As for Pushed, oh my goodness. Just a big wow holy cow unbelievable . . . . There were times during reading that I had to stop and process what I had just read. Taking this book in context with our society today at large and I am inclined to say that we are doomed. I don’t have the time and I don’t want to take the space to literally quote the entire book but I would definitely recommend it for reading if a) you are interested in such things, b) you are pregnant, are thinking of becoming pregnant, or know someone who is, c) you have ever been pregnant, d) are alive. Seriously.
Regarding epidurals: when woman has an epidural, typically she cannot feel anything from the waist down. This rather puts a damper on any major movement. Because the woman cannot feel anything, including pain, she is not able to respond to it and therefore are more vulnerable to injury (Block p 173). If you cannot feel the heat from the stove, you are more likely to touch it and suffer the consequences of doing so. If you cannot feel how coached pushing is affecting you, you are more likely to do and suffer the consequences of doing so.
I had no idea (but was not surprised to learn) that Massachusetts was the first state to make midwifery illegal in 1907 (Block p 216). Isn’t that interesting?
On page 217 we learn that “it has never been scientifically proven that the hospital is a safer place than the home for a woman who has had an uncomplicated pregnancy to have her baby.” This according to a statement in 1985 from the World Health Organization. Try telling that to most doctors and nurses.
Did you know that the state of Virginia actually mandated what position women should give birth in (Block p 247)? Are you freaking kidding me? What state has the right, responsibility, or knowledge to make such a declaration?
This is just good: “...all obstetric patients, are told, in essence: you can give birth here if you don’t go too far past your due date, if your water hasn’t been broken more than a few hours, if your baby is head down, if your baby looks small enough, if your pelvis looks big enough, if your cervix is dilating fast enough, if you’ll wear this monitor and stay in bed, if you’ll have some Pitocin, if you’ll let us break your water, if you’ll lie on your back and push when we tell you to push (Block p 261).” Yeah, pretty much.
Chapter 8, Rights, begins telling the story of three women. One, in 1996, wanted to have a VBAC. Her doctor at first said okay but then redacted. Not being able to find anyone who was supportive of her wishes, she and her husband decided to give birth at home, unassisted. Then she began vomiting and recognized that she was becoming dehydrated so they went to the hospital for some IV fluids. The hospital basically said, “If you’ll have a c-section, we’ll give you an IV; otherwise, forget it.” So a couple of sympathetic nurses bundled her and her husband out before the doctors could corner her. At home, they were confronted by the sheriff, the state attorney, a sheriff deputy, and an EMT squad. They had to take her to the hospital because a judge had issued a court order. So she was strapped by ankle and wrist to a stretcher and taken to the hospital. She and her husband locked themselves in the bathroom for a time and tried to push the baby out but she wasn’t dilated quite enough and she ended up with another cesarean without being provided with an attorney or giving consent (Block pp249-51).
The second woman showed up at the hospital with her husband to give birth to their seventh baby. An ultrasound indicated that the baby was too big but in spite of the fact that her babies were all large (including one at 12 pounds, 4 ounces) and born vaginally, the doctor said nope. They went to a different hospital. At the second hospital they went through the same thing but the attending doctor didn’t tell them to go to another one; instead the hospital was preparing paperwork and petitioning a judge for custody of the baby which was granted. Before the order could be executed though, they took off to another hospital where she “pushed out a perfectly healthy 11 lb, 9 oz baby girl, with nary a tear (Block pp 251-2).”
The third woman and her husband found an OB who would support a VBAC. However, he was not available when she went into labor. She labored at home as long as she could before going to the hospital where things progressed normally and quickly. The OB on call was paged and he announced that he was going to do a cesarean after which he injected something to stop contractions into her IV. Finally, the woman’s OB showed up and saved her from the section but did feel necessary (but asked her permission first) to cut an episiotomy because she was not able to push (Block pp 252-3).
Wow. Just wow. Compare to the following:
In spite of being excited to tell you Mally’s birth story, I’m somewhat hesitant to as well. I think this is because birth is an extremely personal experience. Not only that, but I have to rely on my memory of what she told me. Anyway, it is such a good story.
As I mentioned a few days ago, Mally and I sat together at Kim’s bridal shower Saturday and talked shop, so to speak. She was somewhat concerned approaching the end of pregnancy because this time she knew better what to expect whereas with Juliet, she was going in blind. We all do, don’t we? Even if we have witnessed birth or taken classes before giving birth the first time, we really don’t know how we are going to deal with the whole process; we really don’t know exactly what to expect. With Juliet, she said that they really went to the hospital too soon and this time she’d like to wait.
She said that she went home, and felt kind of crampy during the evening. Contractions began at a rate of about every 20 minutes. That would certainly indicate that things were beginning but not that birth is necessarily eminent and she thought that the baby would probably come the next day (Sunday). She did go to bed around 11 but by midnight her contractions started picking up and she couldn't sleep in between them anymore. That's when she knew she was truly in labor and baby was on his way. They went to the hospital at about 2:00 in the morning and she was already six or seven centimeters dilated. She asked about getting an epidural but her doctor mentioned that things were progressing nicely and that an epidural often slows labor down. Mally realized that if things slowed down, then Pitocin is more of a reality and so she did not get the epidural. The baby was born at 6:00 am. She did tear a little but, honestly, in my opinion having experienced a little tearing as opposed to a cut, I’d rather have a tear.
Mally mentioned that her mother never had any pain meds with her births and had told her that the pain of birth goes away once the baby is born. Mally was amazed to find that it is true. There are still after birth pains but the actual pain of labor and birth are gone once the baby is born. It is amazing how you can hear someone, someone you trust, say something but until you actually experience it, you don’t really believe it.
I think Mally is awesome and a wonderful example of what can be accomplished by a woman. I applaud her doctor, Rebecca Worden, for being honest.
(Honestly, we’d be going to the Worden’s if they weren’t so good but because they are, they are so busy they cannot take new patients—bummer for us.)
Block, Jennifer. Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Lifelong, 2007. Print.
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