Since today is my blog's 6 month birthday, I thought this was an appropriate article to share - No Birth Should Be Left Up To Chance by Carolyn Mile, President and CEO of Save The Children. She shares one Nepalese woman's story about giving birth to her child alone. ALONE. I cannot imagine doing it alone. One of the reason's that I chose to have a natural childbirth with a mid-wife was because that I knew that millions of woman around the world do give birth every day without the "help" of pain drugs and unnecessary hovering, tests, and interventions by nurses and doctors. If they could do it, I thought I could do it too. And I did. But once is definitely enough for me and I am lucky to be able to make that choice. And I am lucky that I had the choice to give birth in an informal home setting, but to still have a qualified mid-wife to assist me. I would never have chosen to give birth totally ALONE. What a terrifying experience.
Millions of woman do not have the choice. Birth is a part of life and their lives do not involve high tech hospitals and on-call physicians. But they do need basic medical assistance so that birth does not become death. You can help Support Save The Children in their campaign to make sure that all births are attended by a trained health worker.