Joyous Childbirth Changes the World (eBook)

Foreword by Ina May Gaskin A true scientist is one who, on observing behavior and phenomena that do not conform to the received wisdom of his profession, is open-minded and brave enough to adapt his thought and practice to the deeper reality that he has perceived. Pioneers of this kind may experience great joy and satisfaction at their discovery, believing that their clarity of understanding will be obvious to everyone else. But those who have tried differing with established medical theory and practice often learn that simple concepts that create joy and save lives can be very hard for their peers to accept. This can be a lonely road. The lives and careers of Ignaz Philip Semmelweis, Joseph Lister, and Grantly Dick-Read--great scientists all--illustrate what can happen to the person who goes in the direction that science and common sense beckon, even when that means disagreeing with medical orthodoxy. Each received a significant dose of ridicule from professional colleagues, and in the case of Semmelweis, from those who had positions higher in the medical hierarchy than he enjoyed. Lister was the only one who lived to see significant change come about during his lifetime as a result of his work. Tadashi Yoshimura is such a pioneer in the field of modern obstetrics. He knows that both midwives and obstetricians must be part of the maternity care team and they must be highly skilled. At the same time, he recognizes that when women's lifestyles are as healthy as were their great-grandmothers' regarding their nutrition and levels of every day activity, most women will be able to go through their pregnancies and births in such a way that the obstetrician's services will be unnecessary, because the midwife's direct care will be sufficient for these healthy women who thus carry no great fear about the process of labor and birth. What this means in a practical sense is that the obstetrician should be the part of the maternity care team who is always there to go into action when needed but also be willing to stand aside when he or she is not needed. This requires a great deal of dedication and restraint on the part of the obstetrician, and a great respect for nature and for women's capacities to give birth. This difficult balance is one that Yoshimura's clinic has achieved over several decades of serving Japanese families. It requires a staff of midwives and obstetricians who have very high esteem and respect for each other and for nature. It is rare that a practicing obstetrician will reject the model of care that he or she has been taught to provide in favor of incorporating a model that accepts the necessity of a strong midwifery component. The long history of tension between the professions of obstetrics and midwifery makes this a difficult and isolating career choice for an obstetrician. I have been privileged to visit Yoshimura's clinic on two occasions, and each time I was struck by the powerful example of the work being done there and the lesson it offers maternity care systems in crisis in various parts of the world, where too many cultures have become superstitious in their worship of high technology methods applied to pregnancy and birth. One visit was on the occasion of an obstetricians' meeting at the Yoshimura clinic. About fifteen obstetricians from various parts of Japan were in attendance, along with one US obstetrician whose own wife is a midwife who assists home births. During that three-day meeting, it became evident that Yoshimura's message is beginning to reach some of his younger colleagues, who are each noticing what happens to obstetrics and midwifery as cultural levels of fear of birth rise. Dr....