On the eve of the birth of my daughter (the due date is 3/1, but that doesn't really mean much as far as when she will actually decide to vacate her current residence and enter the world), I have had a little time to reflect on the fact that my old life as I knew it is over. That's fine.
My wife has decided that she wants to deliver the baby a la natural. No medications whatsoever. Caveman-style. I applaud her. After doing much research, I don't like the idea of all of those drugs entering my baby's body from the get-go. I also don't feel like "scheduling" the birth through induction or a C-Section so my doctor can schedule his golf game around a predictable delivery date and time. We took some in depth classes on The Bradley Method for natural birth, and so I am ready to be the "birth coach" and help her through delivery. We are still delivering in a hospital with a doctor, of course, but we have instructed them to use no medications and to stay out of the way until it is actually time to pull her out (barring complications and threats to wife or baby's health, of course). They are cool with it. In fact, the doctor and nurses that I have discussed it with are all pretty high on the Bradley Method, so that is comforting. It just makes sense. People and animals have given birth since the beginning of time, but drugging the mother all up and cutting into her has only really come into vogue within the last 50 years or so. The C-Section rate in the past decade has risen to over a third of births. Has the human body really changed that much to require such a jump in bullsh*t C-Sections? No. They want to move the patients along so the next one can come in. It's like fast food restaurants who want to move the the customers along. The business of being born is an interesting topic.
I've been following this story of the homocidal killer whale at SeaWorld with great interest. He's killed three people so far, yet they are keeping him as part of the show in Orlando anyway. Seeing as SeaWorld has created their entire brand around the Shamu killer whale shows, there is a lot at stake financially, of course. For the record, I think SeaWorld does a great job educating people and inspiring an appreciation for nature. But this is the apex preditor of the oceans, rivaled only by the Great White Shark. They are also quite intelligent. Teaching them to do repetitive dumb tricks in exchange for food and making them live in the equivalent of a bath tub for their entire lives does seem a bit cruel in some respects.
ABOVE: Maybe it would be cute to teach Shamu to jump through hoops for the rest of his life?
I need to go paint a nursury now. I promise more posts soon. Baby stories, the Oscars are on the horizon (as is the next Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony!), some reviews of the upcoming Peter Gabriel, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix releases. Oh, speaking of tunes, I am really digging Kings of Leon lately. Their latest Only By the Night is so great.
7 comments:
Dez,
I love you man, nothing changes that at all, but your post is inexcusable.
As a physician and son of an obstetrician, I am deeply and personally offended by your uninformed, irresponsible, and frankly ignorant accusation that doctors, specifically obstetricians, are inappropriately, er, "drugging the mother all up and cutting into her," and performing "bullsh__ C-sections” because "They want to move the patients along so the next one can come in. It's like fast food restaurants” because physicians place their personal finance, convenience, and golf schedules above their patients’ well being. Do you think that’s a fair generalization? Do you really know what you are talking about? Because I’m fairly sure you don’t. I question your statement “after doing much research…”
I have generally found your blog to be well-written and thoughtful as I’ve often told people, but this, Dez, will not do. Not all doctors are saints, I know that better than you, but I also know that physicians, ESPECIALLY obstetricians deserve better treatment than this, or at the very least, benefit of the doubt. I hate to say it, but you really are a physician’s worst nightmare – a lawyer with passionate views and utter ignorance about them. “Drugging the mother all up and cutting into her," indeed.
That being said, I think natural childbirth (“caveman-style” as you put it) is great, and I commend you and Nicki, mostly Nicki, for choosing a harder natural method that is meaningful to you both as couple, but also in the safety of a hospital and with physician present who can handle any complications. I’m sure you were both fortunate enough to find an obstetrician that did not attend evil medical school.
I remain very excited for you guys, and wish you the best. You're due date is on my calender, and I'll be thinking of you three that day sending positive thoughts.
Which are the "evil" medical schools? B/c I'd like to avoid the doctors who've gone to one of them. Do you think they have specific classes in evil, or is it just woven into the overall curriculum--a philosophy, that is, that permeates throughout?
Ack! This post is about to make my head explode but suffice to say, I agree with Johannes. The only additional comment I have to make is "continuous electronic fetal heart monitoring." Sigh.
I've never met you, but my best wishes to you and your wife for a smooth, successful birth.
- Le Chat (aka, Justin's wife)
Good stuff, guys. I like it. Did not mean to offend you, Johannes. I am sure you and your father are outstanding medical professionals. We speak in generalities, of course. When I rail against plaintiffs' lawyers in general, I know there are some out there fighting for the little man and have hearts of gold. But, my complaints still have validity about John Edwards and many others.
But why has the C-Section rate gone up at such a ridiculous rate in recent times? Often patients too quickly opt for pain relief too early which snowballs and leads to further inteventions, slows the progress of labor, increases intensity of contractions, which then leads to more complications and interventions to where, inevitably, the C-Section is needed to "save the day." In some extreme cases, there are patients who want it done so they can "schedule" their births. It is also done at times for fear of liability. That is the fault of plaintiffs' attorneys. But don't you think it irresponsible for some doctors to perform them when they are not necessary? That is a major surgery.
Of course I respect the medical profession. I exaggerate to make a point. But the point is that birth is a natural process, and medical interventions should be the exception, not the norm. Of course we are doing this in a hospital with a doctor that we trust precisely because we want a professional present if something extra ordinary needs to be done.
But the business of birth is a multi-million dollar enterprise. Many lawyers are money grubbing scumbags. Believe me, I know many of them. But there are people in the medical profession that are as well. The more people you can process through the hospital per night, the more profit there is. You get paid more by the insurance company if you perform a C-Section than if things proceed normally.
All professionals get caught up in the moneygoround, Johannes. It may be even subconscious.
In my lawyer days, I worked against a whole handful of sleazy doctors who wrote bogus medical reports for plaintiffs' attorneys in the asbestos / silica mass tort litigation. They had their licenses stripped eventually. But doctors don't work for free, do they? That's the way it is.
I was a student (and now teacher) of The Bradley Method and was so grateful for the education I received on being a good consumer.
I didn't take your comments as a generalization at all and I am in the same belief as you Dez. There are a lot of unnecessary interventions in birth these days. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the medical profession for all the advances we have and life saving fetes they have accomplished but The United States does have one of the highest c-section rates and a lot of studies do break that down and show way too many (in my feeble opinion I guess) due to non-life threatening occurances.
I wish you and your wife a happy, healthy birth. Remember, healthy mother, healthy baby is the priority and for some that does include interventions.
Thanks, Anonymous. I was starting to feel like I was in "Attack of Patch Adams!" I looked at those same studies, and it does seem irresponsible for some doctors to perform medical procedures that they know are not necessary, or, could have been avoided had they not injected the patient with pitocin (sp?) so early, etc.
I am not against medical interventions at all when they are truly necessary. But doing it merely for comfort or convenience is wrong.
The medical profession has turned the pregnant woman from an empowered woman in control of a natural process to treating pregnancy as an illness that needs to be treated.
Post a Comment