July 4, 2005 - Introduction to Natural Family BLOG -
Written by Jenny M Hatch
Medical Freedom
“Unless we put Medical Freedom in the Constitution, the time will come when Medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others: The Constitution of this Republic should make a special privilege for Medical Freedom as well as religious freedom.”
Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence
Background
I have been researching and making plans for this Blog for some time now, and decided it would probably be helpful for you the reader to understand up front that I do have an agenda. So, I thought I would take the time in this first big post to outline my goals for this effort, and also give you a sense of my writing style so you don’t have to waste one minute of your time trying to figure me out.
First Goal
My first goal is to inspire as many people as possible to give birth at home. Robert Mendelsohn said in his book, Confessions of a Medical Heretic that the most “revolutionary” thing you can do is to fall in love, get married, and birth your children at home. I didn’t really understand what he meant by that statement when I read it for the first time sixteen years ago, but as the years have passed, I have come to agree with his analysis, and hope that something I write along the lines of this thought will inspire you to give birth in your own home.
I pray that by reading this blog you will be inspired to get more fully into Natural Family Living. I would like to encourage you to take full responsibility, first and foremost, for your own health and well being. And I would like to challenge you to take more responsibility for the health of your family.
Second Goal
My second goal is to challenge you Politically. I know that many American women feel drawn toLiberalism, and vote Democratic. It was said that the reason Bill Clinton, a known sex offender, was elected twice to the presidency was largely because of women voters. I think A good place to start when learning the facts about Bill Clinton would be to read this excellent new book, Their Lives, The women targeted by the Clinton machine by Candice Jackson.
I would like to use this Blog to encourage you the reader to go far beyond the warm fuzzy “I feel your pain” side of the Democratic Party and take a hard look at what it exactly stands for. I would like to use any powers of persuasion I posses to challenge you to move confidently into theneo-con side of the Republican Party. I plan to share a variety of resources , links, andeditorialsWritten by some of the finest writers and thinkers of our generation in the coming months and years to educate you on why I believe it is imperative that we mothers understand these issues clearly so that when we vote, we know exactly the long term effects of our political choices.
Senior Picture 1985
My Political History
I would like to give you a little background so you can understand clearly why I put myself comfortably into the Neo Con Camp. ( Scroll down and read some of the articles linked off of this site. They have been written by the best thinkers in our world and often have already appeared in international newspapers).
I grew up in a very politically aware home. My parents are passionate conservatives. My Dad is a Patriot and his hero is George Washington. My parents took the time to teach all eight of us children the principles of freedom and used whatever means at their disposal to testify and share their belief that America was unique, and expose us to the wonderful history of The United States. This was profoundly important at the time, because my parents were completely clueless about what was happening in our Michigan Public schools during the 70's and 80's, where we were being systematically indoctrinated in Socialism and Marxism at every juncture.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints it is part of our theology that we as citizens of any particular country be politically involved, aware, and vote. The church has never told us whom to vote for, it simply encourages awareness of the issues and to be a full participant.
My parents took this seriously and so I had the fabulous example of them carefully studying the issues and voting in each election. Additionally, I grew up in Michigan where some members of our Detroit Congregation were very politically involved. George Romney, yes that is Mitt’s Dad (Romney in 08!!!) was our governor. Later a close family friend, Richard Headlee ran for Governor in 82. I worked on his campaign and because his youngest daughter was my best friend, was invited to stay at the hotel with the family the night of the election and watched all of the election return excitement first hand. This political activism as a young woman was crucial in shaping my thinking and making politics real and touchable. I became convinced early that the most important thing I could do was to educate myself on the issues, vote, and be involved to help elect my candidates and fight for the issues important to me.
When I was in high school my Dad started watching a new cable channel, C-Span. He and I would discuss politics while watching C-Span in the evenings and he would explain to me how important it was to listen to the politicians first hand, instead of getting a 30 second sound bite on the evening news. Later during the early years of our marriage I became a C-span junkie. During political elections and other busy political seasons, I would watch for hours every day. As soon as we hooked up to the web at home, I made the gradual transformation so many conservatives have made of getting my news from talk radio and the Conservative Chronicle to eventually getting 95% of my news from Blogs and all of my favorite on-line News Sites. I think Matt Drudge still has the best site on the web. Now I only turn on the Evening news when I am curious to see how they are spinning things. It always gives me a good chuckle. My long time favorite writers include Phyllis Schlafly and Thomas Sowell. Ann Coulter has been a favorite for years, and lately Mark Steyn consistently comes out on top in terms of analysis and humor.
