1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"Who Controls Childbirth?" by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
SELF Magazine, June 2010.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Following my first childbirth delivery, which was life-threatening and psychically traumatic, I explored the line between holistic and medical births in preparation for my second delivery. I wanted to know how much control I could have over the birth of my child — how much any of us can have — and how much I should learn to cede to my caregivers and to fate. I found extremists on both ends of the spectrum — vigilant homebirthers and women who were grateful for the technology that allowed them a safe and healthy delivery. I also found incredible animosity that exists on each side regarding the other: I learned how many people believe that a birth that results in an unplanned c-section is the result of a woman who was not committed to "getting it right"; and I learned that when a laboring woman enters a hospital with an overbearing birth plan, the nurses immediately prep the surgical suite for a c-section.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
There was no need for FOI or public records; I used many peer-reviewed studies. All the professionals and lay people I spoke with were very forthcoming.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
I spoke with people who were at either end of the holistic to medical spectrum, and I spoke with people in the middle: Doctors who believe that birth should be meaningful; homebirthers who ended up delivering in the hospital and are grateful for the resource. I spoke with more than 30 women who had had traumatic births. Each woman had a different reaction and a different take-away from her birth — one woman was incredibly disappointed that her three-day at-home labor resulted in a hospital birth, albeit a drug-free, surgery-free one. One woman blamed her doula for a homebirth that almost ended in tragedy. I also spoke with several women who are leading movements in meaning-centered childbirth: One who thinks you can have a meaningful birth no matter how you deliver; another who believes that if a baby cannot survive the home birth process, it is not evolutionarily favored and should be allowed to pass peacefully.
6. Results (if any).
When I started researching this article, I was several weeks pregnant with my second child. I realized that though I had healed a lot from my first delivery, I was confused and scared about how to approach this next one. Noticing my reaction to the people I interviewed and the facts I learned helped make me, and from the feedback I've received, many of the readers, realize what is tenable and what isn't. Hearing other women's stories was crucial to understanding what we as humans are all capable of — growth, healing, compassion. I also learned how inherent judgment is in our stories. Despite my professed cluelessness on the subject, in retrospect I know that I went into my interviews with preconceived notions about what should and shouldn't be allowed in the arena of childbirth. It was only when I was moved by the passion of each of these women regarding their beliefs that I confronted my own prejudice, which gave my reporting a new dimension.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No clarifications were necessary, though due to reader inquiry, my editor and I decided to publish a short note on the outcome of my second birth.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
In a story like this, one that revolves around exploration of an issue that is both personally and publicly close to your heart, you have to be willing to see where the story will take you. If you're lucky, you'll have an editor who is just as flexible and understanding of the fact that big questions are comprised of a thousand small ones. For this story, I had to tell my own story maybe two hundred times. And each time, I had to be prepared for the reaction of the person I was speaking with, and, to some extent, not show this reaction. I think the fact that this was one of my first health stories was helpful in getting the answers I wanted. When you speak to medical professionals, oftentimes your ego won't allow you to simply say, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what that means." But if you have no notion that you should know any of the jargon or share any of the assumptions in the first place, you can get at a very simple answer, which is a service to both your readers who have no science or health background, and those who do. Besides, if you wait to get home to look things up, you'll find that you've missed an opportunity for a follow-up questions whose answer will make your article explode in a great way.