I no longer think I am really big for being this pregnant. I know I am! But I am also more than halfway so I should be getting big. I'm still intrigued by the disparity in sizes of bellies in pregnant women. Just as babies come in different sizes and shapes, it figures that pregnant bellies should too. :)
I wish I had studied the history of childbirth before having children. I would have been better able to make a decision regarding my birthing choices. So many take our status quo for granted, as I once did. It never occurred to me that I didn't have to go to the hospital to have my first baby.
For an interesting read on childbirth history, I recommend Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Birth.
She wrote in her book, "In the year 1900, less than five per cent of all American births took place in hospitals; by 1939, 50 per cent of all women and 75 per cent of urban women chose hospitals for the purpose; by 1970, the figure had risen to close to 100 per cent."? Trends catch on fast, don't they? I wonder how many know that puerperal, or childbed, fever, was an epidemic that was only prevalent in maternity wards of the hospitals during the 18th and 19th centuries. And it was the single most common cause of maternal death. And the reason? Doctors weren't taught yet that they needed to wash their hands prior to vaginal exams and delivering babies. See, doctors are just like us. They don't know everything. Of course, now they know they need to wash their hands, but if medical schools continue teaching that babies measuring such and such must be delivered by C-section, they will go with that too. Here's an interesting tidbit on C-sections: Today, the single most important risk of puerperal infection is Caesarean section.
After doctors learned to wash their hands, it didn't seem that women fared that much better in hospitals. Women were treated like crazy criminals when they went to the hospitals to have their babies. They were strapped on the bed and given injections of morphine and scopalomine, a hallucinogenic, until she couldn't remember what was happening to her. Again, it would seem to be common sense, even to someone totally devoid of medical training, that causing a healthy woman to react negatively with drugs (hence the necessity of restraining her arms and legs with straps) is unacceptable. But that was long ago. Now in our enlightened age, are there safer ways of administering drugs so that there are no risks involved for both mother and baby? Certainly one is led to believe this and never told otherwise. 18 years ago, I wasn't even aware that I was getting an epidural until told to turn over. Not coping well with the contractions while laboring on the bed for hours with an external as well as an internal monitor on, we asked to see the doctor who had not shown him/herself yet. Instead of the doctor coming, I was given an epidural. Accordingly, "Uterine contractions can become weaker and less frequent. An oxytocin infusion is then necessary to improve labor and produce good strength contractions Mothers having epidurals have longer labors and have a higher incidence of the use of oxytocin than mothers having non-medicated deliveries." That was 18 years ago and I'm sure hospitals don't just force epidurals on people nowadays and SURELY they tell women the risks of epidurals before administering them. But just in case they don't, here's the package insert for the epidural medication manufactured by Abbot Laboratories:
Local anesthetics rapidly cross the placenta, and when used for epidural, caudal or pudendal anesthesia, can cause varying degrees of maternal, fetal and neonatal toxicity.... Adverse reactions in the parturient, fetus and neonate involve alternations of the central nervous system, peripheral vascular tone and cardiac function....
Neurologic effects following epidural or caudal anesthesia may include spinal block of varying magnitude (including high or total spinal block); hypotension secondary to spinal block; urinary retention; fecal and urinary incontinence; loss of perineal sensation and sexual function; persistent anesthesia, paresthesia, weakness, paralysis of the lower extremities and loss of sphincter control all of which may have slow, incomplete or no recovery; headache; backache; septic meningitis; meningismus; slowing of labor; increased incidence of forceps delivery; cranial nerve palsies due to traction on nerves from loss of cerebrospinal fluid.
Here's a theological question to think about. Does God desire for childbirth to so incapacitate the laboring mother that she should need laboring aides that may harm her? Someone once said that God gets all the credit while man gets all the blame. God gave grace. Grace to have the knowledge of coping with the work of childbirth. Grace to persevere in childbirth throughout history. From my own experiences, I had one birth with an epidural and 6 without. There is no comparison in the quality and satisfaction between the medicated and unmedicated births. If you had a positive experience with an epidural birth, I would challenge you to see if there would be benefits in forgoing the drug and accepting the grace that comes from the One who loves us and surely wants good for us. He, alone, can dole out the curses and give what it takes to handle them victoriously and joyously.
P.S. I really do hope that it is evident that my intention is not to malign doctors and hospitals. Doctors come away from medical schools with certain knowledge and they act accordingly. Doctors save lives. I pray that they may save mine if there was a medical emergency. Please note that I didn't write that doctors actually killed mothers when they gave them puerperal infections. Their lack of knowledge and women's lack of wisdom in going to the hospitals caused those tragedies. While the hope is that hospitals will offer us safe deliveries, one needs to understand that giving birth in a hospital has a high potential of resulting in surgery.
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