Empowered Birth.
What does this mean? What does this look like? That is up to you.
Does an empowered birth include one type of delivery, vaginal or cesarean, or any type of delivery? Does an empowered birth include pain medications or none? Does it include a top 10 list of items you can check off to know you’ve empowered yourself?
Perhaps it means none of these things. Perhaps it is much simpler than such a strong statement leads you to believe at first glance. Empowered birth could be as simple as the act of an informed choice, regardless of what the choice itself is.
Modern cultural representations of pregnancy and childbirth show women having decisions made for them by care providers or family or even hospital and birth center policy. Instead of being able to make choices based on personal history and risk factors, procedures and policies focus on standards applied equally to everyone. By turning this on its head, through research, individualized care, and informed consent and refusal, pregnancy and childbirth can become a time for you to find your voice, inner power, and self-respect.
Empowered Birth.
Knowing yourself, knowing your choices, making your own decisions.
So how does that happen? Find a supportive community of like-minded individuals seeking better information and choice during their pregnant and childbearing years. Read well-written books and research studies to inform yourself of risks and outcomes for procedures conducted during pregnancy and childbirth. Interview and choose a provider and facility that work with you toward individualized care and offer fully informed consent and refusal discussions for standard procedures.
You can have a positive, empowering birth experience, whether it is vaginal or cesarean, medicated or not, hospital or home – when you claim your power to make the informed decisions.
Find your closest ICAN chapter. Use ICAN’s Education Resources. Use ICAN’s Pinterest Resources.
Photography Credits: Benji Aird; Ella Jardim; Camila Cordeiro; Andrew Branch; Prasanna Kumar; Sergey Zolkin – www.UnSplash.com
