If you decide to have your baby in a hospital setting, you had better be ready for some confrontation if you try to do things naturally. A simple decision such as choosing to use natural vitamin K1 drops administered orally to your baby instead of the synthetic vitamin K shot can get you read the riot act. In rare cases, it might even cause CPS to be called in to harass you.

What’s more alarming is that the person giving you grief might actually be a midwife! Aren’t midwives supposed to be natural birth advocates?

Hospital Midwives Not So Different from Nurses?

Not anymore if the emails I am receiving about it are any indication. It seems that hospital midwives are becoming mouthpieces of conventional medical dogma unlike more open minded midwives who attend births in homes or birthing centers.

Obviously, not all hospital midwives can be categorized this way, but it is definitely something for new parents to watch out for.

Hint: if you would prefer not be harassed, intimidated and forced to defend your lifestyle during one of life’s most precious moments (the birth of your child), my advice would be to skip the hospital drama. Have your baby at home or at a freestanding birth center instead.

I realize that not everyone may have the luxury of that choice. The hospital might be the only game in town. If that’s the case, be ready, have a true birth advocate by your side (Dad, Mom, doula, or close relative/friend) at all times and hold firm. Don’t expect the midwife to necessarily be on your side if you are in a hospital setting.

How one Mom handled the situation

Beth S. wrote the following to me in a series of emails about the birth of her first grandson last week. The emails below plus the photo above were used with her daughter’s permission.

Dear Sarah,

My daughter had her baby YESTERDAY, completely naturally [in a birthing room at the hospital with a midwife, no doctor] and declined the vitamin K shot! Her midwife gave her hell about it and threatened he could die but she held firm. I was so proud!!!

I was so shocked but my daughter gently, firmly said no and kept returning her to the birth plan already written and in place. You would think since it was already decided on she would have left her alone!

Aimery (our new grandson) is healthy and beautiful and I wish there was some way to thank you for all your hard work. She immediately breast fed and he latched on like a champ.

It is only because she grew up reading your blog and watching me put it into practice, that a new generation in our family is taking seriously the lies of this world and making new family traditions.

Thank you again so much. This child came in the world completely alert and ready to bond and feed. It was my first time witnessing a natural birth and I could have used a Valium, lol!!! That is HARD on a mamas heart but I knew it was her choice so that got me through it.

Sorry, but I just can’t stop thanking you. She is my first born strong willed baby and I am just so thankful she knows what her choices are because of your hard work.

Warrior Moms are a Growing Trend Hospitals Can No Longer Ignore

Bravo to your daughter Beth! I am so glad that she was obviously prepared mentally for a potential battle over her birth plan. I hope Moms-to-be that might be reading this story learn that an approved birth plan that is already in place is no guarantee that you won’t still be harassed at the hospital during one of the most vulnerable moments of your entire life.

Conversely, I hope any hospital staff that read this realize that a dogmatic, inflexible approach to birth is no longer working. Hospitals must either learn to work with a patient’s needs and desires for a nontoxic, gentle birth experience or they will go elsewhere. Simply hiring a few midwives to make the hospital look on the surface like an open-minded, welcoming place to give birth naturally on par with a homebirth or a birth center is not going to cut it.

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist