HW 39 - Insights from Book - Part 2

MLA Citation:
Cassidy, Tina.  Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born.  New York: Grove Press, 2006.
       Print.

       Although they offer opposing view points, Birth and the "Business of Being Born" are certainly biased and advocate for the more "natural" birthing methods.  In "Business of Being Born," the directors and producers of the film do a excellent job in persuading its audiences that past practices dealing with birth have convinced women that they do not know how to birth - that birth is not their responsibility.
       It has been indoctrinated into mother-to-be's minds that the episiotomies and cesarean sections obstetricians suggest are the most effective and "safe" ways to progress the birthing of a baby when in actuality, such interventions are unnecessary and often lead to prolonged recovery times.  It is unfortunate that there are doctors who would make snap decisions to issue a c-section only in favor of their own time and desire to go home early instead of what is most beneficial for the child and mother.  In Birth, Cassidy treats this topic with more vigor and criticism.  She quotes William Smellie, a country doctor, who exhausted and exposed his methods to the world as blindly as he practiced what he preached: "Smellie instructed his students to keep quiet about any birth accident or bad outcome, such as a ruptured uterus, because competition between the men and midwives was intensifying, and he didn't want such tragedies associated with male attendants" (Cassidy 135).  We see now that birth is a contrived industry, a business that is solely dependent on how the industry's workers choose to let people perceive its methods and make them ignorant of their motives as business men instead of the cliche doctors who "save" the baby and mother.
       Cassidy tries to engage us into the idea that birth has become something that cannot be treated normally - it has become a disease, a medical problem that needs to be scrutinized and probed at.  Society has spent a prodigious amount of time making strenuous attempts to make birthing more "humane" while still using the anti-microbial silver tools to embrace the surgical part of the hospital.  Trying to make cesareans more "humane" was "a misguided mission" (Cassidy 127).  The birth industry had taken the wrong path because it had never focused on the normal and natural aspects of birth and instead decided to invest its time into training doctors to intervene and seek out complications.  After becoming more acquainted with this industry, I feel betrayed by society, or rather hospitals.  I had not known that doctors were as cold as they were depicted on television - that their decisions as doctors were not as altruistic as they seemed.  Then again, their roles in society were never selfless because they are reimbursed for what they do.  I feel as if I should be an apostate and choose to give birth on my own terms when I am older.
       There are a number of things that are worth knowing about pregnancy and birth that are not only present in our country, but in others.  "In South Korea, where cesarean rate is 43 percent, women prefer the operation - which they must pay for out of pocket - over vaginal birth because they want to preserve their narrow hips, believe sex will be better" (Cassidy 125).  It's ludicrous that women of this generation feel the need to make decisions about their birth based on their need to look atheistically pleasing instead of what is best for their children.  "If a woman has a written birth plan, she'll end up with an unplanned cesarean...there is powerful anecdotal information that says education or level of sophistication seems to lead to higher cesarean rates for such women" (Cassidy 125).The idea that knowing too much about Birth would be detrimental instead of beneficial has surely come across my mind.  The excess of information would induce my already pre-existing fear of birth that derived from society's obsession of portraying birth as painful and gruesome.  "Mothers, and hospitals fearing malpractice litigation, remain lulled by the sense of safety the beeping devices offer" (Cassidy 121).  It's interesting that the very fetal monitors that have been so assiduously criticized, are the same monitors that provide comfort to mothers in labor.  This deserves public attention because it brings into light what society has indoctrinated us to think.  Birth is a "consumer movement" (Cassidy 154).  To think about birth as an industry is prudent because a mother would be aware of the dangers that are not so openly expressed in hospitals.  Lastly, learning how to manage fear and pain helps a birth become less painful and more joyful (Cassidy 147).  This is important because it has become common in our society to fear the pain that has become vivid through anecdotes that are lightly shared.
    
Factual Claim in Birth: "American episiotomy rates, which hovered around 90 percent in the 1970s, had dropped to 39 percent by 1997 and 20 percent by 2000" (Cassidy 144).

       I decided to assess the validity of this claim because such percentages were horrifying.  I realize my reaction may be because my mother had described her episiotomy as far from enjoyable.  The thought of mutilating a sensitive part of my body one day for wider canal for my future baby to go through doesn't lay well with me.  Thus, the 20%, a surprisingly big number, is questionable.  In my research I found that

"Among English-speaking countries, the U.S. had has the highest episiotomy rate, varying greatly from region to region.  One in three mothers who delivered vaginally in the U.S. from 1995 to 2003 had episiotomies.  Just under 40 percent of women delivering in the Northwest got them, compared to 27 percent of women living in Western States."*

It seems that Cassidy has provided us with solid evidence.  I find that such numbers do not provide any comfort for me, as I do not look forward to having an episiotomy in the future.  Though, somehow, I am thankful that Cassidy did provide us with such evidence.  It lets her readers know that interventions are very common and should be avoided in the event that her readers do, in time, give birth.  Anecdotal stories about episiotomies, like that of Melissa Moskowitz, may prove to be shocking enough, but statistical information does equip us with some arms to possibly argue and go against operations that are unnecessary.


*Boyles, Salynn. "Experts: Too Many Episiotomies in U.S.." Fox News. N.p., 26 08 2005. Web. 22 Mar 2011. <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,167196,00.html>.