How I Outsmarted Natural Selection
My friend called yesterday announcing the birth of his second child. When I called today his wife's sister answered the phone and said that her sister was still in bed. That's right, she gave birth at home.
Before I had my kid, I thought people were insane who gave birth at home. Yes, I know what you're going to say next, you supporters of home birthing: women have been giving birth at home for thousands of years. My retort: a good portion of women also died in childbirth before the advent of sterile equipment and pre-natal ultrasounds. Being a woman and also a woman who doesn't have a deathwish quite yet, a hospital birth felt like the right call, especially for the first baby. Why tempt fate when you can have drugs? (I would also like to take a moment to thank my friend, the epidural.)
I still don't think I would feel comfortable doing it myself, but my attitude towards women who do has been modified from 'you crazy' to 'you go'. After experiencing a hospital birth that involved many tubes, drugs, and eventually scalpels, I can appreciate a woman's decision to do this at home. In a hospital, you are constantly bothered by people coming in every 2 hours to measure something or another. At home, there would be no blood pressure taker that wakes you up just as you're dozing off or nurse's assistant knocking on your door for some unknown reason after a sleepless night with a screaming baby. At home you get the food you want. At home, all your stuff is right there where you need it. At home, your husband can go snore in another room.
It's hard being a woman in the Bay Area who had a c-section- you feel like you didn't do your job because you couldn't push the baby out the right way, especially with the prevalence of all of these homebirthing mamas. But that doesn't negate the fact that I've got mad respect for women who can do this. You go girl. But thanks to modern technology, I haven't been selected out of the population yet...
My friend called yesterday announcing the birth of his second child. When I called today his wife's sister answered the phone and said that her sister was still in bed. That's right, she gave birth at home.
Before I had my kid, I thought people were insane who gave birth at home. Yes, I know what you're going to say next, you supporters of home birthing: women have been giving birth at home for thousands of years. My retort: a good portion of women also died in childbirth before the advent of sterile equipment and pre-natal ultrasounds. Being a woman and also a woman who doesn't have a deathwish quite yet, a hospital birth felt like the right call, especially for the first baby. Why tempt fate when you can have drugs? (I would also like to take a moment to thank my friend, the epidural.)
I still don't think I would feel comfortable doing it myself, but my attitude towards women who do has been modified from 'you crazy' to 'you go'. After experiencing a hospital birth that involved many tubes, drugs, and eventually scalpels, I can appreciate a woman's decision to do this at home. In a hospital, you are constantly bothered by people coming in every 2 hours to measure something or another. At home, there would be no blood pressure taker that wakes you up just as you're dozing off or nurse's assistant knocking on your door for some unknown reason after a sleepless night with a screaming baby. At home you get the food you want. At home, all your stuff is right there where you need it. At home, your husband can go snore in another room.
It's hard being a woman in the Bay Area who had a c-section- you feel like you didn't do your job because you couldn't push the baby out the right way, especially with the prevalence of all of these homebirthing mamas. But that doesn't negate the fact that I've got mad respect for women who can do this. You go girl. But thanks to modern technology, I haven't been selected out of the population yet...
posted by almaruca at
12:09 PM
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1 comments
