A: The History of Birth, Understanding the point we find ourselves in now...

• Feldhusen, Adrian E. "The History of Midwifery and Childbirth - A Time Line." Midwifery Today - Pregnancy, Birth, Homebirth and Midwife Information. 2000. Web. 31 Mar. 2011.

A break down of birth from as early as 1660 to 1997. Gives both historical and statistical facts on everything that directly has a correlation to birth and everything that has had a significant effect on birth. Coherently makes a tie between how different points in history all have a connection to the state we find ourselves in now. While evaluating a topic presently being disputed about it is important to understand exactly how a situation came to be.

• The Business of Being Born. Dir. Abby Epstein. 2008. Film.

A insightful documentary that unveils the problems faced today in the birth world. In contrast however, looks back on more recent history to understand fully why pain is such an issue when it comes to labor. More specifically though shows a deep contrast between the options or lack of options women are given in the delivery room, truth that usually doesn't seem to arise in the surface.

• Epstein, Randi Hutter. Get Me Out: a History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.

A book that looks back hundreds of years and in a five part structure ties all of what has happened up until this point together. Although Hutter discusses some eye opening information it is done in a very comical way, making it easy to processed and understand. This is quite relevant considering many people often give up if something isn't comprehensible.

• "Women and Medicine in the Middle Ages & Renaissance." Dave's Den. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. .

Although this article is general in the sense that it discusses more than just childbirth, it does hit upon interesting ideas around labor. There is a great amount of information discussing how women were positioned while giving birth and who was with them throughout the birth.

• "Unassisted Childbirth in the 1950's." Bornfree! Laura Shanley's Unassisted Childbirth Page. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. .

A blog type website which list birth stories, that literally made headlines in the 1950's. The whole natural birthing has been raising eyebrows for quite some time now, these newspaper clippings show how "normal" criticizes anything unordinary.

• Selin, Helaine, and Pamela Kendall. Stone. Childbirth across Cultures: Ideas and Practices of Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Postpartum. Dordrecht: Springer Verlag, 2009. Print.

A contrast of how different cultures approach childbirth and a look into how evolution has shaped this. A deeper understanding that regardless of where you are on this planet, birth is a universal ability and connection.

• "Mortality, Childbirth - World, Body, Life, History, Cause, Rate, Time, Human, Global Variation in Maternal Mortality, Causes of Maternal Mortality around the World."Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. .

Specific statistics and facts of how mortality in childbirth has changed over time. While also touching upon causes of death and the trends seen throughout different cultures.

• I will also be interviewing my friend Abby's mother who is a doula. She will be answering questions on why she believes we are in the state of today.

B:

After gathering all of my evidence I will turn it into a research based paper that discusses the many aspects around the history of childbirth. In order to move forward and make a change/difference in the world one needs to fully understand the history behind the specific subject. If I can take all of the information and find connections between different points in time it will bring me to a better understanding as to exactly how childbirth has turned into something cruel and unsatisfying. By enlightening myself and anyone who reads my essay, I will make a change because personally I know what is happening now isn't normal, and change can start with one person. Furthermore I want to see how "normal" has shifted or really just come in full circle when it comes to labor. By informing myself at a deeper level I will have the ability to be an expert and pass along this information to make a better choice.

HW 40 - Insights into Book Part Three

One night at a Cocktail party… Sarah runs into Jennifer Block…

"Hey - thanks for writing Pushed. Your emphasis on the importance of a woman’s right to choose really made me rethink about the way our country approaches pregnancy and birth.

But Jennifer was surprised to be talking to someone who instead of sharing their own birth story actually rephrased the main idea of the text she had spent months giving birth to and asked, "Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?"

"Well, in the last third of the book you focused on the struggle of woman and how they are intertwined within the institutions which further developed the first 2/3rds of Pushed. But let me be more specific."

