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How to Use Technology for a Better Birth Is a technology driven medically managed birth really a safer birth? This article is about technology in childbirth, but not in the way you might think! Our society and our doctors tell us that the way to have a happy and healthy pregnancy and birth is through modern technology. I agree, let me tell you why I think technology is a pregnant girl's best friend! Through modern technology we can know so many things about our babies and our bodies during pregnancy. Pregnancy is so relaxing and stress free when we can test for so many diseases and disorders that we and our baby definitely or might have, either now or in the future. It is such a relief to be told that your baby might have a disorder and then to deliver a perfectly healthy baby, especially after being advised to consider abortion. Talk about happy surprises! Technology is really a lifesaver is during childbirth. Our doctors can use ultrasound to determine that our baby is just too big and our pelvis just too small. If we go even one day past our due date, our doctors can get our babies out before our imperfect bodies cruelly over bake and kill little Junior. Luckily, we can have our membranes stripped, our bag of waters ruptured, and gel applied to our cervix. And once labor is jumpstarted we can be completely pain free with the magical epidural. And even if the epidural slows down labor, we can speed it right back up with Pitocin. And if the Pitocin causes contractions that are too strong for our baby, we have the lifesaving cesarean section. Or, since we are modern and enlightened women, we might just choose cesarean right from the beginning and not even bother with labor! Isn't technology wonderful? Psych! (My former eighth grade self says.) Here is how I would advise modern mamas to take advantage of today's amazing technology… Step One. After finding out you are pregnant, go to the library or to your local bookstore and use their searchable databases to locate one, a few or all of the following books on pregnancy and childbirth: A Good Birth, A Safe Birth, Diana Corte & Roberta Scaer OK, you caught me. Yes, these books are oriented toward natural childbirth as normal childbirth. But, even if you decide to go the route of the medical model of childbirth practiced by most physicians, you will have heard both sides and will be able to make an informed decision. I haven't listed books that promote the medical model of childbirth because frankly, I am biased toward natural childbirth. I also feel quite confident that you do not need to read a book to understand the medical model because the medical model is well represented in the mainstream media and by most practitioners and institutions that you will be exposed to during your pregnancy. The Everything Birth Book is one book I would recommend as a good "all sides of the story" book. Step Four: Surf the net! The internet is full of great information on pregnancy and childbirth. It is also full of not so great information, so be discerning. And most definitely don't tell your doctor you got your information from the internet! Many doctors scoff at the idea that consumers can find good information on the internet (I know because I've read many of their discussion lists and transcripts from conferences on the internet). You can find slick e-zine consumer oriented websites like www.storknet.com, and the Pregnancy and Parenting "Channel" on www.ivillage.com. Many of the authors of the books listed in step one have good websites as well like www.askdrsears.com. I personally like the smaller gems like www.spinningbabies.com. (a website my doula referred me to, see step four). Birth advocacy websites, like www.maternitywise.org, are another favorite of mine. If you are feeling particularly studious, you can use the internet to actually review oft quoted journals and research papers. An excellent series of articles published in the British Medical Journal explain how to search for, understand and evaluate the quality of the research being used as "evidence" in books, by your doctor and by the mainstream media. Links to this series are found at http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/collections/read.shtml. Step Three. Using your car, go and interview several midwives, obstetricians and family physicians before you choose your provider. The care provider you choose will have a great impact on your birth experience and your birth outcome. You must make sure your provider is respectful of your decisions and wishes. Ask questions. What is their c-section rate? What is their VBAC rate? What routine tests and procedures do they recommend? Do they routinely do episiotomies? This is certainly not an exhaustive list of questions. You most certainly will come up with your own list of questions after your brilliant use of database technology in locating good pregnancy and childbirth books and websites! Step Four: Use the phone and call local doulas to set up interviews. A labor doula is a woman who provides information and support to pregnant women prenatally and during childbirth. My opinion is don't give birth without one! The internet is probably your best bet for an exhaustive list of doulas in your area. The main certifying organizations will provide referrals. They are DONA (www.dona.org) , CAPPA (www.cappa.net), and ALACE (www.alace.org). Birth Works is another nice, but smaller, organization (www.birthworks.org). Step Five: Once again, use Alexander Graham Bell's marvelous technological invention and get scheduled to attend an independent childbirth class. I recommend an independent class not associated with a hospital if you desire a natural childbirth. The hospital childbirth classes tend to just give the company line… "labor will hurt, take a few deep breathes and if that doesn't work this is how to get an epidural". If you will be giving birth in a hospital, a hospital tour is a good idea and the hospital childbirth class may help you to be more familiar with the hospital and it's policies. But for real tools to understand and manage your labor, a class focused on a method, like Bradley, is the most helpful. Bradley and Lamaze are probably the most recognized "methods" but if you (chorus:) use technology, you can search around and find other valuable methods such as methods based on hypnosis (Hypbirth, Hypnobabies, Hypnobirthing). You can also find childbirth educators through many of the same organizations that certify doulas (see step four above). A well-rounded independent childbirth class will also give you information about nutrition and a wide range of preventative healthcare, such as chiropractic, that can help you during pregnancy and childbirth. Step Six: Take advantage of the knowledge that can be culled from the modern fields of sociology and anthropology. Technology has made our world a much smaller place. We are now easily connected to other cultures, both past and present. Through the "soft sciences" of sociology and anthropology we can look at birth practices and take the best from these cultures. Advanced lifesaving medical technology is a "best" from our own culture and we can be certain that this technology has indeed saved the lives of women and babies. But routinely applying unnecessary technology to all childbearing women is unwise. The argument can also be made that it is unsafe if you look at research that compares the outcomes of natural childbirth with medically managed childbirth. We would be wise to look at birth practices from other societies and cultures to gain an understanding of childbirth and how women and babies can have a rewarding and fully aware experience. Understanding can root out fear and fear must be rooted out if the act of natural childbirth is to be an event joyfully anticipated and experienced in a manner that is fulfilling. Today we can read books, we can look at websites, we can talk to other women who have had good childbirth experiences and we can see that labor and birth are best left undisturbed and informed by the wisdom of women who have unlocked the secrets of birth. Ladies, this is called intuition! Intuition cannot be quantified and neatly summarized in a research paper so on this point we will have to stop relying on modern technology and simply trust ourselves and our babies.
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