What do I believe in?

I have a lot of beliefs, but for the sake of brevity, I'm going to focus on my beliefs as they pertain to birth.

• I believe in being informed. The expectant mother has the right (and dare I say, obligation) to be informed. With that information she can make choices during her labor that she is happy with. My goal is to help the woman that I serve become informed *before* they go into labor.
  
  With my first birth I can't say that I was informed. I expected to go into labor, get the epidural, push and have a warm, wet baby placed on my chest. I was informed enough to know that inductions led to higher cesarean rates, and I didn't want that, but I wasn't informed enough to know that I didn't have to rush to the hospital at the first sign of my water leaking (which led to one intervention after the other, ending in a cesarean)
• I believe that birth matters! Absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, the number one goal is that Mom and Baby are healthy. But birth matters! Where you give birth, who your support is, who your care provider is, how it all ends up - it all matters. Your feelings about the birth after it happens are valid and my goal is to help you be happy with your birth - however you choose to do it.
  
  Switching from the OBs to the midwives (at the same practice) made all the difference with my fourth birth. I felt much more support and respect throughout the whole process (and by that time I was informed enough to know what I could say no to).
• I believe in going into labor naturally. I know there are valid medical reasons for getting induced, but I believe in most instances it is best for both mom and baby to wait for it to happen on it's own. This is not to say that I wouldn't be happy to support a mom that chooses to be/has to be induced for whatever reason. In fact, she made need a doula even more if that is the case.
  
  I had a thought this morning as I was able to sleep in to my heart's desire, that sleep is kind of like labor. Allowing a baby to "wake up" on their own is much more gentle then having a blaring alarm clock (i.e. Pitocin) wake them up.
  
  Having had a cesarean with my first, I was not "allowed" to have Pitocin with my subsequent labors and I loved that that option was off the table. When my belly got huge with DS4 and well meaning family members asked what "they" were going to do about it, I was able to say "nothing". I wasn't about to agree to another surgery, Pitocin would increase my risks of uterine rupture, and AROM (breaking my water) would increase the pain of labor and put me on the clock (leading to another c-section if I didn't labor fast enough). I was happy to say there was nothing "they" could do about it.
• I believe in being able to move, change positions, etc in labor. Once a laboring woman gets an epidural she is stuck in bed with monitors and wires attached to her. It's hard to let gravity help with labor when you are in bed. I encourage women to learn some pain relieving techniques because you never know if you'll have to wait for the epidural, if the epidural might not work, or if you end up going so fast that you can't get pain meds.
  
  I am not against pain meds or epidurals. In fact, I think it is pretty close to torture for a woman to be forced to go natural when she doesn't want or isn't prepared. I have had three epidurals (although at the time I didn't know what was in them (see point #1) but I may not have cared because I didn't have any other coping tools). I went into my first labor planning on getting the epidural asap. I lasted 45 minutes after the Pitocin was started and I think I cried through every contraction. My plan was the same for DS2, but they wouldn't admit me until I was 5cm. Some of the time I was walking and would squat for contractions, but I spent a good portion hooked up to monitors on the bed crying, tensing up, and having a hard time breathing. I was able to get in the tub and that helped a lot, but I was not prepared to labor naturally for so long and I was a mess!
  
  With DS3 I was leaning toward a natural birth and did a lot of reading and practiced some Hypnobirthing techniques. I was not committed to "going all the way", but rather I was going to see how far I could get. This time I had my sister acting as a doula. Even though I went a little primal at the end, my DH said that I was much more out-of-control with DS2 then I ever was with DS3. He was surprised at how good that "hypno stuff" worked.
  
  I was dead set on having a natural birth with my last baby and I spent most of his labor in the tub, some of it on the birthing ball, and only at the very end was I on the bed and even then I was able to squat, stand, or sit. It helps!

I think that's a good start, but what it really boils down to is what the women I support believe because I am there for them, not me! What are your beliefs in regards to birth?