“You discussed the amount of tension between the hospitals, the midwives and the mothers. The power struggle between whose voice is the most important in the time of birth. I happen to have my copy of Pushed with me, on page 212 you quoted mid-wife Betty-Anne Daviss, “That’s the way medicine works. That is the way midwives and physicians work all around the world, and very well together… The trouble and the increased risk to mothers and babies, come in states where medical and state authority don’t recognize midwives’ role in maternity care and react with hostility. “And that is a problem,” says Daviss, “because what it means is that they’re not willing to recognize the woman’s choice in that community.” Before reading your book I was very unaware of the lack of voice the mother has within a hospital. When the media portrays pregnancy they make it out to be a quick, loud and painful experience. There is no mention of the induced c-sections and the forced drugs, it almost makes it seem as though the media purposely hides the truth because our society doesn’t want women using a different method, or shifting the “normal”.”

“I was speechless at the beginning of Chapter Eight, entitled ‘Rights’, You begin with mentioning that Laura Pemberton had been, “forced out my home by armed men,” as she tells it, while attempting birth (249), you continue on page 251 by saying, “A judge had issued a court order, and he had no choice but to take me in.” First of all, at this point in time I cannot imagine giving birth but let alone being disrupted by literally complete strangers who were there to ruin a moment that is irreplaceable… It seems as though people are constantly trying to take away the natural and bring in the forcefulness.”

“Lastly, when you go into the sub-chapter of A Scattered Minority on page 262, I was fascinated by your simple yet complex questions… “Who owns birth? Women or doctors? A perinatologist who experienced the births of his children at home explains to me why the hospital is a strange place for a normal birth. “If you’re a first time mom, you’re strong, and you’re scared to death. And when you’re strong and scared to death, you can’t relax and let the baby fall in your pelvis… nobody’s helping you to relax.” It’s almost to say that hospitals are intentionally set up to turn on your headlights. When I think of hospitals I think of death and sick people, someone who is at the end, who has little or no hope and are simply quite unsure about what comes next. Birth on the other hand is the complete opposite it is the beginning of something new but I think most people know to a certain extent what they are getting into. So it seems kind of ironic that these two events would take place under the same roof, and so I agree with the perinatologist, women are under a state of fear and with that comes the inability to use her body in the way it can work naturally.”

At this point, Jennifer realized she was having a unique conversation with a serious reader of her book, and asked me - "But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?"

"Well, let's be clear – Pushed sought to provide narratives, historical analysis, journalistic analysis, policy analysis from the perspective of a someone who understood their field, for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would include even more personal stories of women and less concrete numbers, percentages etc. Although those are important I felt as though I wasn’t retaining the number of c-sections conducted in 1992 to the number happening today. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about how our normal is weird and how as a woman I think it is extremely important for all women to understand how complex pregnancy and birth truly is. Since reading your book I have decided to have a natural birth when the day comes and if in the near future I have friends who are contemplating their destination route, I will recommend reading this text.

Jennifer then said, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society!"

HW 39 - Insights from Book - Part Two

Block, Jennifer. Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Lifelong, 2007. Print.

In a country where freedom of speech is strongly recognized, one would think that this act would apply to all elements of someone’s life. The one place where a woman should have complete control of both her body and her ideas is taken away from her so quickly that she doesn’t even realize what is going on. After continuing my reading of Pushed and furthering my watching of “Business of Being Born”, I can confidently say that the delivery room should be put under investigation for going directly against what our country was founded on. Although the “Business of Being Born” focuses a tremendous amount on midwives they don’t really touch upon Doulas, Pushed however goes into great depth as to their purpose in the delivery room and how much they guard over the woman in labor. The Doula becomes the voice and the brain of the woman in labor while she undergoes an out of this world experience, making sure the woman knows exactly what is going on before a needle, scissor or a drug enters her body. The Doula treats her as a person not an object, the Doula gives the constant comfort to another human being, encouraging them throughout the process of labor and reassuring the them that amidst all of the pain she is doing a great job. The “Business of Being Born” certainly focuses on the difference between a stressful, loud, fast moving and chaotic birth verses a natural, personal and beautiful birth but in Pushed the reader really hears the perspectives of women who all felt as though this magical and beautiful part of their existence was stolen from them.

