mama praxis

Having been an ethnic studies student and immersed in some community organizing, I have always been surrounded by folks trying to get out of the Matrix. Good intentioned people, deconstructing the world, questioning capitalism/imperialism/neo-colonialism/colonialism/etc., trying to live their lives in congruency with their politics and values.

This goes along with Paulo Freire or bell hooks' idea of praxis. Praxis in its most simple sense is "action and reflection upon the world in order to change it." In essence folks are, for the most part, committed to thinking/challenging the world around them and living a life that aligns with the world they want to see.

What amazes me, and what we've talked about in my doula class, is how that praxis and reflection often gets lost when (some, not all) mama activists decide to have their babies. No longer do they question the system, the hospitals, the medications they choose to give birth with. Instead, they (we) handover something precious, their (our) voice and vision of how their (our) baby should come into the world. I think that there is a disconnect that needs bridging, especially for mamas of color.

Some statistics on birth:

• Childbirth accounts for one fifth of all health care expenditures in the U.S.

• More than one out of every five babies (22%) is born by cesarean section. This number has not decreased substantially in 10 years, despite the benchmark of 15% set by the Centers for Disease Control in 1990.

• Well over half of all American births involve some kind of surgical or operative procedurecesarean section, episiotomy, vacuum extraction, or forceps.

• Between 1989 and 1997 the use of drugs to start labor (induce) or increase the strength or frequency of contractions (augment) doubled. Induction of labor is associated with an increase in cesarean sections.

• As a matter of course, almost all women under obstetrical care are required to fast during labor, although the data suggest that this practice is unnecessary and can actually make laboring and birth more difficult.

• The average prenatal appointment with an obstetrician lasts less than 10 minutes. With a home-birth midwife, the average prenatal appointment lasts 45-60 minutes.

• In 1999, midwives attended approximately 320,000 births (8% of all births) in hospitals, out-of-hospital birth centers, and private residences.

* Statistics from the movie Born in the USA.

Learning. Growing. Healing.

the business of being born

If you're pregnant or ever even thinking of having a baby in a US hospital I suggest you watch "The Business of Being Born." This past weekend, I watched it with my doula class (more about my doula class later) and then again with Benji. We, in the past few months since Soluna's birth, are now convinced that our next baby will be born at home with a midwife.

Our country has forgotten the most basic question as asked in the movie: "What are the basic needs of women in labor?" Ricki Lake does an amazing job of exploring this question further while weaving in the real birth stories of mothers who choose to birth at home, the science and research supporting home birth and the history of birth in this country.

While Benji and I went into the hospital with every intention of having a natural, drug-free childbirth, the hospital and people there are not ready to support such decisions. (As evidenced by people coming into the room exclaiming, "Oh my god! You didn't have an epidural! You're so calm.") While Soluna was born drug-free, the hospital still had to intervene. I now know, in my heart, that my body had the capacity and strength to birth Soluna without any interventions if I had been given the support I needed. (We needed a doula!) Next time we'll know better.

More about Soluna's birth story in future posts, mama still needs some healing before she can tell it all.