God Knew What He Was Doing

I frequent a few message boards including Catholics ones and ones for moms who were/are pregnant and with small children. One of the hotter topics on the latter pertains to optional medical intervention to bring about labor and delivery before it would otherwise naturally come about. This would include unnecessary c-sections, breaking the bag of waters and using drugs such as pitocin,cervidil, etc.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I understand there are certainly times when a c-section is necessary or drugs are needed to speed along labor and delivery like when an unborn baby's heartrate drops and does not rebound or when mom's blood pressure goes through the roof. Obviously those are things that should not happen simply to give birth.

But I have been in awe of the number of women choosing to have their labor induced or have a c-section simply because they want their baby born on a specific day or because they are tired of the inconvenience of being pregnant. Certainly pregnancy is not all ease and comfort and that last month is generally far from it. But it seems like nowadays there is no sense of the natural order of things. Pregnancy is not a disease. Labor and childbirth are natural processes. "Full-term" is anywhere from 37 to 42 weeks. Some women are scared into induction by medical professionals though ultrasounds. They will be told at 36 weeks that their baby is measuring 7 1/2 pounds and if they go full term they will have huge babies and no one tells them that those late ultrasounds can be off by 1-2 pounds! I've even heard doctors pushing inductions because "no one wants to be in the hospital on (such-and-such) holiday" which really translates into "I don't want to have to deliver you on a holiday."

And of course most of these women do not realize that, like almost all medical interventions, there are risks involved - determined or undetermined - they opt for risks that they might not have even had to worry about.

Where has our respect for nature gone? You'd think with all the talk about being green and driving hybrids and eating organic and saving the planet, people would be MORE aware of nature and the natural order and yet it seems to be the opposite. God knew what he was doing and the baby won't stay in forever. Moms and dads and God chose when the baby got in there. God and the baby should choose when he/she comes out.