Birth Of A Natural Birth Experience

During the 17th Century, European physicians were associated with childbirth. The midwives were allowed in the room when women were giving birth. In 1738, the first Caesarean Section

Giving birth to a baby is the most amazing and miraculous experiences for parents and their loved ones. Every woman’s birth story is different and full of joy. Furthermore, the process from the moment a woman knows that she’s pregnant to being in the delivering room is very critical to both her and the newborn baby. Prenatal care is extremely important and it can impact greatly the quality of life of the baby. In this paper, the topic of giving birth will be discussed thoroughly by describing the stories of two mothers who gave birth in different decades and see how their prenatal cares are different from each other with correlation of the advancement of modern medicine between four decades.

After having less liberty than desired under the care of an Obstetrician while delivering my older sister, my mum decided to seek care from a Midwife for her last two delivers. In comparison to her reflections about her first birth, when recalling my birth she remains enthused about the respect, care and freedom her Midwife gave her. The impact self-governance has on birth always strikes me when my mum speaks of her experiences. It is evident that allowing laboring women to assume ownership of their own bodies affects them, and subsequently their children, for a

Robin Yates’s paper, “Pregnancy and Childbirth, The 1800’s vs. Now: What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting,” was filled with many clear points on the advancement of labor and medicine since the 1800s. This essay was filled with interesting and grabbing facts; however, the structure of the essay needs more support.

For hundred of years, women have wrestled with their womanhood, bodies, and what it means to be a woman in our society. Being a woman comes with a wonderful and empowering responsibility--giving birth. What sets us aside from other countries is that the process and expectations of giving birth has changed in our society; coming from midwifery, as it has always been since the early times, to hospitals where it is now expected to give birth at. Midwifery was a common practice in delivering babies in

Most Americans associate hospitals to be the standard place where women can give birth. However, women did not always deliver in hospitals. Gynecology, the medical practice dealing with the female reproductive system, did not emerge until the early nineteenth century. Before doctors came along, women used to hire midwives to deliver babies in the comfort of their own homes. In this paper I will examine the social, political, and scientific implications of how giving birth has transitioned from being a midwife’s job into that of a doctor’s. Furthermore, I will attempt to show how these implications intersect together to make birth a feminist issue. To support my argument, I will be referencing Tina Cassidy’s “The Dawn of the Doctors,” Abby Epstein’s documentary film The Business of Being Born, and Eesha Pandit’s article “America’s secret history of forced sterilization: Remembering a disturbing and not-so-distant past.” I argue that the processes surrounding birth are intersectional feminist issues because they are often manipulated by male figures pursuing money and authority, which ultimately compromises women’s health and power of choice.

In the past, in the United States the majority of women delivered at home with no anesthetics; women might have received assistance through a family doctor, including midwife care (Thomas, 2011). A radical change happened by the 1960s, when hospital childbirths had become the norm, the pain of the experience was reduced by epidural anesthesia controlled by a physician. Pregnant women received education on breastfeeding and other topics during their medical visits (Thomas, 2011).

The debate on if a mother should be medicated or not during childbirth started when women switched from a midwife assisted birth to assisted births by a doctor. Women in the 1760s began seeking doctors to deliver their babies because they were more educated than midwives. Midwife assisted birth, sometimes ended in death of the mother and infant. During this time home birth was still relevant. Midwives believed they were more equipped because they were women. Doctors who at that time were all men believe they were more equipped because they had more education on the anatomy of a woman's body. In the 20th century women started to shift from home births to the hospital to achieve a pain-free childbirth when use of anesthesia became more prevalent. Epidural is the local anesthesia that is used to achieve a pain-free childbirth, it is

The topic of Home Birth is one that is constantly being debated, researched and talked about. Here I will discuss several aspects of this topic to be thought over for what they are: facts. A home birth is simply giving birth to a child at home rather than in a hospital. There are many benefits when choosing home birth as well as negative consequences. When having a child, many aspects must be acknowledged and well thought over. These include the cost, the location, whether a midwife is necessary or not among other concerns. A midwife is “a person trained to assist women in childbirth.” (Dictionary.com). This knowledge is important in understanding the differences between hospital and home birth as midwives may be present in either situation.

