Battles in the Birthing Room There is a war raging in many hospital maternity wards these days. On one side, possibly playing Goliath, is the traditional medical establishment. On the other, possibly playing David, are doulas and midwives and non-traditionalists. During the birth of my new son Joshua William Biddulph in late June, I got caught in the middle. It wasn’t pretty, but then wars never are. But first the good news. My son was born healthy and happy. He’s eight pounds, one ounce and is 20 inches long. My wife is doing fine. This is my third child, and every experience gets easier in many ways. This was the first time I used a doula. Until just a few months ago, I was like many of you and had no idea at all what a doula is. “Doula” comes from a Greek term for the most important house servant who helped women through their birthing process. The term has come to mean a woman who helps the mother-to-be emotionally, physically and spiritually prepare for giving birth and then is there during the delivery to be the advocate of the mother. In practice, most doulas believe in completely natural childbirth. They tend to believe that society has turned childbirth into a business, a dirty business. Many doulas do not believe that God created childbirth to be painful – and in fact doulas and midwives often tell stories about women who had completely pain-free deliveries. In addition, many doulas believe that the medical establishment encourages unnatural delivery methods and pushes drugs on patients that are unnecessary and perhaps even damaging to the women and their babies. Our doula was an advocate of a birthing process that uses positive reinforcement to encourage women to relax during delivery to make it as pain-free as possible. She is also a yoga instructor whom my wife Cindy met while taking pre-natal yoga classes. A few weeks before the baby came, she met with us and made some of the following points:
I saw evidence of all of these things going on during Joshua’s birth. Suspicious Nature But first, some warnings. I am not an anti-medical establishment activist. I am by nature suspicious of doulas, midwives, non-traditionalists and yoga instructors. At least part of my suspicion comes from the fact that I grew up in a California hippie community in the 1960s and 1970s, and I’ve become very doubtful of much of the pseudo-science I heard in my youth. In fact, the vast majority of things California hippies claimed in the 1960s and 1970s has turned out not to be true (do you remember when environmentalists claimed during the 1970s that the world would run out of oil by 1985? I do). So, I was not quick to buy the anti-establishment rhetoric from doulas and mid-wives. But in this case, there are reasons to believe the non-traditionalists. At least, that was my experience. Before labor started, we met with the doctor and the nurses and gave them a written birth plan. There were certain things we wanted to happen during the birthing process (no yelling and screaming at us, immediate contact with the baby, etc.), and we had asked that our wishes be respected by the medical staff. A few weeks before my wife went into labor, her doctor was already hinting that her baby was too big and she would need to be induced, a procedure that might have led to a cesarean (he ended up being 8 pounds, 1 ounce, slightly over normal but not too big). If my wife had not firmly told him that she did not want to be induced or have a cesarean, he may have pushed her into unnecessary surgery. In fact, according to this web site more than half of all births at South Miami Hospital, where my wife had the baby, are cesareans, one of the highest rates in Florida. The Conflicts During the delivery, the doctor performed an episiotomy on my wife even though I asked him to wait and let my wife push naturally. He simply picked up the scissors and snipped her perineum when my wife was still pushing. The reason was, of course, to speed up the delivery of the baby. My wife had pushed four times, and the doctors and nurses were tired of waiting. So, it was time for an episiotomy. But could he have avoided this surgical procedure if he had waited another 15-20 minutes? Most assuredly. My wife made it through 95 percent of labor without using an epidural. At the end, she could not stand the pain and asked for drugs. The anesthesiologist forced me and the doula to leave the room while he gave her the epidural (I’m not sure he has the right to do this, and I protested several times). While he was giving her the epidural, she transitioned into a position where she was ready to push the baby out. In other words, the drugs were no longer necessary because labor was almost over. But he insisted on giving her a spinal (even stronger than an epidural). I still do not know why, and the anesthesiologist could not give me a good explanation. The hatred the medical staff had for our doula was impressive to watch. From the moment she walked in, the nurses treated her with complete contempt. They contradicted and interrupted her constantly. Her role was to provide support and guidance to my wife, but the nurses clearly did not want her there. It reached the point where as my wife was bearing down to push Joshua into the world, a nurse on one side was yelling at Cindy to push and the doula was whispering quiet encouragement on the other side. The nurse literally told our doula to shut up at least five or six times. It was very ugly. In our birthing plan, we had asked not to have a birthing environment involving shouting. This was ignored. We had asked for the umbilical cord to be allowed to pulse out completely with immediate contact of Joshua on his mother’s stomach. This was ignored as the medical staff pushed us to get it over with quickly. We asked for our baby to be allowed to breast feed immediately. This was ignored for almost a half-hour. Not Pain-Free It’s worth pointing out that the birthing procedures did not create pain-free labor for my wife. Her last two hours of labor were extremely painful and she did not succeed in using the techniques suggested by the doula. But she feels that her labor was relatively short (eight hours for her first baby) partly because of birthing techniques that kept her calm. In addition, my wife was grateful for having the doula there. She calmed her down and helped guide her at the most crucial moments. Despite areas of potential conflict, the doctors and the nurses were all friendly and helpful to us. The doctor was calm and had a reassuring demeanor. But he completely ignored our birthing plan. At the end of the day, we have a healthy and happy baby boy. We know we have been sent a spirit from God to take care of and guide on the Earth, and we are grateful that he has no serious health problems. The love we feel for him is already overwhelming. His two older sisters love him as well, and we are all blessed. But this delivery has definitely been a learning process. I guess they don’t call it labor for nothing. Geoffrey Biddulph is the author of a novel called “Island of the Innocent,” an adventure story that describes one man’s conversion to the fullness of the gospel. More information can be found here. No Comments | Post or read comments FEATURES |
May 15, 2026
May 15, 2026
