The Affects of Technology on Childbirth

Introduction

Due to advancements in technology, the dynamics of traditional childbirth has evolved. Technology has had an affect on childbirth and has lead to the loss of choice and control for mothers during the birth of their child. It has lead us to believe that the faster something happens, the better – this is not necessarily true. Childbirth is considered, by many, to be a natural process and it is said to function best when allowed to progress with little or no interference . Although many women think of childbirth as a very natural process, they also prefer to have a medicalized birth, which involves less pain . Women do not realize that during a medicalized birth they are giving up some of their choice and control. We will look at three key ideas explaining how technology has affected childbirth today: the idea of a "pushed birth", the rise in caesarean rates, and how knowledge ultimately leads to more power.

Issues

Many women choose to give birth in a hospital setting; it is what most people do today and it is what most people did in the past. Many women are unaware that they do not have to give birth in a hospital and are able to choose where they want to give birth and who their medical practitioner is that helps them deliver the baby. Only 1% of women in the United States choose to have an out-of-hospital birth. Although a majority of first-time mothers took child-birth education classes, read books, and consulted websites, most couldn’t identify risks of labour interventions they had experienced during their birth. Some didn’t even realize they had the right to refuse them . The biggest issue at the moment is the fact that women do not think that the maternity care system is broken; 85% of women think the care they are getting is 'just fine'. Women are not getting enough information, the kind they need if they are going to demand for better care . Women are unaware that the care they are likely to receive in the hospital is not good for them.

The Idea of a Pushed Birth

A “pushed birth” is a birth that is rushed along via drugs and/or instruments, this is also called an induced labour. During this induced labour, mothers are attached to wires and tubes immobilizing them which is very likely to cause unnecessary morbidity. This idea of a “pushed birth” is not something that women are prepared for – ironically, this is the type of birth that a majority of women are experiencing in the United States today . Women all want the same goal during childbirth, they want a happy and healthy baby and medical practitioners are taking advantage of vulnerable women during a high-stress time in their lives. They are making due with the care that they have and are receiving in hospitals today because they do not know any better. They are not informed that there is better care out there – care that will not rush the birth along, to free up another hospital bed for another patient. Women have to begin to demand for the care that they deserve – they have to demand for better practices .

Rising Caesarean Rates

Caesarean rates have been on the rise for the last four to five decades: in 1965, the rate for caesarean sections in the United States was 4.5 per 100 deliveries whereas in 1991, the rate was 23.5 caesarean sections per 100 deliveries . Emergency caesarean sections only occur if there is a failure to progress in labour and fetal distress, so what is the reason for this drastic increase in caesarean sections? There could be a number of reasons, some of them could be due to culture, education, contraception and abortion. All of these reasons have allowed women to delay having their first baby, but this also comes with its disadvantages. When women delay having their first born child, there is an increased chance of infertility, more chance of having a miscarriage and a rise in caesarean sections. Another reason could be because of our diet. The modern western diet contains a super-abundance of food, especially in sugar and fat with less protein than what they were consuming in the centuries previous to us. This type of diet of refined carbohydrates, sugar and fat, along with a lack of exercise, leads to our rising rates of obesity. It has been said that obese women tend to have larger babies, and bigger babies lead to higher caesarean section rates .

Knowledge Equals Power

When it comes to medical practices during childbirth, having more knowledge about methods used in the hospital, their practices, being able to question authority and knowing your rights as a patient, gives you more power. Hence the term “knowledge equals power”. Birth is considered to be ‘primal and instinctive’ in which the mother is the one that is in control . It seems that more women are encountering medical practices that abolish their control of their own child’s birth. There has been an increase in disappointed women who gave birth in hospitals across the United States. Now many women are shopping around for physicians that they are comfortable with and can trust will give them, as the mother, the ultimate choice during the birth unless the lives of the mother and/or child are in danger .

Summary

Time and technology have affected the way women give birth in hospitals. We have technology to monitor women through pregnancy and birth; this makes it seem like tragedies, such as stillbirths, are preventable because of technology. Doctors began to act as if the technology being developed could predict and solve all problems - this is not the case . Instruments and technology are tools that are to be used by medical practioners, they are not decision-making machines used to replace medical judgment. We need to empower women and give them more control over their choices - especially during childbirth .

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