This paper will focus on the differences and conflicts between doctors and midwifes. Doctors have been been the lead care providers for women for hundreds of years. Just short of one-hundred years ago Mary Breckinridge became the first midwife in the united states. Today there doctors and midwives have an ongoing feud. Many doctors feel as if midwives are uneducated and are not trained enough to provide health care to women, and do not agree with their more natural approach to child birth. However there conflict is slowly but surly being resolved, as many health care facilities are allowing midwives to have more authority in the work place. Secondly, this paper will go over the differences between doctors and midwives, many people are uneducated

Childbirth is a beautiful thing. After the hours of labor, there is nothing more special than having the newly mother able to hold her child the minute after it’s born. It makes the pain that you had just experienced go away because all that matters in the world is that newborn child in your arms. During labor, every woman has her own experience but one common experience is the pain. According to Kitzinger (1978) “Labor pain can have negative or positive meaning, depending on whether the child is wanted, the interaction of the laboring woman with those attending her, her sense of ease or dis-ease in the environment provided for birth, her relationship with the father of her child and her attitude to her body throughout the reproductive

Hearing the word midwife leaves many people thinking of unprofessional, inexperienced women who help deliver babies naturally, without the help of medication. In truth, nurse-midwives are registered nurses who have attended additional schooling for women’s health and are taught to make women feel as comfortable as possible. In the beginning, remedies were the females’ legacies, their “birthright”; these females were known as “wise-women by the people, witches of charlatans by authorities”. (Ehrenreich, 1973). “Females were wanderers, traveling from one place to another, healing the sick and wounded.” (Ehrenreich 1973). These women were among the first human healers and they were especially helpful when it came to childbearing. The midwives

Childbirth can be described as one of the most rewarding and also painful experiences in a woman’s life. Most women choose some type of method to ease pain, however, there has been a lot of controversy over with pain management method is the most effective. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), In 2013, there were 3,932,181 births recorded in the United States, 32.7% of those births were surgical procedures. In 2012, 1.36% of recorded births occurred out-of-hospital, meaning these births took place mostly in homes or birthing centers. Without the option of medicine that a hospital provides, how were these women able to manage their pain during labor and delivery. There are many different methods for easing pain during childbirth, some methods involve the use of medicine and surgery, and others include natural techniques, such as hypnosis, Lamaze, and many others. It is a personal preference of the parents over which method is right for the needs of the mother and child. This can be an overwhelming decision for new parents to make because they have to take into consideration the safety of the mother and child, pain management for the mother and desire for medical involvement.

During the turn of the seventeenth-century childbirth in Europe developed into a method that relied on beliefs that midwifery was a form of witchcraft, labor pains were a punishment caused by Eve’s sins, and ancient superstitions could be Christianized. Traditionally birthing took place in the home with at least 4 to 6 women in attendance. If labor took longer than expected or became too difficult for the midwife help from outside sources like barber surgeons or physicians would be brought in. In these cases, a flurry of apprehension would come from the woman laboring. Regrettably, this was a standard reaction among women because until, the realization that it could raise ones’ status midwifery was a practice “…. being beneath the dignity of

Every woman’s body is different and every women experiences birth differently. Most women have a plan as to how they want to bring their child/children into this world, and others, aren’t so lucky. For some women, they’re given the choice to have a natural child birth, which is done without pain medication. For others, they’re also given the choice to receive an epidural while having a vaginal birth or to have a C-section which requires an epidural. With all the possibilities that come with child birth, very few are given no choice at all how they bring life into this world. Instead of a joy filled celebration at the end of the day, in some cases, families experience difficulties and sometimes the outcome results in death.