Bee in my bonnet

I was given medication for a common girly problem (thrush) by a GP over a month ago. When I got home I read the paper that comes with it and it says not to take while pregnant or breastfeeding. Now I'm clearly pregnant, and the doctor didn't ask if I was breastfeeding!! I guess she presumed because Erin was a toddler and I was pregnant I wouldn't be breastfeeding. Why did she not suggest taken Acidophillus, or another harmless, natural probiotic? Why did she not advise me to cut down on sugar and other things that make thrush worse? Why so quick to hand out the drugs? Grrrr. Needless to say I didn't use the drugs and bought acidophillis instead, and am all better. Everytime I go to a doctor I vow not to go again unless I'm on my deathbed. I scared myself about thrush during pregnancy by too much research on the internet but ironically still followed my intuition/common sense at the end of the day.

My other rant: why does the media (film makers, etc) portray birth as a woman lying on her back, screaming, with her legs in stirrups and male doctors & nurses peering at her privates, horrible looking equipment and blood everywhere? I'm sure that this is a great contributor to there being so many interventions and horrible things happening during childbirth...it has helped birth become purely medical, scary and horrid and not at all special and just completely lose it's magic. The media has helped us to lose faith in our ability to birth naturally and beautifully, privately, safely and with dignity. Damn them!!!

Read my birth story or watch the videos below to see what I think birth is really about! Natural birth is so empowering, so incredible...I want every woman to experience it! We forget what our baby goes through coming into this world, why would we not want to experience this with him/her? Why would we want to drug him/her by drugging ourselves, only to wonder why breastfeeding is so difficult or why things don't feel right? Why would we want to increase our chances of postnatal depression? Why do we want to hinder the bonding process unnecessarily?I respect that some woman don't want to feel anything...but I do. I want be there 100% for the birth of my child! I want to feel the pain, I want to feel the ecstasy, I want my babe to be caught by me or my hubby and put straight into my arms...no need to count fingers and toes straight away, right? It's not like counting them right away is going to make any difference...

I know there are occasions when interventions save lives and are necessary, but these are rare. Let's De-medicalise and reclaim birth!