The song Neopolitan Dreams by Lisa Mitchell has a couple of lines that I believe are completely parallel with Pushed… “It sure takes its precious time, but it’s got rights and so have I…I turn my head up to the sky I focus one thought at a time I do not let the little thieves under my tightly buttoned sleeves… I don’t think you’re ever A hundred percent in the room.” Essentially I think Jennifer Block is trying to make the point that giving birth can’t be compared to anything else in this world and to speed it up is taking away its beauty, women should have the right to say what is done to their body and what cannot be done. They should be able to walk, to stretch, to sing, to scream and to feel everything that is happening from moment to moment, doctors should not be able to take advantage of women because when it comes down to it they are only briefly in the room with the mother and give her no real support.

I couldn’t help myself from smiling on page 100 when Goorchenko finished giving birth to her twins in her home, without the assistance of a midwife, just the fact that she knew her body so well and was confident that it knew what it was doing and didn’t feel fear without the drugs and the “experts.” I think that the term maternal instinct doesn’t just play into a woman’s life after the baby is born but while the baby is making its way into the world, women are made for this, and for hundreds of thousands of years female species have been giving successful births without the intervention of man made discoveries, so why now there is such a demand for it puzzles me. Carol Sakala has studied the cesarean section and concluded that there is no need for intervention or assistance in the room unless it is crucially necessary, for mothers and babies are in a safer condition without these medical procedures (126). Hearing more about Oxytocin was quite interesting; it made me realize that without this hormone setting off a woman may have a hard time embracing her newborn child, and if labors are induced how can this hormone do its job? (135) Furthermore if inducing labors are happening then babies are coming out before they are truly ready and if babies are manually taken out then their lungs are not truly cleared of fluid, making it harder for the babies to breathe. Is the doctor’s time really worth the risk of a baby who could be under developed and unable to breathe on its own? (140) Lastly, I was in shock when reading about the comparison between rape and abusive childbirth. Something that should be one of the most amazing moments in ones life is turned into a moment that is haunted and feared. (146)

Considering Pushed focuses a lot on the comparison between vaginal births and cesarean sections I decided to investigate the direct comparison between the two. On the American Pregnancy Association website there were ten risks for the mother and four risks for the baby. The ones that stood out to me the most were risk of additional surgery (Mom), Infections (Mom), Average recovery time six months (Mom), Fetal Injury (Baby) and breathing problems (Baby). While looking over the midwife section there were hardly any risks in comparison to cesarean sections, the only one that I found to be a bit freighting was that 20 to 40 percent of pregnancies could have complications, so this method of birthing is really only ideal for low risk pregnancies. (http://www.americanpregnancy.org/) However, over the past couple of weeks I have come to realize that it doesn’t make sense why society has altered a perfectly “normal” way of giving birth, it’s funny that although we live longer today we try to squeeze in as much as possible in the time we have and instead of taking our time and appreciating the moment we try to make sure that moment is condensed for convenience.

HW 38

Pushed – The Painful Truth About Childbirth And Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block is broke up into eight chapters. Within each of the chapters are sub-chapters that have a tie within the subject of the section.

Block questions how “normal” has shifted in the world of childbirth. Personally my ideas behind the “normality” of birth have shifted as well. As a reader it is key to understand a sort of unveiling she performs and as a woman up until this point in my life, hospitals, doctors and medication have always seemed guarantees when pregnant. My initial response was, Oh! Here we go again, another “secret” our institutions keep hush hush, to move the time we have a little faster…

There is no personal connection between the mother and the receiver anymore, it’s all about getting in and getting out, ASAP. “OB is a business. It’s a volume business,” chimes in another doctor Stephen Crane, MD. “If you get paid $2400 to deliver a baby and you pay out $90,000 in malpractice insurance, you have to do a lot of deliveries to pay that fee.” (Page 60 – Pushed) “Cesareans are labeled either “elective” or “emergency.” But most are done in more of a gray zone; it’s neither a clear emergency, but nor are things progressing smoothly, and what happens next is a judgment call. “Will the woman dilate and push the baby out efficiently and easily in the next couple hours?” says Richard Fian…” (Page 59 - Pushed)

