| Corruption of Birth |
Birthing in American has become a multibillionaire industry instead of an empowering experience for women. Cesarean rates in America have become an overwhelming problem today for expecting mothers. Doctors have taken the happiness away from giving birth by encouraging cesareans making birth ever more often a nightmare experience. Some mothers have returned to the basics of giving birth, to shelter the sacred experience that hospitals take away. To secure a precious birthing experience woman to go midwifes to deliver their babies. Another surprise that woman who go looking for midwifes find out is that the cost of having a child with a midwife is a lot cheaper than the cost of having a child in the hospital. Women should take into consideration the options they have when it comes to birthing their child before the decision is made for them. Woman in the U.S should resist the continued medicalization of birth and return to having a natural birth. There are three major options when it comes to how a woman wants to give birth in the U.S. today. Although many women only think of giving birth in a hospital bed woman could go instead to a birthing center to deliver her child, or deliver at home with the assistance of a midwife. If an expecting mother chooses to deliver at a hospital, the hospital will usually supply a team of nurses, an anesthesiologist to help with the pain of child birth and the obstetrician that delivers the actual baby.
The chances of a mother getting a cesarean today are a lot higher than previous years. Doctors feel like having a cesarean is not only a major life saving surgery but a faster way to deliver a baby. “In 2004 the USA registered at 29.1 percent for cesarean. The highest ever recorded according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a recent report, this figure is an 8 percent increase from 2003, and a 41 percent increase since 1996.” (Medical news today)
When asked about birth the majority of people will always reference the “nightmare experience”. Society has portrayed birth as something to be afraid of and avoid. What society has failed to mention is the good things that a woman can experience form birth. From the 8 birth stories that I have heard about, most in a hospital, the women were unhappy with the outcome of their birth. They disliked the environment and felt pushed around. For instance when I spoke to Shiera, a mother of 2 she said that although she was forced into having her child in the hospital she was angry by the amount of power she had. In her story the doctors dictated her movements and monitored the people around her. She felt angry and disliked not having a voice to have things in her favor. Having a child in a hospital means that things have to follow hospital procedure. When Shiera first delivered her baby the nurses took him away from her for about 30 minutes, she became very sad and the gap of not being able to see he newborn latter on added on to the post partum depression. I think Shiera’s story proves societies picture of birth. Pain, suffering and unpleasant emotion are all part of typical hospital births. When Shiera became pregnant again she insisted on a home birth with a midwife no questions asked. Her story demonstrates that when in a hospital, there is not such say to what goes around the mother. She learned from her first “nightmare experience” and decided not to fall for it twice. When Shiera had her second child she insisted on a home birth. She described the home birth as being “simpler and more comfortable”. The only direction she got was form her body and she felt at ease with herself and the pain.
The average cost of a hospital birth is about $8,000 in the United States. That does not include the additional cost of an epidural or the chance of having a cesarean, nor does it include the cost of having a prenatal care from a physician, which costs anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000. Overall the cost of having a hospital birth in America can be around $10,000. Unlike hospital births, having a home birth is a lot less expensive. With birth from a midwife and parental care the total of having a home birth is around $4,300 that is about 60% less. “The average uncomplicated vaginal birth costs 68% less in a home than in a hospital, and births initiated in the home offer a lower combined rate of intrapartum and neonatal mortality and a lower incidence of cesarean delivery.” (Pub Med) Although many women are use to the idea of going to the hospital to deliver a baby, many don’t take into consideration the different complication’s that can occur. There is even a vast difference of price within hospitals. The chart below shows the different prices that giving birth has changes as years has progressed.
1.http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/34017.php (cesarean percents)
2.http://www.blisstree.com/breastfeeding123/cost-of-giving-birth-at-the-hospital-or-at-home/ (about cesareans )
3.http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10463&ClickedLink=252&area=27 (graph on hospital births)
4.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10063222 (Pub Med)
5.http://www.atlantichealth.org/Overlook/Patient+Care+Services/Maternity/Getting+Ready+for+Birth/Delivering+at+Overlook/What+to+Expect+at+the+Hospital (Info on treatment in a hospital) |
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posted by Lauren at 