the CURRENT American Way of Birth [Big Paper]

As of right now 99% of the births in America are “normal births,” meaning it takes place in a hospital, where one or more doctor is involved, the option of taking epidurals and pitocins is available, and about a third of the births lead to a caesarian section (according to “Business of Being Born”). Around a month ago, I believed all these aspects of birth were good and indispensable to the birth process. However after interviewing several mothers, receiving many lectures, researching, watching various videos, reading a few articles and listening to guest speakers, I have gained a small but significant amount of insight into the American Way of Birth, which would be the normal hospital births. And from what I learned, I have come to a short conclusion that, similar to the many other aspects of the American Way of Life, the American Way of Birth is a source of alienation to life itself. However in order to counteract that one particular facet, “natural births,” that includes a midwife and often takes place at an individual’s home, should be considered by America.

Whether or not, we will have to personally or directly be involved with the birthing process, we all believe it is a painful and disgusting to a certain extent. Consciously we, or at least I, believe and say that birth is beautiful thing. But subconsciously, the image that often takes place in a hospital with a woman going through an extremely long process involving blood, screaming, and overall instability is incorporated with the idea of birth. And it is this image, created by the American Way of Birth that alienates America from the true meaning of birth. The perception of something being disgusting and repulsive is caused by the feeling of borders being crossed, as explained by Julia Kristeva. She says, “The abject body repeatedly violates its own borders, and disrupts the wish for physical self control and social propriety.” This concept of why we believe birth is partially a repulsive process is due to the violation of borders that occurs in the hospital while a female is giving birth, according to Kristeva. In a hospital, a woman in labor is connected to many wires that restrain her movements, which Kristeva would describe as the disruption of “physical self control.” In addition to the physical limitation, the mother also faces emotional suppression. The doctors overwhelm the mother and delude any feelings or thoughts that the mother has. According to Julia Kristeva, our subconscious view on births being something sickening is germane to the crossing of boundaries in hospitals. Thus the American Way of Birth is alienating us from the genuine perception on birth.

Rather than seeing births as an entrance of another human being, some people view it as “labor” and as a part of what you have to do in order to get what you want. In an article named, MD- Midwife in Disguise, the author says “My mother talked about birth being hard work- painful, yes, but an intensely physical experience with a tremendous reward when the work was done.” In America, birth is seen as an obstacle. Not knowing that birth can be a wonderful experience and sometimes even an “orgasmic” one, we view it as “work.” Our approach of birth in America has led us to perceive it as something to just get out of the way, and is alienating us from the fact that it can be a pleasurable moment in each of our lives.

The vast majority of America that goes to the hospital in order to give birth, and view birth just as a disgusting and necessary process is alienated from the true meaning of birth. However, if they were to choose to have a natural birth with a midwife, their alienated perception would slowly change. The representation of midwives in the movie, “Business of Being Born” shows that midwives see birth as a “life altering experience.” Our guest speaker and soon-to-be-midwife, Kaitlyn would agree with that statement. Kaitlyn described births as the transition where a woman turns into a mother. She also said that it was her duty to “protect that experience for her.” Contrary to hospitals, where births are viewed as repulsive and an obligation, going with midwives, who values the birthing processes, will possibly eliminate the alienation of our perception of birth.

Other than alienating our view on birth, the American Way of Birth also alienates the mothers from themselves. The American Way of Birth has led woman to be believe that they do not have the ability to give birth by themselves. One of the teachers in our school, Ms. Plaza was brave enough to share her birth story with our class. And her story is a perfect example of the alienation of the mother and themselves. In her experience, Ms. Plaza had to wait for the doctor to arrive to her room. And when he finally arrived, she said, “We can do this.” Ms. Plaza, as well as many other women in America, is convinced that they cannot give birth without the doctor. The alienation from the American Way of Birth is especially apparent when she referred to the person giving birth as “we.” Women who plan on having a child in America are now totally mentally reliant on the doctors. The American Way of Birth has alienated women from their abilities to give birth.