For a very long time I thought I was in the special birth category, always bragging about how I was a c-section baby and how I could of died. Little did I know though that I was not even close to alone in this category. Up until about a week till my birth I was a breeched baby, my moms OB/GYN turned me the right way but when my mom went into labor (which she had planned on being drug free) it seemed as though I was still facing the wrong way. They claimed I was stressed and that both her and I would die if they didn’t perform a c-section… “A breech birth, Jane Evans explains to her audience, can’t be induced. It can’t be rushed with artificial oxytocin or rupture of the membranes… The breech baby demands patience; she rejects active management; she demands normal, physiological birth.” (Page 75 – Pushed) I find it ironic that a process in which a woman should have full control of her body it is completely avoided by drugs, “Let’s see if this baby is coming,” she said, her fingers still inside. “That’s great!” she said. “Really?” asked the woman. “I can’t feel anything.” “Don’t worry, you just need to follow directions,” said the doctor.” (Page 68 – Pushed) You would think that it would be better to make a manual on how to give birth the “normal” way but yet both the doctor and the patient know this isn’t normal. When Hurricane Charley hit Block describes births that were natural without any intervention being completely successful… “We had an incredibly low cesarean rate. Amazingly, the babies were about evenly distributed between day and night shifts.” (Page 2-3 – Pushed)

Block has hardcore evidence backing up her ideas on the birth system. Her choice of commentators varies for every subject although most people are in the world of birthing she reveals the ideas of the patients as well. I looked up the cesarean rate in this country and discovered that Block is accurate, it has continued to rise and in 2007 1/3 of the births performed were cesarean. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db35.htm)

HW 37

From Casey: Sarah,
Your post hit upon many interesting ideas I think could have benefitted from further elaboration. For example: "After hearing a very similar story to my first interviewee it made me wonder if subconsciously we set up the type of image we want to be seen as a pregnant person. If through our choices we connect the dots to make one sort of person. It then made me think about the stereotypical types of pregnant people floating around our society. The teenage mom, the Zen mom, the older mom, when and how we give birth seems to make more of a statement than the birth itself." Perhaps you could have touched upon this topic later, in connection to how your interviewees fit into these stereotypes.I liked your quote in the beginning, although (forgive my slowness) I didn't quite see its relevance to your interviews.

From Natalie: I thought this line was interesting: "However she joked that being pregnant made her feel like a queen, anything she wished for was someone else’s command."

We treat pregnant women so differently, but why? Is it because we want the best for the baby, this fresh new life coming into the world? Or are we really concerned with the mother, the pain she is going to feel? I believe most times people think about the baby when they do favors for the mother and no longer see her as her own person. One of my interviewees talked about how uncomfortable she felt with people touching her stomach, when they normally wouldn't have. I think this furthers the point that people see women as simple objects when they are pregnant. Everything is done in hopes that it will better the experience of the child on its journey into our world. People are consumed with the idea that this new impressionable life will appear, more than the place from which it comes.

From Rebecca (Younger): a. "No matter what mood she was in, one could always tell exactly how she was feeling."

b. It's weird that just because she was pregnant people could tell how she was feeling. It makes me question whether our personalities will change once we have children. Birth seems very complicated but pregnancy seems even more so...

from Rebecca

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To Casey: Casey: I really liked your post, and was struck by this line, “making families was just what people did. Family wasn’t really a question…the only question was timing”. This got me thinking about how our society maps out the normal way to live. It seems as though marriage and babies come hand in hand. It poses as sort of strange that if two people were to make a baby and didn't have the golden rings on their left hand then society as a whole would frown upon their decision... Why do the two have to go hand in hand? Why can't two people create something or move forward without a certificate?

To Natalie: Natalie: I really liked the contrast between all three of your interviewees. I found this line to be very insightful, "She feels deep compassion for the mother and the family and tries to achieve the perfect environment for the baby to come into and for the mother to thrive in. As sacred as she tries to make birth for the woman, she said that after becoming a midwife, she “realized how normal birth is.” " I was reading an article online about how woman have the instinct to give birth and yet we completely undermine this and go forward with different techniques. I wonder though if c-sections and hospital births were to become obsolete would the death rate rise? Is natural birth enough for the survival? Or would survival of the fittest become part of the picture?