Monday, April 5, 2010

what is "birth unplugged"?

I have been considering starting a birth blog for a while now. I finally decided to do it. I chose for the name of my blog "Birth Unplugged" and I'd like to use this, my first post, to explain why.

I thought of the phrase while preparing for the recent birth of my second child. It was really important to me for this birth to go the way I wanted. My first birth was not traumatic, it just wasn't ideal for me. I decided, sort of late in my pregnancy, (I'm sure I'll write more about that in future posts) that I wanted minimal medical intervention. I wanted my body to control the birth process, but it didn't work out that way, because I ended up getting induced.

By the time I was fully dilated, It felt to me like the machines had taken over my birth. I didn't need to produce oxytocin with a machine was steadily dripping pitocin into my blood stream, and there were monitors on me to make sure it was the right amount. I didn't need endorhins because another machine pumped pain killers into my back, I didn't even need to drink or pee because the machines fed me IV fluids and drained my bladder. I had five different tubes/wires connecting me to machines during my birth.

There are times when all of this medical stuff is necessary, but unfortunately, this birth-by-machine model has become the norm in our society. For my second birth, I wanted something different. I wanted to give birth of my own body's power. I wanted to birth unplugged. Unplugged from the machines. Many people don't understand natural childbirth because they are looking at it in terms of a choice between pain and no pain. To me, it is more about power than it is about pain. It is not just about not using pain medication, but about avoiding a whole host of other medical interventions that usually come along with pain relief and take away the woman's body's control over the process of birth.

I am a music lover. I was familiar with the term "unplugged" in reference to acoustic music performances. I did some looking around and found this definition at the Encyclopedia at traditionalmusic.co.uk:
unplugged (see buzzwords) implies some sort of essential purity and back-to-the-roots. In fact, it means that the performers are using microphones and acoustic instruments instead of pickups or electric guitars. (http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/traditional-music/ency/u.htm)
I love the "essential purity and back-to-the-roots" part. I think that birth without unnecessary routine use of technology also fits this definition. Acoustic versions of songs are beautiful for their intimacy and simplicity, the same direction I would love to see childbirth go.

2 comments:

  1. Lovely post. Welcome to the Birth Blogging World!

    I love the idea of birth unplugged.

    I felt like I wasn't even needed with my epidural birth. The machines took over and once I was no longer needing my husband we weren't connected either. It was an odd feeling.

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  2. Great minds think alike?

    Four years ago after reading the book Pushed by Jennifer Block my thoughts and reactions were overflowing such that I was contemplating (read: fantasizing about) writing a book myself. My title? Acoustic Childbirth: Birth Unplugged.

    Now planning a website and blog I decided to check who may have already used my idea. . . that's how I found you. :-)

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