Birth In The Hospital; An Unintentional Birth Control

Tonight a news story came floating across my facebook timeline regarding America's low birth rates. to summarize, the article talks about how america is currently only having 59.6 births per 1000. The article then goes on to list numerous factors such as that it shows a country's economy health is excellent and the culture is thriving.
Current issues in america are things such as lack of programs and policies to help with things like child-rearing, tax credits, savings, accessible post secondary education. It states thoroughly that this should be alarming people, especially when it exports more oil than Saudia Arabia and is one of the world's highest enterprises in renewable and traditional energy types. It is also the biggest food producer and isn't copiously packed with people.
(You can read it here)

While indeed all these factors regarding culture and economy are directly linked, there is another factor or two I would like to bring forward as a main contributing factor towards women now having fewer children.

Hospital Births

Currently according to the CDC statistics in 2012, only 1.36% of babies were born out of hospital. By out of hospital, the CDC lumps together all home births, birth centres, clinic and doctor office births. (Source.)
So that means 98.54% of ALL births in the USA happen in the hospital. According to the World Health Organization, 85% of these women are considered low-risk pregnancies and births, therefore eligible for a midwife and perfectly capable of delivering outside of the hospital (Source.)

Why are so many women giving birth in a place where sick people go?
To make that answer short and simple, women have been programmed through their hospital culture that the hospital is safer and has all the necessary equipment "in case something goes wrong."

Intervention Waterfall

If you've taken any sort of birth training, you've probably heard of the "Cascade of Events" (or interventions).
For those that haven't heard, the Cascade of Events means that once you start interfering with the normal unhindered birth process what whatever method - induction (whether natural methods or synthetic), pain relief (particularly synthetic), it can generally lead to more aggressive measures such as operative vaginal delivery or Caesarean Section.

How many women do we know were told some sort of bogus reason why a woman couldn't have a vaginal birth spontaneously on her own and thus had to be subject to these interventions always to end up thanking the hospital staff because "had they not been there, I/my baby could have died?"

Reasons such as:

• small pelvis
• woman's body too small
• too overweight
• overdue at 41 weeks

You get the gist. The list goes on and on with reasons why so called birth professionals who treat a normal process like a disease need to interfere with a woman and her body.

Quite often the outcomes of a Cascade of Events birth looks like this:
Mother is shuffled in to the hospital for being 41 weeks overdue and is going to her scheduled induction. She is hooked up to synotocin and labour begins! After so many hours of labour and being unable to move efficiently due to being hooked up to a tube, she then receives an epidural at her doctor/nurses suggestion. Epidural then needs constant monitoring further restricting mom from moving. Contractions slow down, synotocin is upped. More pain, more epidural. Repeat. Baby goes into fetal distress, so they try getting baby out if mom is at pushing stage. If mom isn't ready or baby isn't making progress fast enough, mom is wisked away for an emergency c-section.

Thank goodness the hospital was there to save the day!

Here's a cute little infographic I found to help illustrate this.

Routine Procedures; The Downplayed Effect

Basic mechanics of birth goes as follows:
During labour and birth, hormones such as oxytocin and beta-endorphins (painkillers) are released to help the body prepare the labour and delivery of the woman's baby. The oxytocin is then switched off during the pushing stage, as then epinephrine (adrenaline) kicks in, gives that extra boost and helps push the baby out. Progesterone - the hormone that helps keep you pregnant then switches off, oxytocin spikes and prolactin then kicks in to start producing milk. A baby suckling at the breast helps produce more oxytocin which not only brings on the let down reflex, it also helps the uterus contract.

Switching gears to the interventions then and it's routine use.
Firstly any and every procedure a hospital tries to sell you on coercively, you can deny. Take for example an epidural - the most commonly used pain relief in north america at around 62%. In some places it's as high as over 70%. (Source.)
Epidurals are also coupled with pitocin (a synthetic form of oxytocin) as an epidural can slow a labour down and take an average of 2-3 hours longer to deliver a baby. (Source.).
Pitocin then, helps contractions pick up, however they do not operate on the brain physiologcally smilar to the body's original oxytocin that is produced. The pitocin helps the uterus contract and the boy expel the baby but it does not cross the blood brain barrier. Once the body is used to the pitocin, it does not release as much from the brain - as it has no need; there is something else doing the work for the body. (Source)

Epidurals replace the beta-endorphins, pitocin to speed contractions replace the oxytocin.

As a side note: recent studies are now showing routine use of pitocin can increase post-partum depression.

Not only can this make for a difficult birth, it also messes with the body's natural chemistry and ultimately affects the experience of the entire process plus the bonding experience after when the mother is supposed to be connecting with her baby.

Throw in newborn interventions disturbing the undisturbed hour, and it makes for a really not so great experience at all.

What Comes Next

Ever heard of the phrase "at least you have a healthy baby?" It's generally said to the moms that have experienced Birth Trauma. Their birth was a difficult situation, one they often get sluffed off for. So what if you experienced failure and degrading measures at the hands of the institution you've been programmed to trust? So what if your body is beaten and broken, often times cut apart and sewn back together? So what if your mental health is at a complete low when now is the time to be elated and on a high because you just had a little bundle of joy?
Be happy! You had a baby! You no longer matter.

WRONG.

Mom's matter too. Mom's physical and mental health matters and is of the utmost importance along side the baby as without a healthy mother, the baby's health suffers too. In fact, many women are being diagnosed with PTSD in regards to their trauma that happened when they were in one of the most vulnerable times of their lives.

However it's this persistent thinking and lack of empathy for mom that ultimately causes a mental birth control.
Why in the world would anyone want to have more than one or two babies if they were subjected to what is nothing short of an overwhelming and degrading situation, then coupled with the lack of empathy and support from their care providers and shortly after, their friends and family?

While some may, most won't. There is no line-up for copious amounts of women who are willing to go through something that completely destroyed their physical and mental well being more than once or twice in such a manner.

Final Thoughts

So overall while factors like the economy suggest there is a lack of babies that is concerning; it may be time to take a step back to the beginning and look at what exactly is going on in the hospitals. True while we have progressed in many ways to offer women more options and indeed save babies when there is an emergency or a high risk pregnancy, are we really doing women a service by turning something that's supposed to be dream-like into a nightmare by sticking our fingers and progresses where they don't need to belong?

If a woman is empowered in her choice and understands the risks, then that's her choice.
The rest, well. That's a good question.