I consider myself a Neo-Con for the simple reason that in the past I have been both of the L words. I was a Liberal for three months during a period of teenage angst and crisis when I was fifteen. Then I went through a latency phase of not really caring about politics. A young man whom I admired was going through his Ayn Rand phase and encouraged me to read The Fountainhead (Thanks Glen!). I was eighteen, just about to graduate from High School, and had been accepted to BYU. I planned to leave home six days after my graduation and attend summer school to get a jump on my College Degree. A few weeks before graduation, I noticed a copy of The Fountainhead in my home room teachers lending library and inhaled it in a weeks time. When I returned the book to this same teacher, informing her that it was one of the best books I had ever read, she took one look at it, then smiled at me, and said, “Well, that fits”. I suppose I was already showing some early signs of Libertarian thought and behavior.
Conspiracy Theories???
I have been asked over the years if I believe in Conspiracy Theories. I would like to honestly answer this question, but first I would ask you the reader to lean in to the monitor...
closer....
Closer...
OK, close enough,
Now I’ll whisper it in your ear....
I believe a conspiracy exists against us parents who are feeding our children a whole foods diet.
Have you ever heard of Environmentally Safe Toilets??? (Drew K. Spence, a California student conducted this science fair project using Ho Ho’s and green food coloring, to determine if the newly designed low water toilets worked better or worse than the old - it’s not like The Clinton Administration did any of this sort of research before they mandated all new housing have these little babies installed....the very year we bought our new home no less.)
My husband and I purchased our first new home ten years ago. We had two beautiful porcelain toilets with tiny tanks in the bathrooms of our brand new house. We were so excited. After years of dumpy apartments, our own home! But it began that first morning.... “Mom, Dad....come quick....something is wrong with the toilet.” And so, for the past ten years my husband and I have spent hundreds of hours plunging our toilets.
WHY? Well, I suppose if you had a child who was being raised on sugar and meat and only pooped a small rock once a week this would not be an issue. But for those of us who are feeding our children whole grains....several times a day....in large quantities...well, I don’t feel that I need to go into any sort of explanatory details. My kids are eating wheat, beans, and vegetables all day long. You get the idea, Right? Now for the conspiracy....
See, whoever is at the bottom (no pun intended) of this racket must understand that constipated people tend not to think too clearly. So, my theory is that the powers that be want those of us who don’t have a need for daily ex-lax to be kept so busy plunging toilets that we simply don’t have time for political activism.
Mind you, this is just a conspiracy theory, one that I developed myself one day while I was plunging for dear life before the toilet overflowed and made a mess on the floor. I thought to myself that day...after I had served the children a seven grain hot cereal for breakfast.. “some evil being with too much time on his hands must have plotted this one...”
I don’t know why, but while I was plunging that particular day, when both toilets were plugged to the brim and my three year old whom I was attempting to potty train informed he “had to go...NOW” I had the thought, “who could have designed a more flawed system for human waste disposal?” I hope that when the historians truly consider the legacy of the Clinton Administration, the hours American’s have spent plunging these past ten years will be entered into the historical record.
Now back to my political biography...
After I skipped through the world of Howard Roark, I borrowed/stole my mothers copy of Atlas Shrugged, packed my bags for BYU and left home for the first time. Thus began myLibertarianphase which lasted a few years and was an important period during my political evolution. Libertarian ideals and thought did not translate into voting for the libertarian candidates - I have always voted for Republicans, but I was highly influenced by Rands World as outlined in her books, which in case you were unaware, her Objectivist philosophy laid the foundation for the Libertarian party.
It is difficult for me to describe the impact those book’s had on me and my thinking. Especially since I had just finished up thirteen years of Marxist thought where we studied the Communist Manifesto more than the Constitution during my public school incarceration. It was this clarifying of exactly how Socialism works in reality in Atlas Shrugged that was so profoundly important to my young mind. I read the book twice that summer of 86 and copied favorite quotes into my journal. Later I read Anthem, We the Living, and a biography of Ayn.
BYU is a conservative mecca, but I just happened to room with a Canadian self-declared “card carrying member of the Socialist party” for 11 months. I grew to love my room mate for her good qualities and still have fond memories of our time together, but her political views and absolute hate of Reagan really made for some interesting conversations. I didn’t know enough at that point to truly defend my then developing political world view, but I am so grateful to Heather for her passion, and her clarity on what she stood for, because even though we had nothing in common politically, she stretched me, and helped me to understand how politically aware Canadians are and made me aware of how much people from other countries carefully follow American Politics.
