HW 40 - Insights from Book - Part 3

Hey- thanks for writing BIRTH.  Your thesis about how birth can never really be natural persuaded me to believe that the thought of natural birth is nothing but a fairy tale.

"Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?"


Well, in the last third of your book you focused on, the role that a father plays in the whole process of giving birth. Which added another angle on to the first 2/3 of the book. But let me be more specific:


First off you talked to us about how the women felt about a man being in the room and the different reactions different women had to men being in the room at the time. "It was the 1940's and Dr. Robert A. Bradley, who was still training in obstetrics, was studying what happened when husbands were allowed in the labor room for periods of time."(p.198)  This quote is showing me that even in the mid 1900's they were still asking the same question about what men did during the birth process and how it really affected the women.


Then you talk about how in some places it is normal for a man to be involved in the birth process.  "There were, however, a few places where men were central to births.  On Yap, a spit of an island in the south pacific between Guam, and new guinea, the father was the normal birth attendant."(p.201)  To me this shows that it really just depends on where the birth is taking place.  Because depending on the culture it may be different each time.  Obviously in this culture it is very natural for the father to be present but in the united states for a while the men were not supposed to be present during the birth process.


Lastly you talked about how it may not always be good to have the father present.  "Odent, who now lives in england and runs his primal Health Research Centre in London, had interviewed couples years after their babies had been born to research how the birthing event shaped their lives together.  He found that  having the father there isn't always the best.(p. 213)  This shows that not in all cases is it good for the father to be there.  In my opinion I don't really see how it could affect the baby if the baby has not yet been born.  But could it be that it is the mother being stressed and in some way passing that stress on to the baby.

HW 39 - Insights from Book - Part 2

Topics the book has taught me about "the business of being born":


-Birth can be a scary process that not everyone is ready for.
-Birth for some people is the most amazing thing that will ever happen in their lives.
-The process of birth is hardly ever natural.
-Midwifes are just as good as doctors at delivering babies.

The major insight that the book wants to point out in the second 100 pages is that the birth process is not what people think it is.  I agree with her because i feel like people have this fairy tale image in their head about how wonderful and easy birth is.  If people actually took the time to do some research and actually watch the video of a birth i think that their opinion on birth and their approach to it would completely change.  Like we discussed in class not many people actually look at videos of the birth process because they are afraid that something could potentially go wrong with their own birth process.  They don't want tot see the truth behind these situations.

5 interesting aspects of birth


-The actually birthing process and what people go through just to have a baby.
-The impact a baby has on peoples lives.
-Some people have a C section all so that they can produce a child
-People use these dangerous medicines that can potentially have harmful affects on their child.


Independently research one crucial factual claim by the author in the second hundred pages and assess the validity of the author's use of that evidence.


"Doctors get sued for caesareans they don't perform or don't perform quickly enough"


http://closermagazine.com/new/index.php?section=display&feature=Featured

HW 38 - Insights from pregnancy & birth book - part 1

The way that this book is organized is actually different from the other books i have read.  It is different in the way that the authors style of writing is very precise and she wants to really make the reader think about her opinion.  I think that the main question that the book tries to answer is there actually a natural way to have birth?  I would respond to this question by saying that i don't think that there is a natural way of having birth because in most cases something extra has to be done to the birth process to make it work.  For example if you ask to have drugs during the birth(legal drugs) then that makes the birth process un natural. The major insight that the book tries to focus on is that again the talk about having a natural birth is pretty unrealistic.  I agree with the author because she said something interesting, she said that birth is literally a twisted process, because sometimes the baby will have to be twisted to come out the right way.  That right there is something that makes the birth process un natural because something has to be done to make the process right.

Aspects:
1.) No birth is actually natural there is always something extra that happens.
2.) It is stupid that at one point men weren't allowed in the room during birth.
3.) Midwives are still a very important part of birth
4.) Birth is a weird and twisted process
5.) Birth is sacred

HW 37 Birth Stories Comments

Jay,

I really thought that you post was very thought provoking. As opposed to in my post when i gave the names of my people i interviewed your people wanted to be kept private. And i undertand why their story's are very personal and really show how they feel about this topic. I felt like your most insightful line was, "The mother I interviewed said birth was very traumatic, scary, and exhilarating. "




Larche,

Your style of writing was very fluent and it really showed me that you got a good understanding of what you were writing about. I really thought that your interviewees responses were great and it kept me very interested through out your post. I think your most insightful lines were, "For this interviewee, she described her all three of her births as "easy". She spoke of working right up until the day before giving birth to one of her children."


Rossi,

Your post was very interesting to me. I really felt like you understood the struggles that your interviewees were going through and like you actually wanted to interview them. I think your most insightful lines were, "It made me gain weight, obviously, and I became depressed. I have always been someone that cares a lot about my appearance and with this weight and appearance I had very low self esteem, even though I knew it was baby weight."