One can imagine that artificially accelerating this process makes it more difficult to adjust to the intensity of the experience. In addition, the hospitals use a standard dose; this is quite surprising considering how differently women react to hormones, even at super low dosages. For example, if you talk to ten different women about their experience with birth control pills (low dose hormones), they will have ten different emotional and physical reactions to report. Of course, there is a proper indication for hormones in certain labor conditions; however, their effect on the mother’s body and mind does not justify using them as standard labor practice.
In the same vein of cost reduction, the doctor’s interaction with the patient is minimized in hospitals. This means that a mother-to-be interacts with a whole host of hospital staff (nurses, physician’s assistants, scrub techs, admissions personnel, etc.) for the majority of her labor. As most women are in labor for much longer than the 8-12 hour hospital shifts, they will interact with a completely new set of staff as they progress. One can imagine that this results in greater fragmentation of care, medical errors, and greater anxiety for the laboring woman.
Ironically, even as health care professionals who knew the patient’s health history and labor details, we had to fight to stay with my sister on the labor and delivery unit. I was astonished that laboring women were not allowed to have any visitors. Many hospitals will limit each patient to one visitor. There were four of us with my sister at home, and every person was completely necessary. No woman should have to go through labor alone.
Anyone who has witnessed a birth can attest to how the woman’s entire attention must be focused on her breath work in order to stay on top of her contractions. This is best achieved with a labor coach (usually the partner or midwife) directing the breathing. In the hospital, the mother-to-be is left relatively unattended throughout the longest phase of labor because there are no treatment indications in the first phase. In fact most women arrive at the start of labor only to be sent home. This is done because hospitals are financially incentivized to minimize the duration of woman’s hospital stay. Although it is better for the woman to begin labor in her natural surroundings, this does not allow her to get comfortable and settle in her birthing space.