I hardly knew who the head of state was in Canada, much less how Canadians voted or behaved politically. Living in the same room with her for all those months was a profound education in how people outside of America felt about us. I also was able to observe first hand the impact that higher education has on the views and attitudes of those who have been systematically brainwashed in Marxism and taught that Capitalism is evil. I believe the Canadians have carried these efforts to an art form in terms of the passionate leftist views of the majority of Canadians I have met. (Mark Steyn is of course the great exception to this rule!) I also had been brainwashed in these same studies, but for me they did not stick because of the excellent home education I received from my parents during the hours I was not in school.
Much was happening in the world of politics during 1986 and 87, but I spent those years completely cut off from the media while I wrapped myself up in my studies. As a Musical Theatre Major, I was very busy with rehearsals, auditions, and performances on top of my regular classes, and I just did not have time for following politics and being politically active. I didn’t watch television, and read no news magazines, and although I read the Daily Campus paper (and the underground campus paper), I was really isolated in terms of media exposure.
In Pippen Costume Summer of 1987
In the summer of 1987 I auditioned for a summer stock theater in West Yellowstone Montana and was chosen as one of the cast of sixteen to perform eight shows a week at the Playmill Theatre . This Company plays mostly to the many tourists who flock to Yellowstone Park during the summer months. Again, I was completely isolated politically and had four months of no media contact. I reveled in the life of the actor, and although very busy with my performances and part time jobs as a maid and a seamstress, I still found the time to read dozens of books that summer. I read The Book of Mormon, and dove once again into The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I also stretched my brain by reading the Dancing Wu Li Masters and Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance, . (These books are must reads for any college freshman!)
I spent much time dreaming and planning for my future as an actor - I believed that with an Equity card and a BYU degree , Broadway was definitely a possibility. I mapped out the steps that would need to happen in order for me to accomplish these goals in the shortest time possible. During the summer, I made the decision to go home to Detroit for a semester to work as a waitress in order to get to know my family again, and to have a wad of cash to see me through a full year of school with no summer breaks.
Three weeks after I came home I met my husband.
I guess the easiest way to outline the next part of my life is to simply say that it is now 2005 - we have been happily married for seventeen plus years, have five kids, are both passionate conservative republicans, I am a committed stay at home mother, and no, I never made it to Broadway. But I have dreams of going back to the theater and being a character actor when I am a grandma.
New Directions
A few days after our first anniversary we went through an experience which has shaped our politics and changed our world view in profound and lasting ways. I wrote my first book, A Mother’s Journey to give all the details of this experience. But to summarize, three months after the birth of our first baby I experienced a Post Partum Psychosis. (Check out this site for the most cutting edge research that has been conducted in the field of post partum emotional illness)
Then I spent two years in varying shades of emotional illness.
I was forced to experience the full range of psychiatric care available in the late 80's because of a court order. During one of the worst moments of my incarceration at the Michigan State Mental Hospital (Clinton Valley Center in Pontiac), a few days before I was to go before the judge for my final “treatment orders” I found myself locked in a seclusion room singing patriotic hymns at the top of my lungs. “Land of the Free, and the home of the brave!...., My Country tis of thee, sweet land of LIBERTY, and America, America....God shed his grace on thee!”
I knew that I was fighting a losing battle, and that I would probably be forced against my will to take the medications. I had been fighting the staff for 28 days not to take medications because I wanted to continue to breast feed my daughter and did not want to have to stop in order to go on Lithium. As I sang those songs of Freedom, I felt a solidarity with anyone who had been locked up for any reason and forced to do something they were determined not to do.
But the judge court ordered me to take the drugs and I submitted to the long arm of the law. This was a life changing experience for me. I completely support the efforts of all of the Psychiatric survivors and would challenge you the reader to seriously consider the implications of how much power the psychiatric profession possesses. Especially if you are a person of faith and believe in the supernatural world, by current psychiatric definitions, if you believe in personal revelation, being prompted by the still small voice of the Holy Ghost, and are open to the idea of angels ministering in our world, by definition you are a psychotic in need of “treatment”.
