Natural And Medical Childbirth

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.

Does everybody think or feels the same about childbirth around the world? This question above is a question that has always been in my mind. Now that I got the opportunity of choosing a topic to do research. I decided to choose childbirth and culture. This research paper is going to talk about how different cultures and countries look a birth in an entirely different manner. Some look at birth as a battle and others as a struggle. And on some occasions, the pregnant mother could be known as unclean or in other places where the placenta is belief to be a guardian angel. These beliefs could be strange for us but for the culture in which this is being practiced is natural and a tradition. I am going to be introducing natural and c-section childbirth. And, the place of childbirth is going to be a topic in this essay. America is one country included in this research paper.

In this week’s response we are given the choice to choose to respond on the topic about a type of “non-traditional” childbirth (i.e. hospital) of our choice that we would want to know more about and “What we learn before we’re born” from TED talk by Annie Murphy Paul . This week I am choosing to respond to a type of “non-traditional” childbirth (i.e. hospital). The type of childbirth I chose to talk about is a water birth. As interesting as this topic may be and all of the possible childbirths there are this stood out for me because I believe that it is amazing that a child can be born in a little pool.

Natural birth movements started in the mid-1940’s when birthing techniques, such as Lamaze’s six healthy birth practices, were introduced in the support of natural births and to lower the incidences of medical intervention in childbirth. This movement has grown, and continues to be an alternative dominant model of childbirth.

The history of childbirth is long, spanning across the entire history of every creature. The physical act has stayed the same with the exclusion of c-sections but the social aspect has changed drastically. Through exploring Nancy Dye’s History of Childbirth in America, Wenda Trevathan’s The Evolutionary History of Childbirth, and Barbra Rothman’s Childbirth as a Negotiated Reality, one will receive a glimpse into the social history of childbirth.

In the United States, midwives attend less than 8 percent of all births. In Europe and Japan, midwives attend over 70 percent (New Line Home Entertainment). People say that midwives are not needed in today’s world because of the abundance of nurses and doctors. This may be true, but the United States has the second worst infant mortality rate and one of the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. Hospitals and other health professional places are tricking women into thinking that they need an induced labor, an epidural, or even a cesarean section, but they really do not. The documentary The Business of Being Born dives into the history of birthing in the United States, the labor process at a hospital, as well as the role of

Culture is an enormous part of our lives. It can affect every part of our daily living from our health, nutrition, religious beliefs, and communication, to even how one is expected to think and behave. This paper explores various cultural beliefs on childbirth and specifically childbirth positions from three different cultures, Chinese, Indian, and American. The basic differences in cultures permeates one’s perspective on birth and is part of why certain beliefs and restrictions are present. How one brings new life into the world is steeped in traditions unique to each culture.

Childbirth is something women should feel accomplished and in charge of the situation. A research study that relates to this is At Pains To Consent: A Narrative Inquiry Into Women's Attempts Of Natural Childbirth. This explores how women’s feelings and beliefs are disregarded by medical professionals when they are giving birth. This creates a large conflict when the “smoke clears”. Women go into pregnancy and childbirth knowing what they want, in this case it is a natural birth, and their medical professionals do otherwise without consent. Women feel empowered with their decision of a natural birth and for them to find out their wishes were not granted lead them to feel guilt and frustration. There is not enough respect of women and especially the “sick” pregnant women that decisions are made since the sexism in our society says it is okay to treat women that

Early proponents of natural childbirth (Dick-Read, 1943; Karmal, 1959; Lamaze, 1970; Leboyer, 1975; and Bradley, 1978) developed programs to prepare women for childbirth that included relaxation, patterned breathing, hypnosis, and water immersion. Encouraged by the work of these early experts, women began to reclaim their autonomy in the birth process. “During the 1950s and 60s, women became more aware of the problems associated with heavy anesthesia during labor. Dense anesthesia had negative effects on women and their babies, and left women unable to play a role in their own care and that of their babies. Control of childbirth shifted from women (the birthing mother and her midwife), to the physician, (generally male at that time).” (Leggitt)

Giving birth in the hospital has become so normal in our lives that we can’t see any other alternative when thinking about childbirth. Due to the medicalization of childbirth, risks and fears of health complications can be addressed. However, it has led to women not truly being in control of their labor and delivery experience. Although the medical practice comes in handy when there is an emergency, the medicalization of childbirth has created a social reality that simply state that women are not in control of their own labor and delivery. The outcomes of the medicalization of childbirth have good influences on the health of the baby, but a negative effect on the women’s agency power and empowerment.

Another issue in which feminist and religious movements can be seen to converge in this novel is in the process of childbirth. To understand why this is significant a short history of childbirth is necessary. In early times all births were natural due to the fact that there were not any alternatives. Even after anesthetics had been regularly used for many medical procedures, however, childbirth was still not considered a situation that required pain relief techniques. This was partially due to the fact that until recently most births were attended by midwives or other women rather than by physicians and were not considered

Annually about 210 thousands women give birth in Jordan (CSPD, 2014). Childbirth is a significant event in women’s lives. It is a complex and subjective experience. For many women childbirth is a positive experience, enabled them to gain sense of mastery, elation, and accomplishment (Callister, 2006). In contrast, other women described it as negative experience, that is painful, and associated with feelings of fear, anxiety, anger, and insecurity (Owesis, 2009; Krepia, Tasaloglidou, Pschogiou, &Juikunen, 2011; Bryanton,Gagnon, &Hatem, 2008; Goodman, Mackey, &Tavkoli, 2004). Jordanian women in particular described childbirth as ………………………………………………….. (Khalaf & Calister, 1997)

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