With the new recommendations on VBAC from ACOG you would think that birth activists would be rejoicing. The sad reality is that we all know that while ACOG has in varying forms supported VBACs as a choice for women, that the implementation has far differed. ACOG has never turned the screws on its fellows to actually practice by the guidelines and chances are that this 14 page bulletin will do little more than spark a couple of TODAY show debates with an ill informed Nancy Schniderman camera whore and some celeb of the week who has no medical knowledge but is placed there as the leading authority on natural birth because she had one.
OK now that THAT is out of my system….
How then do we make the change that we so want and need? Of course we blog, we tell friends, we assault strangers in the grocery store, But on a larger scale I do believe we have an ally that is both a powerful voice and an authority on the subject of birth, babies and medical safety, Pediatricians.
With overwhelming science showing that birth in the Nuevo-traditional American settings can be dangerous for both mom and baby, we are sitting back and allowing the obstetrical community to do as they please. I have time and time again encountered pediatrician grumbling about pre-term babies with breathing issues and other such aliments all because the OB sectioned a mom at 37 weeks because. well because “it was good enough.” These physicians, are being left to deal with possibly avoidable issues because an OB was not patient enough to wait or worse yet, because they convinced the mother that SHE was not patient enough to wait.
I assure you that if you surveyed pediatricians in your community many of them would have stories much like those of my husbands. My “favorite” (wince) was the c-section at 35 weeks because the mom was complaining of lower back pain and the OB said “it’s ok…that’s what we have NICUs for.” While not every pediatrician will be an advocate for home birth, I have found them to be receptive to talking and on a large scale wanting to see some change in the labor units in order to have healthier babies to visit.
Engage pediatricians in your community. Show them the ACOG bulletin and the local section rates. It may be a back door, but it might be our way in.
You may be right about peds being perhaps a way in– that is, unless the peds are complicit. I don’t know how the “backdoor” would play out in my neck of the woods. They seem quite skeptical of home birth right now, according to clients.
Perhaps in the future that will change.
Excellent point!