The Truths Behind Childbirth

After reading these two articles my desire to have children seems to have decrease. I know that the birthing process is not pleasant, but these articles make it seem very unpleasant and really emphasized all the negative side effects, including the death of the mother and/or child. In the article “How Childbirth Went Industrial”, the author, Atul Gawande, describes (and spares no details) the process of childbirth. I must say that I am happy that I will not be giving birth in the 19^th century. Gawande goes on to describe what seems to be the evolution of childbirth.

One point in Gawande’s article that I was unaware of, was the fact that a “cesarean section on a living mother was considered criminal for much of history. It was considered a crime because it almost always killed the mother through hemorrhage and infection” (Gawande 3). I knew that it was a dangerous procedure and that there was a high chance that the mother might die, but I did not now that it was considered a criminal practice. However, Goer’s article really seemed to emphasize the fact that today’s cesareans are not safer than a vaginal birth. After reading both of these articles I was really left wondering which practice was the safer, or better of the two.

However, what I found most interesting in Gawande’s article was the fact that “in 1933 the New York Academy of Medicine published a shocking study of 2,041 maternal deaths in childbirth...Hospital care brought no advantages; mothers were better off delivering at home” (Gawande 3). Gawande goes on to describe how doctors might have better tools and medicine, but ultimately midwives knew what they were doing.

Gawande’s article echoed a lot of the same points that Professor Eric Lunch made in his brown bag presentation. In the speech “Masculinist Obstetrical and Childcare Practices in the Time of Henry VIII”, Professor Lunch discussed how Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife, died of postnatal complications. During this time period, midwives usually delivered babies; however, aristocrats and other wealthy individuals used doctors to deliver the babies. However, while these people believed that doctors were more knowledgeable than midwives, the reality was that doctors were not more knowledgeable, they just had better tools. In fact, Professor Lunch stated that if midwives had delivered Seymour’s baby, she might not have died. I think that this point is extremely fascinating and it is still relevant in today’s society. I think that people believe that whatever costs the most or is the most expensive, especially in regards to medicine, automatically means that it is the better than its cheaper counterpart. However, it is very clear in this example that this is untrue. The average woman who delivered her baby through the help of a midwife actually had better care and was safer than a woman who used a doctor.

Yet, after reading Goer’s article I was left questioning everything that I read in Gawande’s argument, as well as, Professor Lunch’s brown bag. Thus, I am confused and unsure which side provides better facts to support their claims. However, I will say I am inclined to lean towards Gawande’s argument because I have just heard Professor Lunch’s support Gawande’s claim. Despite this, Goer does provide an abundance of statistics to counteract Gawande.

Ultimately, these articles have let me cringing about the thought of childbirth. The thought of going through 20-something hours of excruciating labor and all of the other unpleasant things that go along with the process of childbirth are unappealing. Goer does not seem to leave out any of the possible complications, illnesses, diseases, etc that can come about as a result of childbirth, whether natural or a C-section. I am always one to believe that it is best to know as much as one can about a specific topic, but in this case, there was a lot of information, and not all of it was pleasant.