2011 - Talk Birth

eally love your baby” subtext is EXACTLY the same as the conventional medical system’s attitude toward
homebirth. The midwife quoted seemed totally oblivious that her remarks are virtually identical to the
things OBs say say about homebirth and, regardless of any other personal opinions, I think they are just as
demeaning and restrictive to women as the anti-homebirth sentiments are.
Okay, brief rant aside for another quote, this one while the author was observing a home water
birth:
”It is at this point that I begin to fathom what supporting normal birth really entails. Linda is on
her knees, sleeves pushed up, gloved hand in a soiled kiddy pool up to her bare elbow, gleaning diarrhea
wisps with a spaghetti strainer by flashlight. I try to imagine a doctor doing this work and have great
difficulty. This is not medicine. This is birth. It is messy, backbreaking, humble work.” [emphasis mine]
–
During the conclusion of the book after a discussion about the [5]NAPW and whether childbirth is a
reproductive right or not:
To her [a doctor who thinks it is not], it is a medical issue, one that may need reform, but
one that belongs under the purview of physicians. ’To my mind, I’m all for people having a
pleasant and safe birth experience,’ she says. ’But my highest priority would be for them to have
a safe birth experience.’ But what’s considered safe is political. What’s safe changes. Thirty
years ago obstetricians said VBAC was dangerous. Then they said it was safe. Now they’ve gone
back to saying it’s dangerous. ACOG says out-of-hospital birth isn’t safe, but the research has
consistently suggested that for women with normal, uncomplicated pregnancies it is not just safe,
but safer, because those women are far more likely to have a normal, spontaneous vaginal birth
and far less likely to experience harmful, unnecessary interventions....”
”...The goal is to have a healthy baby. ’This phrase is used over and over and over to shut down
women’s requests,’ she [Erica Lyon] says. ’The context needs to be that the goal is a healthy
mom. Because mothers never make decisions without thinking about that healthy baby. And to
suggest otherwise is insulting and degrading and disrespectful’...What’s best for women is best
for babies. and what’s best for women and babies is minimally invasive births that are physically,
emotionally, and socially supported. This is not the kind of experience that most women have.
In the age of evidence based medicine, women need to know that standard American maternity
care is not primarily driven by their health and well-being or by the health and well-being of
their babies. Care is constrained and determined by liability and financial considerations, by a
provider’s licensing regulations and malpractice insurer. The evidence often has nothing to do
with it.
This the TRUTH and I hope women hear it.
The only critique I have of this book is one I echo from several other reviews. The book fires you up
and has a lot of passion and energy, but provides no outlet or ideas for where to channel that energy. There
is no ”resources” section, no suggestion to join [6]Citizens for Midwifery or your state midwifery advocates,
no list of birth-positive organizations who are working diligently for birth change in our culture, etc.
For some ideas that address the above, read my [7]small-stone birth activism article :)
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