In 2015 I had an interesting experience; that showed me many obstetricians do not really care about how birth works. In the 90’s I retired from Primary Homebirth Midwifery to pursue my long-term love of Interior Design. I went back to school and got my degree and opened a residential interior design firm with a specialty in birth centers. In 2015, I had an opportunity to have a booth at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting, in San Francisco. I was offering my services to hospitals wanting to remodel their birthing rooms to enhance oxytocin and physiological birth. I received a contrast of rave support and a completely dismissive attitude regarding the importance of environment on a woman’s ability to give birth. I remember a group of older white-haired men who said, “why would we be concerned with a woman’s natural oxytocin levels or feeling of safety, when we have Pitocin and surgery!”
Obviously, they didn’t care how birth works! The normal physiology of the process is not a part of their expertise. In fact, I would argue that most of what modern obstetrician’s do at birth is not based in the natural science of human reproduction at all. But rather in the surgical/ pathology specialty known as obstetrics and gynecology. This specialty, developed in the late 1800’s is focused primarily on the illnesses and dysfunction of the female reproductive system.
However, Homo Sapiens have been reproducing for approximately 300,000 years. The natural science of human reproduction defines the process in nine stages. The basic phases of the physiology of human reproduction are: 1. Gametogenesis 2. Insemination 3. Fertilization 4. Cleavage 5. Implantation 6. Placentation 7. Gastrulation 8. Organogenesis and 9. Parturition. The last phase, parturition literally means “to give birth” or “bring forth”, it refers to “the woman” who is doing the action of giving birth. There is no perceived pathology in the physiology of the organism, but rather an expectation of the normal process. Natural Science says, “it involves expelling of fully formed baby from the mother’s uterus after the gestation period (of about 280 days in human female).” And that is it.
At present the human population of planet earth is about to exceed 8 billion. Most of the humans born on our planet were born naturally with out medical intervention for millions of years. However, in the last 100 years a radical intervention has happened to human reproduction. The question is; is this radical intervention into the natural science of our species having real and significant impact on the development and health of humanity?
The introduction of synthetic hormones and chemicals into the birth process has not been studied significantly. We now know that the use of surgical birth (c-section) to remove a baby from its mother deprives the individual (baby) of its natural gut microbiota. C-section could lead to dysbiosis of gut microbiota. Cesarean section affects the activation of IECs and the development of immune system through a variety of mechanisms. Long-term dysbiosis of gut microbiota will lead to some c-section related autoimmune and metabolic disorders. Science and psychology know that maternal attachment is critical for the health and development of
the infant. However, modern obstetrical practices disrupt or delay this attachment, due to separation, washing, or monitoring of the infant away from the mother. Just to name a very few of the adverse interventions that modern obstetrical practices are inflicting on the development of our species.
It can be argued that most of the standard obstetrical practices of today were developed not to support the normal physiology of birth but rather to make birth more convenient to the hospitals and medical personnel working in them. Removing women from their home and natural surroundings and introducing them to an environment infested with un-known germs and pathogens subjected the mother/baby to a host of potential infection. Thus the standard use of antibiotics, the perceived need to put all women on an IV, “just in case we need a vein”. And keeps a woman tethered to her bed. Monitoring and controlling the people who can visit the mother are all used to try to control the spread of infection. Other standard procedures such as the use of hospital gowns, masks, and booties are also used to control infection. These are just the tip of the iceberg of the policies and procedures that a birthing woman and her family will encounter when deciding to give birth in a hospital today.
Contrast this with the needs of a female mammal giving birth in the wild. We know that mammals seek a safe protected, warm, quiet place instinctively as labor approaches. Most mammals move or stand when giving birth, few lay on their backs to push. The hormones that trigger labor are the same hormones released during sex, and the same levels of privacy and safety support the process. Most mammals seek the comfort and familiarity of their pack or herd when giving birth. Many mammals prefer not to be disturbed and birth alone while their
relations protect them. Human-beings are genetically closest to the grate apes and our great ape cousins can give us clues as to how humans gave birth before the invention of modern medical procedures and the hospital environment. I encourage my clients to Google, “Orangutang Giving Birth”, to see what maternal instinct looks like before it has been disrupted by medical, obstetrical intervention and disruption. I contrast this educational video with another highly informative piece of art from Monte Python, called; “Birth – Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life”, I tell my clients that they can learn a lot from these to widely different experiences. I will leave links to these videos in the show notes.
In conclusion it is important for modern birthing women to remember that the changes we humans have brought to the way homo-sapiens give birth in the last 100 years is extreme. The radical interventions of modern obstetrics are having implication to our species that science is just uncovering. Therefore, it is important when considering your birthing options to explore all the environments available to you. During your pregnancy take some time to study and learn how our bodies are designed to reproduce humanity. And ask yourself some important questions about the cultural rituals that modern obstetrics practice that we take for granted now days. Are they necessary? Do you want or need them? How can you create a birth environment that supports your normal physiology and allows you to create an optimum outcome? Watch the videos I shared with your birth team and discuss what they mean to you. And finally, next week we will discuss the options available to most birthing women today. Now is the perfect time for you to learn and investigate all your options, and to learn just how BIRTH works.
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