery of the placenta, and more.  Vitamin K and eye antibiotics can wait that long, and it’s so worth it.

And NO KIDDING…as I finish writing this post, we’re waiting on the doula to arrive so we can go to the birthing center.  My daughter is in labor.  For real.  And soon, I am going to meet my granddaughter.