There's no question that birth is a dangerous business. Having a baby comes complete with the possibility that, at some point, that baby will die.
Driving cars is a dangerous business as well. People die in car accidents every day. If you live or work anywhere near a roadway where motorized vehicles speed past, you are in danger of dying from automobile related injuries.
Luckily, we know a lot about making driving automobiles safer for everyone. People still die but good drivers and smart pedestrians feel confident about their ability to avoid serious injury. We drive despite the risks and we drive as safely as we know how to.
Birth really isn't much different from driving in that way. There are risks but they can be reduced with some information on nutrition and normal birth. We, as a society, acknowledge that such information can be gained, we just imagine that the information required is so vast that one must devote their lives to its study. We hire experts to handle our births much as we call on taxi drivers to drive us around. We pay to rely on their ability to safely get us from point A to point B.
I paid a midwife to handle all three of my births. I sat in the backseat while they "delivered" my babies. I "needed" to. My last midwife, Yvonne, gave me the space to pilot my own birth for the first time. I briefly experienced the power that birth offered while she sat on her hands in the corner.
I know I can pilot a safe birth. I just know it. Thanks to the Internet and the stories of the wonderful ladies who've made the journey alone and told the tale.
I recently did a quick survey of births reported on a major unassisted mailing list during the calendar year 2002. Among the tales of women who wanted to birth alone were a few stories of midwife attended home births. Of the 6 women who called a midwife out; 2 birthed before she got there and reported no problems, 1 had a great birth and 3 transferred to the hospital. I'm not convinced that adding another woman to my birth will improve my odds of getting the birth I want.
I'll accept the ambulance ride to the local hospital if I should be involved in a car accident. I'll accept a ride to the hospital if I should have a "birth accident" as well. So far, I've had neither and I'm becoming a better pilot as time goes on.
So, is it dangerous for me? No more so than driving a mini-van full of active children around town.
Is it dangerous for you? I think it's probably safer than you might imagine at first. But that question is really between you, your family and your God/dess.
Becky writes (about birth experts who promote fear of birth):
Well, you have to look at it this way...if every woman became empowered and decided to unabirth, they would be out of jobs. All they are doing is projecting their own fears and inadequacies onto you. I believe many women feel robbed and abused by their children's hospital births....but they were too afraid to do what they believed in their hearts. They may be resentful and angry and they want to control everyone's birth so that no one will have the wonderful experience that birth can be. Just my opinion.
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