My first reaction to the concept of birth was a whole bunch of thoughts based on the scientific and emotional aspects of birth. However, when I stepped back and looked at them all on a piece of paper, they were all over the place and had no connections to each other. Diving into the evidence behind these reactions, I realized that most of my knowledge of the birthing process and birth itself comes from the various "doctor" shows I am currently watching such as Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. This gave me a new question as to whether or not they truly recreated the actual process of giving birth. When I asked my mom, she said that when they show someone in labor, be it Hollywood movies or TV shows, the actual scene doesn't last any more than five minutes. However, she said that in reality, labor can last as long as 48 hours, sometimes more. Lucky for her, my brother and I didn't take that long. I believe that TV and Hollywood shorten the length of birth because they could never have a scene that long and they only have enough time to show five minutes. However, a new question this develops is why do they romanticize the concept of giving birth by showing the baby as already clean and glowing when in actuality, babies are covered in blood and other fluids with the umbilical cord still attached? I know this both from my mother and a scarring video from 6th grade. From what my mother has told me, birth is a long and painful process that ends with more happiness and love than one can imagine (these are her feelings). I think in some cases the latter is not always true but again, this knowledge is only from what I've seen on TV. I have yet to experience such feelings but I hope I do at some point in my life.
Questions I have:
Why is it that if the maternal bond is so strong between a mother and her baby, she can still give her child up for adoption afterwards?
What is the dominantly expected role of the husband to play during a woman's pregnancy and labor?
Why is is so important to take prenatal vitamins when pregnant?
Why are women so hormonal from pregnancies?
My friend, a mom, had a harder labor than me. She burst blood vessels in her eyes from pushing so hard. She later said, "If women remembered the bad part about labor, no one would ever have a second child." Fortunately, some how we mostly remember the joy of having a baby, and forget the awful parts. Do you think that is evolutionary, for the survival of the species? [It may not even be true for everyone.] Another note: I have heard from some poor women, women of color who had their children in public clinics, that they had a horrible birth experiences because they were not respected, and their needs and perspectives were not taken seriously. One swore she would never set foot in a clinic again, and had the rest of her children at home. One was permanently scarred, and later had to have surgery to repair damages. I think class and race have a lot to do with how women perceive childbirth.
ReplyDelete