Medical Vrs. Hollistic

There is a holy war going on, it is medical vrs. holistic. Neither one likes each other very much, but both are extremely necessary.

In an earlier post, I stated some generalizations about OBGYN's and the medical system - which received criticism, and rightly so - it got me thinking, so here I write...

Some would say the difference between the 2 sides, is that holistic is perhaps more preventative, while the medical system is fixing what is broken. I say "2 sides" because even though both are different, with different qualities and necessities, they eye each other evilly and criticize each other bitterly. While one Doctor preaches that herbs and chiropractic practices are dangerous, another Chiropractor or Homeopathic doctor will tell you that antibiotics are dangerous...both have points!

Our decision to have a home birth was looked at with great concern and distaste from some friends and family - Even though people have been having hospital births only as of recent years in history...and the human race exists!

My 'medical nurse'-sister witnessed our first home birth with what I interpreted as fear, concern, and then relief. My midwife for my first was 'the first' midwife in MB, and has been known to 'help' deliver more babies than any doctor or OBGYN in the province. She was accompanied by my present midwife, who was a neonatal nurse for 20yrs. before she pursued midwifery. (I have decided not to use names of doctors or midwives, unless referring to a book that a doctor has written, in this post.)

I mention 'help deliver babies', because I believe that is the correct term midwives tend to use - in other words they don't deliver babies, the women in labour do!

I was a little harsh in an earlier post, stating that 'once you go with a midwife, you'll never go back to an OBGYN' - I should have stated, that, that has been my experience...I have had extremely positive, relational experiences with midwives, and unfortunately not with doctors (part of this is that the system does not allow for the time). This is not to say good ones don't exist - I have friends who have AWESOME doctors, and have had great birth experiences with them...I have dealt with a well-known OBGYN in the city, who has been known to go and find pregnant-cocaine-addicted moms, and gotten them off the street - now that is beyond Care!

Complications are not always avoidable. Without intervention in my first pregnancy, I guess I may have died of a burst fallopian and internal bleeding. With some hospitalization, a little chemo, and some excruciating pain, we can have children and my husband is not widowed.

The first books I read on the subject of pregnancy were from the 'what to expect when you are expecting' series, which have been unfortunately referred to as 'the pregnancy and birth books from hell', and were written by doctors. As I read them, my fear grew and I felt more and more like pregnancy was a disease, plagued with complications and 'what ifs', rather than a natural life process. Then I was introduce the Dr. Sears series (now a hero of mine), written by DOCTOR Sears, and my mind was renewed with truths like, "my body is made to do this", "women have been doing this since the beginning of time - and so can I!"

Even he pointed out that in many cases, complications were as a result of medical interventions....One thing leads to another, a spinal anesthetic can lead to a cesearean if it causes the women not to feel or want to Push.

I guess I believe that there has been some brainwashing going on in both camps. I grew up influenced by my mother who is a Vegan-Raw-Foodist, who has referred to the health care system, as the disease control system...she treated us kids with herbs as much as possible, rather than antibiotics.

I think a lot of angst actually comes from the fact that pharmaceutical companies, who sometimes have ulterior motives, finance much of our health care system. (Is it the movie "the Constant Gardener" that unveils some possibilities?) Although Nestle is not a pharm. company, it does frustrate me that they shove formula down the throats of 2/3 world families, with only bad water available, and so babies are dying, that could have been saved by breast feeding! And there is nestle all over the place in hospitals and doctors offices.

My last appt. with my former family doctor, was the day he apologized that he was late because one of his pharm. companies had taken him out for lunch. Some would call that bribery? Perhaps my words are strong - I know that it is not all bad - a dear friend of ours is in Paris, doing his Doctorate in BioChem. and working to find cures to some pretty horrible diseases - that is AWESOME!

At the bottom of the criticism towards the health care system is the reality that it is because it is over worked and abused, and society is under educated in preventative measures. An example of abuse/under education is when we brought Selah in to Children's Emerg. at 1yr. b/c she had been thrown head first into a moving ceiling fan at a family gathering - sounds horrible - it was scary....the nurse was great (of course it took a few hours to see a doc.) but we felt sorry for her, being so overworked, she told us that a kid had come by ambulance b/c he threw up a couple of times with a simple flu - while her own child was at home throwing up with a similar flu. I guess what some of us are saying is that there could be a healthier (no pun intended) balance!