Meghan and Harry need to come clean on royal birth
As the world swoons over the first images of Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor, questions remain unanswered: what happened to Meghan and Harry’s birth plan and were we lied to, asks Sally Morrell.
If the Duchess of Sussex really wants to be an inspiration for all women, let’s hope she and Prince Harry come clean about the fact that, in the end, it was the dreaded “men in suits” that Meghan allegedly wanted to avoid who delivered their baby.
For months, the Duchess of Sussex implied that she would not have a bar of that old-fashioned Royal birth rubbish (read: at a world-class London hospital). She wanted a water birth at home, surrounded by female midwives and doulas, and naturally, drug-free. And, as Harry famously once told courtiers, “what Meghan wants, Meghan gets”.
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Unfortunately, somebody failed to tell Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor, better known as Baby Sussex.
Like most babies, he did his own thing and overstayed his welcome in his Mummy’s tummy. He may have got a bit stuck on the way through, he may even have needed to come out another route, we don’t know. At this point all we’ve got is secrets and lies.
Now, I get that Meghan wanted to be a poster-girl for natural birth. But it’s nothing to be embarrassed about when circumstances change and you need to bring in back-up. So why the subterfuge?
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On Tuesday we saw a gushing Prince Harry in front of the stables at Windsor giving the distinct impression that everything had gone according to plan. It wasn’t until later that we learned that Meghan had been overdue, and was taken to the nearby Portland Hospital by Prince Harry and her security team.
It would seem that at the 11th hour, doulas were dispensed with and the medical experts were brought in.
Like many other women, myself included, Meghan had a birth plan. I too “planned” my birth. At least that was until my obstetrician informed me 24 hours into labour that she needed to tear up my plan and get my baby out. His head had gotten stuck and an emergency epidural and high forceps were required.
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I went drug free until the very last minute because, like many first-time mothers, I drank the kool-aid and believed that a drug-free birth was what a good mother should do. It’s a pressure so many women feel.
For a few moments there I was stupidly devastated that my plan had not gone, well, to plan, and that I had not been able to go through the process without pain assistance. But then came to my senses and realised I was holding my squirming baby.
As obstetrician Amy Tuteur wrote in “Push Back”, the pain of contractions is not more noble or any less painful than any other pain. It is carried by the same nerves, uses the same neurotransmitters and is routed in the same areas of the brain. No one would ever get a root canal without drugs, so why is a baby any different?
So will we be told if Meghan had to have an epidural? The safe bet is probably not.
Questions have also been raised about the royal couple’s decision to potentially mislead the public by saying Meghan was “in labour” when the baby had been born six hours earlier.
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It’s understandable that she may not want the entire world to imagine her grunting and groaning as the hours passed. After all, each time I heard that the Duchess of Cambridge was in labour it just made me remember how painful it all was for me. But why not just announce the birth without the fake news?
To date, there’s been no mention of a C-section birth, but it is still a possibility given the entire hospital stay has been shrouded in mystery, with even the doctors’ names left off the official Buckingham Palace ceremonial easel announcement.
It would be disappointing if there’s been an attempt to also hide a possible caesarean.
In 2015, 32 per cent of births in Australia were C-sections — a 540 per cent increase over a generation, and higher than the OECD average of 25.7 per cent.
In other words, there’s no reason to be ashamed or scared if that is how your labour unfolded.
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I’m happy for anyone to come up with any birth plan they want. But if anything goes awry, it’s best to go to the experts, just as Harry and Meghan did.
So come on Meghan and Harry, shout it from the rooftops: “Men in suits delivered our baby and not only did we survive, we thrived!”
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