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.
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