Childbirth

I’ve been thinking about this post for a while.  When people find out that I plan to have my baby naturally, they have very strong reactions.  When I tell them that I had Claire naturally without any pain, quickly and easily, they really freak out.  It’s as if they feel condemned or attacked.  They take it very personally.  I even had one person exclaim in a very indignant tone, “I don’t have to be anybody’s hero!”  I must say that this response baffled me.  Why would she have felt so challenged by a personal choice I made?  She asked me a question about the birth of my daughter, and I answered.  She became defensive.  It boggled my mind.  But I think I have finally figured this out – at least to some degree. 

The reason I choose to have my babies naturally is two-fold.  First, it’s selfish on my part.  I HATE the idea of being placed in a hospital bed with an IV, monitors, etc. while I lay there and have a parade of complete and total strangers wander in and out of the room to take a peek under the sheets to see if I’m progressing.  The whole idea of that is simply unappealing to me.  Not to mention that most OBs these days are simply in the baby “business,” meaning they want to get in, get the baby and get out as soon as possible, even it means unnecessary episiotomies and often unnecessary c-sections.  (Please understand that I am all about the end result of healthy mommy and healthy baby, and sometimes these procedures are necessary.  When they are, I’m 100% for it, and I want a very capable OB to be my hero.  However, during this pregnancy, I had to see an OB in Memphis, as there are no birthing centers there.  During my second visit, she required that I sign a piece of paper authorizing her to perform an episiotomy and/or c-section or any other procedure she deemed medically necessary or time expedient.  Time expedient – REALLY?!  Yep!  That’s what it said.  If the doctor simply didn’t want to waste her time to allow my body to do what God created it to do, she could just have me moved into the OR and cut my baby out of my belly so that she could go about her day.  How nice!  And I’m quite certain that her fees, which would have been paid by my insurance carrier, would have been considerably higher given such “time-expedient” necessity.  And afterward, I would just simply have a long and painful recovery – but her time is important!)  And secondly, I honestly and truly believe that God created my body to conceive, carry and deliver babies.  If I believe that God created my body to do just that, then I have to believe that my body is capable of it; and I have to believe that He is able to help me do it.  I have to trust Him.

But at the end of the day, it’s not about me.  To be able to say that I had Claire in six hours from the beginning of my labor until she was in my arms with only 15 minutes of pushing without pain or fear or stress is a testimony to how amazing my God is.  As Creator, He made my body to stretch and expand to carry my babies and to accommodate their births.  As Prince of Peace, He is able to keep me in perfect peace without fear.  As Healer, He is able to keep me from pain and problems during childbirth.  It’s not about me.  I’m not trying to be anyone’s hero.  It’s about my Hero.  It’s about my God.  It’s about being able to come through the whole process safely and being able to share my testimony.  It’s about giving glory to God.

And so, as embark on another delivery sometime this month, I will give birth not just naturally but supernaturally.  And I will write a post testifying about how good my God is.  Not so that I can look like a hero; but so that at the end of it all, God will receive the glory.