Some of these beliefs, especially personal revelation through the gift and power of the Holy Ghost- which is a cornerstone of Mormon doctrine - were used against me by the main doctor who diagnosed me, to justify forced treatment. He told me that my belief in personal revelation was evidence that I had been mentally ill my whole life, but was only now showing the outward signs of it. The police in my home town had picked me up in my underwear. In a psychotic state, I had been singing hymns on a sidewalk and had cast Satan out of the world so the millennium could start.
Jenny Hatch after “treatment” from the psyche profession for two years!
After fourteen months of being forcibly drugged, I found a psychiatrist who was willing to help me wean off of the chemical cocktail I had been court ordered to eat. This doctor saved my life (thank you Elaine!), with her compassion and competence. After stopping the meds I began the slow process of learning how to be well. Part of that learning was to figure out how the medical profession had garnered so much power. Enough power to keep me locked up for six weeks against my will and then force me to take their dope.
I believed then and I STILL believe that 95% of the cause of me going psychotic when my daughter was three months old was simply from sleep deprivation. Dr. Ann Blake Tracy
helps to shatter the conventional wisdom that giving psychiatric drugs to sleep deprived mothers who are in a psychotic state is the best course of action. It is in fact the absolute worst thing that can happen to a mother if the heart of her mental illness is in fact sleep deprivation. And I believe it is the reason why I fought so hard not to take the drugs when they were being forced on me. I eventually went to court and lost after a 28 day battle of wills not to take the drugs.
Why Medical Freedom?
I began reading books, many, many books. Books and articles on politics, freedom, government, the history of the medical profession, and the relationships that exist between the Pharmaceutical companies and government. Peter Breggin’s books have been the most helpful to me. ReadingTalking back to Prozac was the first step to getting off the meds and started me down the path to learning how to be well. My local pharmacist who had been dispensing the anti-depressant to me recommended that book to me.
My personal experience has fueled this quest to learn for myself the bitter truth about psychiatry better than any casual or passive perusal of the topic ever could have. Without that up front and in person view of the tortured world of the psyche patient, and the experiences I had during my various lockups, I never would have considered taking the time or putting out the energy to learn the facts.
From this education, which continues today, I have developed a deep loathing for the monopoly the Allopathic model of Medicine currently enjoys in our world, especially in America.
In 1989 I was trained and Certified as A Bradley Childbirth Teacher and began teaching Childbirth Classes in my home. From 1989 to 1996 I had a profound education in the politics of Childbirth. During that time I also gave birth to three more children and enjoyed the association and friendship with fellow childbirth educators, childbirth pioneers, authors, and activists.
I have researched the medical monopoly, especially in regards to psychiatric care and birth and have come to believe that some major monopolies need to be broken up. I believe Benjamin Rush was quite prophetic when he claimed the day would come when we would need medical freedom guaranteed by our constitution. I don’t know when, how, or IF this is possible given the current political climate. But I for one plan to spend the rest of my days working diligently for a Medical Freedom Amendment to the Constitution to be ratified.
When one considers the taxpayer money that has been infused into this one branch of healing. The dollars spent on research, funding of institutions, suppression of competing healing modalities, and the socialized aspects of medicine with Medicare and the healthcare offered by the Military, it befuddles the mind to consider the outlay of cash that We the People have been forced to put out to prop up this medical monopoly that is currently enjoyed by the Allopathic Model.
But we were warned.
A Prophets Warning
John in the book of revelations warned about the power of the “sorceries” in the last days. He said: By Thy Soceries Were All Nations Deceived
It is interesting to note that the Strongs Exhaustive Concordance claims that the greek word 5331 pharmakeia from 5332 means medication - (pharmacy) and
pharmakeus from pharmakon, (a drug i.e. spell giving potion): means a druggist (Pharmacist’) or poisoner i.e. (by extension) a magician.
Websters New Collegiate Dictionary definitions for relevant words include:
“Pharmaceutical...From Greek Pharmakeutikos...a medicinal drug.”
“Pharmaco...Greek pharmako...from pharmakon...medicine : drug”
“Pharmacology...the science of drugs.”
“Pharmacy...from Greek Pharmakeia...the art or practice of preparing, preserving, compounding, and dispensing drugs...a place where medicines are compounded or dispensed...drugstore.”
By Strong’s definition the word sorceries could be describing pharmaceuticals dispensed by pharmacists.
The word sorceries in the following verse, is the king James Version translation of the greek word pharmakeia.
Revelations 18:21-23
“And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee, and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee.
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee; for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”
How was it possible for one method of healing to grasp so much power? Especially in the fields of Obstetrics and Psychiatry? The story is long and painful to read. But the bottom line is that we the people have been sold a chemical mess of pottage in exchange for our birthright of empowered healthy living.
