Birth Interventions: You Always Have Choices

February 8, 2020

If there is one thing I personally believe as a doula, it is that there is no wrong way to give birth, unless mom's autonomy is taken away.

So many people hear the word doula and they immediately think water births, only natural methods, home births, essential oils, new age music and any other "crunchy" imagery that goes along with various birthing scenarios. But, doulas are so much more...

We are advocates of informed consent. We trust birth and only seek to help mom to trust herself and the amazingly hard work her body is about to do. We seek to empower with education, knowledge and faith in a mom's own capabilities. We seek to bring understanding to the risks versus benefits of standard labor intervention practices so that moms can make stronger decisions. We seek to make sure that our laboring moms are treated, not as bystanders in an event over which they have no control, but with respect and reverence as an autonomous being. We seek to facilitate open communication with a mother and her care provider so that they can establish a trusting relationship.

Modern interventions all have reasons for existing. For example, I've attended births in which the mom truly did not want an epidural and didn't even want to hear the word epidural uttered to her. During one birth that comes to mind, when we hit the 24th hour of active labor and stress and exhaustion had replaced her fuel and resolve, she looked at me with desperation in her eyes. We calmly discussed the risk versus benefit of an epidural and she opted for it. We all rested for a few hours while she kept her pelvis open with a peanut ball. This allowed her to come back to her center and wake up with the fury of a thousand suns to roar her baby into the world.

We are now seeing that the medical model of care, rooted in the belief that interventions control what cannot be controlled and thus ensure safer results for mom and baby, is actually not always better. The birthing community has a long way to go, but we are starting to move away from believing that every aspect of birth needs to be micromanaged. Unless a mother's medical history and pregnancy health indicates otherwise, we are finally returning to the understanding that birth is not like any other medical case, and in fact, isn't meant to be medical. We are listening to mothers more.

A doula is not a replacement for a medical care provider, but having a doula allows you a constant source of peace and support. This is so that you can access information and resources that you need to make the decisions that are best for YOU, no matter what those decisions are!

Sometimes, the only thing my clients ever end up needing from me is my presence. Sometimes I walk away from a birth wondering if I did enough because my sole role was holding space for mom and protecting her space so that she could do her work. Upon conducting our post partum visits, sometimes they'll tell me that they don't know how they could've done it if I wasn't just there for them.

Giving birth requires so much strength, equally, if not more, mental than physical. And it is such a vulnerable time for the mother. This is why most animals' instinct is to find a quiet secluded place where they will not be disturbed to do this work. Doulas are the protectors of this sacred space. When a question arises about what would happen if mother decides to allow something into this space, i.e. pitocin to boost contractions, an epidural or any other intervention, it is part of the purpose of the doula to give the mother the counsel she needs to filter through suggestions and decide what she is going to allow into this sacred space.

Is the service of a doula something about which you've ever wondered? Reach out to one and see what we are all about. You won't regret it.

#CenterYourSpirit #InformedConsent #DoulaLife #DoulasRock #InformedRefusal #SupportMoms #DoulasTrustBirth #TrustYourself