In recent years, the revolution of sharing positive birth stories has created a bubble of hope for birthing women. A premise that they can enjoy a birth that is not the traumatic, chaotic, intervention-heavy experience that is often shared in hushed teary post-partum discussions with traumatised friends.
However, surrounding this lighthouse of hope, is the cold stark reality of todayâs birthing world. The often brutal and barbaric way that women (and their support) are treated, both during pregnancy, and in birth. It is almost incomprehensible that the period of time when the pregnant woman should be most cocooned, most held, and most revered, is the exact period of time which she has to endure the most demeaning and humiliating behavior from our so-called âcare providersâ.
Within the first 40 pages of âBirthing Outside the System: The Canary in the Coal Mineâ, the authors provide their own deeply vulnerable birthing experiences, and you immediately understand why they have been compelled to create this important piece of work. A perfect combination of first-person evidence, and research-based data; the results are sobering.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted. This book drives to the core of the problem that exists within our birthing fraternity. That women will feel so unseen, so unheard, so disrespected, that the only way they feel they can claw back their autonomy, a semblance of self-compassion, and a safe space in which to birth their babies, is to do so outside of the glare of the medical professionals.
These are not reckless women. Nor uneducated women. Nor would they necessarily consider themselves brave. These are women who, with the full force of their experience; their own research; and their intuitive knowing, believe that they are better supported, and far less likely to have a traumatic experience, if they birth in a mammalian fashion. In a dark, private space, away from the clinical observation of strangers, and the risk of unnecessary intervention.
The risk is the indifferent readers will assume that this book is solely about women who chosen to have a freebirth with no medical practitioner by their side. This is the wrong assumption. This book is about the decision-making process for ALL birthing women, and the intricacies of aligning their own personal experiences of body autonomy, including previous births, a loss of control, sexual abuse, and other physical trauma, with their current journey.
This is a book that I had to read over time. The contempt shown for birthing women, in all regions across the globe, was hard to digest. I found I had to pause my reading, process my feelings (and often cry), send healing love to the women involved, and step away for some fresh air, before I could return to the next chapter.
But this is exactly why we all need to read this book. To acknowledge the depth of the dehumanizing practice that is birth in the 21st century. Hiding away from the painful truth, and jokingly perpetuating the persistent belief that birth has to be traumatic, only exacerbates the problem. We all need to be aware of the systemic and persistent toxicity that exists towards pregnant women, in order to change the conversation, and the outcomes.
Hannah Dahlen, Bashi Kumar- Hazard, and Virginia Schmied, have given a voice to the rising tide of women who are seeking a different experience by stepping outside of âthe systemâ. Those women who are questioning the legal and moral basis of the practices that are so commonly experienced within the current care provider â client relationship. And in doing so, who are shining a light on a much-needed, yet highly charged, conversation for all women.
May our daughters and our daughtersâ daughters benefit from the bravery of the women who have shared their stories in âThe Canary In The Coalmineâ. You have been heard.
The Canary in the Coal Mine edited by Hannah Dahlen, Bashi Kumar-Hazard and Virginia Schmied, is published by Routledge and is available from all good book sellers.Â
Review by Shalome Stone, Editor of RockStar Birth Magazine www.rockstarbirthmagazine.com
Find Shalome on instagram at @rockstarbirthmag
As the Founder and Editor of the Rockstar Birth Magazine and Rockstar Birth Radio, Shalome is dedicated to empowering pregnant mamas to replace their fear of pain with the insights and self-belief to roar their baby out by creating their own informed, empowered and amazing birth experience.
Shalome is the former Editor of the Homebirth Queensland print magazine Down To Birth, and passionate about providing birthing choices for all women in terms of optimal location, support team, and collaborative informed care, on an individual birth-by-birth basis.
She is the mother of 3 high spirited Rockstars, and bonus mother of 2 amazing teenage girls, and wants ALL women to know that they are born to birth. Everything you need is already inside of you. You can rock your birth.