Why I'm planning a homebirth and what I've learned about obstetrical violence
As I get closer to my due date, I’ve been thinking deeply about why I’ve chosen a homebirth and I want to share what has motivated this decision...
This year, due to COVID19, there have been even higher levels of obstetrical violence in the United States than in recent years.
Obstetrical violence is defined as: “bullying and coercion of pregnant women during birth by health care personnel” and includes things like intrusive vaginal exams, unwanted interventions, coerced Cesarean sections, forced separation of mother and baby and other behaviors that medical staff perform on the mother without cooperation or consent.
This kind of obstetrical violence affects BIWOC at higher rates than white women and contributes to the record-high rates of maternal mortality among black and indigenous birthing people—up to 4 or 5x the death rate among white women! (see journal articles at the link in bio)
Additionally, in the US in 2018, our Cesarean section rates charted at 31.9%. That percentage is more than DOUBLE the World Health Organization’s recommended rate of 10-15%.
Women around this country are being forced, coerced and manipulated during one of THE most vulnerable experiences of their lives—bringing a human into the world.
In learning about obstetrical violence and the industrial medical complex that profits the most off of babies born under highest interventions (epidurals, pitocin, c-section), I knew that I wanted to birth in a different way.
I wanted to have a birth where I felt empowered, respected and safe. Birth trauma after all isn’t just about what happens during birth but about how the mother feels she was treated during the process.
To be clear: I’m incredibly grateful for modern medicine and IF I have an emergency situation, I will be grateful to get to go to a hospital. AND I know there are good OBs and good hospitals out there, but the data still speaks for itself.
I went to the clinic for the first half of my pregnancy only to have an OB tell me that only *she* could deliver my baby and that she didn’t trust the midwives I hired with over 20 years of experience attending births!
And, after doing extensive research on this subject, I’ve learned that many hospitals do NOT center the birthing person’s emotional wellbeing, leading to high levels of birth trauma in this country.
Most healthy women like myself can absolutely give birth at home. In fact, the home or birth center settings are in many ways safer medically and emotionally for both birther and baby.
If you’re interested in what informed my decisions, I’ve collected some resources, evidence based information and scientific articles on this below ❤️
Obstetrical violence: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.04.004
Birth Data in the U.S.: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/delivery.htm
Race and Maternal Mortality in the U.S. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p0905-racial-ethnic-disparities-pregnancy-deaths.html
Maternal Mortality Across countries: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html
Birth Justice: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/birth-justice/
Podcast Episode on Obstetrical violence and COVID: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/shifting-from-hospital-labor-and-delivery-nurse-to-home-birth-advocate-with-melissa-anne-dubois/
Podcast Episode on Reproductive Justice: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/birthing-in-a-world-with-reproductive-justice-with-ihotu-ali-daniela-montoya-barthelemy-and-shayla-walker/
Podcast Episode on Homebirth in the Black Community: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/home-birth-in-the-black-community-with-isis-rose/
Documentary: https://www.amazon.com/Business-Being-Born-Helen-Ayres/dp/B001IIHAGK
Decolonizing Birth: https://www.instagram.com/birthbruja/?hl=en
Evidence on Homebirth (Looking at the US, UK and Canada): https://evidencebasedbirth.com/replay-of-home-birth-webinar/
COVID 19 and birth: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/covid19/