VOA慢速英语:Women Are Giving Birth at Home – On Purpose!

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.
来自美国之音慢速英语，这里是健康报道。
Empowering. Life-changing. These are two words women often use to describe natural childbirth. Painful would be a third. But that's a different story.
更强，改变生活。这是女性通常用来描述自然分娩的两个词。痛苦是第三个。但那是完全不同的故事。

This story is about midwives in Los Angeles, California. They are trying to bring more women of color into the natural childbirth profession and convince more women to give birth at home.
这个故事是关于美国加利福尼亚州洛杉矶助产士。她们正试图将更多有色人种女性带入自然分娩界，并说服更多妇女在家分娩。

But the numbers are small.
但人数还不多。

Only one percent of babies in the United States are born at home. However, interest in home deliveries is on the rise. In Los Angeles, California, for example, some women are choosing to use midwives instead of the usual hospital birth with a doctor.
美国只有1%的婴儿在家里出生。然而，对家庭接生的兴趣正在上升。例如加州洛杉矶市，一些女性选择助产士而不是通常的在医院由医生接生。

Midwives are specially educated in childbirth. They begin as apprentices or students and then must pass state-issued tests, or Medical Boards.
助产士接受过分娩的专门培训。她们由学徒或学生开始，然后必须通过国家或医疗委员会出台的考试。

In 2012, Jasmine Lavender delivered her second child in a bathtub.
2012年， Jasmine Lavender在浴缸里生下了她第二个孩子。

"It was an amazing experience. Very empowering. You know, I encouraged to support other moms to have a vaginal births. It was life-changing, to be honest."
“这是一次了不起的经历，很给力。你知道，我鼓励了其她妈妈自然分娩。老实说，这是人生的改变。”

She chose home birth with a midwife because she did not want to repeat the hospital experience she had with her first child.
她选择助产士在家分娩，是因为她不想再重复生第一个孩子时的医院经历。

Ms. Lavender says at that time, the hospital performed an unneeded and hurried medical operation -- a Caesarean section. During the birth she says she felt that her time was running out. And not time on her body's clock but rather on her doctor's clock.
Lavender女士说，当时医院执行了一次不必要的匆忙的手术--剖腹产。在分娩期间，她说她感觉自己时间已经不多了，并不是根据她的身体状况，而是根据她医生的日程安排选择分娩时间。

Ms. Lavender's second baby arrived naturally with help from the Community Birth Center in south Los Angeles.
Lavender女士的第二个孩子是在南洛杉矶市社区生育中心的帮助下自然分娩的。

Licensed midwife Racha Lawler established the Center. It provides services to people who might not otherwise receive them. Ms. Lawler says the Center offers some general health services, such as testing for sexually transmitted diseases -- or STDs.
注册助产士Racha Lawler建立了该中心。她的服务对象是可能没有其它途径接受到分娩服务的人们。Lawler女士说，该中心提供一些一般的医疗服务，如检测性传播疾病—性病。

"You know, as a midwife you can draw people's blood and test people's blood and test people for STDs. You can, you know, teach women about how their bodies work in regards to their ovulation and fertility. So why not make sure everyone in the community knows that?"
“你知道，作为一名助产士可以提取人们的血液并检测性传播疾病。还可以告知女性她们的身体如何排卵与受孕。那么，为什么不让社区的每个人都知道这些呢？”

When the Center first opened, there were about 300 licensed midwives in California. Most of them were white. But Racha Lawler hopes to increase by 100 percent the number of midwives of color. She hopes to do this through reaching out to the community and offering free help for students like Tanya Smith-Johnson.
当该中心首次开放时，加州约有300名注册助产士。他们大多是白人。但Racha Lawler希望有色人种助产士数量能增加100%。她希望通过深入社区并为Tanya Smith-Johnson这样的学生提供免费帮助实现这点。

Ms. Smith-Johnson says women of color have a special need of pregnancy and delivery care.
Smith-Johnson女士表示，有色人种女性对怀孕和分娩护理存在特殊需求。

"The stats (the numbers) show women of color, we're the ones who need maternity care. Our babies die at rates 3 or 4 times that of white women. And one of the solutions to that is having more women of color tend to women like themselves."
“统计数据显示，有色人种女性特别需要产科护理。我们的孩子的死亡率是白人女性的3到4倍。而相应的解决方案之一是让更多有色人种女性帮助像她们自己的这些女性。”