Hw - 40 Insights from Book - Part 3

"Hey - thanks for writing Birth. Your core argument about the lively hood of women during and after their pregnancy and the "experimental" tools doctors used made me rethink pregnancy & birth."

But the author, surprised to be talking to someone who instead of sharing their own birth story actually rephrased the main idea of the text s/he spent months giving birth to asks, "Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?" When you answer, "Well, in the last third of the book you focused on the maternal mortality rates and the postpartum period , which added another angle to the first 2/3rds of the book. But let me be more specific." And then you listed the top 3 ideas/pieces of evidence/insights/questions from that final third of the book (and somehow even listed page number references n).
1."In Europe and many other places, postpartum women once considered polluted and therefore dangerous to men; so new mothers were not allowed to prepare or cook food for forty days."(222)

2."The lack of immediate contact between mothers and preemies had long term deleterious implications. Contact is good for babies - and their parents - right from the beginning. And it improves not just their relationship. Allowing time to bond helps increase childhood IQ scores, keeps families intact, and reduces the likelihood of child abuse."(229)

3."...Maternal morality rates were increasing sharply, especially in urban areas. Disease, decreasing numbers of midwives, and more meddlesome practices were introducing new troubles in childbirth...Government and charities sprang into action...but death rates continued to rise...in New York City [it] had risen to alarming levels...4.5 percent of women who delivered in hospitals died after what should of been a normal delivery, compared to the 1.6 percent who delivered at home with a midwife. And at least half of those deaths were preventable."(246)


At this point, realizing that s/he's having a unique conversation with a serious reader of her/his book, the author asks - "But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?" You answer, "Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide narratives and historical analysis from the perspective of a woman for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be, to include more of the beautiful stories of birth and how it provides a empowerment to the women who succeeded. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about the effects of a Cesarean section & the tools and fads doctors used throughout history. In fact, I'm likely to do a review of the likeliness of whether women today prefer midwives over obstetricians as a result of your book." The author replies, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society!"

Hw - 39 Insights from Book - Part 2

Cassidy, Tina. Birth The Surprising History of How We Are Born. New York: Grove Press, 2006. Press.

• Arranged births and its development in "changing the perspective of women's thoughts on vaginal birth."
• The empowerment of vaginal births being given back to the "woman."
• The "black hole" system hospitals attend to, displaying little then less information to women about birthing strategies.

In Tina Cassidy's "Birth", the next 100 pages explored, explicitly focused on the method and tools doctors used during a women's pregnancy. From the horrid treatment of women back in the 19th century to the comparisson of the 21st century and how women are somewhat still treated similarly of course with many exceptions. Although in "Business of Being Born" there was not much of historical time periods being named, some of the methods the doctors used on women, heavily drugging and giving little then less information or option of birth strategies can easily been seen in what Cassidy describes to us. The establishment of fads from one generation to the next under the light of doctors practically experimenting possible and still very dangerous methods of creating the "perfect birth" to this day is still demonstrated in hospitals such as, the drugs that supposedly accelerate or ease the challenge of birth. To the growing popularity of C-sections now, presumed as the new fad of this generation so women could hold on to their "appeal" to their significant others and on other hand not actually realizing the possible and threatening danger their is to it.

"[A Cesarean Section]...has become such a routine operation that nearly one out of every three babies in developed countries arrives by cesarean section...Cesareans have become so commonplace that we refer to the discreet six-inch scar as a bikini cut."(103)

"In his 1930 encyclical Pope Pius XI declared that doctors could not take a baby's life to save a woman's. After the pope's directive, Cesarean rates spiked, as indeed did maternal mortality, since the operation was still far from safe."(105)

"...Women clung to the old-fashioned comfort of other females but also were beginning to believe they should have the more educated physician there, just in case. Doctors generally didn't like having all these women watching them work and questioning practices."(139)

"I had to perform the delivery alone. I had no experience. Medical school has only offered us theory. But I threw myself into what was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life...romantic intimacy pales in comparison to the bond an obstetrician feels with a woman in labor. You become a creator. You are given the chance to give life, to bring a human being out of the depths and into the light."(149)

