Why the fuss about childbirth? This hot debate regarding the safest and best place for a woman to birth her own child has sparked more debates and created more flames in the medical world than nearly every other medical topic. Just how much impact can a woman’s surroundings during birth have on the outcome?
Studies show that where a woman is located during labor and delivery can actually have a huge impact on her birth outcome. Think of it this way: when a woman is in pain, scared, and exposed, she naturally closes up. Her entire body tightens and hunkers down. Believe me, this happens often in the birth setting. When a woman goes to the hospital in the beginning of labor, she is normally at least a little apprehensive of the outcome. She is hustled into a gown that barely covers her protruding belly, and instructed to lie down on the table while a strange doctor begins the first of many internal exams. Think she will relax and let her body work? Most likely not. Really, who can relax during a vaginal exam? So in other words, most hospital experiences will hardly let a woman’s body do what she needs it to do because her body is in a typical fight-or-flight sort of response.
Contrast this with a natural birth in a more familiar setting. If a woman labors at home, she is in her own surroundings, there are no bright lights, no unfamiliar faces, and (there ought to be) a qualified provider that the mother has built up a relationship with for the past seven months. If she has prepared for this momentous event, the mother will be fully able to let go and allow her body to contract when it needs to. She will have the ability to surrender and relax her pelvic muscles, making the baby’s descent easier on both mother and baby. And certainly, she will not have the added stress of medication, papers, and other hospital paraphernalia that even natural-minded mothers in the hospital must face. In short, a lack of stressful elements in any birth will certainly help bring about the desired outcome much easier than if the woman is fighting for her wants during the entire labor and birth.
So what’s all the fuss over childbirth and its location? Much more is at stake than meets the eye or the doctor’s knife. How safe a woman feels during her labor and delivery is vital to her own success as a birthing mother. Perhaps, after all, natural childbirth is one of the healthiest ways to bring a baby into the world.