GIVE ME THE DRUGS!
WOMEN should embrace the full pain of childbirth to bond with their babies instead of resorting to anaesthetic drugs, a leading male midwife has said.
UK professor Dr Denis Walsh said the pain of labour should be considered a “rite of passage” and a “purposeful, useful thing”.
Rebuttal
Now, as a general rule, I love men.
I love the funny little hairs that poke out of their ears when they get older. I love the way they take out the garbage and fix broken toys. I love their witty ripostes over beers in the pub.
But men should never – ever – opine on the pain of childbirth.
Even if they are doctors.
Excessive pain during childbirth can predispose women to post-natal depression, which actually inhibits bonding with the baby.
Most women want to have a natural birth. Once labour begins, though, things tend to go awry.
In other news BP Media has learned there is a campaign afoot to have Dr. Walsh pass a watermelon through his penis, suitably anaesthetized of course!
Woman Centered Vertical Birth
In this small room, shelves spill over with herbs ranging from “patacun yuyo,” a mountain weed that they believe reduces abdominal pain, to “hojas de higo,” fig leaves used to clean and numb the vaginal area during birth and to enhance muscular activity.Three traditional midwives take turns concocting teas and washing waters for the mother, who starts to ingest these special infusions when the cervix reaches a dilation of three to four inches.
Midwives here massage and bathe the mother until the baby is born. A “yatchak”–literally “he who knows”–oversees the spiritual dimension of this process and ensures it follows ancestral cosmic laws. This Andean shaman welcomes the child into the world beating five stones on the door frame–representing the fingers of a hand–in the maternity ward.
“Every detail of the delivery is important to us,” said yatchak Huillka Pukara Pakhsi, a name that means “moon force” in Kichwa. “It is a road map revealing the child’s nature, foreshadowing its life. This hospital room becomes a sacred place, an altar, because this is where life begins.”
This beautiful ritual to celebrate the beginning of life not only affirms the significance of caring for the mother but has “helped reduce Caesarean sections from 18 to 8 percent at the hospital.” and “The hospital has an infant mortality of 7.8 per 1,000 live births, less than half the national average, which stands at 19 per 1,000.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if western hospitals could be this attentive to birthing women? And if everyone recognized birth as the time when life begins?
