Part I
Regular prenatal checkups, ultra sounds, epidurals, hospital beds, and doctors are a part of the process throughout pregnancy and birth for women within the United States. Americans place a lot of value and trust within this dominant healthcare system. But this is not necessarily the case for the rest of the world. In many developing nations, home births and midwives are considered mainstream. In fact, hospitals and doctors can be feared by women of other countries due to their reputation for being expensive or risky. When we compare birth in the United States to other nations such as the Netherlands, Vietnam, and the Inuit of Canada, we see major differences in what is considered a “normal” birthing process.
Netherlands, like the United States, is considered to be a developed post-industrial nation, however its medicalization of birth is vastly different. Most women, about sixty percent, plan to give birth at home, and not in hospitals (de Jonge A., et al., 2009). Even more interestingly, researchers found no difference in infant mortality or ICU admission of infants between mothers who decided to have home births and those who decided to have hospital births (de Jonge A., et al., 2009). How are home births just as safe as hospital births? Well, the answer lies in the importance the government places on maternity services in the Netherlands. Services are set up in a way that allow women to choose their place of birth, and have peace of mind about the safety of themselves and their baby.
Vietnam has vastly different outcomes despite also having home births like the Netherlands. In the video, The Mount Midwives of Vietnam, Hmong women choose to partake in home births due to the large distance between themselves and the nearest health clinic. Traveling by foot to the clinic at nine months pregnant is risky, and medicalization of birth is not culturally significant. Woman prefer to give birth at home because they are able to perform tradition rituals that they would not be possible at a hospital. For example, the burying of the placenta underneath the bed in a woman’s home after she gives birth. Women are often willing to risk their own safety in order to continue these traditions. Midwives in the mountainous region, shown in the video, are working to transition births from home to clinic in order to ensure safety for mothers and babies. However, cultural ties to home birth are impeding on this transition.
The Inuit of Canada have an interesting story of medicalization of birth. Before colonized by Southern Canada, the Inuit had a nomadic way of life and pursued home births. However, after invasion by modern Southern Canada, place of birth began to shift. The government began insisting that the Inuit be evacuated to Southern Canada, to give birth in hospitals. However, logistical and economic issues ensued, causing concern among the Inuit. Eventually the Inuit community reclaimed birth and the majority of women returned to traditional birthing practices. Expanding upon these cultural differences between the Inuit and Southern Canada, Betty-Anne Daviss writes, “When the elders asked me why doctors think that they own birth, I tried to explain to them that some physicians believe, as preposterous as it may seem, that birth is a medical act. The elders regard it as a community, social, and spiritual act,” (Daviss).
The medicalization of birth has changed, transitioned and developed differently over time among various cultures and regions of the world. It is difficult to determine, if there is one, a right or wrong way to give birth. Factors such as political and social climate, economics, and culture heavily determine the way a nation prioritizes women and families.
References
De Jonge A., et al.,. (2009). New Figures from the Netherlands on the Safety of Home Births. An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
UNFPAasia. (2011, April 27). The Mountain Midwives of Vietnam. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F1dmcJTd9U
Daviss, B. Heeding Warning from the Canary, the Whale, and the Inuit.
Part II
This image strongly depicts the medicalization of birth and pregnancy in mainstream American culture. It suggests that birth should be done in a hospital, with doctors and other medical professionals present. It also shows the use of highly specialized medical equipment to ensure the safety of a pregnancy and birth. It reinforces the idea that birth within a hospital is normal, and home births are not. Dominant American culture highly suggests that birth and pregnancy must be medicalized to ensure safety for both mother and baby, despite the high cost of medical bills, and the option of cheaper birthing plans.
References
Rosenthal, E. (2013, July 01). American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/health/american-way-of-birth-costliest-in-the-world.html
Hi Chloe. According to Daviss, Inuit women had been forced to give birth in hospitals since the 1960s (Daviss, 1996). Was this the Canadian government’s way to make the Inuit people erase their cultural practices and does this show similarity to the historical assimilation of natives into mainstream society? Also, I like how you explained your image and said that it reinforces the idea that hospital births are normal and home births are not. But, with a recent study looking at statistics of birth settings from 2004-2014, it says that the United States increased the rate of out-of-hospital births from 1% to 1.5% (Doyle, n.d). It is a small increase, but it still is an increase, which means that non-medicalization of births is becoming more of a popularized idea in this society. Another point I’d like to talk about is how the Netherlands and the United States have very different statistics when it comes to birth settings, but are both developed countries. I researched a few articles and the Dutch preferred to have their children at home for a few reasons, which are: no anesthetics, more intimate, and the historical Dutch belief that birth is non-medical (van den Berg, 2018).
