BASIC INSTINCT PART TWO
TERESA ROBERTSON, RN, MSN, CERTIFIED MIDWIFE AND BIRTH INTUITIVE, SAYS THAT
WHEN
IT COMES TO GETTING IN TOUCH WITH YOUR POWER AS A MOTHER-TO-BE, YOU
HAVE
NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF
HOW HAVE WE COME HERE TO THIS PLACE?
Women have been convinced that they can’t give birth without
drugs, intervention and, in 32 percent of cases, surgery. We have
been strongly influenced by the experts, those who stand to profit
from this fear and belief, and in whom we have been raised to trust
without question. Very few consumers realize that an OB/GYN is a trained surgeon. Fewer still have thought about that in relation to how they are trained to view birth; many MDs are trained to view birth as an emergency waiting to happen.
Given the current economic structure of maternity health care in our country, many health care providers—such as certified nurse midwives and family practice MDs—who trust and hold the birth process as normal have been forced out of offering OB services. Reasons for this include chronic low reimbursement rates and rising malpractice rates. The bottom line is that normal pregnancy and birth are not moneymakers.
When one has only 10 minutes for an appointment, ordering an ultrasound may assuage fear in the short term. However, a 20- to 30-minute conversation might have done the same, but there is no time and the cycle continues. And the mother (parents) gets the message that it is really not important what she knows or feels about her baby but what data the machines outside of her body have determined to be of importance.
Another subtle yet powerful feedback system is in place. When a woman is diagnosed as high risk, her provider is now able to bill for and receive increased reimbursement for the resulting increase in surveillance and tests this high-risk condition requires. So testing and interventions like ultrasounds, inductions, C-sections, instrument deliveries and newborn NICU stays generate more revenue for both MDs and hospitals.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL IMPACT OF FEAR
Most of us have heard about the fight-or-flight response our body engages in when it feels threatened. Our body’s response to fear or feeling threatened elicits the release of cortisol, a stress hormone released from our kidneys. Cortisol, in turn, triggers our pancreas to release sugar to fuel this emergency our body is perceiving. This sugar fuels the flow of energy to the survival organs—our brain, lungs, and our arms and feet—so we can react and move away from the threat. Non-essential muscles and organs, which include the kidneys and uterus, receive less in blood flow. Our body decides that reproduction and urinating are not important functions when our body perceives a dangerous situation. As a result, our blood pressure rises, blood flow to the uterus decreases and blood sugar levels—which initially rose—then plunge.
Long-term stress results in a decrease in conception and an increase in smaller babies, pre-term birth, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), meconium staining and fetal death (Peterson/Mehl-Madrona).
Unconsciously, this intertwined hot potato of fear interfaces between providers and pregnant women and their families. Fear breeds more fear and testing ensues, which creates outcomes to justify the fear in the first place. Here we are in the place of collective culture, believing that conceiving, pregnancy and birth are fraught with struggle and risk, and are potential emergent situations requiring the highest level of medical training and vigilance to keep us safe.
| Time again to breathe, ground and be aware of your feelings. |
| Click here to learn about Grounding, in Basic Instinc Part One |
FINDING AND TRUSTING IN YOUR RESOURCES
Once you have connected with your inner wisdom and what it means for your pregnancy and birth,
be completely sure that your chosen health care provider is in alignment with your needs.
I strongly believe that the purpose of prenatal care is not the physical testing and surveillance of the pregnancy, but rather the development of an interactive trusting relationship with the provider who will be attending your birth. The tests and discussions about your care provide the vehicle in which you develop and cultivate a trusting relationship. For labor to unfold as naturally as possible, the laboring woman needs to feel safe and be trusting. Thinking that you will be able to convince your care provider of your needs while you’re in labor will not work—you’ll need to be feeling through your labor, not negotiating.
Before you commit to an OB care provider, take some time to do a meet-and-greet appointment with potential providers. If a practice doesn’t offer such a service, inquire why not. It is never too late in your pregnancy to transfer your care to a different and more aligned provider and birth site. Having a baby is something we do only a few times in life. You are the consumer here. Spend the time to find the fit that feels right.
Three questions to ask when you are pregnant, courtesy of the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (
www.motherfriendly.org):
1. What are your practitioner’s (doctor, certified nurse midwife, midwife, FP MD) rates for these interventions: C-section, induction, epidural, forceps, vacuum-assisted delivery,
episiotomy?
2. How many people does your provider share call with?
3. What are the above intervention rates for the location of the birth at the hospital, birth center or home?
If your provider or birth site has high rates of intervention, do not believe you are going to be the one to change and convince them to create a different approach. Take the time to find a provider and birthplace, even if it means traveling to the next town that shares and supports your birth philosophy. Do not expect that your doula or your birth partner will be able to advocate for your desires. If your provider is coming from a different philosophy and belief system, you are setting yourself up for feeling disappointed and/or betrayed.
Take the time and the effort to find the people who trust birth and will support you and your family in your journey. Your family deserves to be treated with respect, love, safety and trust during this time.
| Are you still grounding? Be aware of your grounding and release any fear, anger or tension this last section might have elicited. |
CLICK HERE TO READ BASIC INSTINCT PART ONE.
CLICK HERE TO READ BASIC INSTINCT PART THREE.
Teresa Robertson, RN, MSN, certified nurse midwife, has been involved in the realms of women’s health, birth and alternative healing for the past 29 years. During the past 12 years, she has shared these integrative tools of healing and knowing with numerous groups of clients and professionals.
As a birth intuitive, she is uniquely qualified in bridging and integrating the often confusing and sometimes contradictory approaches offered to a client by both her medical doctor/provider and her alternative health care providers during pregnancy and/or fertility promotion. Teresa utilizes numerous concrete mind/body/spirit techniques and tools, including connecting with your unborn baby. Her integrative approach is concrete, supportive and empowering.
Teresa’s work in fertility and pregnancy as a birth intuitive has been endorsed by Dr. Christiane Northrup in her best-selling books Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom
and Mother-Daughter Wisdom
.
To sign up for a free teleclass on cultivating your mama and papa bear wisdom, go to www.birthintuitive.com.
| REFERENCES AND RESOURCES: |
Professional Support Group Organizations
American Association of Birth Centers
www.birthcenters.org
Association for Pre- & Perinatal Psychology and Health
www.birthpsychology.com
American College of Nurse-Midwives
www.acnm.org
Midwives Alliance of North America
www.mana.org
Books and Magazines
Mothering magazine
www.mothering.com
“Effects of Hospital Economics on Maternity Care”by Susan Hodges with Henci Goer.
Reprinted from
Citizens for Midwifery News, Spring/Summer 2004
Mother-Daughter Wisdom by Christiane Northrup, MD
Pregnancy as Healing, Volumes 1 and 2 by Gayle Peterson, MS, MSW, and Lewis Mehl, MD, PhD
The Biology of Belief by Bruce H. Lipton, PhD
The Tentative Pregnancy by Barbara Katz Rothman
DVDs
The Business of Being Born
www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com
Birth As We Know It
www.birthintobeing.com
Orgasmic Birth
www.orgasmicbirth.com
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