Nacimiento: Del miedo a la fe

Giving birth in a culture that continually depicts labor as painful and dangerous is a feat in itself these days. Everywhere we look, we’re shown images of women screaming while giving birth, and masked doctors heroically saving the day. TV medical dramas abound with women being rushed into operating rooms for emergency C-sections, and sitcoms are notorious for showing laboring women bitching at their guilt-ridden husbands for making them endure the “trials of labor.” Rarely is birth depicted as a pleasurable experience. No wonder most women fear it.

Some women, in fact, are so afraid of birth that they literally can’t conceive. I spoke with a doctor recently who told me that she was infertile. “My husband and I have had numerous tests and there is absolutely nothing wrong with us physically,” she said, “but I’ve always been terrified of giving birth. I’ve known since I was a child that I was never going to give birth. Do you think my fear has actually kept me from conceiving?”

I’ve spoken with other women who have been able to conceive but unable to give birth vaginally. They, too, have wondered what role fear played in their experiences.

Still others have given birth vaginally, but endured a great deal of pain. One woman said to me, “My sisters and I were all C-section babies. For me, it was a triumph just to give birth vaginally. Maybe next time I’ll be able to eliminate the pain.”

So, as much as some women may criticize me for saying that one way of giving birth is more desirable than another, or that there are goals to strive for in birth, I truly believe there are. And the goal I’ve chosen to strive for is a painless, drug-free, medically unassisted home birth.

Saltan las alarmas —incluso entre las parturientas que no reciben asistencia— cuando hablo del parto sin dolor. La mayoría de las mujeres sienten dolor durante el parto y se ponen a la defensiva si digo que dar a luz no tiene por qué doler. Algunas mujeres sienten que las estoy “culpando” de su dolor, pero desde luego esa no es mi intención. Dada la cultura en la que la mayoría de nosotras nos hemos criado, el dolor, por desgracia, es de hecho algo que cabe esperar en la mayoría de los casos.

Sin embargo, no considero que el parto sea intrínsecamente doloroso, y sé que llegará un momento en el que el parto se disfrutará en lugar de soportarse. Pero para que eso ocurra, debe producirse un cambio en la conciencia de la humanidad y, en última instancia, ese cambio tiene que empezar por cada persona.

Si realmente queremos vivir un parto sin dolor, es útil conocer un poco la naturaleza del dolor, incluyendo su función y su causa. El dolor es una señal que nos indica que algo va mal. No aparece de forma indiscriminada. Solo se produce cuando estamos haciendo algo que no deberíamos hacer. El dolor es un mensaje que nos dice que paremos.

In the case of a laboring woman, it is obviously not a message to stop labor. What then, could the pain be telling us? According to Grantly Dick-Read, author of Childbirth Without Fear, fear is the source of pain in labor. No other natural bodily function is painful, he writes, and childbirth should not be the exception.

When a person is afraid, messages are sent to the body telling it there is a danger out there that must either be fought or avoided. Blood and oxygen are instantly sent into the muscle structure, enabling the frightened person to strike out or run. But the extra blood and oxygen must come from somewhere, so the body drains it from organs it considers nonessential for “flight or fight.” This is why people turn white when they’re afraid. The body knows that the arms and legs need that blood and oxygen more than the face does.

Unfortunately, the body considers the uterus a nonessential organ when it comes to flight or fight. According to Dick-Read, the uterus of a frightened woman in labor is literally white. It doesn’t have the fuel it needs to function the way it was designed to, nor can waste products be properly carried away. Consequently, there is pain. To eliminate the pain, we must eliminate the fear.

Sometimes that’s easier said than done. Fear runs deep in our culture, and many of us could spend a lifetime (or two) purging ourselves of the fear we’ve developed. Even the most “enlightened” people have had childhoods that weren’t perfect. And even a child raised by fearless parents still has to live in a culture that is constantly emphasizing the “dangers” of being alive. I’m reminded of a statement made by Eric Sevareid. “The biggest big business in America,” he said “is not steel, automobiles or television. It is the manufacture, refinement and distribution of anxiety.”

And yet, eliminating fear is not impossible, for there is something much more powerful than the most all-consuming fear: faith. Faith is believing that all is well. Faith is knowing that we’re not alone in the universe. Faith is understanding that the consciousness that created us does not want us to suffer in birth or in life. Faith is trusting that our bodies were designed to give birth safely and painlessly. Faith is accepting the fact that we are the creators of our lives and our births.

Faith is not the opposite of reason. Having faith does not mean that we sit back and do nothing during our pregnancy. When we have faith, we understand the psychological origins of the majority of pain and problems most women encounter in labor, and we do our best to face and conquer our fears. We don’t run to specialists for blood work or urine tests or vitamins, for we know that with good food (neither too much, nor too little), fresh air, exercise and the proper beliefs, our babies will thrive.

Having faith is the first step toward eliminating the cycle of fear, tension and pain that most women experience in labor. Faith leads to relaxation, and relaxation leads to pleasure.

No hay duda de que la energía del nacimiento es poderosa. Pero su poder puede ser como el viento que esparce las semillas del sauce, o como un amanecer que baña el cielo con una hermosa luz amarilla. Esta es mi visión del nacimiento. Sé que algún día el resto del mundo la compartirá conmigo.

Sobre el autor:

Laura Shanley is a writer, speaker, birth consultant and author of the book, Unassisted Childbirth. She lives with her daughter, Joy, and dog, Molly, in Boulder, Colorado, where she maintains the website unassistedchildbirth.com. Laura also writes periodically about the joys, trials and tribulations of being an unassisted birth activist on her blog, laurashanley.blogspot.com.