The Prophet Daniel
I have an interpretation of scripture that I have never read anywhere else, and have really never shared in any public forum. I cover this topic in depth in my book Elijah Birth, but here is a short synopsis shared for you to ponder as I have for the past ten years.
I believe what needs to happen in the future in order for us to break free of the current medical bondage we find ourselves in, and I would like to offer the idea that most people do not even consider the Allopathic Model of health care as being a form of bondage, is that we first need to come to an understanding that medical birth and psychiatric care have become so distantly removed from what is natural and normal, we have easily come to fulfill the prophet Daniel’s prophecy wherein he claimed a “little horn” would make war with the saints...
Daniel 7:18-28
“But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet;
And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.
Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgement was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
This he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise; and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
And he shall speak great words against the most high, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
But the judgement shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end.
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.”
Do I believe the Medical Profession is the “Little Horn” that is making war with the Saints, befuddling natural laws, stamping residue with his feet, and seeking to change times and seasons??? Yes I do. Over the years I have read many interpretations of these scriptures in Daniel and Revelations, and I believe the Medical Profession and all of its supporting sub corporations fit perfectly. Listen to this next chapter of Daniel....What and WHO do you think he is describing?
Daniel 8:19-27
“And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be “in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.
The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the Kings of Media and Persia.
And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first King.
Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; he shall also stand up against the prince of Princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true; wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.
And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.”
I would suppose that many who read this, especially my LDS brothers and sisters who have such faith in Medicine, might become quite angry at this interpretation of scripture. And I have read many interpretations of this passage. The most common being that the ten horns are the European Union. But you know what? The European “union” is busting up even as I write. I have read other interpretations, but none of them really fit the imagery of the passage. I believe we need to get out of the hole we have been thrust into and consider that instead of political parties, governments, or countries, the ten horns are multinational corporations reaping a bounteous harvest off the of the ignorance and trust of individual families because of our willingness to march lockstep in obedience to the prescribing of doctors and the pharmaceutical companies that give them their marching orders.
I would ask you to pause for just a minute. Ponder what I am suggesting, and pray over it for a little while. My goal with this blog is to offer up the idea that perhaps this scripture is in fact describing the world wide medical monopoly. And if it is not....then what entity in our world could Daniel be Describing?
The thing is, it fits...like a glove. And while the profession may be peopled by some of the most wonderful, caring, and competent individuals on the planet, and I believe that to be the case, the fact of the matter is, the tremendous harm that has resulted to families because of the practice of medicine, well, let’s use his imagery... “devoured, brake in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet”
Consider that our sisters around the world have c-section rates much higher than here in America, (Brazil generally being accepted as having the highest rate), and even we are fast approaching the 30% mark for Cesareans, with some analysts claiming we may double those rates by the next generation. Do we honestly believe all of these millions of surgeries are from medical need and necessity? What is the cost in terms of prematurity, recovery, death, and financial burden on families for all of these surgeries? What is the impact on marriages? Did you know that in the sixties, if an American Hospital’s C-section rate went over 5% (that’s five percent!) an internal inquiry was held to discover why the rate was so high?
What has changed in the last 40 years that has all of a sudden caused mother’s wombs to become so inefficient that they need to be cut open in order for the baby to be born? Some claim that all of those women and babies were saved from certain death, and supposed uterine prolapse, and incontinence by the surgery. Sometimes I have had people share various statistics, quotes, and other “evidence” that if only our poor ignorant ancestors had access to medical care, they would have been so much better off.
I have thought about these arguments for years and have come up with a “test” for you to take. If birth was so inherently dangerous, how is it that our ancestors were able to give birth to eight, ten, twelve, fifteen babies without modern medicine? If birth was so dangerous, how did those mothers make it through birth number one, much less birth number fourteen?
I would like you to take some time to do a study on your own family. Go into any geneological database and type in your own name. Then go back five or six generations in your own family. Go down each and every line and just look at your own family history. My guess is that you will see mothers giving birth to baby after baby after baby without prenatal care, without modern medicine, without c-sections, and without birth control. Women’s bodies are designed to give birth without drugs and surgery.
Sometimes babies died. I believe this was and is more tied to inadequate nutrition, the elements, war, societal instability, and families being on the move than it was to inherent reproductive inadequacy or inability to give birth to healthy children. When mothers live quietly, safely, with access to plenty of fresh food and water, amazing things happen in terms of the number of children born and the overall health of those children.
