You THINK you need that.

Everybody here is pregnant. Everybody. Everybody here is also totally mainstream, and it's really crazy to be around. I've never actually been around a lot of mainstream pregnant women before, and it is very strange. Also, with me moving from being seen by CNM's, who, while great in general, were a bit more "by the book" than I would have liked, to a CPM, who is all about what actually makes sense and what the research actually shows, my eyes are far more open than they ever have been. I've always known that hospital birth was dangerous in the US these days, and the exact "hows" and "whys" of the harmful nature of every intervention they do. I have also always questioned the validity of certain customs we have here during pregnancy, such as routine testing (Group B Strep, glucose tolerance, etc), taking prenatal vitamins every day (I never have, but until this pregnancy, I've always been told to), internal exams, weigh-ins, and stuff like that. This time, I've been far more encouraged to learn exactly why that stuff came into our birth culture in the first place, and every single time, the research that's been done by truly impartial sources (mostly outside the US) has shown that I was right to be skeptical of all these routine practices. Of course, as Alyson and I were discussing last night at our appointment, say that to a mainstream mom and you're the crazy one.

Here's the thing. American maternity care, mainstream style, is geared toward the absolute lowest common denominator. These routine things that are done, are done to save the world's dumbest women from their own stupidity, for lack of a better way to say it. "Oh, you won't eat dark green veggies and lean beef to prevent anemia? Have some iron pills." "Oh, you won't eat right? You need prenatal vitamins." "You can't recognize the symptoms of gestational diabetes? Here, we'll make you drink something disgusting and tell you if you have it." It's basically for people who won't do the leg work to take care of themselves. The fact is, the majority of women are actually far more intelligent than the medical profession gives them credit for, and would do fine, maybe even better, without that stuff.

I happened to mention to someone today, as she is having issues with her prenatal vitamins, that I do not generally take them. I told her that my midwife had told me that I should take them when I have a day during which I just don't eat right, and otherwise if I want to, but it's really not important to take them every day because for one, a lot of the stuff in them is total overload as far as dosing is concerned, and the stuff that people take them to get mostly, is actually remarkably poorly absorbed when taken in pill form. You'd do far better to simply pay enough attention to your diet to get it in food, then add supplements and tinctures to facilitate absorption if necessary. For example, since I have a tendency toward anemia during pregnancy, I take a tincture of Yellow Dock to facilitate iron absorption. I also add a liquid vitamin D supplement to facilitate calcium absorption, and for immune support. Vitamin D is not found in any foods other than store bought milk which is always artificially fortified with it, but I don't drink milk, so I add a vitamin D supplement to facilitate absorption of the calcium that I eat in foods. This works. Rather than having some massive prenatal supplement wreak havoc on my system (and they do!), I can actually learn how food works, where nutrients come from, what my weak points are, and what helps with that, do those things, and never take a prenatal vitamin again as long as I live, if that's what I want to do. I take them maybe once a week on average.

Of course, like I said, say that, which TOTALLY makes sense, to one of these mainstream ones, and you're the crazy one. It occurred to me that this has happened a lot. It also got me thinking about all the unnecessary things that people have done to them during pregnancy, yet never bother to question. Did you ever wonder WHY they do this stuff? Let's think about it for a minute.

Weigh-in's: I have absolutely no idea how much weight I've gained this pregnancy. I don't get weighed. Why don't I get weighed? Because it doesn't matter. Really, what good was ever gotten out of herding pregnant women through the scales at every visit? I mean, we're not feedlot steers. You don't get paid by the pound. Sure, we can talk about healthy and unhealthy levels of weight gain, but really, does any woman actually adjust her dietary habits because she's supposedly gaining too much or too little? My money is on no. I gain basically all my weight in the 3rd trimester, so I have the unique experience of going from "Wow, you need to eat more." to "Hmmm... you can stop gaining so fast now." within the space of weeks. I can tell you that I have never altered my dietary habits in any significant fashion based on what the scale said. I'm pretty sure nobody does. The weigh-ins serve no purpose other than giving pregnant women one more thing to worry about.

Glucose tolerance test: Whatever idiot thought this would be good to give as a matter of routine to all pregnant women, must have had some financial stake in it. No woman, in absence of obvious symptoms, identifiable risk factors, and/or a family history of diabetes, is actually at significant enough risk of developing gestational diabetes, to even justify this screening. Anyone willing to learn about the symptoms of real problems, and who does not have preexisting symptoms or a family history that would indicate risk, should feel confident to decline this test.

Group B Strep test: 1/3 of women carry Group B Strep. Some are transient carriers, others are permanent carriers. I'm pretty sure I'm a permanent carrier, having tested positive twice, so this is something I've researched a lot. Most people are transient carriers, though, meaning that they may test positive once, and never again. Basically, they do a culture for it to determine who the 1/3 of the population who carries it, actually are. This is useless for several reasons:

1) A transient carrier may test positive one day, and negative the next. Testing at 36 weeks does not even slightly guarantee an accurate result at 37-42 weeks when the baby is born.

2) Giving antibiotics during labor to GBS positive moms is completely pointless. The outcomes are exactly the same for the babies whose moms received antibiotics as those who did not. 1/4444 babies born to GBS+ moms will contract GBS lung infections. That is with or without antibiotics. That's from a study done right here in the US, by the way. I didn't even have to look across the pond to find the truth on that one.

Instead of testing for GBS late in pregnancy, the focus should be on educating every woman on how to reduce her risk of being a carrier. By far the best thing anyone can do to reduce the chances that she will carry GBS, is to take a high quality probiotic. There are other measures to take as well. The focus should be on prevention and balancing of the body chemistry to make it inhospitable to GBS in the first place, rather than on figuring out who has it and giving them some useless treatment that can only do harm. (Really. IV antibiotics. When has that ever done a healthy person any good?)

Internal exams: This one drives me nuts. People always act like it matters if they're dilated or not. Dude... all babies come out eventually. Being a little dilated or effaced actually tells you absolutely nothing. You can walk around dilated several cm for weeks, or you may go from 0-10 in an hour. It's totally unpredictable and totally individual, and having some doctor or midwife stick their hand where the sun don't shine, and tell you what they find, tells you absolutely no useful information. In fact, it can be harmful. Internal exams can introduce bacteria, and mess with the natural flora of your body. Previously GBS+ women should NEVER EVER consent to an internal exam. It's useless, and for us, it can be potentially harmful.

Iron pills: These things are pure evil according to every person who's ever taken them. I've never taken them because there are better and more effective ways to boost iron levels, but tons of people each year end up taking these God Forsaken things. These pills have the worst side-effects, nausea, constipation, you name it... Now, here's the kicker. They don't actually do what people think they do. Their absorption rate is so small that you actually get more iron to your cells from a bowl of spinach than you do out of an iron supplement. Some people will not get enough even from food, and I am one of those people. For us, Mother Nature provides Yellow Dock, Thistle, and Dandelion root. These are available in tincture form. I put some in a glass of cranberry juice and drink it that way. It tastes like grass clippings, but it works very well with absolutely no side-effects, and facilitates the absorption of iron from food, which is the best place to get it from anyhow. Iron pills are all pain for little gain. Food and the proper herbs to supplement with are no pain and all gain. People don't believe it, though. Big Pharma loves that, I'm sure. They just keep lining their pockets with all the money from the sale of iron pills.


It's just crazy the things that so many American women put themselves through, and for what? The end goal of a healthy baby? Well, that's what we all have. Real research, real facts, information that did not come from anyone who makes a profit off interventions... this will get you a healthy baby a lot quicker than being herded through the mainstream chutes.