Posted on 07/15/2009 12:04:10 AM PDT by myknowledge
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".
The pain prepares women for the responsibilities of motherhood, he wrote in an international journal published yesterday.
Australian obstetricians responded by saying women need to be free to make their own decisions. "It is a woman's choice and I don't think we have any good evidence to show that you have to have pain to be a good mother," Melbourne obstetrician Dr Louise Kornman said.
While more women are relying on pain relief instead of opting for a natural birth, "there is a time and place" for epidurals, Associate Professor Hannah Dahlen of the Australian College of Midwives said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
This @$$hole should have all his teeth extracted w/o pain meds.
Considering this midwife is a man I don’t think so.
I remember reading an article once that mentioned the labor pains and the traumatic experience increasing the psychological bond between mother and child.
http://relentlessabundance.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/bonni-hall-endorphins-labour-pain-and-bonding/
Endorphins, Labor, Pain, and Bonding
by Bonni Elizabeth Hall
I’ve always wondered why women in childbirth should experience pain. I do realize that pain can be lessened by various perfectly natural means (change of position, lessening of anxiety, and more), but what I mean is that for the majority of women (as well as other mammals), birth involves pain. Why?
The human body produces various hormones in response to different situations. To pain (and some other stimuli), the hormonal response is to release endorphins, which are natural pain relievers. They not only suppress pain, they give the person a sense of well-being and sometimes a “high”. Atheletes often rave about the wonders of an endorphin high, as well as the effects of epinephrine (also known as adrenaline). Both of these naturally produced chemicals come into play when a woman is in labor.
To put it mildly, the mother’s endorphin level affects the level of endorphins the baby is receiving. This makes the labor more tolerable for the mother, but may well affect the baby even more. It’s entirely possible that a tiny baby can’t produce the level of endorphin (and epinephrine) necessary to really be able to get any relief from the pain of birth, and considering that the baby’s skull bones actually overlap in order to allow the birth, it’s very likely that there is some level of pain involved for the child.
In addition, there is an experience known as “birth euphoria” experienced by mothers who labor and deliver medication-free. This euphoria is specifically related to the mother’s levels of endorphins and epinephrine. It is believed that this euphoria is an important part of the bonding process.
Recent studies have shown that certain kinds of anesthesia (notably epidurals) severely reduce the levels of endorphins in the mother’s body. No pain, no endorphins. What, then, does this do to the baby’s level of pain relief? Naturally, if the mother has had narcotics, the baby will have received some, but then there are the issues with negative side effects (notably depressed respiration) of those drugs. And while the drugs used in epidurals can and do cross the placenta, they certainly don’t have the same pain-relieving result on the baby, since the mother received the drugs in the epidural space of the spine and the baby is receiving them on a more system-wide level.
According to a study done in Europe on the psychological effects of epidurals (Khrebiel, et al., 1987), ewes given epidural anesthesia during labor and birth all eventually rejected their lambs. The full implications of this are not entirely known, and certainly human intelligence can and does affect the relationship between mother and child beyond the primal mammalian responses, but given other tests with human mothers and babies which point to bonding problems (Sepkoski CM, Lester BM, Ostheimer GW, Brazelton TB; Dev Med Child Neurol 1992 Dec;34(12):1072-80), it seems likely that the physical sensations of labor and birth may affect the mother’s response to her infant by inducing hormonal and neurological changes to make her more able to nurture her offspring, and that interfering with those sensations may well cause bonding problems between mothers and babies.
Kind of sums up the first six months of the Obama administration rather succinctly.
Why is it that this goofy stuff comes from men — who don’t know a dang thing about pain in childbirth?
If you think you need the pain meds, take the pain meds. It will be out of the kid's system well before they're 18 and won't make a hill-o-beans difference in the long run.
I delivered my three naturally and have no regrets. It’s a mind over matter and not as barbaric as it’s made out to be.
I’m a nurse and a doula. I just coached my daughter through a natural childbirth with her first baby, and she has no regrets either. Nothing worse than watching a mom with an epidural have no ability to feel or push out a baby. No wonder c-sections are 50% of all deliveries now.
Four children, all pain med free, all induced. There is a point during the birth where you feel something transcendent. I cannot imagine missing that. If there are extraordinary problems I can see it, otherwise you are missing out on something wonderful. My DH still believes its the natural pain killers kicking in and that may be true, but it was nonetheless amazing. If you cannot take the pain of childbirth, what are you going to do when they are teens?
A manogram! Yike’s
What is your opinion of the explanation in post #23 above?
Sounds fine when things go right.
When things go wrong, well...
My wife tried to “go natural”. Long story short, the pain of what went wrong - past the last chance of epidural - might have killed her had she not opted for pain relief when she did. One way or another, we sure wouldn’t be expecting #2 right now if not for anesthetic.
I would say that is as good of an explanation as any, from science. Personally, I felt like God was there saying “Well done my good and faithful servant”.
I do not think Runners feel the same thing... I have been quite a runner as well. It goes far beyond endorphins. It would be helpful if other women shared their experience, but a lot of them have been robbed of it, very sad. Somehow the cursed pain of childbirth is lifted for a few moments and God is definitely there. This was more prominent in my first birth. If I could capture it and keep it.. wow. I cannot expect a scientist or a man to understand. Sorry, guys.
Thanks!
When my wife was having our first child I asked the doctor for pain meds just because I had to watch! A “male” midwife needs to SHUT UP.
C-sections are 50% of all deliveries now? Astonishing.
I preferred the pain over the meds, and I *hated* the epidural but I took pain meds after 16 hours hoping to sleep and then later took the epidural because I was expecting a c-section was likely (and it happened)
But that was my choice and I don’t think I was a better person than someone who demanded pain killers right away.
Got to disagree with you there.
What's worse is sheer terror facing a pain that feels like your body is breaking apart - or a lovely epesiotomy where you're cut from stem to stern to get a big and/or fast moving and/or distressed baby out.
There is no epidural for the pain of the liberal woman voter.
LOL! if he has any b@!!s at all, he’d say it to a woman who was experiencing labor pains right in front of him.... LOL!!!
BS. i had an epidural and i had no trouble pushing and i felt PLENTY! not taking relief for pain is just nonsensical, IMO.
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