"Some of the more remarkable obstetric fads were not methods or techniques at all. They were tools. And their vast permutations over the centuries tell dramatic stories of difficult births, of ignorant attempts to help, and of swashbuckling stupidity."(162)

The focus of particularly safe/unsafe procedures, methods, preparations and tools used during a woman's pregnancy versus the role of a midwife is a battle that generally is not seen. A pregnant women delivers her child in a hospital which is commonly known amongst women who have not and have gone through the process of delivering their child. Why is that? Tina Cassidy mentions that it is because focuses are mainly structured around popularity's, and midwives are falling short to that popularity line. Doing some research I discovered that even though midwifery has started to gain in popularity, only of those who are well-educated about the other options of choice in whether you want a obstetrician to deliver or a midwife are know, and the rest fall to the hospitalization of child births. In other reasons, women who do know about the other option and still choose to go with an obstetrician tend to be the ones who would like to attain their appeal or would rather not deal with the pain.

Hw - 38 Insights from Pregnancy & Birth Book

In Tina Cassidy's "Birth", the organizational aspect of the book is told through different personal stories, ranging from Cassidy's own experience in birth to the statistical and anecdotal experiences of others. Her decision to make it this way provides a sense of relatedness but also explicitly showing the distances in birth itself. She begins with the birthing stories of her grandmother and mother and then on to her own and contrasting how each birth was different.

There are multiple focuses in birth and "Birth", but some of the main focuses have been the difficulty of women delivering their child and how the perception of midwives have changed. The author's choice to focus on these two important aspects of birth as a whole is very well related with what birth is looked upon now. For instance, the perception of mid wives changing because of the ever growing "industrial medical doctor" way of delivering a child and how the outside experiences of birth is a matter of business on both ends. The mother/child and the doctor.

Major insights the book is communicating with me are the multiple different birth stories and advocating how the differences are leading to a higher need of doctors and the loosing interest in midwives and the "naturalness" aspect of birth. It's interesting to read about a dying art being revived by someone who notices it and chooses to write about it. Its a gaining experience of learning from the old and on to the improved new. The contrast between the two are collective thoughts that bring fourth a new outcome and knowing the history of what has become today.

1. The perspective of Midwives.
2. Role of men during the pregnancy and birth.
3. "Naturalness" versus "Idustrialness"
4. The danger in childbirth.
5. What is the "Perfect Birth?"

The style of evidence Cassidy chooses is a balance of all, starting with personal experiences that communicate a sense of relatedness and statistical evidence that provides a relevant fact about what is shared universally amongst all. For what I have been reading, this strategy so far has been convincing but not manipulative which is important because she provides a balance of what the reader needs to know instead of the one way tunnel of thought that does not invite other developing thoughts.

Hw - 37 Comments on Pregnancy/Birth Stories

Mom (Mentor):
Christian, I really liked your analysis of our neighbor's quote, and how time, dedication and commitment are important factors of birth/pregnancy. Having the time in your day to attend something more then just you, is like a conflicting battle with your self, because of the sacrifices one should take. In your analysis, I feel like you could of wrote a bit more, maybe relating your first interview of your Aunt to our neighbor's interview and see how similar and how different it was, and why it may have been that way.

Sister (Protoge):
Christian, I liked your interview with our Aunt because it's something I never really thought about when a women is in her trials of pregnancy. Some of the more dominant perspectives of birth arise because it's most of the things I only know about. Something you could of improved on is further developing your analysis by relating all interviews together and seeing the similarities and differences of the interviewers and why?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sarah(Thinking/Writing part):

Sarah,

The differences in the interviewee's response showed that not all women see pregnancy the same, but something prompts them all to get pregnant. Throughout your blog, your analysis of each interview and how they are different or similar to the other interviews, explained how each person perception of birth is, the only thing for your next blog should be your grammar and re-reading after you post.

Good Post!

Christian