Rights for Women's Health- Be an Advocate for You and Your Baby!
It has been 21 months since I have given birth for the first time, and this blog post has been simmering in my head since then. If you are just a little curious and don’t want to read this whole thing, I will sum up: In general, I find that when it comes to labor and delivery of a baby, many women are resigned to the fact that it is going to be a gut-wrenching, horrific, unbearable, painful experience. That there is a need to fear it, and that if you don't have all the medical interventions offered, you will probably not make it through it at all. Western culture, especially in the media, has perpetuated this view of labor and delivery. First a little bit of research. It has been found that the biggest predictor of a women's experience with labor pain is her level of confidence in her ability to cope with labor . Having continuous support during labor decreases use of pain meds and increases satisfaction with the birth experience(2). The labor and delivery process is beau...