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Infant Parent Healing
"We are each the
union of the Mother and the Father."
Janel Martin-Miranda, MA, LPC (IL)
Prenatal and Birth
Focused Counselor
CranioSacral Therapist
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Artwork
www.waterspider.net |
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Assisting and supporting parents to create
healthy attachment and bonding with their baby -- for a
lifetime
Healing Birth
Physicians and psychologists, ministers, teachers,
lawyers, and even researchers who study these
professions aren't trained about brain development from
conception through birth. This is particularly amiss in
obstetric and pediatrics. Society and trends follow what
these experts promote as scientific and moral. Sadly,
there is lack of regard for the science and logic that
the human being (brain) is developing during the
prenatal period.
Physicians -- not even obstetricians -
are not trained to be knowledgeable about the deep impact of
a woman’s thoughts, feelings, and stresses during
prenatal life that will contribute to the birth
experience (for which they will be held legally
responsible). Physicians do not have time, educational,
or physical resources to address these emotional and
psychological needs. A physician spends an average of
six minutes with a pregnant woman focused on medical
needs, so that the doctor/patient relationship is not
emotionally safe, nor is the medical office a safe
environment to share and process her life experiences.
It is estimated that as many as sixty percent of
pregnant women experience physical abuse during their
pregnancy. A woman is highly unlikely to share this with
her medical caregiver, yet it will be a part of the
birth process. Neither obstetricians or midwifes
(who might spend more time with a patient) are trained
to do in depth prenatal psychological counseling; yet,
they are held responsible for the traumatic outcomes of
birth.
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We can heal birth by:
·
altering our societal and
personal notions about when we perceive the “formative years”
of childhood to be and when memory begins; and, by embracing
new scientific discovery that shows us that babies are aware
and fully conscious from conception.
·
supporting women and men to
resolve their own birth trauma, to consciously conceive and
birth babies and only bring babies into lives, relationships,
and homes where they will be loved and cared for physically,
emotionally, and spiritually.
·
supporting and caring for
pregnant and parenting mothers in our society.
·
including Pre- and
Perinatal (birth) Psychology, birth trauma, and the body-mind
connection in obstetrical and pediatric medical training.
·
understanding and embracing
the “blending of ancient knowledge and inner wisdom with
medical science and technology” (Suzanne
Arms).
·
reforming the liability and
malpractice regarding obstetrics.
·
incorporating prenatal and
birth trauma therapy into standardized care of pregnant women
and newborns.
Healing Birth
·
We can heal birth by
altering
our societal and personal notions about when we perceive the
“formative years” of childhood to be and when memory begins;
and, by embracing new scientific discovery that shows us that
babies are aware and fully conscious from conception.
It is now known that humans are fully conscious from
conception and that memory begins at that time. Babies are
fully conscious and intelligent beings and they are capable of
experiencing and expressing the entire range of human emotion.
Through somatic therapies such as CranioSacral, adults and
children recall details of their birth experience. They repeat
prenatal conversations of parents and at birth, as well as
those of birth attendants, and importantly, they can report on
their own emotional states, awareness, and needs from
conception.
Scientific research in cellular biology, body-mind connection,
neurology, and brain development in the last decade confirms
that the experiences, emotions, and memories of prenatal life
create and shape future experience, personality, and behavior.
Prenatal and Perinatal (birth) Psychology is included in only
a few college psychology programs across the country and is
not included in medical school curriculums or their residency
training programs. Therefore, obstetricians, pediatricians,
family practice physicians as well as most nursing, mental
health, child development and child care, teaching, attorney,
juvenile and criminal justice professionals are not aware of
the impact of prenatal and birth experiences. They are not
aware of this in the day-to-day lives of their clients, in
their families, and mostly, they are not aware of their own
prenatal and birth imprints (as they engage with others in
them daily). They are not taught or aware that a woman’s own
traumatic prenatal and birth experiences, the relationships
and conditions of her life, and her experience as a pregnant
woman are the biggest predictors of complications at birth.
Believing that early childhood are the formative years and
then developing and funding therapeutic programs, creating
laws and policies without using the prenatal perspective and
without healing the earliest imprints is akin to putting salt
and band-aids on gaping wounds.
