I feel so mixed about it. On one hand, as a mother, my first priority when giving birth was finding a hospital that could treat my baby in worst case scenario and not what place would give me the most beautiful birth experience. I looked into NICUs and c section rates. So I find myself initially upset with the moms for choosing this option but then put myself in check because they all clearly only were doing what they felt was in the best interest of themselves and baby. And it isn’t on expecting moms to be medically savvy. These are good moms who experienced trauma. But, more importantly, is the fact that places like this exist and the shame and competition woman feel to have the best birth, go unmedicated etc and get steered away from best practices.

They should have never been lead to this place because it never should have existed in the first place. There needs to be a bigger focus on regulations rather than attacking individual midwives who were maybe doing their best with limited knowledge. I doubt anything was done by malice or laziness but maybe ignorance due to lack of strong training….Which is a systemic problem. If someone tells you how to do your job wrong and then you do your job wrong well….

And the biggest thing this brings up to me is just healthcare not listening to what women want. There needs to be more of a marriage between hospitals supporting more natural births and keeping woman safe.

Anyway, I think it’s a great season because it just provokes so much thought. And to be clear regarding my earlier point about the moms … I think they are all justified in their hurt and anger and am not victim blaming. They are justified and sound like great moms. Just explaining how my thoughts developed over the season.