You ARE Qualified

Have you seen Monty Python’s “The Miracle of Life” skit from 1983?  In it, a woman in labor is in a hospital room with doctors and numerous other staff, surrounded by all sorts of noisy machines and bright lights. In the scene, the doctors are so focused on the amazing apparatus around them that they don’t even notice whether the patient is there. Then, when the bubbly father tries to enter the room, he’s told that “only people involved are welcome.” The mother says to the doctors, “What do I do?” and the doctor says, “Nothing dear! You are not qualified!”

It’s a really funny scene and clearly a slight exaggeration of contemporary hospital birth. However, like any good satire, it reveals disturbing trends in the obstetric approach. Inventions of all sorts have made our existence on earth less strenuous and less risky.  But, is it all good? Or maybe more nuanced a question: even if some of these developments were initially beneficial did they at some point not only yield diminishing returns, but also begin to create more problems than they solved?

What midwives call the cascade of interventions goes something like this: a client is induced into labor with Pitocin, the Pitocin is so intense that the client cannot manage the pain and gets an epidural, the epidural prevents the bodily movement of the mom which delays the progression of the labor, and over time the baby experiences some distress. Inevitably, a C-Section is warranted. So, going back to the beginning, if we didn’t try to start labor and instead let it begin on its own, how could this have turned out differently? Some of these interventions can be life-saving – but, in the case described above, they actually create an emergency where it didn’t exist beforehand.

Obstetrics is certainly not the only realm in which mechanization, and dependence on technology and experts has led to a disregard for the wisdom or effectiveness of ordinary people.   But it certainly provides a great example of how disempowering a system built on submission to machines and certified practitioners can be. The Monty Python doctor says, “You are not qualified!” Birth is truly a realm in which the expert is the pregnant person. Women instinctually move into positions that help their baby emerge. Their bodies release a cocktail of hormones that create the contractions as well give them the strength to manage them. Endorphins build in their bodies in the same way they do in an athlete and create a rush of adrenaline as the baby is born.  All of these “medicines” are actually more effective than anything scientists can create in a lab.   When we act as our own expert and use our own effort, we shine and glow and go forth into our life experiences with confidence and agency.

If you haven’t seen it, watch the Monty Python’s “The Miracle of Life” from the “Meaning of Life.”  Here’s a youtube guide link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcHdF1eHhgc&list=RD_YruT2ROEUc&start_radio=1