I'm starting a 5 day series next week you won't want to miss, called Minded on My Mission! AND I've got a giveaway coming up, too! I KNOW! So much bloggin' fun in such a small amount of time!
Until then, let's stir up the controversy pot a bit. :) Just kidding. Sort of. Because I did get an email from my husband today with a link to an interesting article. He thought it'd be interesting to blog about. I agreed. It's an article about a woman who had 3 C-sections and then chose to do a VBAC at home with her fourth child. Check out the article and then tell me what do you think about that decision? Brave or Stupid? Weigh in today and I'll share my thoughts tomorrow!
I don't know if I'm necessarily picking a side but I can certainly relate to the choice this woman made. She felt as if she was robbed of the choice to give birth in a certain way. I resonate that feeling to an extent. I had a c section after a failed induction. It was the right choice as my son had the cord wrapped around his neck and couldn't descend. I guess what I relate to is choices she felt were taken away. I was moved out of the maternity ward after about 6 hours because they didn't have room. I spent two days walking back and forth between my room and my baby every two hours because I couldn't take him our the maternity ward. I didn't even have a place to nurse. I ended up at the end of a hallway behind a sheet. I felt cheated out of the bonding experience with my son. All I experienced the first days was being exhausted and trying to nurse a baby while feeling so embarrased about trying to learn to do it and not having any privacy. I blame myself because I did not speak up. I did not take ownership of my situation. I can't speak to whether or not the choice this woman made was the safest. I can say though that when I have another child, I will speak up. The choices made will be my own and not someone else's.
ReplyDeleteI really detest the notion that women that choose to have a VBAC, at home or at the hospital are stupid or foolish. Any woman that has chosen a VBAC or a home birth has done their research. They are informed and educated. They have weighed the risks and decided to do what they are doing because they believe in their body in its ability to birth a baby. The c-section rate in this country is out of control. The thought "once a c-section, always a c-section" is not true. I could go on and on about how the rise in c-sections has also correlated with high hospital/healthcare costs, how more babies are now born between 8am and 5 pm (convenient, huh?)but I won't. Women need to inform themselves before they give birth. 10 hours of labor not progressing fast enough?! Hips not big enough to give birth?! That's ridiculous! This woman wasn't brave...she simply decided to research birth and trust herself. I also relate to her comment at the end when she said "Once you have that experience there's no other way to go, being in the comfort of your home without any unnecessary interventions and feeling like you're in charge..."
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