Vaginal delivery does not equal Natural Childbirth - Page 9

[erin_brycesmom]

applejuice, I think it is important to note that OBs lobbied for midwifery to be outlawed and criminalized before women had the right to vote because the majority of women did not want to give birth in the hospital. They did not want to be forced in to be guinea pigs and rightly so - maternal deaths rose sharply after birth was moved into hospital.

You do bring up a good point about many upper class women giving birth in hospitals by choice but this was definitely the minority and doesn't really contradict what I wrote but I'm glad you mentioned it as it is relevant. It is also a chicken v egg thing regarding the influence of the political climate.

I don't think it is accurate to say that women lined up to choose hospital birth at the turn of the century in an attempt to imitate upper class. Many did so because they had little other choice. DeLee and the like decided they needed the lower class to use them in order for OBs to hone their skills on. The following books opened my eyes to the history of childbirth in America:

From Midwives to Medicine: The Birth of American Gynecology

Brought to Bed: Childbearing in America, 1750-1950

Lying In: A History of Childbirth in America

Birth as an American Rite of Passage

Death in Childbirth: An International Study of Maternal Care and Maternal Mortality 1800-1950

[Tsmapoh]

Originally Posted by readytobedone

i don't understand this. it seems to me getting your belly cut open is also physiological; your body and its functions are implicated, if interfered with. unless i don't understand what physiological means.

I was thinking of it in the context of:

Physiological: characteristic of or appropriate to an organism's healthy or normal functioning <the sodium level was physiological>

[cranberriesfor5]

I can see both sides here. I had an unmedicated birth in a hospital. No gown, no IV, no coached pushing, BUT, I had a doctor screaming at me the entire time b/c I would not take an IV, or lay on my back to push. That is unnatural to me.

But, to me I had a baby the way my body would naturally do it, but in an unnatural place.

[georgia]

I don't think it is accurate to say that women lined up to choose hospital birth at the turn of the century in an attempt to imitate upper class. Many did so because they had little other choice.

That's an excellent point. It's helpful for me to remember that the amount of information (and ease of access) available was so very different than today for many of women. And IME, we're right back to having our choices limited today especially considering the options for women who wish to VBAC.