Sources:
Daviss, Betty-Anne. “Heeding Warnings from the Canary, the Whale, and the Inuit.” Understanding Birth Better, 1996, understandingbirthbetter.com/files/uploads/Heeding-Warning s-Betty-anne-Daviss-Childbirth-and-Authoritative-Knowledge.pdf.
Doyle, Kathryn. “Out-of-Hospital Births on the Rise in U.S.” Scientific American, Reuters, N.d., http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/out-of-hospital-births-on-the-rise-in-u-s/.
van den Berg, Stephanie. “Why the Dutch Cherish Home Births – Expat Guide to The Netherlands.” Expatica: Netherlands, 26 Nov. 2018, http://www.expatica.com/nl/healthcare/womens-health/why-the-dutch-cherish-home-births-100749/.
Hi Chloe. According to Daviss, Inuit women had been forced to give birth in hospitals since the 1960s (Daviss, 1996). Was this the Canadian government’s way to make the Inuit people erase their cultural practices and does this show similarity to the historical assimilation of natives into mainstream society? Also, I like how you explained your image and said that it reinforces the idea that hospital births are normal and home births are not. But, with a recent study looking at statistics of birth settings from 2004-2014, it says that the United States increased the rate of out-of-hospital births from 1% to 1.5% (Doyle, n.d). It is a small increase, but it still is an increase, which means that non-medicalization of births is becoming more of a popularized idea in this society. Another point I’d like to talk about is how the Netherlands and the United States have very different statistics when it comes to birth settings, but are both developed countries. I researched a few articles and the Dutch preferred to have their children at home for a few reasons, which are: no anesthetics, more intimate, and the historical Dutch belief that birth is non-medical (van den Berg, 2018).
Sources:
Daviss, Betty-Anne. “Heeding Warnings from the Canary, the Whale, and the Inuit.” Understanding Birth Better, 1996, understandingbirthbetter.com/files/uploads/Heeding-Warning s-Betty-anne-Daviss-Childbirth-and-Authoritative-Knowledge.pdf.
Doyle, Kathryn. “Out-of-Hospital Births on the Rise in U.S.” Scientific American, Reuters, N.d., http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/out-of-hospital-births-on-the-rise-in-u-s/.
van den Berg, Stephanie. “Why the Dutch Cherish Home Births – Expat Guide to The Netherlands.” Expatica: Netherlands, 26 Nov. 2018, http://www.expatica.com/nl/healthcare/womens-health/why-the-dutch-cherish-home-births-100749/.
Hi Chloe . Like you mentioned in your post, I also believe that Americans highly value and trust the US medical system which is very medicalized. I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t until the early 1900’s that women were using professionalized doctors and had been using midwives instead (Lecture Medicalization of Life Cycle Events). The study from the Netherlands found that there was no significant difference in mortality rate between home birth vs hospital births. Clearly it was shown that having advanced technology and highly trained medical professionals doesn’t seem to have a very significant advantage, so why do you think that the people in the US don’t prefer home births over hospital birth. In fact according to the New York Times, only 1.28 % of Americans have home births. The dominant belief regarding birth is that it would be safer to give birth in a hospital, in a medicalized setting, then why is the infant mortality rate in the US at 5.8% while in infant mortality rate in the Netherlands 3.6% even if they have significantly more home births, around 60% (healthsystemstracker.org).
Hi Chloe, in your blog post, you talked about the trust that the patients have with Western biomedical physicians. I also discussed the same topic at hand in my blog post. I agree that patients put too much trust into biomedical physicians, especially compared to that of people receiving medical care in other countries. The article about authoritative knowledge really supports the view of allowing patients to put all their trust into physicians without having a say so in major procedures. I think that western women should consider returning labor and delivery as a sacred process, rather than a hospitalized procedure. As we discussed in a lecture this week, the emergence of technology, biomedicine, and medical careers have caused an increase in at-hospital births. Also, it can take away the naturalness of the birthing experience due to the medicalization of birth. I am glad that we have the same opinions on authoritative knowledge and birth.