Birth without violence

I've been told by my one reader (my wife) that this blog is not personal enough.  I guess I have trouble getting in touch with my emotions sometime, which makes it difficult to share them.  I do not deny being a follower of Platonist psychology, which may be outdated for our culture.  Times change!

This may be the most personal posting yet, Rose!

In my fruitful searches on my local public library catalogue, using subject terms such as natural birth (or the equivalents thereof), I came across some really cool stuff, including the classic video Birth Without Violence (I am a bit surprised not to find the clip on youtube, but there you are!).  The first part of this 3-part dvd is footage of a birth without violence, a method pioneered by French physician Frederick LeBoyer (a rather short wikipedia entry!).  

Anyway, Dr. LeBoyer, after delivering about 9,000 births, came to realize that the one neglected being in this entire process happens to be the baby being delivered.  In his book (of the same title as the movie), LeBoyer lyrically explores the oft-neglected newborn's sensory, psychological, and emotional state and experience as it comes into the world.  It's a beautifully-written (translated, I guess: LeBoyer is a French-trained doctor) account, more literary than scientific. 

The bottom line of LeBoyer's argument is that, in what has become the standard way of delivering babies in the western world, the baby is the often the loser.  Where we consider it a good sign for the baby to cry its lungs out, the baby is actually often in serious distress, being evacuated from the comfort (in the 'golden state' of gestation) then prison (in later stages) of its mother's womb, the baby, disoriented and exposed to a hyper-sensory experience, is treated inhumanely.  It is immediately exposed to bright lights, has its umbilical cord cut, put on a scale, and wrapped in cloth.  Instead, says LeBoyer, a normal birth should take place in a quiet (almost silent) environment, softly-lit.  

In a birth with no complications (so-called natural childbirth) the baby, once born, is to be placed on its mother's belly with its stomach down (its spine and head are to be treated with caution--the spine because it is not used to supporting anything; the head, because of its  being a sensory centre).  The umbilical cord, if we follow LeBoyer's method, is not to be cut until it stops pulsating (this way, the baby has access to fresh blood from the placenta as its tiny lungs spring into action).  The mother then touches the baby softly.  The second stage of the LeBoyer delivery consists of bathing the baby in warm water for a few minutes, letting it playfully explore its new environment.

The first part of the dvd I mentioned is footage (about 20 minutes long) of a LeBoyer birth--a birth without violence.  It's an amazing clip; very much recommended.

LeBoyer publicized his method, in book and dvd, in the late 70's or so.  After delivering 9,000 babies in the standard way, he proceeded to deliver 1,000 using his method. The film is a beautiful classic.  I ended up watching it only after seeing some more contemporary accounts, including the Business of Being Born, which I thought, despite my skepticism when I found out that this is a Ricky Lake production, was an excellent movie. 

The premise, counterintuitive to some, of the Business of Being Born and other similar films (such as the Orgasmic Birth -- which has also been released in the last couple of years), is that the standard birth in the hospital, rather than at home, poses unnecessary risks.    (By the way, this fellow never fails to make an appearance in all of these films).  The idea is that, in standard hospital conditions, the birth is taken over by doctors, nurses, and machines; the woman is unnecessarily offered, and ends up accepting, pain killing drugs; this often leads to putting the baby in distress; the woman gets an epidural and then, often unnecessarily, a risky delivery, including a vacuum-induced birth or C-section; and the baby, which was in danger (because of the interventions, you see), is safely delivered!  All of this adds up to an unncessarily traumatic experience for the birthing woman (not to mention the baby!).

The contemporary proponents of natural birth argue that, in normal circumstances, birth is not a medical procedure, but a natural process which the mother's body knows how to go through; that the pain (or intensity) is a normal (and indeed, productive) part of the birth, and is accompanied by a useful hormonal cycle; and that the birth, when done in a comfortable setting, can even be a pleasurable (orgasmic even!) experience.  These movies show some amazing birth footage.  In some cases, the labour takes hours and hours (a situation which a hospital might treat with some intervention); in others, it is a short process.  What all of these births have in common is the satisfaction of the mother's having given birth naturally (there is an interesting--and accidental!--exception to this in the Business of Being Born, which I found balances out the perspective a bit).  In addition, the home and natural birth procedure is backed up by impressive statistics of less interventions and C-section deliveries.

(Interestingly, I am yet to see in any of these movies, a case where a mother regrets having given birth at home, or where some condition during the duration of the birth required being transported to a hospital.  (The book Home Birth in the Hospital usefully offers multiple stories, though they all take place in the hospital)).

These latest examples of the contemporary natural birthing movement (which has been around for a few decades now: Ina May Gaskin is considered an important pioneer), seem to me, in a way that's typical to our culture, to focus on the mom's individual experience-- sometimes, and here is the kicker, with no real attention paid to the baby!  I found this to be especially true in the Business of Being Born, where Ricky Lake is out to rectify her own previous traumatic birth experience by doing it naturally and giving birth in her own bath tub this time around.  As the baby safely emerges, she grabs it and emotionally explodes into cries "my baby!  my baby!"  In contrast to this, LeBoyer writes that the baby should be accepted into the world by his mother with the affirmation 'I am a mother', rather than 'this is my baby.'  (Of course, who am I to judge Ricky Lake or, for that matter, any woman (and especially you, Rose!) at the moment of delivery?).

Well, I think I made one or two of my points here, anyway, which have been swirling around in my consciousness.  This is a very long entry and the personal stuff, I guess will come sometime later (epic cop out!).