Bringing Forth New Life: The Sacred as Bridging Narrative in Childbirth
Amy DeBaets, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
Contemporary childbirth is subjected to the processes, policies, and expertise of the medical system. This system is often criticized for over-medicalization and pathologization as part of an inappropriate co-optation of a natural process by biomedicine. This critique has led to the development of the natural childbirth movement, which emphasizes the routine and nonmedical nature of most childbirth and the importance of the experiences of women undergoing birth. The relationship between natural birth advocates and obstetric and other medical professionals is often adversarial, with both sides claiming to have the best interests of women and their children in mind.
On the one side, women are expected to subject themselves to the strictures of the medical establishment. Women’s bodies are subjected to the ever-changing “rules” of pregnancy: extreme self-disciplinary expectations in eating, drinking, exercising, work, medical procedures, and pain. They are expected to subject themselves to the advice of their physicians and often receive conflicting advice. In this process, the normal bioethical imperatives toward autonomy and respect for the patient are easily discarded in favor of expectations that physicians’ orders will be followed without question in order to avoid even a slight possibility of harm to the developing fetus. The narrative of biomedicine imposes itself on the woman’s process of pregnancy and interprets as pathology any deviation from expected norms.
On the other side, natural childbirth advocates likewise seek to impose a narrative and form of discipline on the women involved in the childbearing process. In this narrative, the natural is assumed to be beneficial, whereas involvement in the medical system is “unnatural” and therefore harmful. The narrative is intended to be empowering to women, but it comes with the expectation that naturalness also means manageable. So the pains of pregnancy and labor are minimized, and women are expected to be willing and able to discipline themselves to accommodate the pain and suffering for the benefit of themselves and the fetus. In no other life situation is refusal of readily available pain management routinely expected.
The often-adversarial relationship between these two dominant narratives that discipline contemporary pregnancy leave women caught in between, trying to manage competing (and often contrasting) sets of expectations in order to become “good mothers.” Thus, there is a need to create safe space for women to flourish amidst these competing narratives and expectations that threaten to override their sense of themselves in the course of becoming mothers.
Providers of healthcare and spiritual care can aid in the process of creating such space for women by opening up an understanding of the sacred in the process of childbearing. The opportunity for women to develop their own narratives of the meaning of childbearing and motherhood within the context of their spiritual communities and traditions can push back on the dominant expectations of both medical and natural understandings of birth. This presentation will explore forms of spiritual care that empower this process of meaningfulness for women becoming mothers.
Contemporary childbirth is subjected to the processes, policies, and expertise of the medical system. This system is often criticized for over-medicalization and pathologization as part of an inappropriate co-optation of a natural process by biomedicine. This critique has led to the development of the natural childbirth movement, which emphasizes the routine and nonmedical nature of most childbirth and the importance of the experiences of women undergoing birth. The relationship between natural birth advocates and obstetric and other medical professionals is often adversarial, with both sides claiming to have the best interests of women and their children in mind.
On the one side, women are expected to subject themselves to the strictures of the medical establishment. Women’s bodies are subjected to the ever-changing “rules” of pregnancy: extreme self-disciplinary expectations in eating, drinking, exercising, work, medical procedures, and pain. They are expected to subject themselves to the advice of their physicians and often receive conflicting advice. In this process, the normal bioethical imperatives toward autonomy and respect for the patient are easily discarded in favor of expectations that physicians’ orders will be followed without question in order to avoid even a slight possibility of harm to the developing fetus. The narrative of biomedicine imposes itself on the woman’s process of pregnancy and interprets as pathology any deviation from expected norms.
On the other side, natural childbirth advocates likewise seek to impose a narrative and form of discipline on the women involved in the childbearing process. In this narrative, the natural is assumed to be beneficial, whereas involvement in the medical system is “unnatural” and therefore harmful. The narrative is intended to be empowering to women, but it comes with the expectation that naturalness also means manageable. So the pains of pregnancy and labor are minimized, and women are expected to be willing and able to discipline themselves to accommodate the pain and suffering for the benefit of themselves and the fetus. In no other life situation is refusal of readily available pain management routinely expected.
The often-adversarial relationship between these two dominant narratives that discipline contemporary pregnancy leave women caught in between, trying to manage competing (and often contrasting) sets of expectations in order to become “good mothers.” Thus, there is a need to create safe space for women to flourish amidst these competing narratives and expectations that threaten to override their sense of themselves in the course of becoming mothers.
Providers of healthcare and spiritual care can aid in the process of creating such space for women by opening up an understanding of the sacred in the process of childbearing. The opportunity for women to develop their own narratives of the meaning of childbearing and motherhood within the context of their spiritual communities and traditions can push back on the dominant expectations of both medical and natural understandings of birth. This presentation will explore forms of spiritual care that empower this process of meaningfulness for women becoming mothers.