| Chapter 1: | Maternal Expectations in 21st-Century U.S. Birth Culture |
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Nevertheless, any mother who during the course of childbirth hears that she or her offspring faces some risk could easily lose sight of statistics as she deals with her immediate situation, no matter how mild or serious. Mothers in this study reported hearing providers speak of the dangers of carrying the baby beyond the due date, such as more difficult childbirth or an aging placenta or the risk of “stressing their babies out” by continuing to labor. Under the stress of labor and hearing unsettling news from a trusted birth attendant, a mother may understandably prefer to accept the known risk of a potentially unnecessary procedure rather than face the unknown risk of what could happen if she chose to forgo it—even if the intervention derailed her expected experience.
However, the known risks of often casually used contemporary birth interventions are far from minimal. For example, as I discuss more fully in chapter 2, labor induction carries increased risk of infections, blood loss, and hemorrhage (Caughey et al., 2009; Dublin, Lyndon-Rochelle, Kaplan, Watts, & Critchlow, 2000; Mozurkewich, Chilimigras, Koepke, Keeton, & King, 2009). As another example, IAP has been associated with increased maternal and neonatal yeast infections, and up to 20% of children of IAP-treated mothers may later develop resistance to certain antibiotics (Baltimore, 2007; Ohlsson & Shah, 2009; Stoll et al., 2002). Furthermore, treating more women with IAP may trigger growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria, particularly E. coli (Baltimore et al., 2007). The lack of systematic studies on the intervention cascade—labor induction, amniotomy, epidural, and oxytocin—reminds one that more is currently unknown than known about how combined interventions affect short- and long-term maternal health.
As has been the case over the past century in the United States, mothers today generally place their faith in their birth attendants, believing it wisest to trust obstetric professionals and the knowledge they have gained through formal training as opposed to relying on their own maternal instinct or wisdom. Similarly, mothers generally assume that their birth attendants recommend particular obstetric interventions because the occasion warrants it. However, in the United States’ privately financed health-care system, obstetric institutions and many of