The irony of this controversial subject and the day I've decided to write about it is merely coincidence. I've been sick in bed in my beautiful townhome here on the lovely DBU campus and what do I do when I'm sick? I research things and read, naturally avoiding homework. The extent of my research has been in many different fields that I think match up in my own twisted way; that is, the homeschooled way. I was homeschooled from 4th grade - 1st semester of my freshman year of high school. Lucky for me my homeschooling took place at the most impressionable time in ones life, middle school. Needless to say there is a 'scar' that seems to be imprinted on my forehead that reads, "I was homeschooled", in big bold letter. (Does anyone else find it ironic that homeschooled isn't an actual word and therefore always misspelled?) I'm not knocking homeschooling or homeschoolers in anyway. Those were the best years of my life and precisely why I am who I am today, with the help of other influences along the way. My children will be homeschooled until highschool and then, if they choose to attend a public or private school for the last 4 years, they may. I would rather them experience the 'real world' while under my 'umbrella' and control (I pepper posts with Bill Gothard phrases occasionally so keep your eyes peeled fellow IBLP-ers ) than once in college and, 'on their own', so to speak. If my girls don't want to go to college, they don't have to, thats their choice. Now back to the post. So here I was all labor day weekend reading and researching.
My research was inspired by a late night chat with three of my roommates. Two of who were homeschooled and one outcast. Just kidding. We were discussing the touchy subject of birth control. A typical conversation I thought, but not so much to the outcasted public schooler. Out of the four of us two don't believe in the use of birth control based on personal convictions, one wants to use it during the first 2 or 3 years to establish a marital relationship with her husband and the other believes in it. We talked about multiple things after that; homeschool curriculum, the homeschool book fair (our favorite time of the year of course.), natural births vs. drugged births, bradley vs. lamaze, home birth vs. hospital birth, herbal remedies vs man made drugs, which brought us to vaccinations. Something I've never given much thought too. I've had every vaccine that the FDA suggests, and in time with their chart without as much as a single complication. The one shot I don't like and didn't agree with prior to my research was the flu shot. Every time I get the shot I get the flu, which doesn't make much sense. But where I stand now, in accordance with the rest of the vaccinations 'required', is a post for a later date. This post has nothing to do with vaccines really, so I digress to our subject.
There are many things a woman must consider once she finds out she is pregnant. It's much like getting engaged. Once you are engaged you have a certain amount of time to prepare for the main event, the wedding. Once you find out you are pregnant you have a certain amount of time to prepare yourself, your home, and your husband for the main event; the birth of your new baby. You have only 9 months to decide some very important matters: Home birth or hospital, drugs or natural, lamaze or some other method of birth. You get the idea. I believe husbands should help in the decision, after all it is his child also. He can often be the words of logic when we women are choosing between natural or drugged births. Which one sounds safer to you?
It seems that more westernized women have lost the ability to go through labor and delivery without medical intervention, but why is it that women in less advanced countries go through the process naturally without a hitch? Are women so consumed with themselves that they seek out their own comfort rather than the health of their soon to be newborn baby. One fellow blogger posts "Could it be that with the humanistic thrust that has dominated the West, with science determining there is no longer any need for God and His Word, that women have become convinced that their bodies are incapable of doing precisely that task God has designed them to do? " - LAF/Beautiful Womanhood When we begin to trust in worldly philosophies alone and put them up against God and the supremacy of scripture, the results are devastating. Scripture clearly states that we will bear children in pain. There is nothing that says, "oh, but one day doctors will come up with a drug to numb your labor pains. Take that, and you're in the clear!" Women can gain something from experiencing the 'pain' of labor and make the pain useful. The pains of labor should be a reminder to women of what happens when we live life on our own terms. It should make us more determined to raise our children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord' so that our children live life on God's terms. So why not let nature take it's course, if you are able to. We should be thankful that we do have advanced medicine to use as a resource in dire situations. However it's not necessary for a healthy woman, who most likely won't have complications, to use medical intervention. There are so many things that doctors do in routine hospital births for their own convenience and scheduling. Think about it, doctors deliver multiple babies in a day and have many women in labor and in their care at one time. They don't physically have the time to give the 'natural' attention necessary to each woman that she deserves. There are many procedures that are a result of this.
Epidurals - spinal medication used to numb the woman from the waist down (convenience for the mother)
Pitocin - A synthetic hormone that doctors use to speed up one of the first stages of labor. In natural birth, after the water breaks and contractions start there is a natural resting period that the body takes so the mother can regain some energy before she beings the delivery process. In hospitals, doctors would then inject you, via IV, with pitocin to basically eliminate this process thus forcing your body to deliver. This often puts much distress on mom and baby. Unfortunately, it's now just accepted as the norm.
Rupturing of the membranes - in cases where the body has not done so naturally; in order to speed up the birth process.
