I read a wonderful post today at Enjoy Birth. I hope everyone will take a quick moment to stop by and read it, and then come back here over the next few days to read my next installment in my Birth Choice series.
10,657 Babies Will Be Born Today
Birth. It’s a normal, natural part of life. So why is birth always such a hot topic? The controversy has to do with both the safety of homebirth versus hospital birth and the incredibly high cesarean section (c-section) rate in the US. It is about a woman’s right to choose to have birth the way she feels is best for her and her baby.
Two events have been come to my attention recently concerning childbirth. In 2006, a woman in New Jersey refused to consent to a c-section while she was in labor, and this began a series of events leading to the termination of her parental rights. The second occurrence was when popular blogger Heather Armstrong started a series of posts about the birth of her daughter Marlo, where at 30 weeks pregnant she started considering natural childbirth. I will explore both of these stories in future posts.
This is the first in a series of posts on the debate over birth in America. They will focus on a woman’s right choose her birth and the choices she can make. In recent times natural childbirth occurred in only a minority of births and homebirth accounted for only 1% of the births in the US. I’m hoping to shed more light on this topic because I feel it is important choice women have but may not be well educated about. If this topic is challenging for you or you do not agree with natural childbirth, I encourage you to follow along, keep an open mind, and leave constructive comments regarding your opinion. We may both learn something!
Abby, birthed at home