Have you taken the hospital tour?

Were you shown the shower you could use in labor, the best path to walk, where you could find birth balls to lean on and peanut balls to use in a side-lying position? Did you see how the bed breaks down and where the squatting bar goes?

We have one hospital on Long Island with birthing tubs. One. And it’s my understanding that they are not being used because of some code issue that could have been avoided if the administrators listened to the guidance of the midwives when building them.

We use our power as consumers in such a misaligned way – demanding private rooms with nice furniture and all the amenities; being impressed with postpartum candlelight surf-and-turf dinners. But we make no attempt to find out what is even more important. That is, if decreasing risk and increasing safety through evidence-based practices are the goals.

(Thank you, beautiful mentor, pictured here, for demonstrating options that could change the trajectory of someone’s birth.)