Birthing Experiences in Greece

 

          Because of my ancestoral ties to Greece, I was curious to read about birthing experiences and was quite disappointed but maybe not very surprised by what I found out.  According to an article in Penn Bioethics Journal, the author of the article, Julie Nusbaum, chose to research Childbirth in Modern Athens: The Transition from Homebirth to Hospital Birth.  She interviewed women who went through childbirth as well as midwives and an OBGYN.  It was interesting for me to learn that Greece discourages home births and promotes more hospital births for two reasons: 1.  The doctors in Greece see pregnancy as purely medical and that something can go wrong so they want to be prepared and 2.  Home births are seen to others in the community as the "poor way" to have a baby  as opposed to hospital births being the choice of the "rich." It was also discovered in Nusbaum's research that just until recently in the past few years, it was common for women going through childbirth in hospitals were forced to be shaved in the childbirth area, not allowed to move around and given drugs primarily if the doctor deemed but not necessarily consenting the mother.  More women who are pregnant in Greece are wanting home births due to these factors and also that the doctors are not talking and/or listening to them through the process.  It was even reported that there are more cesarean births in Greece because doctors will do them purely because they get "bored" waiting for the mother to push the baby out.

 

 

I encourage you to read the full article at http://www.bioethicsjournal.com/v2i2/nusbaum.html