Another portrayal of the alienation between mothers and their abilities, caused by the American Way of Birth, is a skit called the Monty Python. Although, the skit was created as a joke and humor purposes, there is some truth behind it. In the Monty Python skit, the mother was about to give birth, and she asks the head doctor, “What should I do?” The doctor responds, “Nothing, dear, you’re not qualified.” The significance of this response is that it shows the American Way of Birth/doctors have led women to believe that there are qualifications for giving birth, as though women did not give birth for the thousands of years before hospitals were established. Women are alienated from their own abilities, and without the doctor they do not think they are “qualified” to give birth.

On the contrary, natural births revive the connection between women and their bodies. Our two guest speakers, Melissa and Shira have had natural births where they had a midwife instead of a doctor. At one point in their lives, they also had a normal birth. However, regardless of what type of birth it was, both Melissa and Shira had an instinct, that they both described as “animalistic.” They said that during the labor, their bodies just wanted to move a certain way and be in a certain position. And during their natural births, they were able to approach this instinct. But in Melissa’s first birth, which took place in hospital and a doctor was present, she was bounded from acting upon her animalistic instinct. The doctor prevented her natural body movement in order to reserve their convenience. Natural births, on the other hand, allow the mothers to do and react as they please, at least in our guest speakers’ cases. A natural birth usually takes place at the mother’s home or a birthing center. Whichever location, it still gives the mothers her privacy and freedom. The mother, who would normally be alienated from her own body and abilities in a hospital, is now given back the connection between herself and those two things.

Not only does the American Way of Birth alienate the mothers from their bodies and the significance of birth, it also alienates them from the actual birthing experience. The movie, Business of Being Born, shows that natural births involve a lot of close interaction between the mother and child immediately after the child is born. In the movie, we see that in all the births that involved a midwife, the child instantly went to hold grasp of the mother. This moment is due to a natural chemical called oxytocin, which makes the two people feel connected and as though they are merged together. Through the Business of Being Born, we see that birth is in fact a delightful experience, rather than one of pain and suffering.
Although natural births do supply the mother with a wonderful experience and oxytocin moment, not all births do the same. The American Way of Birth, or the normal hospital births, would actually do the opposite. They alienate the mothers from that experience and leave them clueless of the birthing process. Currently 36% of the births in America involved an intervention named epidural, according to Momaroo. Epidurals are used to numb the mother from the waist-down, in order to eliminate the pain of birth. But since it numbs the body, the mother no longer has any feeling during the process of giving birth. Thus the “mother feels detached from the process and becomes an observer” (Childbirth Solutions, Inc.). Mothers who go to hospital to give birth, using an epidural and follow the American Way of Birth often feels like they are not part of the moment. As part of the American Way of Birth, the use of epidurals alienates the mother from her birthing experience.

The alienation between a mother and the experience of giving birth is also seen in the Monty Python skit, as well as Ms. Plaza’s birth story. Unlike the Business of Being Born, the Monty Python skit portrays the moment after birth as it being the doctor saying, “Isolate it.” The child is immediately taken away from the mother, and there is no bonding between the two of them. Even though Monty Python is a skit, this is often times this is true for almost all hospital births. One real life example would be Ms. Plaza’s birthing experience. In her story, she gave birth in a hospital, where she was completely worn out by the waiting and the labor. And after the labor was finally over, she was already saying “take the baby away.” While, the women in the movie, Business of Being Born were closely bonding with their children, Ms. Plaza could care less about the presence of her baby, mainly due to the exhaustion of the hospital. The normal hospital birth, also referred to as the American Way of Birth, alienates the experience of giving birth and the experience of connecting with her child after the labor done.


Further Thoughts and Questions:
- What forms of alienation do we see in natural births, if any?
- How does the approach of giving birth affect the relationship between the child and parents? How does it the schema of the society as a whole?
- I believe that most people continue to follow the American Way of Birth and go to the hospital, because they are already indulged by the belief that hospitals are sanctuaries. People only feel safe if they are with an official, being monitored. That is why, I think that people will begin to approach natural home births when they are revealed to the fact being in a hospital does not mean you’re in safe hands.