Back to "...heal
birth by..."
á
·
We can heal birth by
supporting
women and men to resolve their own birth trauma, to
consciously conceive and birth babies and only bring babies
into lives, relationships, and homes where they will be loved
and cared for physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
In the Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Prenatal and Birth
Therapy fields there is a call for humans to become aware of
human consciousness from conception and to choose to only
consciously conceive children. See the website for the
Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children at
www.atlc.org.
Conception is the first cellular, physical, human experience,
the moment in which the soul enters the two biological,
ancestral lines (the egg and sperm) and becomes a single cell
of who we become. In
The Vulnerable Prenate, Dr.
William Emerson shares an excerpt from Laing’s, The
Facts of Life. He says, “The environment is registered
from the very beginning of life; by the first one (cell) of
me. What happens to the first one or two of me may reverberate
throughout all subsequent generations of our first cellular
parents. That first one of us carries all my ‘genetic’
memories.” (p. 30). He goes on to say, “It seems to me
credible, at least, that all our experience in our life cycle,
from cell one, is absorbed and stored from the beginning,
perhaps especially in the beginning. How that may happen I do
not know. How can one cell generate the billions of cells I
now am? We are impossible, but for the fact that we are. When
I look at the embryological stages in my life cycle, I
experience what feel to me like sympathetic vibrations in me
now…how I now feel I felt then.” (p. 36).
Emerson has documented that problems with aggression and
violence are frequently seen as a result of the experience of
conception. The first human experience at conception creates
the first cell of the human that becomes the human being’s
first perception of the world. Was conception a loving,
consenting experience between two adults who were welcoming a
child (another soul) into their lives or was conception
experienced during a violent rape? The emotions that
correspond to the two extremes are love and fear. These are
the two extremes of potential conceptions with a multitude of
possibilities in between.
The experience becomes the filter or lens through which the
rest of prenatal life, birth, and physical life is viewed and
processed. There are thousands of possible physical,
psychological, and emotional experiences between the parents
at conception, such as drug use, teenage partners, spousal
abuse, non-consenting marital or relationship intercourse,
extra-marital affairs, poor timing for a multitude of variety
of reasons, medical and health issues, make-up sex after a
fight, a woman or man trying to entrap the other with
pregnancy, etc.
It’s easy to see how the hormones of the woman during
different situations might contribute to the physical,
hormonal environment of the woman’s body (such as oxytocin,
the love hormone or catecholamine, the fear hormone). It’s
easy to see how her hormones contribute biologically to the
first imprint of a being. Dr. Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., a cellular
biologist, has done extensive research on this topic and his
information is available at
www.brucelipton.com.
I recently heard a story of a baby’s conception and prenatal
life that makes it very easy to consider the impact of
conception and prenatal experiences and the potential imprints
they create. It shows how a child might experience his
parent’s relationship issues prenatally that will contribute
to the birth process of coming into the physical lives of
these parents and their personal issues.
The husband of a newly married woman had made it clear that he
did not want children; and yet, she went off the birth control
pill unbeknownst to him in order to conceive anyway.
Unbeknownst to her, he had a vasectomy and, thinking she was
on the pill, he did not use additional protection for several
months. She announced her pregnancy. He denied paternity of
the baby and she insisted he was the father; the entire
pregnancy was wrought with emotional chaos and divorce was a
probability. How might this little one’s life unfold through
the prenatal trauma imprints, through his or her first
cellular moments and the beliefs, feelings, and needs of the
parents? How might the deception and lack of trust between
parents, and the resulting months of gestating in anger, hurt,
and stress the mother experienced bring to bear at the time of
birth?
The physician caring for a pregnant woman rarely knows this
kind of information about conception and about the woman’s
emotional life and her stresses or whether she has support for
her pregnancy. When a woman might want to or tries to share
her concerns, the physician often doesn’t have the time and
the training to address it. Too often a woman’s concerns and
needs are minimized or she might be prescribed a drug.
