And yet you ask, “Can Chiropractic cure appendicitis or the ‘flu”?” Have you more faith in a knife or a spoonful of medicine than in the Innate power that animates the internal living world? ~ BJ
This has been going on for sometime now. Wanting outside interference to heal what’s going on inside. Not trusting that our body’s Innate Intelligence is smart and wise enough to heal even a cut. Get out the Neosporin!
It’s no different with birth. If you want to see me fired up, make a comment that post dates are not ‘normal’ or that once a c-section, always a c-section or any other number of stupid things said and done to pregnant women and babies in our country. I was recently reading this blog post and this made me really red in the face:
“The doctor who told a woman she would never dilate because he had been trying to induce her without results. The woman was only 38 weeks pregnant, and had no medical need for induction. The doctor was going out of town the next week and wanted to deliver the patient himself. Her cervix was not ready for labor, and thus would not dilate. Rather than stop the induction and give her a chance to go into labor on her own closer to her due date, he told her that her cervix was unable to dilate and she would always need c-sections.”
I have to say though that one of the things that pushes my buttons the most is due dates. It reminds me of how every person is supposed to be this average temperature of 98.6 degrees and if it gets too high we must interfere, instead of trusting that the body is regulating YOUR temperature just right, especially with no nerve interference presence.
Well, now there is an average expiration date given to women based off the lunar cycle of the moon. It is 40 weeks, as you know. And if you don’t have that baby within 38-40 weeks, sometimes up to 42, then your body is broken. Sorry. You don’t know how to grow a baby and somehow the baby forgot he or she is supposed to come on out.
I had quite a few discussions on Facebook about this today. One woman said she asked her doctor to get the exact % increase in risk she had going post dates (even past 44 weeks). He didn’t know and once he looked into it, it was 1%.
Another mama pointed out that her and one of her patients (she is a chiropractor) conceived at the same time. The patient had her baby naturally in the hospital at 37 weeks. The chiropractor had her baby 4 weeks past her due date. They had their babies 7 WEEKS apart. Who’s was the correct one? Which baby got it right? They both did!
When OB’s and midwives try to tell me that my baby might die post dates, I get so irritated. First of all, don’t put your fears on me. Not taking any new ones right now. Keep it. Secondly babies die. Which is horrible and heartbreaking. But you know what, I would wager that more babies die PRE dates than post dates. There are so many other factors involved.
Yes, we all have fears, but it is up to us to let the fears control us or to face them head on, take them head on and kick them to the curb. Find your way to work through them. When they pop up again, find out why, educate yourself and find peace with them.
I have successfully created, carried and birthed (well, my c-sections weren’t ‘births’), FOUR beautiful, amazing children. I am blessed. My last 3 babies all arrived between 42-44 weeks. They knew when they were ready. There was no one that could know better. No monitoring was needed. My body, my intuition and my baby all knew that everything was perfect. I’ll trust that. I’ll trust my body. I’ll trust birth.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Please know that fetal demise is not the only risk. Please refer to the american college of Obstetrics and gynecology for further information on all the risks to mom and fetus with post-term pregnancies including increased rate of fetal demise, but also meconium aspiration, intrauterine infection, placental insufficiency, and increased risk of death in the first year of life. The mother is also at risk with labor dystocia, increased need for emergent cesarean, perineal nerve injury.
Helen, no one is saying those things aren’t risks. But here’s a question… Why aren’t these things big risks when a woman is 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant, but they are at 40 weeks and 1 day? I think the point is that 40 weeks is an average, and a flawed one at that. Some women will birth before 40 weeks, and others will birth after 40 weeks.
Look up the stats of infant mortality, and I think you will find that infant mortality rates are MUCH higher when birth is before the due date as opposed to after that due date. We have the wonderful interventions of forceps, vacuum extractions, c-sections, etc.. to thank for that.
Thank you for this post. As a mother expecting number 3 in August, we’ve opted to plan an unassisted home birth to stay away from all of the distrust of the birth process and unnecessary interventions of the medical community. It’s time for the medical establishment to start using evidence based practices and quit making things up. For instance, It really irks me that so many doctors and hospitals are “banning” VBACs (when they were the ones that did the unnecesarean to begin with in most cases.) I just learned today that VBACs carry a 1% uterine rupture rate, the same uterine rupture rate as amniocentesis. So why aren’t they banning amniocentesis. Most OBGYNs are more than happy to sign you up for that before you baby is even old enough to survive a uterine rupture!
I also think that instead of focusing on what could go wrong in a pregnancy, doctors and midwives need to be focusing more on prevention. Proper nutrition and self care is basic to a healthy and complication-free pregnancy, which can be attained by the MAJORITY of women. Basic and Natural health care can prevent gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and more.
I have experienced first-hand the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy this time around. Regular chiropractic care promotes overall health and optimal positioning of the body (and baby) for labor and birth. I am so thankful for my chiropractor! He is the only medical care I have needed during this pregnancy.
Amen to that! As a mother to successful, beautiful five home births after regular weekly chiropractic care (and that is thirty years ago!!) I feel like the grandmother of them all! Interestingly I was told first time around that I would need a C section. I found another doctor!!