Why is pregnancy and birth so over medicalized in the US?

Question

Maybe its just me, I was rasied around livestock and horses. I've witnessed many births, human and animal, and I don't see the need to medicalize such a natural process. I don't understand why women are encouraged to fear pregnancy and birth. I'm not saying bad things don't happen but if it was as dangerous as the medical "experts" would love for us to believe, the human race would have died out a LONG time ago!

What do you think?

Several people remarked about the vast death rates of the past (in regards to birth)
True, however more people died from disease (smallpox and the black plague for example), famine, wars and a short lifespan than from preganacy and birth. Just wanted to put it in some perspective.

Birth does have its risks, I would never deny this, as my mother had to have an emergencey c-section with me.

Answer 1

Birth is not an illness!!! Yet hospitals still treat it as such.... It wasn't until the 1940's that most women began goin to the hospital to birth BRIEF HISTORY LESSON:back in those days they would give women drugs (not pain reliever but drugs that acted as an amnesiac so they wouldn't remember a thing) then they'd leave the women thriving in pain tied to their beds until dilated then the women would be given a spinal block and told to push if the women were unable to push well enough they'd use forceps and a nurse would force down on the womens belly to help push the baby out pretty sick huh...then the next morning the woman would regain conciseness's and the nurses would bring in her baby from the nursery if the women would ask about their labor the nurses were told to tell them they did a wonderful job soooo sad

while modern medical intervention does save any many lifes and has truly come a long way it's view of childbirth is still very skewed...as I said before birth is not an illness it's a healthy natural process, and while hospitals and drs may mean well they only interfere with their "just in cases" and protocol.........come Along children i have a lot to say LOL......lets start at the beginning labor begins instinctively a women will seek out a quiet safe secure place....time and time and time again a women will go into labor have constant contractions that grow stronger and stronger and then she gets to the hospital full of bright lights and strange places and people she dosent know and labor stops and nothing so what does the hospital do you ask....why give her drugs cuz that's how they fix things...now She gets a pitocin( 80% of women receive pitocin to start or speed thing up : ( )iv and is confined to her bed on her back (hardest most painful way to labor)and the pitocin leads to abnormally strong unnatural contractions witch leads to what???....why more drugs of course so she gets the epidural ( FACT 80% of women receive an epidural) if the epidural is given to early (2 or less cm) her chances of c-section are a whoppin 50% and while the nurses reassure her its completely safe its not the biggest side effect is low blood pressure witch can lead to a loss of oxygen to the baby inside and the epidural has ben proven to interfere with infants breathing and heart rate and sucking reflex after birth also mothers milk production is effected and much much more.. It can also cause the mother to have a significant fever without having an infection; because maternal fever puts the fetus at risk regardless of the source, the mother may now be treated with antibiotics (as will her baby following birth.) The mother is no longer free to eat or drink and must be fed intravenously; she may experience nausea, vomiting, or itching. She can no longer walk or squat and may need to be catheterized in order to urinate. In short, complete control of the labor process has been given over to medical personnel.
it also diminishes moms hormonal "bonding" chemicals produce at birth port partum depression is much higher in women given pain meds........

Baby's cord is instantly clamped even thou the placenta is designed to pump 4-6 more oz of oxygen rich blood into the little one

while medical intervention saves many of the problems its saving babies from may very well be caused by the unnessicary interventions in the first place

FACT the US has the 2nd highest mortality rate

FACT HOLLAND is leading in lowest mortality rate 50-60% of women have natural homebirth 90% of the women give birth with midwifes trained soley in birth not drs

ponder that!

Answer 2

I think this is such a "hotbed" issue. I can see pros and cons of both sides. The reality is that things don't always work out as planned. I wanted a natural birth, but wound up being induced. My sister wanted a natural birth, but had a breech baby and had to do a cesarean. Sometimes an epidural can give a woman the rest she needs to get through the rest of her labor.

Don't forget, all these medical advances have helped the mortality rate for infants and mothers go down significantly. I totally respect a woman's decision - whether it's to go naturally or to have medications to help her through.

Answer 3

I never felt that I was taught to fear pregnancy and birth. I think it is natural to want the best for your soon to be baby, and if it gives them an edge to have some medical help, then so be it. I think the survival rate for children (and mothers) during birth now as opposed to way back when. Or even just 15 years ago.

I think most women just feel that any assistance in the survival of their baby is welcomed, and will do what it takes for it. We all just want healthy babies that have a fair chance in the world. So what is wrong with that???

Besides, we are drama queens.

Answer 4

Well from my personal experience I wanted to go for as long as I could without pain meds and I made it pretty darn far in my opinion i was in labor for over 27 hours and I made it up until I was 8 centimeters dialated and then got the epidural because my contractions were very intense and were making me sick to my stomach that is the only reason I agreed to it was because I was getting sick and the pain was quickly wearing me out after already being up for 24 hours so that is why I did it. But I ended up with a c-section so having pain meds for that is a for sure necessity

Answer 5

It just felt safer to me to have my children in a hospital. If something would have went wrong all the people I would have needed to help me or one of my babies was right there. See to me the good part of the US isn't that we over or under medicalize things such as childbirth its that we have the option to choose how we want it done.

Answer 6

newborn/perinatal/postnatal death rates have only gone down in the US since women started seeking proper maternity care. I agree lots of women and their babies survived home births with no doctor anywhere nearby, but lots of babies and mothers died too. Both of my great-grandmothers had several babies die during labour/delivery.

I don't think we're taught to fear pregnancy and birth.

Answer 7

Both me and my baby would have died if I didn't have the doctors there to give me a C-section. That's good enough reason for me.

Answer 8

BEcause a doctor knows more than i do about the aches and apins that i have. i would not want to lose my baby or do something wrong because i made the decision not to go to the doc