Medical vs. Mother Nature

Today, there is an alarming trend in birthing. Many mothers and doctors are choosing their due date rather than allowing nature to decide.

In our fast-paced world full of conveniences, many moms and their doctors are now ensuring that birth will be conveniently timed as well. How? They're working together to plan an induction or a scheduled C-section.

Induction has been utilized in the past, for various legitimate medical and non-medical reasons. Yet, in recent years, it has increased at a disturbing rate.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 1997, 18% of all births were started artificially, compared to just nine percent in 1989. The rate rose to 15% in women delivering with a midwife.

Recently, I was speaking with a doula (birthing coach) who works with many of my patients, and she offered an interesting perspective on the subject. She said that she regularly sees doctors wait until they are able to choose an obscure symptom, or (through ultra sound) determine that the baby weight is too large, after which they make the determination to induce. After the induction has begun, it typically leads to a domino effect of medical intervention.

When labor is artificially induced, the induction usually leads to one of two things: no labor, or a violent labor.

In the first scenario, when no labor occurs, the doctors will normally take very aggressive steps to get labor started, which can potentially cause great trauma to the uterus. This was the case with a woman we'll call "Mary."

Mary's doctors decided to induce at 36 weeks. They stated that she had high blood pressure and they were afraid of preeclampsia (of which high blood pressure is only one of the symptoms).

They began by giving her prostaglandin gel to soften the cervix. As this did not produce labor within six to eight hours, they took the next step of giving pitocin (synthetic oxytocin), not once, but twice. When she still didn't begin labor, the physician artificially ruptured her membranes (bag of water that surrounds the fetus).

After all of this, Mary was exhausted and too tired to push, thus resulting in a vacuum extraction delivery. Consequently, she gave birth to a very sickly child, (an obviously very subluxated child) who since birth has had various routine infections, including ear infection which led to ear tubes.

In the second scenario, violent labor occurs. When this happens, it's very difficult and painful for mother and child. The potential exists for many severe complications.

Another mother we'll call "Jane" had this experience.

Jane was given synthetic oxytocin to induce her labor. After labor began, her body naturally produced oxytocin from her pituitary gland. This resulted in an overabundance of oxytocin, which put her and her baby at risk.

Finally, her uterus ruptured, and the doctors had to work quickly to save the baby's life. They performed a vacuum extraction delivery causing birth trauma and a severely handicapped child. This child, just 10 minutes earlier, was a perfectly healthy baby. Too much pitocin lead to devastation.

Violent contractions that often occur as a result of synthetic oxytocin not only cause the mother extreme pain and suffering due to more violent contractions, but can result in severe subluxation to the infant, as the baby's head is slammed into the floor of the pelvis.

Inductions also raise the probability of a patient receiving a C-section for two reasons.

First, if the oxytocin causes the contractions to become too strong and frequent, this can result in distress to the baby. Second, if the water has broken and the mother has not delivered in 24 hours, doctors may fear a uterine infection. Both will result in a cesarean section.

It's unfortunate that we can observe a trend of worsening consequences the more technology is utilized in the birth process. Originally, technology was used to eliminate the need for more technology (i.e. rule out certain conditions to avoid radical procedures). Now, it simply encourages it.

This is the domino effect which I spoke of earlier. The question is, why interfere in the first place? Why are they performing routine procedures like ultrasound in normal healthy births?

There is actually a movement now encouraging women to have C-sections rather than vaginal births. Incredibly, a midwife I work with recently heard a well-known obstetrician say, "In this day and age when C-sections are so safe, there is no reason to have a vaginal birth."

In fact, I was just informed that a major obstetrical conference will soon be held on the topic of "C-sections On Demand." They are apparently holding meetings touting the benefits of C-sections, while disparaging vaginal birth with topics including, "Vaginal birth and damage to the pelvic floor."

We need to encourage mothers to use discretion in their choices throughout their pregnancy and birth. In this society of immediate gratification women often do not consider the ultimate consequences, focusing only on the here and now. They fail to recognize that it is not easier to depend on technology rather than their own inner wisdom.

The ultra sound units, electronic fetal monitors, and other machines should be collecting dust rather than routinely relied upon. When true emergencies occur, we thank God that we have this technology available, but we must keep in mind the possible outcome.

Our bodies (free of interference) always do the right thing on the right time schedule. Although this may sometimes differ from your daytimer, or your obstetrician's golf game, only your body knows what is right for you. This may mean that the due date the doctor calculated may not be the correct time for your baby to be delivered. The baby may deliver sooner or later.

In the old days, midwives used to give patients a due "month" rather than a specific day. This allowed for flexibility, for the body to deliver naturally when it was ready, and for the expectant mother to remain calm and relaxed, not nervous that she was three days past her due date.

By inducing labor and scheduling C-sections out of convenience, the medical community is once again getting involved were it doesn't belong. It is up to us to educate mothers to stand strong in their conservatism. The motto should be: "Don't do anything but let the body function naturally the way God intended." We need to advocate no compromise, because we are the only ones who stand by this axiom.

Comments or questions about issues raised in this column or regarding children's wellness and chiropractic in general may be directed to Dr. Theresa Warner by phone at 732/295-5437; fax, 732/295-1166; or e-mail, info@chiropediatrics.com.)