“I thought they knew what was best for me...but they didn’t. Babies matter, but so do mothers; and so does the ‘birth’ of the mother. It’s not just about surviving and ‘being happy that the baby is healthy and alive’. How a baby enters this world determines the path the mother will take, the life she will live, the relationship she will have with her children. They birthed my child for me while I was so sedated I was barely conscious. I missed my daughter’s first hours of life because I was too out of it to even keep my eyes open. They robbed me of what could have been the most precious time of my life and left me both mentally and physically scarred, reliving the pain every time I closed my eyes or had a moment to think for several months after. Some moments I still cannot think about without bursting in tears! My physical scars still remind me every so often of the OB’s need for ‘convenience'. Unnecessary interventions are like a stack of dominoes... they will all inevitably fall down."

- Zuzana, Yuma, AZ