08/04/2022
I think it is important to understand where the maternity bar is set and even more important to understand that you can raise that bar!
The maternity bar is set at the "healthy baby" standard.
Even the definition of a "healthy baby" isn't really exceptional. It mostly means a normal Apgar score. It doesn't take into account how interventions may effect our baby's short and long term physical and emotional health.
In most models of care, the birth mother isn't really considered part of the equation. When the bar is set at "healthy baby is all that matters" your physical health, your emotional health, your birth experience is discounted.
The same is true for our partners and their birth experience.
But you can raise the bar!
You can have a positive birth experience that is respectful, supportive, centred around you as an individual, and that results in a healthy baby, a healthy mother, and a healthy partner.
Birthing mothers are the consumers of the maternity industry.
So we are the ones who can demand that the bar is raised to the level that we deserve.
You can do this by educating yourself - understanding what women centred, evidence based care looks like.
You can do this my seeking out caregivers who provide this type of care.
You can do this by writing birth preferences.
You can do this by hiring a doula.
You can do this by contacting politicians about funding additional midwifery continuity of care options.
It is true that we can't control birth.
But we can always control how we treat a woman who is giving birth.
And we need to raise the bar so that birthing women are always treated with respect, that they are placed at the centre of their birth experience, and that they is supported to make the informed decisions that are best for them.
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