Women 's Health Care And The Birthing Process For Centuries

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

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

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.

Midwifery has been practiced in several communities of the world since time immemorial. A midwife is a trained person, mostly a woman, who assists in the pregnancy, delivery and post-partum care of an infant. In most countries of the world, the act of midwifery has been neglected for more modern and westernized medical practices deemed safer. In the First nations community, midwives have always been an integral part of the health system assisting expecting women during delivery. In the mid nineteenth and twentieth century, midwifery was outlawed in many communities and reserves ‘for the sake of the health of the country’ (Parkland Memorial Hospital School of Nurse Midwifery). With the outlaw of midwifery in First nation reserves, expectant mothers were transported to hospitals and clinics in urban centers for delivery. With this came several new challenges for expectant first nations women and mothers including, ‘increased maternal newborn complications, increased postpartum depression and decreased breast-feeding rates’ (O’Neil et al., 1990, Smith, 2002 and Klein et al., 2002a. The relegation of first nations midwifery has done more harm than good because it makes the birth process more medical, has led to the inflict of new post natal diseases and has led to the neglect of the traditional and spiritual roles in child

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.

Men die in battle; women die in childbirth” (Gregory 1). This quote from the historical novel “The Red Queen” presents a straightforward reality that women and men believed before the advancements of modern medicine. In accordance with past social norms the time periods between the 17th and 19th century have shown that women would always hold the role as the weaker sex. Between the prejudice of men who considered themselves superior and the way history portrayed woman in a submissive light, there was no understanding of what women experienced throughout their lives. There may have been a few incidences that made an appearance here or there, but their significance would soon lose recognition in the masses of that time. Unfortunately, the only role that was considerably memorable for women during these eras was marrying into a well-off family and producing children. Still, even in this aspect of their lives women were viewed as inadequate. Childbirth held no advantage for men and midwifery was considered a profession that only a woman would be fitted for. In the late 1800’s a prominent surgeon by the name Sir Anthony Carlisle even went as far as to say that midwifery was a “humiliating office” and therefore “suitable only to women”( Massey 1). However, comments and thoughts like this would prove to be invalid as men became more immersed in the practice of childbirth. Fear of death led women of higher status away from traditional practices of female midwifery and they turned

Prenatal care is an important part of insuring the wellness of a baby. In the early 20th century, prenatal care was just starting to become an emphasized area of health for women. High infant mortality rates were starting to raise questions as to what could be done to help protect the fetus and insure a healthy childbirth and baby. Kansas attempted to raise awareness of the importance of prenatal care to the general public starting in the early 1900s with “The Kansas Mother’s Manual.” Many women in Kansas followed the guidelines issued within the handbooks, lectures, and posters. Yet, the women in the Southeast Kansas coal mining towns were disadvantaged when it came to prenatal care and childbirth. Infant mortality rates were quite high

The history of women in health care can first be identified when local women in rural American towns became healers within their communities, serving as the town's midwife and caretaker. The midwives “were the first person most women summoned when they were in labor” 1 even though men would still have the final say.

Multiple options were available for women who were birthing but none were particularly effective. Primarily these consisted of herbal remedies, folk medicine, and devoted prayers. Medical treatments for childbirth throughout the Renaissance included rubbing the area between the ribcage and the hips of the expectant mother with rose oil, giving her sugar and vinegar to drink, or applying a moist mass of ivory or eagles dung to relieve soreness and inflammation.

Childbirth was very dangerous in the fifteenth century. Woman would get married at the age of fifteen and nineteen. Then would have children at the age of twenty and twenty-four. Women would be having five to ten children. When the woman found she was pregnant she would make out her will. Weather they were months or years apart they would just keep having children without them knowing the dangers of giving birth. The old method of birth control they had was breastfeeding wish was nature's way of spacing out children. If the mother didn't breastfeed then they believed they would get pregnant more. They also didn’t believe in birth control. They didn’t deliver their babies in the hospital they delivered them at their own home. The more kids

While studying nursing in France and Great Britain, Mary was trained in all aspects of midwifery and public health. Seeing the way nurse-midwives met needs of birthing women and children, Mary

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)

Midwives in Great Britain were viewed for centuries prior to modern medicine as “the rightful attendants of birth, knowing the cases of woman better than any other (obstetrician of physician)” (Carter 68). In addition English Quaker midwives were “held with very high esteem” in their communities and midwifery was often viewed as a “perpetual honor of the female sex” (Kitzinger