The Flawed American Way of Birth

In America the “normal” way of a woman giving birth is as shown in the media; the woman’s water breaks she rushes to the hospital, goes to the emergency room, gets an epidural so she doesn’t feel the pain, the baby is born and taken away for tests and such and once the baby is back it’s a happy ending. Another version of this story is that she gets an epidural, then some pitosin, the woman cannot give birth at this point, and the doctor saves the day by performing a c-section, and the mother and the baby make it through alive. These stories are flawed.
The film "Business of Being Born," is a very revealing one. It lets viewers in on the differences between home births and hospital births. In modern day America we have techniques and technologies to aid child birth unnecessarily such as machines, vacuums, forceps, epidurals, episiotomies, and of course, c-sections which make the OB's life less complicated whereas most people think the doctor cares about the patient because that's what they are supposed to do but the patients are seen more as victims than as patients. In Shira’s birth experience, she felt that her home birth was simple and she did not need to be taken care of by a doctor or the techniques or technologies they use.
Less than 8% of Americans give birth with a midwife while in Japan and Europe, 70% of the births are given with midwives(B of BB). In these countries it is normal for women to have midwives and in America the norm is to give birth at a hospital because it is “safer.” Although people feel this way, the death rate for women and children in Europe is much lower than America's because of the way American doctors operate, doctors are trained to find something wrong and fix it, so if there is something wrong even if it is supposed to go wrong during the process of birth, they consider it a problem and resort to c-section. So people say the doctor saved the day but they would not have to save the day if the modern techniques and technologies had a negative affect on the birth.
Most would think doctors are people patients can depend on but because they believe they are the authority figure during child birth, the one in control, they can do whatever they want even if it goes against what you want them to do. Because the doctor is getting paid to do what he/she is doing, they will plan to do it the way they want it. What they are doing is a form of commodity, they have to do what they have to do in a certain amount of time, and the doctors make sure the baby is born at a certain time by using techniques and technologies that are not necessarily good for the patient but efficient and convenient for the doctor. This means that if it is convenient for them to do a c-section, when it is not even completely necessary for them to, rather than risk something going wrong during child labor and being blamed for it, they’ll do it. (Rubin). When Melissa, a teacher who works at School of the Future shared her birth story she explained how she did not want an episiotomy but the doctor gave it to her anyway without consulting her. The “Normal” way of birth is in the hands of the doctor who would take advantage of that power if he wanted to speed up the process. Doctors are not as trustworthy as they seem in the ideal American way of birth.
In Ms. Plaza's birth experience, she proved that the doctor is not always going to make you feel safe and secure in a hospital because in her story she had to deal with the intern who made her feel like she didn't know what she was doing. And the doctor did not arrive until much later but just in time to deliver the baby, her experience was impersonal and she was irritated for part of the time because of the way she was being treated at the hospital.
Once the child is born, as shown in the Monty Python youtube video, the child is taken away from the mother. Because the child is taken away from the mother right away, it takes away that mother vs. child connection that they have at child birth. For example with the dolphin giving birth, naturally, once the calf is born, the two swam together side by side. And the doctors take away that connection. Similar to a woman that I know gave birth twice, once in another country and once in America, in the other country, after giving birth she was able to hold her child and her experience of holding her baby just after her child was born was one she enjoyed. And unlike how the American way of birth is, she was able to take care of her child in the hospital with the child lying next to her. She did not get that experience with her second child, to whom she gave birth in America, because the doctors took away the child once they were born. Also in Shira's birth experience, she had a happy and natural birth experience, in her second birth, at home, after the birth she was able to connect with both of her kids just after the second child was born marked as one of the happiest moments of her life. The “normal” way of birth does not allow the mother to connect with her child the way they should immediately after the birth.
In the case of a natural child birth such as the dolphin's or giraffe's, no meds were necessary. Once the calf was born, they would learn to swim/stand up with their mother by their side. Contrasting with a normal child birth in America where the doctors are in control of the birth and does not allow the woman's body or the woman's baby to act as it naturally should. The doctors give the woman an episiotomy when, according to Gaskin, the cervix does not need to be mangled with because it acts as a sphincter, allowing to open and close as necessary. Gaskin also mentioned that sphincters are "shy" when the woman is disturbed during child birth the sphincter will close up. So when people are walking in and out of the room, and there are bright lights focusing on the woman, it is harder for the woman to feel comfortable pushing the baby out, which is where the meds come in. Controlling the sphincter is a mind-body connection where if the woman is relaxed, her sphincter is more likely to open up more easily whereas, if she's in a hospital where people are yelling at her to push, its less likely that she will feel comfortable and allow her sphincter to open up. The doctors make the experience for the woman artificial and it affects the woman's body. The ideal American way of birth gives the woman’s body stimulants that deprive the woman of empowerment from giving birth naturally.
As we see in the media in America today, most if not all births take place in a hospital where there is a doctor in charge delivering the birth. Based on youtube videos of a giraffe giving birth, a dolphin giving birth, Ina May Gaskin’s interview, video, and article, a Monty Python youtube video, an article about c-sections, and other birth stories, we can conclude that the typical American way of birth is highly flawed because it portrays doctors as trustworthy heroes and midwives as evil women, it takes away the woman’s empowerment, connection with her child, it takes away an experience that should be personal if she wants it to be, and it has bad after affects on the woman once she has given birth.

Continuing Thoughts:
For me the film was to raise awareness about the problems with hospital births and where it all began. I think this is an important film that Americans should watch so they understand the flaws behind those blue curtains and while halls. We've come to believe that doctors and hospitals are safe places for us citizens but now the way I see it, they are being paid to get me fixed so they will do it in the most convenient way possible for them even if it is inconvenient for the patient. I have been convinced by articles, guest speakers, and the film that midwives care much more for the patient than doctors and I personally would trust them more.