A New Hope

First of all, I want to say "thank you" to Sarah and Sally for the positive feedback and getting me motivated to post again :) I have so many birthing thoughts swirling around in my head that I want to share, so I will start with the most positive...

I have started studying for my midwife's assistant/monitrice certification through Birth Arts International, and my first assignment is studying the history of midwives and birth assistants. I LOVE IT!! First of all, I have a great excuse to get more books and read for hours on end, but mostly I love learning how our present birthing society was created. The hopeful part is that we haven't been entrenched in this highly medical model of care for very long and now there are some really strong signs that our birthing culture is waking up and noticing that there may be a better way for women to give birth and for babies to come into this world.

Let's all applaud ACOG for declaring that VBACs should be an option for women and celebrate the fall in circumcision rates to 33%!! Hopefully, this is just the beginning. I am imagining an ideal birthing culture in the next 100 years where women have a choice in where and who attends her birth and midwives and doctors will all be working together to provide optimum care for pregnant mamas.

In order for this to happen (& preferably sooner), we all need to educate ourselves on the facts of our birthing culture and how it can be improved and, most importantly, TALK ABOUT IT & SPREAD THE WORD!! There is no need for our sisters and babies to struggle through a time that should be so beautiful!

Here are the books that I am reading:
Witches, Midwives & Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English

Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America by Richard W. Wertz & Dorothy C. Wertz

Brought to Bed: Childbearing in America, 1750-1950 by Judith Walzer Leavitt

Birth as an American Rite of Passage by Robbie E. Davis-Floyd