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.