Furthering my knowledge on birth and pregnancy I visited The Unnecesarean, one of my favorite sources for birth policy and hospital rates, to catch up on the latest news. On the blog I arrived upon an article published by ConsumerReports.org titled, What to Reject WhenYou're Expecting: 10 Procedures to Think Twice About During Your Pregnancy (May 2012). In the article the authors mention the 10 overused procedures, 10 things you should do during your pregnancy, 5 things to do before you become pregnant, and two successful birth stories.
10 Overused Procedures
- A C-section with low risk first birth
- An automatic second C-section
- An elective early delivery
- Inducing labor without a medical reason
- Ultrasounds after 24 weeks (the margin of error increases significantly as the pregnancy progresses)
- Continuous electronic fetal monitoring
- Early epidurals
- Routinely rupturing the amniotic membranes
- Sending your newborn to the nursery
- Routine episiotomies
After reading the section on not needing a ultrasound after 24 weeks for a low-risk pregnancy, all I could do was reflect on my experience and think about the tactics that were used on me to get me to comply with the bullshit I was feed. For instance, I was told that a full term pregnancy was 38 weeks, well according to the March of Dimes and medical research is was a big fat lie. A FULL TERM PREGNANCY IS AT LEAST 39 WEEKS. The "coercion, lies, manipulation, bullying, intimidation, threats, and anger" directed at women in their most fragile state is criminal.
I think the summer of 2014 I will begin training as a doula. I strongly feeling women in this country are being sold a bunch of shit when it come to giving birth. Got to be the change you want to see in the world.
About one third of the babies born in the united states are born via csection! One in three!!! Shameful.