A great place and time to research healthy birth would be in the late 1800's in northern Utah and Idaho. These mostly Mormon rural mothers did not smoke or drink, they lived moral lives and they birthed huge healthy families with very little prenatal care, and often just the help of a midwife or two during the home birth. These are the statistics we should be studying to learn what is “normal” and “healthy” in birth. What is often flung at home birthing families in terms of statistics is hospital birth stats taken during the industrial revolution either in London or New York. The fact that hospitals at the time only catered to the poor and that those impoverished souls suffered greatly for quality food and the basic necessities of life should make those stats completely null and void when learning what are the normal death rates for mothers and babies during childbirth. The fact is that in healthy women, chances are about 5% that problems will crop up during a home birth.
My guess is that the Prophet Daniel saw all of the families of the earth going to the hospital to either give birth, or have the baby aborted away, or in the less free cultures, mothers forcibly sterilized or given forced abortions. I believe he saw mothers locked up in mental hospitals being forcibly drugged and electro shocked. I believe he saw women using the pill, fathers getting vasectomies, and children being kept for weeks and months in NICU’s.
He was so troubled by what he saw that he fainted.
I must admit, I have felt faint at times, considering the reality of the numbers. It is mind boggling. When I think of Daniel’s pictoral of “stamping the residue with his feet”, I’m thinking of the babies who do make it through the birthing process, despite numerous drugs and procedures who then have the formula companies waiting in the wings, and more vaccinations that we have diseases, and then go through life being pummeled by drugs and toxic chemicals in the home and environment, and finally, when old age comes, the most noxious forms of medicine being given and surgeries performed at tremendous cost to the family and society, often days or weeks before the person dies.
Could his description of changing times and seasons be tied to babies being artificially induced and our elderly grandparents lives being artificially extended for a few more days or weeks? I believe they could be.
I believe it is helpful for couples to understand what doctors are being taught in medical school about those of us who have a desire for unmedicated deliveries.
Doctors are taught in the 2nd edition 1965 - Medical, Surgical, and Gynecological Complications of Pregnancy which is still much in use that assertive women are “dangerous”.
“Those patients who consider themselves ‘socially aware’ ...are not necessarily more mature but are trying, by their active interest in everything ‘avant garde’ socially as well as medically, to persuade themselves and others that they are...This is the patient who is interested in such methods as ‘natural childbirth,’ hypnosis, or using childbirth as an ‘experience.’ The intensity of the demands of the occasional woman who is fanatical in her zeal for ‘natural childbirth’...and her uncompromising attitude on the subject are danger signals, frequently indicating severe psychopathology...A patient of this sort is not a candidate for natural childbirth, and requires close and constant psychiatric support.”
Reformation
Hugh Hewitt claims in his book Blog that the Reformation came about largely from the invention of the printing press. It did, but it was those martyrs willing to take the fruits of the printing press, most notably the scriptures, and share them with the common men and women who made the invention of the printing press effective. These truth warriors who fought and died for the right to own and memorize scripture laid the foundation for the Enlightenment that followed the Reformation. Like the Waldensians of old, and the greatest reformer of all, John Wycliffe, who died fighting for the truth, I believe individual families have the power to break down the Monopoly of Allopathic Medicine simply by walking away from it, and being willing to live with the consequences of that action.
What are those consequences? For our family the consequences have not been too harsh as we have lived in a home birth mecca here in Boulder Colorado, but I believe it would be naive to think that families who give birth at home do not have any negative results. The point of focus for the past two hundred years, at least in America, and lately around the world, has been on the midwives. Shutting them down, putting them out of practice, and in more extreme instances, in jail.
But as the powers that be realize the scope and power of the Freebirth movement, I predict that they will attempt to intimidate individual families. The homeschooling movement in America has an interesting history. The pioneers of the 60's and 70's had some truly harrowing experiences as they attempted to free their children from the Marxist wasteland and teach them some truth (and how to read!). Like these pioneering parents, who have largely had great success in education, I predict that the Unassisted Childbirth movement will grow exponentially as the truth about medical birth becomes more available to the average consumer and parents refuse to cave to the pressure to spend the money for mothers and babies to be cut away from each other.
