Ignorance in American Women

ig·no·rance
n.

The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

I know the word ignorance typically has a negative connotation, but in this instance, I do not mean it to. As you can see by the definition, it is simply being unaware or uninformed.

Most women in the United States are ignorant about the most important event in their lives, the birth of their children. They know what they are taught to do and follow blindly those who we are supposed to be able to trust. As soon as most women think they are pregnant they drive to their doctor's office, do a blood test and find out their due date. They make their next 7 minute appointment (yes, doctors appointments are on average 7 minutes long), and head to the nearest maternity store to pick out some new outfits.

They may grab a few books from the book store, usually to start reading about where they are in their pregnancy, what they should be scared of and then they stop reading and the books lie dormant on the coffee table.

After talking with friends and family members, most who have had wide ranges of experiences with their hospital births. They may hear horror stories of how one woman had to have an emergency cesarean because she just couldnt push the baby out, or another who's baby was too big so they had to pull him out with a vaccuum. Long labors, epidurals, vaccuums, episiotomies, Pitocin, and cesareans. Of course this poor woman is scared of her birth, she has heard nothing but horrible stories! But everyone is happy in the end because they have a happy, healthy baby.

When there are serious complications and something doesn't turn out right, women don't usually hear about it because no one wants to talk about the situation.

Nor do women hear about beautiful experiences, where no drugs or interventions are used. Women are simply allowed to labor as their bodies were made to do in an environment where they felt safe. THIS is a shame, that women who don't know other women who have had experiences like this.

Not to say that everyone should have an out of hospital birth or even a natural one, but it is aweful that women either don't know about the OPTION to have this kind of birth, or they are so afraid of the idea (because of their ignorance) they don't even give it a second thought.

So that has become my life's work. Not to persuade every woman to have a natural or out of hospital birth, but simply to show them ALL of their options so they can make informed, educated decisions.

My Life as a Birth Options Advocate

I may not be the CEO of some million dollar company, but I KNOW what I do as my life's work is important.

I run a website for expecting parents to learn more about their birth options, Better Birth America (www.betterbirthamerica.com). I don't care if women decide to go natural, have drugs, get a c-section, whatever! If they have educated themselves on all of their options and trust that they have made the best decision for themselves and their families, that is what is important to me!

As a doula, when I see a woman in the throws of labor looking to me as her rock, asking me what to do, I KNOW that what I do makes a difference and I am important to that woman. I LOVE that feeling! Along with the adrenaline rush of birth, the trust a woman has in me to guide her in the most important event in her life, is what makes it worth while to me.

For those of you who work in the birth field, (well, all those but doctors) you know that doing birth is time consuming, energy consuming and you do it all with very little pay. But you also know that what you do is important to the women you work with and that is what makes it worth while.

So, I love what I do and that is the most important thing to me. More on how I got here and where I am going in future posts. Thanks for reading!