Birth on Labor Day

It has been another three weeks since my last post. During this time I have sat on the talk back panel of BOLD, listened to birth stories at our monthly birthcircle meeting, made two silk dresses for my girls, and am now in Washington D.C. WHEW!

BOLD is the Birth on Labor Day play that presents eight women's birth stories. The stories are all typical of births happening today including unmedicated, non-interventional birth, induction, medicated vaginal birth, operative-assisted vaginal birth and cesarean. I thought the production at the Tower Theater here in Fresno was well done and I appreciate all the hard work that went into it by Childbirth Resource Network. 

Following the play, the audience asked questions of a panel composed of me, a home birth midwife, a pediatrician, and an obstetrician. One of the questions was: How can we create global change in the maternity care system? This question has such strong personal significance for me. I asked the very same question myself on the Lamaze Normal Birth Forum a year and a half ago.

Fueled on by the misinformed article by Atul Gawande in the New Yorker about obstetrical care and Henci Goer's response, I was looking for ways to contribute to the birth advocacy movement. Like the person in the audience at BOLD, I was trying to share how wonderfully life changing childbirth was for me and how it could be the same for them. How can we reach those women when they aren't even remotely interested in attending a play like BOLD? Aren't we just preaching to the choir again and again?

Robbie Davis-Floyd says it best in her book Birth as an American Rite of Passage. Women have different values and beliefs. How each person perceives childbirth depends on these values. Some see childbirth as just another bodily function or a potential medical disaster prevented only by technological vigilance. Others see childbirth as an opportunity for personal growth or a powerfully feminine experience.

BOLD doesn't need to reach every woman. It just needs to be out there for the women who see childbirth as more than a physical or medical event. Women who found their response to childbirth different from those around them need to see BOLD. Midwives, doulas, pediatricians, and obstetricians who find themselves discouraged by clients who seem to miss the point need to see BOLD. BOLD connects the community of people who share common values. We need to preach to the choir because some members of the choir haven't found us yet. They need to know they are not alone.