Physicians aren’t knowledgeable about the deep impact of a
woman’s thoughts, feelings, and stresses during prenatal life
that will contribute to the birth experience. Physicians do
not have the time, educational, or physical resources to
address these emotional and psychological needs. A physician
spends an average of six minutes with a pregnant woman focused
on medical needs, so that the doctor/patient relationship is
not emotionally safe, nor is the medical office a safe
environment to share and process her life experiences. It is
estimated that as many as sixty percent of pregnant women
experience physical abuse during their pregnancy. A woman is
highly unlikely to share this with her medical caregiver, yet
it will be a part of the birth process. Neither obstetricians
or midwifes (who might spend more time with a patient) are
trained to do in depth prenatal psychological counseling; yet,
they are held responsible for the traumatic outcomes of birth.
Back to "...heal
birth by..."
á
·
We can heal birth by
supporting
and caring for pregnant and parenting mothers in our society.
That’s powerful; because how each of us support and care for
pregnant women from conception through birth can heal our
society, our families, our individual selves, and the world.
When we are in the presence of a pregnant woman, what we say,
and what we do becomes part of the baby’s prenatal experience
determined by the mother’s interactions with us.
A baby only knows her or himself through the mother’s
experiences, emotions, thoughts, and relationships with
others, including how his mother feels about him and his very
existence. It is through the experience of the mother is that
a baby comes to know and to “believe” about her or himself.
The mother is the outer womb and the baby is the inner womb (Castellino’s
work). People in a woman’s life become part of the outer womb;
and significantly, this includes the medical attendants at the
time of birth.
On a prenatal level, consider the differences of a pregnant
mother who works as a librarian with those of a mother who
works in a drug treatment facility or as a waitress, or a
pregnant mother whose military job is building bombs or whose
spouse is deployed to active duty during these times. Consider
the difference between a woman whose partner also wants to
become a parent with the experience of a woman whose husband
is physically abusing her for not aborting her child or
because he must change his life plans. Compare those with a
woman whose partner supports their pregnancy and is in a
loving, supportive relationship.
Every mother needs a support team that is taking care of
her and her baby, so that she does not have to take care
of them or to feel exposed, violated, and vulnerable. It
is every woman’s right to choose who is present in
birthing her child. |
At the birth, consider the impact of the actions and words
spoken by others present at birth as these create birth
imprints. Are they loving and supportive or are they cold,
objective, medical, and controlled? Does the mother feel
supported or intruded upon? Does she feel her body and her
needs are valued or being abused? Does she feel safe? Does the
woman feel like she has to “take care of” the needs and
feelings of those in attendance who might be upset or scared?
This happens in hospital or home births. Or is SHE being
supported and cared for? (i.e. is she able to ask her mother,
doula, or nursing staff for space or time alone, to move her
body to new position, or to refuse interventions?). Is the
perspective and experience of the baby being considered as
contributing to whatever is happening? Is the birth viewed by
others as being the baby’s birth, not as a medical event or
only the mother’s experience?
Whatever the woman feels is also being transferred to the baby
just as the baby is making his or her way into this world.
Does the woman feel in control of her baby’s birth, her body?
Are medical interventions imposing upon the little one? Is the
baby receiving her first dose of drugs (an imprint for future
use) along with mother? Are the medical staff rushing or
stalling the birth for their needs? This is standard care in
medical birth and is creating a society with serious imprints
about control, authority, and their own momentum in life. Is
the baby unable to move through the pelvis because of
articulation with the mother’s bony structure (particularly
when membranes are ruptured) so that the intense contractions
(which are fierce when because of Pitocin induction) only
forces her head more intensely into the obstacle (pelvis,
unyielding cervix)? Will this child perhaps look for outside
forces or drugs throughout life in order to accomplish her
activities? Will she be able to trust herself or to trust
others to support her and want she needs?
This has profound implications for obstetrics and midwifery.
All of these people who are present at birth (medical
professionals, family, friends) form the first experience of
the baby’s outer womb. The actions and words of these people
are imprinted upon the nervous system of the little one making
her or his way in the world. Are these people receiving the
new one supportive, happy, scared, disagreeing, controlling?