Episiotomies - A surgical cut to expand the opening where the baby passes. It is very common now for hospitals and doctors to cut without patient consent. This often can be avoided if you know how to prepare you body before the actual delivery date. You've most likely heard about the Lamaze method. It's the most well known method of giving birth. Basically, breath control to help reduce some of the pain when giving birth. There are other methods of birthing. One being the Bradley method. There are many books on this method and classes just like Lamaze. A couple titles are "Husband coached child birth" and "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way." Bradley helps to prepare your body for a natural delivery.
Cesarean Sections or C-sections - Once you have a C-section you have to have all babies by c-section, right? Wrong. Another convenience for doctors. There is such a thing as a VBAC. You can have other children the 'natural way' after having one from a c-section. There are plenty of doctors that are willing to oversee a VBAC and it is possible to have natural home births as well as after a cesarean.
"One of the most important factors in the production of complicated labour and therefore of maternal and infantile morbidity, is the inability of obstetricians and midwives to stand by and allow the natural and uninterrupted course of labour. It may be an excess of zeal, or anxiety born of ignorance, but it is an unquestionable fact that interference is still one of the greatest dangers with which both mother and child have to contend." - OB/GYN Grantly Dick-Read
Ironically, theses 'options' that are now accepted in labor and delivery, are on the 'pain reduction' menu, when the very thing that causes women most of the pain the experience in hospital births is the position they put you in. One of the most unnatural birth positions they could come up with. It is strenuous on the back and tears more than any other. The use of pitocin, that I mentioned above, does something I personally think is more harmful than anything they could inflict on a delivering woman. Pitocin in an artificial chemical form of the hormone oxytocin, which is the hormone of love. "Oxytocin is the hormone of love, and to give birth without releasing this complex cocktail of love chemicals disturbs the first contact between the mother and the baby. The hormone is produced during sex and breastfeeding, as well as birth, but in the moments after birth, a woman’s oxytocin level is the highest it will ever be in her life, and this peak is vital. It is this hormone flood that enables a woman to fall in love with her newborn and forget the pain of birth." - Dick-Read When given pitocin in the 1st stage of labor it cancels out the real hormone once the baby and mother make first skin to skin contact after birth. Why would you want to take that away from any woman? "What we can say for sure is that when a woman gives birth with a pre-labour Caesarean section she does not release this flow of love hormones, so she is a different woman than if she had given birth naturally and the first contact between mother and baby is different." - Dick-ReadAn observation made by OB/GYN Dick-Read
"It is my custom to lift up the crying child even before the cord is cut so that the mother may see … the reality of her dreams … the first to grasp the small fingers and touch gingerly the soft skin of the infant’s cheek … Its first cry remains an indelible memory on the mind of a mother … No mother and no child should be denied that great mystical association … it lays a foundation of unity of both body and spirit upon which the whole edifice of mother love stands. Many times I have called attention to the wonderful picture of pure ecstasy that we see at a natural birth … Is it just an accident that the brilliant sunlight of motherhood breaks through and dispels for all time the clouds of her labour? No change in human emotions is more dramatic … Such an aura of beauty has filled the whole atmosphere of the room and such superhuman loveliness has swept over the features of the girl whose baby is crying in her hands … I have experienced a sense of happiness myself much more akin to reverence and awe than to the simple satisfaction of just another natural birth."
I wrote in the beginning of this post how there is biblical application to the natural process of birth. It seems that in order for mother and baby to achieve the God intended bond there is a prerequisite for the mother to be spiritually 'prepared' for what lies ahead. There are many scriptures that speak directly about bringing a baby into the world (Is. 13:8, 21:3, 37:3, Rev. 12:2, Gen. 3:16) and there are other scriptures that you can memorize to help you in the childbirth process to give you strength. (Matt 11:28-30, Ps. 55:22)
Now, where does the husband fit in to all of this? He is your calm and support. However this reaction is unnatural for men. Seeing the one they love in distress causes them distress and then only adds the to adrenaline in the room, which is the last thing a woman in labor needs. A husbands adrenaline rush can cause the delivery time to lengthen considerably. The adrenaline produced by a husband acts as a combatant to the oxytocin that is produced from the woman in labor (which we talked about earlier). The oxytocin brings about some narcotic relief to the mother while experiencing contractions. When the baby is born and the mother and baby share skin to skin contact the oxytocin levels reach their peak in the delivery process. If the husband can keep his cool and coach his wife through the birthing process great, if not have an older wise woman take the job of coaching. Personally I think the husband is more than capable of keeping his cool and coaching his wife.
We as christians have a responsibility to research things that are seen as 'the norm' and hold them up against our biblical standard. Most things will need tweaking, if the idea isn't thrown out completely. Childbirth is one of them. We have a responsibility for the health and safety of our children or soon to be children, so be informed and make decisions for their betterment. Research, Research, Research.
"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." - Psalm 127:3
Have a great week,
Hayden Lorraine~
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