SPECIAL INTEREST
BIRTH: THE ULTIMATE FIRST IMPRESSION
Make it a Loving One
(continued)
Another major factor affecting society as a whole in this county is the unfortunate and totally incorrect attitude that we are no longer responsible for what happens in our lives. People often feel that everyone else is to blame for anything that happens to them, so we are very quick to find fault or responsibility in others instead of where it truly belongs - with ourselves! How nice it is to quickly "point the finger" at someone else at the least little sign of problems in our own lives.
The irony of this is twofold. First, we give control of our lives to others by not taking responsibility, and then wonder why our lives are in such shambles. Secondly, when we surrender responsibility for our lives, we surrender as well the opportunity to learn the lessons of life.
The obsession with "pointing the finger" in the opposite direction is a major factor in today's malpractice crisis, which is having a domino effect in a number of ways. One effect is the increase in the cost of insurance and health care and the impersonal results of the insurance companies trying to reduce their expenses. Another effect of the crisis is that it has created fear, caution, inflexibility and impersonal approaches to the practice of medicine, particularly obstetrics. This, in turn, can lead to closed-minded and rigid approaches, instead of attitudes that can create an open-minded atmosphere and a creative and loving approach in childbirth.
The intermixing of rather rigid teaching during medical school and residency training and, at times, an inflated ego, often results in an inflexible physician who truly feels only he knows what is best for the patient. The patients are often not given credit for knowing themselves or having any medical knowledge.
Remember that physicians are, first, people. In most cases, both in medical school and in life generally, they are not taught the higher understanding about the inner and true aspects of the non-physical aspects of mankind. Therefore, like most people, they cannot appreciate the total or whole person. They become "bogged down" in only the physical aspects of life, medicine and the patient. Patients (parents) and physicians alike need to realize the true key to health and life lies within the mind and spirit and not within the physical body alone. The body only reflects what's going on inside.
A major roadblock to what could be called the ultimate birth experience is the generations upon generations of misconceptions, negative thinking and ignorance (or what I like to refer to as "garbage") that we choose to perpetuate. It's time to get rid of the "garbage" and quit letting past thinking get in the way of a much better world. Either difficult or good birth experiences are often passed down through the family. If the patient feels she will have a difficult birth experience, like past members of the family had, then indeed she will.
The key to a good birth experience can be summarized as follows: PREPARATION, EDUCATION AND POSITIVE ATTITUDES. This take time and effort on the part of both the physician and the family.