The Problem with Birth in America

Today, I want to highlight the many reasons I've felt called to support women in birth. While I recognize the incredible value of modern medicine, I couldn't help but feel like birth has become overmedicalized in the United States. According to the CDC, in the United States, 33% of low-risk mothers births are resulting in c-section compared to Europe's 20% and the WHO considering the ideal rate to be around 10-15%. Why is the c-section rate so much higher in America?  

Trauma & Fear 

Like all good things, when trauma and fear become the main driver toward something new, it doesn't always end up being the change we hoped for. While I truly love and appreciate nurses and providers who take on so much responsibility in the birth stories of American women, I can't help but feel like their constant urgency is rooted in trauma. It is no secret they have witnessed some of the most difficult scenarios and losses. It is only natural that might lead to a lack of patience and over cautious medical practices in the birth space. Due to the many tragedies they've seen and the liability hospitals take on, birth became something that needed to be fixed as a medical emergency rather than something that needs patience and calm support. For many first time, low-risk mamas, labor can take anywhere from 12 – 72 hours. Some women experience early labor for 24 hours!  

Convenience Culture 

Add convenience culture into the mix, and we have an array of issues in how our babies are born. I truly believe there can be a strong balance between holistic and medical approaches to birth when we are all patient. Yes, there will always be the rare cases where a birth results in high medical intervention or leads to c-section. However, I think it is so important to recognize that part of the reason so many low-risk women have had so much medical intervention or emergency situations is because the "normal" birth routine in America causes the emergency in the first place.  

Many births begin with induction. Some providers are pushing induction as early as 39 weeks, which is actually crazy to me when it is pushed on low-risk mamas. The reasons that are often outlined are that the baby is too big, baby is breeched, or convenience (this is unfortunately common.) Medical inductions that begin before the body is ready to labor often require intervention after intervention to keep the body laboring. It all snowballs from the foley balloon, where labor often stalls out after the balloon has completed its duty. Then, we need to add Pitocin (synthetic oxytocin) to get contractions going. Next, the Pitocin causes contractions that are so unbearable, we need an epidural. Oh, look, another stall out, now we need to break your waters to get baby moving down. Now baby is in a funky position and you're not dilating? I guess we have to do a c-section since labor is taking too long and we're worried about how much longer the baby has before showing signs of stress. It is an incredibly common birth story. 

 
I will likely elaborate further on the reasons inductions are pushed so early in a later blog post and what the research actually shows about the pros and cons, but please know that the baby "being too big" is a bold assumption since ultrasound weight can be off by up to two pounds and our bodies are often equipped to handle large babies with the right positioning and movement through labor and pushing. Know that a baby that is breeched at a 37week appt often flips by week 39 (and there are many natural ways to help baby flip before birth.) Another point to make when it comes to convenience (timing), is that the actual due date of a baby should really be about 40 weeks and 5 days (we'll get to this in a later blog post as well.)  

God is no longer included 

Hebrews 13:6  "The Lord is my Helper, I will not fear." Faith and Trust in God serves a powerful purpose in the entire experience a woman has bringing life into the world. From the moment we decide we would like to conceive, we surrender to God. We know that we are no longer in control of what we want, so we have to surrender and lean on the Lord.  

In our modern day culture, which God has been pushed out of with a lot of effort from the enemy, we are taught very early the lie that WE (ourselves) are in control of everything. This belief is rooted in nihilism and ego. This belief does nothing good for us, because it puts a heavy burden on us.  

In New York city, you see a statue of Atlas. He is carrying the weight of the world, and he is very clearly suffering. Across from this statue, the Catholic Church built a statue of Jesus, holding the world easily in his hands. This is a beautiful metaphor about surrendering ourselves to the Lord. When we believe we are in control of everything, we are saying that we, ourselves, are a God. We suffer as Atlas is clearly suffering because we were never meant to hold the weight of the world. Birth and Death are two things that are very clearly out of our control, yet modern day women have supposedly been given "all the tools" to do birth without God.  Matthew 11:30 invites those who are weary to find rest by embracing His teaching and sharing their burdens with him: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." 

Having Faith can bring a sense of calm and peace in the birth room. That surrender immediately quiets your sympathetic nervous system (not very sympathetic if you ask me) and allows your Parasympathetic nervous system to take over. When cortisol drops, our baby drops. All the science in the world supports this as Truth. It is rooted in our biology. As it is noted in all of the literature on birth, this is by God's design. In our tribal days, it is often true that women were giving birth amongst real predators (lions, tigers, bears, wolves, etc.). It was common for birthing women to be spotted (thanks to that lovely birth smell) by predators. Thankfully, the body stalls labor to move to a new location until the mother feels safe and relaxed. 
 
Think about our own Mother Mary, who was having to relocate while in labor with Jesus. How would the world be different now if it wasn't natural for her body to stall labor until they found a major to rest in? This stress induced labor stall is by God's design, but it is unfortunately a nuisance in today's modern birth practices.  

If a woman is not in a place that she feels safe, where she can meditate and pray while she surrenders to God, she is likely going to feel stress. This is why I feel it is so important to help my clients create a quiet, dim-lighted, peaceful environment. She needs to feel safe to let her body get primal and lean into her divine spiritual nature in the birth room. Prayer provides significant psychological benefits by reducing anxiety/stress, negative emotions, and helps foster regulation and optimism. Imagine having this closeness to God in your "toolbox" in the birth room! 

God is your Help. It is noted 126 times in the bible that the Lord will help you if you let Him in.  
 
Psalm 54:4 Behold, God is my help; the Lord is the upholder of my life." 

Hebrews 13:6 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.' 

Psalm 121:1-2 My help comes from the Lord 

Isaiah 41:10 "I will strengthen you, I will help you." 

In my next post, I will be addressing how I support women in the birth space having discovered all of these modern day issues surrounding birth.  
 
Thank you for reading!
 
Nicole