The Birth Survey

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Posted on : 8:44 PM | By : Anonymous | In : ,


I took The Birth Survey today (I started it this morning and 12 hours later completed it).  I wish I could have contributed more to the results, but I like the organization conducting it.  They are trying to fight for mother's right to information about birth intervention.  For those of you who don't know what that is, if you had pitocin, or an episiotomy, or a fetal monitor strapped to your belly, or if the doctor tried to hurry the delivery of the placenta by pulling on it, then you've experienced an intervention.  What most women don't realize in a hospital situation is that you have a right to choose whether or not to have those things done, and that statistics show that interventions hurt you and the baby more than they help.  They may be 'routine', but they are not what's best for mom or baby, they are measures of convenience for the hospital.


I tried for a homebirth for my first, and because her heart rate dropped we ended up at the hospital.  I came very close to having a C-section after 24 hours of labour, but instead had the experience of a catheter, a vacuum suction on my baby's head, an episiotomy, and the baby was not immediately put on me skin-to-skin after she was born.  For a baby, it was traumatic.  I wholeheartedly believe that this traumatic birth made my first born the tense, ultra-sensitive to sounds and touch, slightly OCD child that she is (some people have told me to get her tested for Asperger's, which is a scale of autism).  

The second child had the vastly different experience of a quiet, meditative delivery, being put on my chest immediately, her umbilical cord left intact, and never got whisked away for eye drops.  It shows in so many ways in how comfortable she is with herself and the world, and she feels no stress from simply being in her environment.

Anyway, it's an important survey. :)  Take it if you've had a baby (CORRECTION: within the last three years), and help other moms.

Comments (2)

Attempted to take survey, but you must have had baby within three years.

Gosh - seems like just yesterday and not 15+ years!

Thanks for pointing that out... that's too bad! I wish I had been able to fill it out for my first baby and not my second.