There was a time when only the sickest people went to the hospital, because if they went they weren't entirely sure they would come back.Since so many people are finding the joy in having their babies at home, and so many things can go wrong with a normal hospital birth, I believe the winds are changing, back to a place where the parent is the consumer, and the doctor is his/her servant! What a turn-around from the 1930's-70's when the woman was deposited at the labor room doors, and the husband was told to sit in the waiting room and his woman would be well taken care of! Now that more people are becoming better informed, the fallacy of "the Safe Hospital" is coming to light. But if Knowledge of Alternatives creates Freedom of Choice, will someone please tell the hospital staffs? If the hospital were the safest place all the time, then why do European countries that use midwives and mostly home birth have much lower infant mortality rates than we do? Sweden, Holland, Norway, Japan, and many other European countries have low death and sickness rates that some doctors would drool over. Even in Africa and many third world countries, the reason for the high death rates is social instability,lack of prenatal care, and lack of antibiotics. That is what has brought better statistics to most of the world, not medicalized birth.

What has been brought to American medical birth practice,and is spreading to other places that do not honor the woman's normalcy, is higher income for hospitals. In an effort to pay for expensive heart and other organ transplants, brain surgery, and cancer treatments, more emphasis is being placed on pumping interventions in the name of "safety". What this has done is create a situation where it is almost abnormal to go through an American birth,and get out without a pitocin or Cytotec induction(which should be outlawed because of the high rates of hemorrhage and death to mom/baby),epidural, episiotomy, vaccuum extraction,and Cesarean section.

Some places, thank God, truly are family oriented: they are usually free standing birth centers, but even these wholesome places are being shut down to preserve the hospital birth monopoly in this country. It is NOT a safety issue. Most women can birth quite safely all by themselves.

But American medicine for the most part has become so paranoid, with insurance companies dictating what can be done or not done,protecting its own interests, how long the client can stay, etc., that most women would be better off just staying home. Mind you, there are some who should have their babies in an institution,but as the Europeans have known for years, why fix something if it isn't broken??

If you are dissatisfied with the care you have gotten, or would like more information, here are some books to read:
The American Way of Birth by Jessica Mitford
Immaculate Deception II by Suzanne Arms
Birth and the Dialog of Love by Marilyn Moran
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
and there are many others.

Become politically active in your state. Midwifery is a real threat to the Obstetrical Powers that be, so it is being challenged in many states. In Virginia, many Certified Nurse Midwives can't even catch in the hospital, because a clause in the state Law says "physician backup" rather than "collaboration". If you want to find out how to help here in Virginia, contact Virginia Birthing Freedom.Otherwise, check your state midwifery advocacy organization.If we don't do something now, we will have something done to us....we must be the gatekeepers of normal birth...not the way the hospitals see it... Midwifery Links