Hannah Barker

English 298
9 February 2013
A Mothers Journey
When I decided to interview my mother, I was expecting to talk to her about
her job counseling nurses and doctor at a district hospital in San Diego. Instead, she
opened up to me about real personal experiences that affected her view on
healthcare from the perspective of a patient. Ultimately, the experiences she had
pushed her into the work she now practices. The story of my mothers first two birth
experiences shows her transition from being at the whim of the hospital staff to
taking control of the decisions for her body and her unborn child. My mothers first
birth experience made her feel like she was at a corporation trying to ensure
efficiency and control rather than a hospital whose main concern was caring for the
patient. However, after her first birth, she decided to take control over her body and
her decisions for the delivery of her second child. Although doctors and hospital
staff pushed to have my mother to have a second C-section schedule, she resisted
and decided to pursue a natural birth. My mother believes that by resisting the
requests to schedule a surgery, she was combatting with the hospitals tendency to
try to make every patients illness and recovery as efficient and profitable as
possible for the hospital. Through the narrative of my mothers experience, flaws in
the health care system are revealed that suggest hospitals take advantage of
modern medicine to push women into labor and birth in an attempt to make profit
and keep the patients stay as short as possible.
During her first birth, my mother had many obstacles through labor that
ultimately forced her into an emergency C-section. Without the hospital protocol,

my mother could have delivered a perfectly healthy baby through a natural birth.
Instead, she experienced breathing problems and had to have the baby monitored
for possible brain damage. When she first went into labor, my mother went to her
doctor and asked whether she should go to the hospital immediately or wait a little
while longer. The doctor told her she needed to go to the hospital right away.
Being a first time mom, she listened and drove straight to the hospital. Once she
checked in and was settled into the birth unit at the hospital, the nurses told her
that she could not leave. She wanted to go outside and walk around because she
was not very far along in labor and she had a long time to wait until her cervix was
fully dilated. Then, after five or six hours without progress, the hospital was going to
send her home. Finally, labor kicked in and she was dilated four centimeters. At this
time, she was administered an epidural for the pain. Along with the epidural, my
mother was given another drug by the name of Oxytocin to induce labor. However
being a small woman standing only four feet and ten inches, my mother said that
the induced labor was too much, I have a sensitive system. From there, things
only went downhill. As a result from the drugs she was administered, my mothers
blood pressure dropped to a dangerously low level and had to receive immediate
oxygen and an IV. Because of the lack of oxygen, a probe had to be inserted to
monitor the baby for brain damage or other complications. Additionally, my
mothers cervix began to swell close because of the damage of continual
examinations and procedures. Now, after twenty two hours of labor, the dilation
began going in the opposite direction. At the same time, the baby started to show
distress in its heart rate. After coming in for a normal birth, my mother was forced
into an emergency Caesarean Section without an option for a natural birth. My
mother explained that she went along with the hospitals process because I was a

scared first time mother. I did everything my doctor told me. I didnt question it. My
doctor was God. But, looking back on the experience my mother had the
realization that her experience was a result of the hospital wanting to control the
process and create the least amount of risk and liability for them. Looking back on
her experience now, my mother describes that It felt more like a corporation than a
hospital-I didnt have the support that I was supposed to.
When it came to her second birth, my mother decided to take control of her
experience. Right from the start, the doctor recommended scheduling a second Csection for the birth. My mother immediately resisted, but recounted the doctor
(that preformed the first birth as well) trying to sell her on the idea by saying this
way you can plan for it and that it was her to her benefit because you are a small
woman anyways. My mother immediately thought that the real benefits were those
of the hospitals gain. By scheduling a C-section, the hospital would be able to bill
for the surgery, total control would be given to the nurses and doctors, and not a
moment of labor or support would be necessary during the birth. My mother quickly
came to the realization that the true profit was that of the hospitals gain and she
decided to look for another doctor that would allow her some control back in the
process. She admits that I wanted someone to support me. I didnt buy that I
couldnt have had my first birth naturally. Through her search, my mother found a
new doctor and told her that she wanted a VBAC (or Vaginal Birth after Cesarean).
The new doctor supported my mothers decision and also recommended a midwife
birthing classes in order to be in touch with the more natural aspects of birth. And
although at the time hospitals didnt allow midwives to attend the births, she could
still use one as a source of knowledge, information and support. In the first midwife
birthing class that she attended, my mother was handed a card that read Trust the

Birth Process. Now faced with a new approached to birth, my mother started to
look at birth very differently. Obstacles to come that tested her decision for a
natural birth did not deter her from trusting the process and using her own body to
control the outcomes she wished for. The first obstacle that arose was that at 36
weeks, the baby was sideways in the womb. The midwife gave my mother yoga
exercises to do every day to help the baby turn around. My mother was very
committed to this and within three weeks, the baby had turned. Then, during labor
another obstacle arose where the baby was sunny-side up- (meaning that the baby
face was up instead of down, posing the potential threat of breaking its nose or
damaging itself on the mothers tailbone). Miraculously, the doctor was able to
manipulate the baby to turn while in the canal. After a successful birth of a healthy
child, the last obstacle presented itself. My mothers low-lying placenta was torn and
cause hemorrhage postpartum bleeding. Fortunately, my mother and the doctor
had planned for this and they had stored some of her own blood ahead of time. My
mother was proud of herself for sticking to her decision to have a natural birth and
proudly acknowledges I worked through every single one of the problems that I
faced. And this time she left the hospital, she felt as though she had a great birth
experience despite possible issues that arose. In a victorious mindset, my mother
proclaimed, I didnt let the process go to the authority structure of the hospital and
I had a healthy baby and a wonderful experience. And although she regrets that
she wasnt encouraged to be in touch with her body as a woman through the first
birth, she felt that she accomplished that goal the second time around.
In Western culture, giving birth is often treated as a medical procedure
instead of a natural process in life. The medicalization of giving birth has taken
away the control of the women giving birth and handed it over to the hospital staff

that assist in delivering a healthy baby. The medical model of efficiency and the
goal for profit has made standard practice into a rush and potential dangerous
process. Taking away all of the control from the mothers is intended to control the
process of the birth for the hospital. And although it may help ensure the safety of
the mother and the baby, it could also inflict damage by failing to listen to the body
of the woman giving birth. If my mother had been trusted to give a natural birth the
first time and hadnt been rushed into labor for the benefit of the hospital not
having to commit extra time to her as a patient, there is no reason why she couldnt
have had a perfectly routine and healthy natural birth. And although she is thankful
for her healthy baby, now twenty years of age, she still supports the idea that every
mother needs to trust her body and do what she knows is best for the baby she is
carrying.