Celebrating Life

Gestation is fascinating. When I studied physiology during my last year at Santa Cruz, I kept finding myself drawn to the intricacies of fertilization, development, pregnancy, and birth. So, this fall I decided I was going to take a Doula course to learn more about women and babies - and how to support women prenatally, during labor, and during the 4th trimester.

I have been able to learn so many incredible strategies to comfort women during this delicate process - techniques and comfort measures to physically cater to women during labor, problems or complications that should be (and are) so normalized, and ways to support during the emotional roller coaster that woman and those surrounding her encounter during this time.  We explored the needs of the mother and the child - the connection that is formed during that first moment, while the newborn is insulated with a coat of vernix, and should be placed skin-to-skin with the mama, creating an eternal bond. The antibodies and surplus of nutrients that are available in breast milk and the ability for women to create a positive feedback with their supply (the endocrine system really is brilliant). I was surely ignorant when it came to different birth practices. Okay, so I knew that women could give birth at a hospital, birthing center, at home... well, let's be real... you can go into labor anywhere.

We talked about physical and emotional changes that occur during pregnancy and the high volume of unplanned, often teenage, pregnancies, especially in the Philadelphia community. How do you support a woman who is unhappy about being pregnant, resenting this developing life for taking away her independence? We discussed steps of labor, changes in the uterus and the cervix, contraction lengths... this was coupled with practices that the mama can do with you (as the Doula) or with her partner while experiencing discomfort. We moved around - used birth balls, practiced our double hip squeezes, focused on breathing exercises, made rice socks... 

The details about the practice as a whole will, without a doubt, benefit me as I serve as a Doula and when I pursue a career further in medicine. Beyond, we spent hours and hours discussing our rights and how our rights seem to get striped from us once we step into the hospital. Birth and the steps are not transparent to the common mother - because it appears that the medical world wants you to be silenced, to be numb, to be out of control. Women often continue to play this role... a theme with women, this "problem that has no name." Maybe it's oblivion or possible fear. The oppression women continue to face throughout decades, centuries.

I'm not trying to shun the dogmatic birthing practices, as told through the western lens. Women come to the hospital to give birth. They expect the nurses and doctors to conduct the show and follow it up with orders and lie you on your back while the birthing canal narrows and you are told to push and push, then you are not progressing (because, 'come on, my shift is almost over and I want to get the hell out of here') then you get pumped with Pitocin, then the pain is too great so you decide (or are passive aggressively urged) to have an epidural. Then you have no feeling from the waist down and you have no control over your lower extremities. This is if you haven't already been convinced that a cesarean is your best option.  I've heard more than one Doula express, "these are the textbook steps of intervention"... almost expected. The World Health Organization recommends that the cesarean section rate for industrialized nations should not exceed 15%. In the US in 2008, cesarean rates were up at 32.3% - up from 22% in 2000. That's a 44.5% increase in ten years. 

This course has stoked a fire in me that I want to spread. I have always believed that women have infinite power - as mothers of the world. Women are powerful, therefore should be empowered. Birth is an experience that women should own.I am honored I am going to be able to share this experience with women and families. I want to help women dive into this experience that can be filled with joy and ensure that they know their rights  - even through there is fear that is often provoked from the paradigm of the western obstetrician (or the pungent hospital air that lingers in the halls). Knowledge is power, so the caveats of the system should be elicited. The power a woman manifests creates life - holds and nourishes a developing fetus, coddled in the womb for ±39 weeks. This power creates life and is worth celebrating.