Lost Art

As I posted on Cari's blog this morning, I planned to write about one of my favorite things today and talk about the lost art of food preparation. After catching up on my friends' blogs over coffee this morning, I left the house for my post partum OBGYN visit.

Dr. D and I discussed what was going on with my body and all the normal post baby check up stuff. As we began to wrap things up I mentioned how wonderful Archer's birth was and I was grateful that I was able to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). For those of you who don't know, VBACs are a touchy subject with most MDs because they don't want to deal with them. I am fortunate enough to have a doctor that practices medicine by what is best for the patient instead of out of fear of being sued.

However, my doc was out of town when I went into labor and his associate was delivering 3 babies at another hospital and could not come. The MD on duty was apart of a group of Dr.'s who have a policy of "no VBACs." That's right, the Dr.s in that group are not allowed to make the decision for their patients on a case by case basis. They have to adopt the "no-VBAC" policy to join the group. Period.

Without going into detail (man I need to write out my birth story!), I had a VBAC anyway. The Dr. from this other group could not have been nicer about it to us. But we got wind after it was all said and done that we REALLY freaked the hospital out. Someone sound the alarms! There is a lady in here that wants to give birth via the vagina! YIKES! What do we do??? (I also wrote on Cari's blog this morning that I was going to keep my blog G rated. Better change that to PG.)

By the way I did not actively force them into performing the VBAC for me. I know y'all find that hard to believe because I am a determined person who can sometimes act like a bull dozer when I am trying to reach a goal. But that was not the case this time. I just labored peacefully while the cuircumstanses surrounding the VBAC developed organically.

Back to the MD's office today, Dr. D replied, "Yeah, I kind of got in trouble over that." I felt horrible for him. After all, he was out of town and it's not as if he even called and said, "you must let my patient have a VBAC." He was out of reach and we did not get a hold of him until it was all over. He said it was all a political mess and now there are new policies in place and extra paperwork to sign.

Now I felt really bad. New policies in place because of me? I had a wonderful natural birth. God created labor and birth with the end result of a baby coming out of the vagina. Why is this scary? It's how God created us. People have done this for thousands of years. It's not an illness that requires aggressive medical intervention. Sometimes things go wrong and I am thankful we have medical tools available for those times but they are not necessary in every case. Even after a c-section.

So I asked with the new policy, what would happen to a women in the same situation I was in. Would she be forced to have a c-section against her will? Horrifyingly, the answer was yes. Forced unnecessary surgery... that's like rape, robbing her of one of God's blessings.

Giving birth is a lost art. A beautiful lost God-given art.

Dr. D did say that he would continue to deliver VBACs. He came from one of the best labor and delivery hospitals in the nation and has the knowledge to back up his decision. I wish other Dr.s would practice medicine from evidence based knowledge instead of fear. My heart breaks for the women who do not have such a Dr.

(Wow, 2 rant blogs in 1 week. I apologize. I am normally not so fired up. Maybe I'm still hormonal.)