I think it’s an ingrained thing where we feel the need to have doctors involved in case of emergency. But more and more women are beginning to break free of that “norm”, which is a good thing, because in a lot of cases, doctors seem to have become so insensitive and so sterilized that they’ve forgotten a woman’s body is designed to give birth, and lot of their “suggested delivery protocols” are unnecessary and do more harm than good.
I would like to point out that for my first delivery, I went all doctor all the way, including an epidural and an entire room of staff. I felt very stressed and couldn’t relax and the contractions hurt like hell. They told me to push so hard that I ended up with a third degree tear (and the idiot nurse ended up overstitching me which is why sex is still painful after 10 years). Then, they were in a hurry to get me out, tugged on the umbilical cord to make me deliver the afterbirth faster and ultimately tore my placenta, causing me to hemhorrage for three weeks and ended in a full D&C to correct their fuckup. Directly after the delivery, I had to demand to see my baby, and also had to demand that she not be taken to the nursery. And that damn staff of “medical superheroes” bounced in and out of my room until I finally demanded to be released early, because the bastards wouldn’t let me or my baby get any rest. I was in horrible pain and was so sick for those three weeks that I had no chance to develop that first special bond with my baby because I was incapable of taking care of her.
My second delivery, I used only 2 midwives and a doula. I was completely relaxed with them because no one was scurrying about, pestering me about anything and I breezed through the contractions, even though I was in labor for 24 hours. I did not use an epidural, even though they needed to give me pitocin because I stalled in dilation. I experienced pain ONLY the last 20 minutes, when they hit me hard with the pitocin and I went from 6 centimeters to 10 in about 10 minutes. Everyone was calm about pushing and I didn’t tear at all, even though the baby was bigger than my first. And I was so lucid and comfortable that I was able to immediately put the baby to breast and start nursing. Then they surprised me even further by getting the hell out of my room and letting me sleep. That was the easiest, smoothest, most stress free delivery, and there wasn’t a single bloody “doctor” involved in any of it.
If I ever get pregnant again, I’m going doctor-free again, because all they did was cause me stress and misery when I involved them the first time. And I’d probably be quite comfortable with having the baby at home, with my midwife and doula there to help me.