Is the mother being “talked into” interventions she has stated
she does not want — no drugs, vaginal checks, etc? Is she
being confined to a bed when her body tells her to walk, move
positions, squat? Is the environment noisy, cold, sterile, and
is she treated objectively? Is she scared, disappointed? Is
the physician she chose and trusted unavailable and so her
physician is a “stranger,” or is there a parade of medical
students and residents? Is her chosen attendant available but
managing many other time commitments, professional or
personal, like trying to get a bite to eat or trying to get
away for her child’s music recital? Are the mother’s support
persons also fearful, disappointed, controlling, etc. and so
unable to really support her or to protect her wishes and
needs?
Every mother needs a support team that is taking care of her
and her baby, so that she does not have to take care of them
or feel exposed, violated, and vulnerable.
When I was in late stage of labor with my third child a
nursing professor from the local college came in and disrupted
me from a very focused state to ask me if her nursing student
“who had never seen a birth” could be in the delivery room. I
was in such a focused, special place that I didn’t want to
talk to her or anyone. She asked me several times. I finally
managed to grunt an annoyed, “no.” After my son was born she
came back to ask me why I wouldn’t allow the student in. I was
surprised to have to explain to the nursing professor that it
was not personal, that I was unable to even focus on her
question and her need BECAUSE I WAS BUSY!! Even in that very
moment when I was engaged with my newborn, she didn’t
understand the impact of her disruption of my process with my
baby…again. I only got this myself, much later. I now realize
I was stunned by her demeanor and indignation towards me in
her questioning me about why I snapped at her when she asked
and why didn’t I want the student there. What she really
wanted to know was why I had not met hers and her student’s
needs during my son’s birth. I felt grateful that at least
she asked or the hospital required her to ask my permission —
it is every woman’s right to choose who is present in
birthing her child.
I also realized much later that I felt unprotected and
unsupported; enough so that when ten other people (all medical
staff) besides my husband and me were present in the room at
my fourth child’s birth, I didn’t know I could ask for
privacy. I didn’t know I could ask people to leave, such as
the two OB residents and two medical students doing a
pediatric residency who were just hanging out, chatting,
waiting by to whisk my baby away. I recall the attending OB
saying it was time to push. I was so surprised. I had epidural
anesthesia and I had no physical feelings of my baby’s
crowning position. I looked around the room and I suddenly
felt very exposed and vulnerable. With everyone looking at me,
I felt expected to perform right then. My body was no longer
mine in the process. They were impressed that it took only
three huge pushes — every thing I had in me — to birth her
quickly, to get out of the focus of everyone, rather than how,
when, and what my little one needed. This child has had
chronic ear and speech issues. She has had two surgeries and
intermittent hearing loss that I now know is related to her
birth trauma. These are two examples of seemingly benign
experiences that created physical and emotional imprints for
my son and daughter as they came into this world.
Unfortunately, these scenarios above represent “NORMAL BIRTH”
in our society today. What society continues to accept as
“normal birth” creates lifelong emotional and psychological
trauma. A newborn baby cries, grimaces, flounders, shivers,
and flings her arms as if in panic, terror, helplessness, and
pain. This is the baby’s expression of his or her experiencing
of trauma, shock, of the immediate separation from her mother
for rough interventions (the hospital’s need and timing, not
the baby’s), rather than having uninterrupted, loving, quiet,
physical contact with her mother and father. This allows the
natural occurring experience of hormones that promote
attachment. Body language that we can easily see and respond
to in children and adults is virtually unacknowledged in
newborns at birth and in infants trying to connect with their
parents.
In his book, Birth Without Violence, (an
almost poetic book that describes how beautiful and
sacred birth is and can be expressed), Dr. Fredrick
LeBoyer says that everything we do to newborns at birth
says “welcome, to the mean, cruel world.” It is crucial
for mothers and medical staff to understand that babies
are communicating their experience of fear and anxiety
and for those in attendance to not respond from their
own unresolved trauma imprints of fear and anxiety.
Unacknowledged and untreated, these experiences become
lifelong imprints that create personality and social
issues seen in our society today. The good news is that
these can be mediated even within the medical
environment when medical personnel are trained in and
understand Pre- and Perinatal Psychology. |
Back
to "...heal birth by..."
á
·
We can heal birth by
including
Pre- and Perinatal (birth) Psychology, birth trauma, and the
body-mind connection in obstetrical and pediatric medical
training.
Recall that babies are fully conscious and remember birth.
