Disclamer. (The first of many, I'm sure.)

I want to add one thing to the previous post. (Promise I won't be too-long-winded about it.)

I just need to say that, when I say "OBs", and when that extends into the universal "They", especially when I'm feeling ranty, I do know that I'm painting with a really broad brush. I definitely recognize that there are INCREDIBLE obstetricians out there, truly wonderful people who care about and believe in women, who regard the wisdom of nature (in most cases) with both faith and humility, and who are as concerned as many of us are about the crisis going on today. Here's part of a great post from Keyboard Revolutionary:

Ya know, sometimes I feel bad for the good physicians out there. I know they exist. We all do. We've all shaken our fists in righteous indignation at the rants of Marsden Wagner. We've listened intently to the poetic, thickly accented declarations of Michel Odent. We've swooned over the tender ministrations of "Dr. Wonderful," a.k.a Dr. Robert M. Biter. God bless those diamonds in the rough, particularly in the obstetrical field. It must be twice as hard to shine when the lumps of coal around you are so horrifically ugly.

I pretty much worship every person she mentions, and would add to that list Christiane Northrup, Sarah Buckley, Jacques Moritz (Abby's doctor in Business of Being Born), and I know there are others. I know it's just a disclaimer, but I feel it's an important one.

In that same post, Keyboard Revolutionary also makes the point of the irony of having to hire a doula at all - how insane has it gotten when we hire someone to, in many ways, protect you from the person who is supposed to be giving you care? Navelgazing Midwife's take on all this was more blunt: "Women don't just need doulas anymore, they need bodyguards."