Value of the Birth Experience

The other morning at work a subscriber canceled her magazine subscription because as she put it “I am tired of reading about birth and how important the experience is, its only one day in the grand scheme of things.” Let me first start of by saying I respect the opinions and beliefs of others-of course-that goes without saying HOWEVER, as a doula, CBE, and a mother who has had a relatively negative birth experience and most recently an extraordinarily empowering experience I say-is she kidding?!

I was inspired to write a response to this event but in truth I have been grappling with this question for quite some time now. I live in Santa Fe, NM. In terms of national averages New Mexico has one of the lowest rates of Cesarean deliveries. I was raised in NJ where many of my lifelong friends are having their babies. Their experiences are profoundly different from what I have witnessed here. New Jersey births are highly medicalized-I would know-my first son was born there. I would go so far as to say (and this relates only to the group of women I am in contact with) 95% of my friends having babies are doing so via Cesarean sections. I am not here to devalue their experiences but it often raises this question for me and I am not sure if I have yet to uncover any answers. I have done quite a bit of research over the last few weeks on this subject and one thing seems clear-we do not fully understand the significant benefits of a well-supported, normal birth.

In an article for Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care (18:4 Dec 1991) Penny Simkin wrote about a study that analyzed the long-term impact of the birth experience on a group of women. The questionnaire was given shortly after their babies were born, and again 15-20 years later. In short this is what was discovered:

“ Women reported that their memories were vivid and deeply felt. Those with the highest long term satisfaction ratings thought that they accomplished something important, that they were in control, and that the birth experience contributed to their self-confidence and self esteem.”

Speaking from personal experience I am still dealing with issues from my first birth -eight years ago in NJ. I was in labor for many, many hours and at one point (I remember this so vividly) the doctor turned to me and said, “If you don’t get an epidural and let me turn this baby (he was occiput posterior or sunny side up) you are going to have to have a cesarean.” I managed to avoid surgery but to this day every time I attend a birth where the baby is either born occiput posterior or allowed to turn on his own a hint of anger-or more accurately fury resurfaces. On the opposite end of the spectrum nine months ago my son was born at home, in the water, with a midwife present. It was everything you would imagine it to be, empowering, life-changing, confidence boosting, magical, etc…etc…etc…Would my first experience have been more rewarding if I had been part of the decision making process or was the homebirth more significant because I was able to do it naturally and on my own terms? The question then expands to what results in a positive birth experience-a natural, normal birth or just simply being in control, being part of the decision making process? One might argue a healthy baby is enough-but if that were the case would I still hold such a grudge?

I wonder then is it possible that on some level women who have had a less than positive experience devalue their birth simply because they don’t want it to have meaning, they don’t want to feel like they missed out. I can certainly relate to that. It could also be said that only once you have experienced an unmedicated, uncomplicated, vaginal delivery would you truly understand the power involved. As you can see in my quest to unveil answers I have only stirred up more questions.

In the end I suppose it depends at least in part to an individual’s world-view in general, their particular set of belief systems. I believe that if one educates themselves and makes informed decisions a positive experience is more likely. At the same time I am a natural birth advocate who has experienced the good and the bad. I do believe that the medical, technocratic view of birth is damaging-to the individual as well as to the collective. I wish only the most gentle and peaceful births for all childbearing women. I know only what I know; I have no words of wisdom-I leave that the experts and I would love to hear from you as well…

“Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware ... To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory. She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”
GRANTLY DICK-READ, Childbirth Without Fear

“Natural childbirth allows the hormones that have been working for women for thousands of years to fulfill their functions. This is more important than just helping a woman through labor and delivery. Birth-related hormones also affect well-being much later in life.”
JANET SCHWEGEL, Adventures in Natural Childbirth

“In achieving the depersonalization of childbirth and at the same time solving the problem of pain, our society may have lost more than it has gained. We are left with the physical husk; the transcending significance has been drained away. In doing so, we have reached the goal which is perhaps implicit in all highly developed technological cultures, mechanized control of the human body and the complete obliteration of all disturbing sensations.”
SHEILA KITZINGER, Women as Mothers