Medical interventions and routine procedures are experienced
by the baby (from the perspective of the baby) as
violating, invasive, frightening, painful, or violent (even
when interventions are life saving and pain reducing for the
mother). The combination of prenatal and birth traumas is now
known to have a lifelong impact on attachment and relationship
issues, personality, learning disabilities, drug use, and
violent behavior.
Pre- and Perinatal Psychology is not included in Midwifery or
Obstetric or Pediatric medical school curriculums or in their
residency training programs; nor is there intention or
opportunity for students to explore and heal their own
prenatal and birth traumas. Therefore, midwives and physicians
are not trained in the impact of prenatal imprints in the
birthing process, or on the emotional and psychological impact
of the birth process and medical interventions on the baby.
Dr. Le Boyer suggests that every person who is in attendance
at a birth holds their breath (in response to unconsciously
remembering their own birth) and so their own birth trauma is
inflicted onto the newborn.
Physicians and nurses are not trained in the impact of
interventions on women and baby’s emotional, psychological,
and spiritual health, and certainly not in the consciousness
of babies from conception and that babies remember birth.
Perry Klass, M.D., quoted in Medicine and Culture, by
Lynn Payer, 1988, said, “My class in medical school was
absorbing the idea that when it comes to tests, technology and
intervention, more is better. No one ever talked about the
negative aspects of intervention, and the one time a student
asked about the “appropriateness” of fetal monitoring, the
question was cut off with a remark that there was no time to
discuss issues of appropriateness.”
Sadly, nurses, midwives, and doctors are unaware of the
profound role they could play in healing the emotional,
physical, and psychological suffering in the world. By
being aware that a prenate and newborn baby remember
everything that is said and done to them and that these
memories become a lifelong way of being, medical
professionals can make a major contribution to healthy
attachment.
There are two simple, powerful changes that hospitals
and medical professionals can make in their hospital
policies that would promote and facilitate immediate
improvement in attachment and bonding of newborns and
parents. The first is training medical staff that babies
are fully conscious at birth and how to be present with
babies in labor and birthing and the second is altering
the timing of post-birth non-lifesaving interventions so
that mothers and babies have the first hour alone
without interruptions. |
Back to "...heal
birth by..."
á
·
We can heal birth by
understanding
and embracing the “blending of ancient knowledge and inner
wisdom with medical science and technology” (Suzanne
Arms).
Our society can prevent birth trauma when we believe again
that women’s bodies are made for birthing babies naturally and
that technology is for life saving measures, not the
management of birth and of women’s bodies. The miracles of
technology save lives everyday, but technology needs to be
used with care and consciousness, not used to manage birth as
a medical crisis or for other’s convenience. When women and
their medical professionals are supported to each trust their
inner wisdom, they can become partners in birth so that women
are valued and supported to feel safe and are empowered in
birthing their babies.
Without mutual respect, current obstetric practices often
co-create with women a retraumatization of the prenatal period
in the birthing experience. Unresolved prenatal traumas
(that are obviously out of the control of the obstetrician)
predispose babies to the use of interventions and birth
trauma. So, while medical care givers use technology to
save lives and to make birth less traumatic and to ease pain
(without regard for the baby’s perspective) the facts
are that the consequence is that baby and mother (as well
as the medical staff doing the procedure) are all
retraumatized. This happens when the interventions are
done: 1) without regard for the baby’s emotions; 2) when they
are used routinely, hurriedly, objectively, without discussion
with the woman and the prenate; 3) without consciousness about
birth as being sacred; 4) without regard for the emotional and
psychological impact of the intervention; and 5) without
referral to follow-up healing treatment when life-saving
interventions are necessary. See the work of
Dr. William Emerson for
extensive thirty-year observation of the psychological impact
of obstetric intervention.
