Does birth culture need to change?

I'm going with 'more informed and patient led'.

It should be down to individual preference

Same as above, I don't think it should be more or less as everyone is different and needs/wants different things but there should be more information/support easily available.

Less unnecessary interactions, people do so many scans these days and baby just gets stressed from it, most times thay say baby is too big or small, but comes out normal.. I don't think those scans are very beneficial in this case. If there is really big worry than it's different.

I think it needs to be more personalized and patient-centered. I had a very high-risk pregnancy, and me or baby could have not made it if medicine wasn’t involved. I have a fabulous OB/GYN that did things differently than most-including listening to my birth plans, letting me eat during labor, and let me push on my hands and knees, all in the hospital. I would have not felt safe (and in my condition, it wouldn’t have been safe for me or baby) to deliver anywhere else but the hospital. Everyone’s pregnancy is different, and birth should reflect that also.

I think it’s a hard one to say as some people need more medicine for the pregnancy or baby and themselves could not make it through while others don’t need as much as they have a smooth pregnancy and birth. It all depends on the experiences you have through the process so you can’t really vote the options.

Yes most definitely I went to an all women’s ob and hospital for my first and it was so different then anywhere else I had been. They tell you everything, do extra check ups, help with exercise, and they don’t lay you on your back when you give birth. The place was truly amazing. Plus the food was sooooo good.

They need better medication options although tricky as it can’t affect the baby. That said I didn’t have medication due to the birth being quick.

@Karen are you talking about just with birth or through the pregnancy

We would’ve died if there was less medicine. I think there needs to be more focus on the patient whether that is longer appointments, docs take less patients. Cause my preeclampsia could’ve been avoided if the doctors listened to me

@Alexandra thank you for sharing your story! It sounds like you had a beautiful birth experience. And I totally agree, everyone is different and medicine does have an important role to play in the birth space when it's needed

@Jodie I totally agree with your assessment. I think my question was more on the culture surrounding pregnancy and birth opposed to the use of medicine in birth (does that make sense?). I started this journey after having my first little girl, and have noticed since being on this app there is so much fear around the idea of giving birth. With this fear people think giving birth in these highly medicalised models (private doctor, private hospital, elective csects etc.) guarantee a better outcome because it's "safer". Now do not get me wrong I am a staunch believer in choice and do not judge or want that taken away from anyone. It's the messaging that leads to this idea of birth being scary that I find really sad and would personally like to see shifted

There should be more classes to I form women of the different ways to give birth, pros and cons of them, and the risks that could come with them. That way mama's can make informed and educated decisions about what they want for their birthing plan.

@Khyia I'm so sorry you weren't listened too! To clarify, medicine is so important when needed and I'm not suggesting there be less medicine available. And I totally agree, there needs to be so much more focus on the individual patient and their specific needs. That actually lines up very well with my belief that everyone shouldn't be shoved into the same system/treated the same. For example, just because you hit 41 weeks you shouldn't automatically need an induction because it's convenient for hospital timetabling, I believe you should make these decisions based off how mother and bub are travelling

@Day it sounds like you had an amazing experience and that's so fantastic! For me, I don't want to have to see a doctor at all unless absolutely necessary during pregnancy and birth 😅. Unfortunately I'm only left with the options to hire a private midwife or freebirth. I'd love the public system to include more emphasis on supporting physiological options instead of their own restrictive policies

@Santa I agree, there is a decent margin of error on ultrasounds when it comes to baby weight, that are the basis of pretty significant medical decisions such as induction. Then once you decide to get an induction you open up to the cascade of interventions, additonal medications, possibly ending up with an episiotomy/instrument assisted birth. When at the end of the day your baby came out within totally normal margins! All of those tools are important to have, but when they could have been avoided, especially if they created birth trauma for mum or bub, I just think that's devastating

@Aliyah this! We paid so much for the birth class we attended and it was so so informative I recommend it to everyone. But I know it's just so unaffordable for lots of people, I wish birth education was more accessible and honestly just mainstream knowledge

@Chris I had 2 homebirths just because there is less intravenous possible. I think women don't listen to their body as they should, and doctors don't listen to moms when they have concerne. It's just going in the wrong direction 🫠

@Chris I was induced because it was medically necessary. I was in labor 59 hours. I delivered vaginally and didn’t tear because I pushed on my hands and knees. Most women tear when pushing on their backs. Episiotomies are not very common anymore. I do agree that size of baby is usually not a reason to induce. You are able to decline any interventions that are not medically necessary in a hospital. I am also very supportive of birth centers and assisted home births for low-risk pregnancies. I’m not supportive of unassisted births, as that is extreme in the other direction and can harm mom and baby in the end.

I think what needs to change is how often the nurses check on you after you have baby in the hospital. Birthing is so exhausting. So when I do actually fall asleep, I don't need them coming in EVERY hour to check my tummy or hoo ha.

Less medicalized! The US is supposedly #1 in medicine but the only country who tampers with birth the most which explains the horrendous statistics we have here. Evidence based care isn’t the standard and doesn’t follow physiological birth. Outcomes would be so much better, less traumatic. Informed consent should also be the norm and pregnancy and postpartum care should be midwifery led. Less medicalised doesn’t mean no medicine, it just mean it should be EVIDENCE BASED care. The way birth is treated in the US medical system is by treating it like an emergency before there’s any emergency which then creates emergencies, it doesn’t make sense. As a doula and childbirth educator in the field, it’s seriously outrageous how women are lied to or not informed at all and how much birth is tampered with and so many women think their emergencies just “happened” or interventions were “necessary”. BUT when these interventions are necessary not only are the outcomes better, they save lives!!

Whatever you want

considering i had a c section since i wouldn’t naturally go into labour if i hadn’t had medication i’d have been in a whole world of pain so i don’t think less medicated is the way to go, i think more personalisation to each woman

In the US yes. It needs to shift back to midwives.

I think the level of medication available is fine- but there's so much shame associated with choosing certain options. Doctors and midwives inflict opinions on people all the time. I don't think anyone even read the birth plan that they insisted I write up. My midwife was all about natural. She said the doctor was a bit scalpel happy. When the time came to chose a C-section I felt like she was somehow disappointed in me for failing(?)

I don't care about more medical/less medical. I think it should be more women empowered with mother's getting a say in their complete care.