A Hazy Shade of Edwards...

As I look out the window into the morning sky one cannot help but notice the wonderful tinge of brown that hangs in the air.  Yesterday it was almost like a winter wonderland  from the ash that had fallen on the cars.  Wildfires have been here in California for as long as I can remember - the dry air and the high temperatures make it a perfect environment for burning and then all it takes is one cigarette carelessly thrown out the window of a car or piece of glass positioned just right for the flames to burst forward and consume all. Fire is a truly powerful entity with a life of its own - it breathes, eats and consumes anything in its path with no care to structures or lives. Fire amazes me and over years, I've learned to respect it for what it's nature is.

But, alas, you didn't come here to read about wildfires, did you?

It has been a few days since I've written last. With this post, lets address a topic of discussion that I found of interest on FB.  Something that almost all women find to be very personal - birthing babies.

Oh yeah, I'm going there.  I'm probably about to piss off alot of people.

The topic of home birth was brought up on one of the Edwards groups. Now, this topic has been brought up many times and the results are usually the same. When it comes to birthing babies, we feel it's our bodies and God help anyone who gets in the way of what we want. Any woman who has been pregnant has heard all the arguments for and against home birth vs hospital birth. We've heard the statistics that say that the US has the highest infant mortality rate and that this is blamed on hospital negligence. Various movies have been made tooting the wonderful joys of birthing at home - have it your way without having a doctor tell you what you can and cannot do. To a mother to be who doesn't want the medical interventions such as IVs, Pitocin, Epidurals and C-sections, this sounds like a dream.  So we get it in our minds that we should be able to have a baby where we want, how we want.

However, here's the problem. Edwards AFB says you cannot have your baby on base. It's against the rules. Playing ignorance to this rule is not going to get you anywhere - if you read that little handbook they gave you when you first got your house  it says it in there flat out. You cannot have a home birth, plain and simple. Your inability to read doesn't cover your ass in this case.

But then people bitch.  We take it personal, saying things like "is very difficult to accept that a commander who has no relationship with you to make this decision when it concerns one of the most intimate and life-changing experiences in one's life." (I direct quoted that because I didn't want to paraphrase it and have someone complain I misquoted what they were saying.)  Remember the "leave your brains at the gate"? This is a perfect example of what I mean - do people honestly think Command sits there and says "You know, birthing is perfectly natural and women have been doing it for years but I want to piss everyone off and get involved with shit that doesn't really involve me or the Air Force. So hey, lets make giving birth on base against base rules just to piss off the spouses."? 

These same people bitch about how far it is to Walmart or any other aspect of civilization from this base but forget this very fact when it comes to what they feel they are entitled to when it come to birthing babies. They forget that its a 35 mile drive from housing to the Women and Infants Pavilion in Lancaster (almost an hour drive) or that there's absolutely no emergency medical services on this base beyond an ambulance drive to get you to the WIP. They forget that obstetrician do not make housecalls and that any midwife you hire is nothing more than a nurse. If, God forbid, an emergency happens, all your midwife can do is call the ambulance and pray that you can to the WIP (and to a doctor) in time to avoid death.  The base knows these things and they have put these rules in play for this very reason - they don't want you or your baby dead because emergency medical staff is over an hour away. It is beyond arrogant to believe Command only wants to interfere with your "intimate and life changing experience" - they want to keep you safe. 

Anyone who has even considered home birth has probably watched the documentary entitled "The Business of Giving Birth" done by Ricki Lake (and those who have watched it are forever scared by seeing parts of Ricki Lake nobody wanted to see).  While its a great movie, many of those who use it to toot the horn for homebirths seem to have forgotten that at the end, the producer who they were following (I believe it was Abby Epstein) ended up having medical complications and required transfer to a medical facility for a C-section. Statistics show that when travel is required from home to an obstetric unit, the perinatal mortality rate was documented to be over eight times greater than without this transport. Most people live within minutes of the nearest hospital - we live an hour away. What do you think your chances are if an emergency arose?

You may not need it but if you do, you'll be glad this stuff is available close by

I understand where mothers are coming from when it comes to birthing - I've had kids, I've been there, done that. When I had my children, I knew what I wanted and didn't want. And I discussed these things with my OB/GYN at my very first visit and tested the waters to see how he felt. Granted, I went into knowing that emergencies could arise and that what I wanted would be thrown out the window. Luckily, my doctor listened and knew what I wanted, agreed that I was being reasonable in my requests and agreed to adhere to my desires if possible. If he had not agreed or insisted on menial stuff that I did not want (such as an IV for instance) I would have talked with other doctors until I found one who I could work with. As it was, I did not have to have an IV, was allowed water and ice, could walk around where I wanted, could position myself anyway I wanted and was allowed to labor in a birth tub (I was fortunate the hospital I went to had one in every room).  But I made my wishes known to the doctor up front, not 5 visits down the road when changing doctors would be harder. I also considered home birth as well, since my house was exactly 5 minutes away from a hospital with an exceptional NICU and a surgery suite to do an C-section if need arose. (I decided not to homebirth after the discussion with my OB and his willingness to work with me on what I wanted).  There's no way I would consider it knowing the nearest hospital was an hour away (and more if by some chance there's an accident on the 14).

And guess what? You CHOSE to live on base. You had the option of finding a house outside the gate where you could have done whatever the hell you wanted. Instead, you signed a contract with the government stating you're going to live on federal government property and abide by the rules they tell you to abide by. One can whine and bellyache all they want, don't like it? Tuff.  But rather than suggesting breaking the rules and the hell with what Command says (after all, its your birth, you should do whatever you want) here's a suggestion - rent a hotel room in Lancaster or Palmdale (or LA if you want to birth there) with a jacuzzi in it. Its cheaper than a hospital bill, your midwife can get to it without having to be signed onto base, you're not breaking any rules that can get your husband into trouble with command and leave you homeless when housing finds out, the jacuzzi would be much more comfortable then the small ass bathtubs in housing and you'd be minutes away from the WIP if an emergency arose. 

Doesn't this look so much better than base housing?

Rather than blaming Command or housing for interfering with your rights, lets actually think about the safety issues that are involved. Is birthing in your bathtub really worth the life of you or your baby if something goes wrong?

Until next time.....