I also predict that as soon as the Medical Profession perceives that our movement is strong enough that we are depriving them of money, the backlash to our efforts will be immediate and harsh. I believe an all out war against Freebirth will be declared and carried out in the Media, in the chat rooms, in the Blogs, and on the front lines in communities as the Social Workers, Police, and Medical Workers realize that a growing group of families are unwilling to purchase what the doctors have to sell. The term “Medical Neglect” should have chilling sensations associated with it. At least for me it does.
However, because birth is a life or death matter for both the mother and the baby, the emotions tied to this movement are going to be heightened to a much higher degree than the homeschooling movement ever was. Home Educators simply wanted to “teach” their own children, and while this has had a devastating impact on the monopoly of the educrats and their socialistic vision for America, the birth wars are going to be some of the most vicious battles of the new millennium.
George Lucas had it right when he claimed the most compelling seduction for a man was the fear of his wife dying in childbirth (See Star Wars Episode three). To avoid the possibility of this happening, most men have willingly and gratefully paid thousands - in order to have the assurance that the lover, best friend, and companion will never die while walking through the valley of the shadow of death to bring a child into the world. I wrote my book Elijah Birthspecifically for husbands to help them hash through all of the issues and hopefully come to a place where they feel more comfortable with home birth. You men may never feel completely comfortable with it and that is OK. But if you are married to a woman who is determined not to suffer the indignity of being drugged senseless and then cut to pieces while she births your child, perhaps reading this book, or one like it, will help you to feel better about her passion for home birth.
What have been the costs for the family because couples have been willing to give in to the seduction of trading birth security for birth freedom? I suppose only individual couples can start to calculate the pros and cons of that decision. And in order to do so, most couples have to step back and spend some quality time pondering just exactly what happened during previous births.
For some this is impossible as the traumas surrounding the births have been so extreme they are suffering from post traumatic stress and don’t remember anything about it. For others who are operating on a more conscious level the answer is for one or both spouses to be sterilized, in order not to have anything that horrific happen again.
Some mothers just refuse to have sex ever again, or abort the rest of their children. I read of one Christian father, who upon hearing of his wife’s conception, personally drove her down to the abortion clinic to assure that she would not have to endure the abomination of medical childbirth again.
Some birth traumetized couples move into homosexuality - it seemingly solves many problems - the mother or father can be in a sexual relationship, but never have to worry about a baby being produced. I have known men so freaked out by watching their wives hospital births they cannot engage in any sexual conduct whatsoever.
Whatever the consequences of medical childbirth, the fact is that for many families the fallout is devastating and real.
Waldensians
Here is a story about a group of people who were willing to die in the pursuit of truth. It inspired me and I hope it inspires you. Please compare the church of old to the church of modern medicine today as you read... (casting pearls before swine indeed)
In the book How we got the Bible, by Lenet Hadley Read a group of people called Waldensians formed in Europe. The story begins on page 52.
“The spread of Christianity to lands such as England proved in time to be one of the greatest challenges to the Roman church. The Greek church had continued its belief that knowledge was essential to salvation; therefore, when peoples in other cultures were converted, translations were made into their language- such as Russian and Bulgarian. The Roman church, on the other hand, did not encourage vernacular translations, even though the Latin Vulgate had itself been a translation into a language spoken by the people- before time and changing language had turned it into a “sacred language” used only in church services.
In fact, during the time of Pope Gregory VII (A.D. 1073-85) a policy against translations took shape. In a struggle with the Greek church for influence in certain disputed territories, Gregory saw that promoting reliance upon Latin in these areas was to the Roman church’s political advantage. He also decided that it would be advantageous to create a sharper distinction between laity and clergy. The clergy thus became the teachers of the church, while the laity became receivers only. “From Pope Gregory’s time onwards, asserts one scholar, orthodox prejudice against lay knowledge of the Bible text hardened”.
Consequently, the stage was set for one of the greatest dramas in the history of man- the struggle over vernacular translations between a few courageous individuals and the inquisition that swept Europe during the last centuries of the middle ages. In the earliest battles, the weight of advantage went definitely to the Inquisition.
Sometime during the 1170's in southern France, one of the first skirmishes of this battle was enacted. According to one account, it began this way: “A certain rich man of the city [Lyons], called Waldo, was curious when he heard the gospel read [in Latin] since he was not much lettered, to know what was said. Wherefore, he made a pact with certain priests, the one that he should translate to him the Bible; the other that he should write as the first dictated. Which they did; and in like manner many books of the Bible...which when the said citizen had often read and learned by heart, he...sold all his goods and despising the world, he gave all his money to the poor, and usurped the apostolic office by preaching the gospel, and those things which he had learned by heart.