Women and baby’s bodies and their souls are being hurt
by the violence and the lack of regard for them and by
the disruption of their body’s biological programming
for natural, powerful birth. Obstetricians are taught in
their training that using medical interventions minimize
pain and suffering but pain and trauma-free birth is
rarely the outcome. Often it is the intervention meant
to help that causes pain and trauma. Birth accentuates
what is already present. Women who are already feeling
powerless, who are abused, who are in emotional pain,
who are “suffering” or “in pain” are likely to
re-experience birth as traumatic and violent. It is
often later that the emotional impact comes into their
awareness. The lack of consciousness and compassion in
relationship with women and the disruption of the
natural birthing and attachment process with their
babies deepen their emotional pain. |
As a result, many women feel they are betrayed and abused
again in their births. This is a difficult mix of her own
prenatal traumas over the period of her life AND the
experience of being a woman whose body and birth are being
managed by others. The resolution of this involves women doing
their own healing work and healing work with their babies, and
letting medical caregivers know their needs. It involves
medical caregivers honoring their own inner wisdom, healing
their prenatal traumas, and taking time to listen to and
engage with women in partnership in the health care of women
and babies.
Back to "...heal
birth by..."
á
·
We can heal birth by
reforming
the liability and malpractice regarding obstetrics.
Reform in medicine is needed, and in particular, it is needed
in obstetrics. Malpractice and litigation is well documented
to contribute to the over use and misuse of medical technology
and interventions. It is suggested that this contributes to
the high incidence of developmental issues in our children and
high mortality rates. Currently, the US is ranked among the
third world countries even though the US has the best and most
accessible medical care and technology.
In support of physicians and the appropriate use of
life-saving medical technology, it is absolutely crucial to
look at birth from the prenatal perspective and to question
our present societal perspective that physicians are
responsible for birth outcomes. According to William Emerson
in The Vulnerable Prenate, “whenever there is
significant prenatal stress (trauma), there is an increasing
statistical likelihood that birth complications will occur.
The greater the degree of stress or trauma during the prenatal
period, the greater the likelihood of birth complications and
obstetrical interventions.” (His collected written and
video work is available at
www.emersonbirthrx.com).
This is significant to the future of obstetrics and to
the well-being of women and babies. Prenatal emotional
and psychological experiences that contribute to
difficulties in birth are not within the control or
understanding of the obstetrician and other medical
staff; and yet, the physician and hospital are held
responsible for “bad outcomes.” It results in hospitals
and physicians exerting more control and using more
technology and interventions, making women more passive
and dependent, feeling violated and powerless, and
believing the perception that their bodies are not
efficient for healthy, natural birthing.
This cycle of lunacy is reflected back to us in our
highly litigious, responsibility-avoiding society, and
in the high malpractice rates that all physicians pay
(consumers end up paying). But tragically, it is
creating a battleground of birth and babies are the
casualties. More women are choosing home birth as an
alternative to giving over their bodies and
responsibility to the medical professionals. As a
result, midwifery has become popular again and is
misunderstood and undermined by obstetrics and
hospitals. |
Obstetric physicians complain that they must “practice law”
and are hindered by policies and laws established by hospital
administrators, insurance companies, attorneys, and
politicians. A physician may be sued for malpractice anytime
until the child reaches the age of twenty-one; yet, the
physician has no control over the prenatal period and how a
woman lives her life and cares for herself and her child.
Their personal property, such as family homes is at risk.
Malpractice insurance is now forcing many physicians to stop
practicing. Malpractice insurance in Chicago, IL, has risen
this year to as high as $200,000 per year, and many physicians
are leaving the state to practice elsewhere or leaving
obstetrics.
Physicians must practice according to policies and laws
established by hospital administrators, insurance companies
and HMO’s supported by politicians, none of whom are typically
medically trained. These policies promote and protect the
hospital and physicians because of malpractice; they don’t
necessarily support the best medical practices and care for
mothers and babies. Obstetric Myths Versus Research
Realities: A Guide to the Medical Literature, by Henci
Goer, is an excellent resource for looking at the medical
literature on obstetric interventions from a non-peer
review, non-malpractice prevention perspective.
Technological, medical birth is a big moneymaker for not only
hospitals and doctors; it might just be more so for insurance
companies, and for the attorneys who take a huge percentage of
awards. A recent study about malpractice claims reported that
juries tend to award larger amounts to those with greater
injury even when it is shown that the injury was not due to
malpractice or wrongdoing on the part of the physician. In
other words, jurors are overly sympathetic to the plight of a
child with disabilities or injuries. It is time to turn our
focus to the plight of the unborn child and his or her
prenatal experiences that contribute to the traumatic birth.
