MyBirthTeam intends to join the March of Dimes Prematurity Awareness campaign by helping to educate women of their choices and matching them with providers who meet those needs.
The March of Dimes has recently completed a report on the prematurity rate across the US.
The United States scored a “D” in that report. In a country as great as ours, how is this possible? The report states that an increase of elective inductions and Cesarean sections are largely to blame.
My first question is: why are elective inductions and Cesarean Sections being done anyway? Why would that ever be allowed where it is not medically indicated? Why would insurance companies pay for that? They won’t even pay for a blood test without a medical reason for it.
My second question is: Why do we as consumers allow our babies to be at risk? Why haven’t we done our homework? We plan more for our baby showers than the birth of our baby.
Though I don’t have the answer to my first question, I do know the reason for my second and it is a four-letter word. FEAR.
We don’t trust that our bodies work. We don’t believe that we are smart enough to question our providers or demand different options. We are seduced into making decisions based on threats, fear and convenience. We either allow our babies to be at risk for prematurity by having a “Too Posh to Push” mentality or we allow the “Induction Seduction” choose our baby’s birth date.
There is no right or wrong way to birth. Your choices are not epidural or nothing. Your choices are not just black or white; there’s a lot of grey in between. When you make a decision on how, with whom and where you are going to birth, do your research. Make sure that the decisions you make are in the best interest of you and your baby.
In an era where our healthcare system is failing, can we afford not to be educated?
So while President Obama is searching for ideas to reform healthcare, maybe he should start with a few simple and very cost effective changes. Firstly, education of patients on their choices and options. Secondly, evidence based practice. And, thirdly, collaborative healthcare
Healthcare “Re-Form” will begin with us…the citizens …the consumers…the patients. We will see Healthcare “Re-Form” when we take responsibility for the options available, stop allowing our providers to make decisions for us, demand that medical and alternative model providers work collaboratively together, speak up when we need more options and collectively create a demand for something different.
But until then, we are unknowingly in the process of changing the evolution of how we birth. In the not too distant future we might end up seeing that prematurity is the number one cause of death in children under five and the only choices our daughters will have at their birth is … what kind of music they want played during their C-section.