Waldo’s preaching among the people consisted mostly of reciting passages from the scriptures in the common tongue. Evidently he did not set out with the intent to oppose the church, but merely to enlighten the people. As eyewitness at the Lateran Council of 1179 wrote of Waldo’s initial attempts to get church approval for his activities- and of the church’s negative reaction: “We saw the Waldensians [supporters of Waldo] at the council celebrated at Rome under pope Alexander III. They were simple and illiterate men...and they presented to the lord pope a book written in the French tongue, in which were contained a text and gloss on the psalter, and on very many other books of both testaments. These besought with great urgency that authority to preach should be confirmed to them, for they thought themselves expert, when they were scarcely learned at all.”
The writer then voices feelings that became entrenched as argument against giving scriptures to the common man; “In every small point of the sacred page, so many meanings fly on the wings of virtue, such stores of wealth are accumulated that only he can fully exhaust them whom God has inspired. Shall not therefore the Word given to the unlearned be as Pearls before swine, when we know them to be fitted neither to receive it, nor to give out what they have received? Away with this idea, and let it be rooted out. The ointment ran down from the head, even to the skirts of his clothing; waters flow from the spring, not from the mud of public ways.”
But the Waldesians were not easily dissuaded from seeking scriptural knowledge. Like their peers, they were not “lettered” nor had they access to many copies of scripture, but they overcame this obstacle by memorizing surprising lengths of scripture when they were given the opportunity.
The Waldensians suffered because of their desire for knowledge. They were tried by the Inquisition, excommunicated, imprisoned, and burned as heretics. Their books were banned- and when found, burned. At their trials and in the tracts written against them, their great “crime” as stated was that they “translated the New and Old Testament into the vulgar tongue and this they teach and learn. For I have heard and seen a certain unlettered countryman who used to recite Job word for word, and many others who knew the whole New Testament perfectly.
“All men and women, cease not to teach and learn, night and day. The workman, who toils by day, learn or teaches at night...They teach and learn without books...and even in Leper houses...To those who excuse themselves, saying they cannot learn, they say; ‘learn only one word a day, and in a year’s time you will learn three hundred, and thus you will grow proficient.”
In spite of attempts to stifle it, the Waldesian movement and others similar to it, spread into neighboring Italy and Spain. And upon their heels followed official pronouncements against their work - banning the preaching, reading, memorizing, or even possessing of scriptures. Penalties for disobedience were extremely severe. According to one inquisitor general’s record in an area near Toulouse, France, 930 sentences against heretics were pronounced during a period of fifteen years, and 114 heretics were destroyed by Flames.
But even as the inquisition tried to stamp out the Waldensian movement in France, Italy, and Spain, the hunger for scripture cropped up elsewhere, this time in England and Germany. The movement in England began in the mid-1300s. Unlike the Waldensian movement, which was begun by those totally outside the church’s power structure (though some clergy later joined it), the English movement was spearheaded by one of the most prominent and respected scholars and clergymen of his age - John Wycliffe.”
How we Got the Bible by, Lenet HadleyRead - PP 52-55 from the Chapter Glimmers of Light in Darkness C1985 - Deseret Book Company
I love reading the story of these commoners who were willing to die in order to learn some scripture by heart. Like these early Christians modern families need to understand that the power structures currently in place have the ability to control certain aspects of our lives that if we are rebellious and disobedient to current medical dogma, can lead to us losing certain precious freedoms and the rights of self determination. Families have had children taken away, lives ruined, and mothers and babies have been forced to have various medical procedures performed on them all in the name of “good medical care” when an obstetrician decided it was time for the baby to be born, or the mother to be sectioned, or the baby to be incarcerated in the NICU.
I want to challenge you who are reading this that like the Waldesians of old, we should take upon ourselves the risk and the challenge of learning for ourselves how to create healthy babies, birth them at home, and create a wonderful life for ourselves and our families completely cut off from the medical model of health care. Why? Because like the church during the years of the inquisition, we have a group of professionals who have set themselves up as the only way or means of making a healthy child. The fact that no Allopathic Doctor is educated in Prenatal Nutrition is enough of a reason for parents to become educated in learning for themselves the facts about how to build a healthy baby.
Expecting Benjamin -2005
42 weeks pregnant eating breakfast; fresh fruit, soft boiled eggs, cracked wheat cereal and whole grain muffins with red raspberry leaf tea - I went into labor soon after this meal. I was having a pre-labor contraction when this photo was taken.