Competent and qualified medical treatment is greatly needed
and should be valued. Doctors are doing well what they know to
do when complications occur. Physicians need support from
women and they need changes in malpractice laws to be able to
practice without fear of litigation. Consciously using
interventions and knowing that interventions recapitulate
prenatal traumas can assist physicians to provide medical
treatment in a less-traumatic way, and to reduce “poor
outcomes”. Whether birth takes place in hospitals, birth
centers, or in their own homes, women and their babies deserve
to have access to the best medical technology and treatment in
the world, but to not be violated and controlled by it.
What is within our control is to begin to address in
healthcare for women and babies together — women, physicians,
addressing politicians, hospital policy-makers, and insurance
companies — to participate in creating a new system that
protects against poor, wrongful, negligent practices of a few
physicians, but that values that most physicians do
extraordinary work. Many physicians are also frustrated with
rising medical costs and quality of care. Many of them often
feel overworked, unappreciated, powerless, and are unhappily
engaged in “litigation avoidance” as part of their practice
rather than being supported to follow their own inner wisdom
and to use common sense along with their extensive medical
training. I implore women and men, medical providers, hospital
administrators, insurance companies, and politicians to begin
to work together to heal birth.
Henci Goer reports that in the state of California the eight
malpractice insurance companies are physician-owned. In a
discussion of the high costs of malpractice contributing to
high costs and physicians leaving, I questioned an
obstetrician about this contradiction. He suggested this might
be a result of the state of California placing a cap on awards
so that malpractice was no longer lucrative for insurance
companies. He also reports that the state of Texas provides
state-based insurance for physicians and suggests malpractice
insurance might be better for all parties if within the
jurisdiction of the states. The state of Indiana has a model
system that protects and supports babies harmed by
malpractice, punishes physicians who do malpractice, and has
minimized malpractice insurance. Malpractice insurance is just
one of the major costs that drives up the cost of care and
health insurance, that creates the over use of interventions,
and contributes to the misperception of physicians as being
greedy.
See Suzanne Arm’s website,
www.birthingthefuture.com, for a complete discussion of
birth practices in Holland where virtually no litigation for
obstetric malpractice exists and where the mortality and
health rates are the best in the world.
Back to "...heal
birth by..."
á
·
We can heal birth by
incorporating
prenatal and birth trauma therapy into standardized care of
pregnant women and newborns.
This would allow the medical profession to lay down its
burden of the possibility (reality) that sometimes they
will make mistakes. It would support parents and medical
professionals to understand the impact of prenatal
events on birth and to realize the traumatization that
occurs when they use interventions and technology. When
women can choose to birth in ways that are consistent
with their innate biological processes, needs, and
personal wishes and to take responsibility for their
child’s prenatal life and for their birthing choices,
physicians and women can work together. |
Every obstetrician, pediatrician, and policy maker should be
aware of the thirty-year research of Dr. William Emerson, and
it is worth repeating here, from
The Vulnerable Prenate,
“whenever there is significant prenatal stress (trauma),
there is an increasing statistical likelihood that birth
complications will occur. The greater the degree of stress or
trauma during the prenatal period, the greater the likelihood
of birth complications and obstetrical interventions.”
Every obstetrician should begin to implement Dr. Emerson’s
recommendations and the research supporting Pre- and Perinatal
Psychology, and crucially, to participate in reforming our
litigation and malpractice systems. This would allow the
emergence of the prenatal and birth trauma therapy to become
commonplace and a part of the standard care in obstetric and
pediatric medicine. A therapist trained specifically in
prenatal and birth therapy could be a part of the obstetric
team and practice to assist women prenatally in preparation
for birth. A prenatal therapist could attend to a newborn
immediately at birth. It is crucial to reform the malpractice
and litigation laws to support a physician, midwife, or nurse
to be able to refer a mother and baby to a therapist trained
in prenatal and birth trauma resolution without the fear of it
resulting in a litigious action.
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A Baby's Birth
-
is a continuum of critical periods of
physiological
development that begins even before conception and
completes at the mother's breast, in the arms of the
father, and will be lived throughout life.
-- Janel Martin-Miranda |
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