“Doctors prescribe medicine of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of which they know nothing.”    — Voltaire

I was asked once, “Don’t you trust your doctor?” I replied with a resounding, “NO! I trust my body, I trust GOD, but I do not “trust” my doctor any more than I trust my mailman.” Granted, I was 5 months pregnant at the time, fighting for the right to a VBAC and my hormones were WAY up there! I might have been a bit zealous in my response.

But I don’t think so. Not really.

Whom do we trust when it comes to our births? As women, do we trust our doctors? Our husbands to be the knight in shining armour if we are not treated fairly? Do we trust our midwives – ancient caretakers of female birth? If we answer yes to ANY Of these then we have misplaced our faith.

There are many who will disagree, arguing that “they are trained” in reference to their OB/GYN’s or even their wonderful midwives. (And midwive’s are wonderful! Don’t get me wrong!) This well-used response of higher education being grounds for blind trust is misplaced at best. Let us consider the following.

If education were a prerequisite for good birth-outcomes, how do we explain the continuation of human beings when modern medicine didn’t begin until the 19th century AD? An if highly educated birth assistants are a promise of good birth outcomes, how do we explain the rate ofmaternal and fetal demise going UP with the beginning of medicalized childbirth in the 1900′s?

Our faith belongs to God. He gave us our bodies, created specifically for the amazing job of birthing children.  So let us trust them. Let us trust Him. Let Faith live where she was born. In our hearts. In our homes. In ourselves.