"There's a reason that animals seek seclusion in birth. Everyone understands that being in a brightly lit room with a group of people watching you wouldn't make a comfortable environment for someone going to the bathroom or having sex. But for an equally intimate, personal activity like birth, people don't make the connection. Women don't need to choose between drugs, epidurals, and Cesarean sections on one hand and fear of a natural but painful childbirth on the other. There really is a third way and it's more natural" (Source).Shanley is the author of Unassisted Childbirth. That's a whole can of worms I think I'm not going to open. A midwife-assisted home birth is already more "out there" than I ever imagined I'd go. I'll never say never, but I find it highly unlikely I'd ever willingly go unassisted. The truth is, I've done very little research on the topic, so I'm in no position to form any real opinion. But I know that parents who choose unassisted do so because they feel strongly it's the best path for them. It's not for me right now. But I'll definitely take that orgasmic birth (is this TMI?). How do I order one of those?
Friday, January 9, 2009
I'll take me one of those
You've heard of the film Orgasmic Birth, right? I guess I missed the special 20/20 segment where the film was featured along with other "extreme" childbirth methods. I've definitely never experienced the orgasmic birth phenomenon, but I'm sure happy to welcome it... as hard to imagine as it may be! There's a great piece in the Huffington Post about the film--"Orgasmic Birth: The Natural Reality Behind The Hype," by Lee Stanahan. I especially liked this quote from Laura Shanley:
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5 comments:
Not TMI! Love it.
And also, now that you mention it, one of the weirdest things to me about childbirth has always been that people do it in cold hospital rooms with bright fluorescent lights and tons of onlookers. I mean, really? I TOTALLY get what they mean with the comparisons to sex or using the bathroom. When I envision giving birth, ideally it's in a softly-lit, quiet room with Dizzle plus maybe my mom, a midwife and/or doula I trust . . . maybe a nurse or something too. I mean, any other way just sounds so AWKWARD.
A clip from that show made the "Kick-A$$ clip of the week" on The Soup this week. Hilarious.
And yeah, I'll take one of those. Who wouldn't!?
i caught the 20/20 special. it was pretty lame. you didn't miss much. they made every segment out to be extreme and sensational. i guess i'll stick to the printed word.
love the "seclusion in birth" quote!
AND i can't BELIEVE the awesome glucose test you had. sensible people, those midwives. it seems so obvious that you wouldn't need the hyper-carbonated orange crush, but who would've thought?! and if they get to be jelly belly, even better!
Figures, huh? I guess I'm not too sad I missed it then. :-) But I am hoping they'll do a screening of the film in my neck of the woods sometime soon, 'cause I'm way too cheap to buy the dvd! But I totally want to see it!
I took a doula training course this weekend and it was awesome. One of the things we talked about is how mammals go into labor when it's dark out. Most mammals choose a small, safe, dark place to give birth.
It's interesting that a lot of people go into labor during the night.
It's just not natural to wake up one day, go to the hospital, get plugged in, and give birth in that bright, public environment!
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