I am, I love, I leave...

I know....my body was “beautifully and wonderfully made”
I believe...birth is safe
I fought....postpartum depression
I am angered....by trigger happy OBs and vbac bans
I love....each of my children
I need....someone to cry with
I take.....to heart all the birth stories I’ve been privileged to hear
I hear....mothers who are demanding change
I drink...a toast to the glory of birth
I hate.....the phrase “you should be grateful”
I use.....my blog to rage against the birth machine
I want......the midwifery model to be the standard of care in the United States
I like......Ron Paul
I feel.....like I’m not being heard
I wear.....a long, thin, purple scar on my lower abdomen
I left....the woman I was on a cold steel table 3 years ago
I hope....my two pregnant sisters avoid the knife
I dream.... of a day when birth is honored and respected
I drive....a minivan with an “ICAN VBAC” bumper sticker on it
I think.....therefore I push
I wish.... women knew how much they were being abused by modern maternity “care”
I am....a young mother with a fading physical scar and an everlasting emotional scar
I regret.........I regret
I care...about mothers and babies
I said.... “an OB cut me so every year around this time I feel the need to spill my guts"
I wonder....if women will ever realize that they’re not broken
I cry...when a mother tells me she was cut
I lose....the ability to see straight whenever I read “my doctor won’t let me…”

I leave...my sisters and daughters with a legacy of trust in birth, informed choices, and

love

You Must Demand TRUE Informed Consent

Before a doctor performs any medical procedure, surgery or test on you, you should be fully aware of what the procedure is, why it is being done, what information or result will be obtained, alternative treatments/tests, possible risks or complications, as well as the possibility of a second opinion. This is informed consent. If your care provider does not make you aware of this information, he or she is guilty of not obtaining your informed consent for the procedure. Many doctors, especially obstetricians, have found a sneaky way around having to inform you of your options: they give you a stack of papers to sign, and hidden in the very small print somewhere in the 15 pages is a blanket informed consent document covering anything and everything the doctor may want to do to you during your pregnancy, labor, and immediately postpartum. This is not informed consent. This is a cover-their-butt approach that allows the obstetrician to not be sued while being able to do anything he or she wants to you and your baby because, supposedly, you were informed and consented. It is the hope and purpose of this blog to help you understand that you have choices in your maternity care. It is your right and responsibility as a mother to question what is being done to you and your baby. It is your right and responsibility to see to the best interests of yourself and your child.

SIR, permission to use my vagina, SIR!

Just a thought. . .

"When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we, in essence, accept that the state owns our bodies." ~U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul

Giving the government "the power to make medical decisions for us" means letting the government make

ANY laws about what we can/can't do with our own bodies. It's a frightening trend today. Women being told they "can't" have a vaginal birth for various reasons (pelvis too small, previous section, baby too big, the moon is full, etc...). To quote a now famous line on another group I belong to, "you don't need permission to use your vagina." Did you know there's a certain amount of risk in sex, even? Disease, infection, slight tearing, mild discomfort, even death if an air bubble is pushed into your bloodstream. Since sex is "risky", shouldn't you ask your doctor's permission before you have sex? No? Why? BECAUSE YOU DON'T NEED PERMISSION TO USE YOUR OWN VAGINA... that's why.

So then some would counter "well pregnancy and birth aren't all about the mother. there is another human life that must be considered in the equation". Yes, yes... that's right. The baby. Well... do you ask your doctor's permission before having an abortion? Oh, that's right... it's the DOCTOR who does the abortion. And what about those babies that are aborted because the pregnancy endangers the mother's life? What happened to the "all important" statement that the baby's life must be considered, too?

Messy, messy, messy.

My point is YOU own YOUR OWN body. Nobody has the right to make any decisions regarding your body except you. Nobody has the right to DO anything to your body without your INFORMED consent. And it is the audacity of all audacities when lawmakers make laws "governing" your body.