Advocating For Evidence-Based Health Care

I found this on Science and Sensibility: Understanding Evidence-Based Healthcare: A Foundation for Action

This includes maternity care, but it's much bigger than that.  The Consumers United for Evidence-Based Healthcare (CUE) is a group that helps educate and advocate for improve healthcare in the US.

‎"We’re only going to get evidence-based healthcare in this country through consumer activism." 

-Kay Dickerson, director of Consumers United for Evidence-Based Healthcare.

Great Post Defining "Natural Birth"

I came across a really great blog post about the definition of the term "natural birth"

Natural Birth: What Are We Talking About?

"Sometimes “natural birth” refers to a vaginal birth, as opposed to a cesarean section.

"Sometimes “natural birth” is used to describe a birth where the mother doesn’t opt for medicinal pain relief.

"Sometimes when referring to “natural birth,” people mean birth in comfortable surroundings. A birth where you can play music, dim the lights, and have your loved ones nearby—all things that help the body to naturally progress through labor and birth."

In the post, the author Melissa describes various perceptions of natural birth, and explains the concepts of physiological birth and pathological birth. I find it extremely interesting, and very helpful. I feel it's very important for expectant parents to educate themselves as much as possible about childbirth options. One of the main objectives of this blog is to provide information to help educate people about birth, and thus empower them to make their own decisions.

Birth Preparation and Empowerment

I recently had a dream about birth.

In my dream I was pregnant with my 6th child very soon after the birth of my 5th. I was so busy with my family and life in general that I didn't take any time to make plans for my baby's birth. I went into spontaneous labor earlier than expected and went to the hospital. While the hospital staff tried to find me a room my labor progressed very quickly and I birthed my baby and caught it myself in the hallway of the hospital. I had my husband with me and no one else. It was chaotic and confusing, and I wondered why I was even in the hospital to begin with.

This story is unlikely to happen personally to me, but it does happen in reality to other women. Rather than birthing a baby in a hospital hallway, many women give birth in a car on the way to the hospital, or within minutes of arriving at the hospital before they can get checked in, or at home without assistance before they have a chance to go anywhere. The details may differ, but this story is not as far-fetched as it may sound. These situations sound scary for the unprepared.

I woke up feeling unsettled. I thought about my dream and how I felt about it. If I had planned in my dream for my upcoming birth I would have been better prepared and known what to do, and the story would have unfolded very differently and much more peacefully.

If we fail to educate ourselves about pregnancy and birth, we don't make informed choices or plan for our baby's birth, we are then subjecting ourselves to management by others. We leave the decisions to them rather than take ownership of our own bodies and trust in the natural process of birth. I would even go so far as to say that by ignorantly trusting in other people we show a lack of faith in not only ourselves and our bodies, but also in God.

I recently found a quote by Henci Goer that I really like:

"You can’t be said to make a choice when you only have one option."

When we fail to educate ourselves and prepare, we severely limit our options.