"Hey - thanks for writing The Surprising History Of How We Are Born-BIRTH. Your core argument of how and why we are born the way we are made me rethink what I already know about pregnancy & birth."
But the author, surprised to be talking to someone who instead of sharing their own birth story actually rephrased the main idea of the text s/he spent months giving birth to asks, "Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?" When you answer, "Well, in the last third of the book you focused on the way women of different cultures handle their postpartum birth, which added another angle to the first 2/3rds of the book . But let me be more specific." And then you listed the top 3 ideas/pieces of evidence/insights/questions from that final third of the book (and somehow even listed page number references).
1. Birth always reflects the culture in which it happens. (250)
2. Modern medicine has made great advances in the area of child birth but has not erased the fears of birth completely.(253)
3. Bonding with the baby is important for the mother and baby from the very beginning of the process and post birth because it improves their relationship ,etc (229)
At this point, realizing that s/he's having a unique conversation with a serious reader of her/his book, the author asks - "But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?" You answer, "Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide, historical analysis from the perspective of a journalist and mother for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be, to focus less on the sensational history cases of birth and add more personal stories from real women and their experiences. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about how history has influenced the way women of different cultures and time periods have chosen to give birth & that every women should be allowed to make her own decisions on how to give birth because every women’s desires of what the birth process should be like is different. In fact, I'm likely to think about and evaluate how I would want my own birth experience to happen differently as a result of your book." The author replies, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society!"
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Hw 39
Cassidy, Tina. Birth. NY,NY: Grove Press, 2006. Print.
The book goes more in depth about the birth process and history behind it.
The author explores the history of birth and compares and contrasts they way birth was back then , to the way it is now. She also provides more information about birth and the process for women of other cultures.
The book continues to communicate the history and process of birth and how it has changed over time. Some parts of the process have changed for the better, while I feel other parts remain nightmarish. I wonder If there will ever be an answer to what is the right way to give birth?
.The technical advances made to ensure safe births (pg 114)
.The birthing field being dominated by male doctors (pg 131)
.Avoiding unnecessary ultrasound because it could be harmful to the development of the child (pg 174)
.The importance of the right labor position for women giving birth (pg 182)
.Babies being able to be born under water safely (pg 186)
I decided to research the safety of at home births vs hospital births and found that
"Sheila Kitzinger, British childbirth expert, states that planned home birth with an experienced lay midwife has a perinatal death rate of 3-4 babies per 1,000 births (51). Hospital births, by contrast, carry a perinatal mortality rate of 9-10/1,000. [Perinatal death rates include fetal deaths on and after 28 weeks gestation, whereas neonatal mortality rates only include deaths occurring in the first 28 days after birth (Jones 96,98)] "http://www.gentlebirth.org/ronnie/homejjg.html. This seems to support the claim that alternative birth methods are safe and deserve more attention and should be a choice given to a women.
The book goes more in depth about the birth process and history behind it.
The author explores the history of birth and compares and contrasts they way birth was back then , to the way it is now. She also provides more information about birth and the process for women of other cultures.
The book continues to communicate the history and process of birth and how it has changed over time. Some parts of the process have changed for the better, while I feel other parts remain nightmarish. I wonder If there will ever be an answer to what is the right way to give birth?
.The technical advances made to ensure safe births (pg 114)
.The birthing field being dominated by male doctors (pg 131)
.Avoiding unnecessary ultrasound because it could be harmful to the development of the child (pg 174)
.The importance of the right labor position for women giving birth (pg 182)
.Babies being able to be born under water safely (pg 186)
I decided to research the safety of at home births vs hospital births and found that
"Sheila Kitzinger, British childbirth expert, states that planned home birth with an experienced lay midwife has a perinatal death rate of 3-4 babies per 1,000 births (51). Hospital births, by contrast, carry a perinatal mortality rate of 9-10/1,000. [Perinatal death rates include fetal deaths on and after 28 weeks gestation, whereas neonatal mortality rates only include deaths occurring in the first 28 days after birth (Jones 96,98)] "http://www.gentlebirth.org/ronnie/homejjg.html. This seems to support the claim that alternative birth methods are safe and deserve more attention and should be a choice given to a women.
Monday, March 14, 2011
hw 38
Birth
by Tina Cassidy
This book is organized in a way that gives the reader facts and historical information about how women have been giving birth. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of birth and the process that dates from different time periods. One of the major questions this book focuses on is how has the way women give birth and choose to give birth changed over time and over generations. There's certainly been a change over time in the way birth is handled in our culture, from women having natural births with midwives present to now having cesarean births in hospitals.
How different generations of women and different cultures have dealt with birth and the role of nature and how birth is suppose to be a natural experience for women is an insight that I agree with because over time they way women give birth compared to years ago has changed. With new medical technology, hospitals, the absence of midwives, and more cesarean births taking place than natural births.
. How woman's bodies have changed and adapted to giving birth over time.
. The connection between the woman's diet and the size baby she delivers.
. How midwives are no longer present at as much births then before.
. The role hospitals play now in the birth process.
. The role drugs play during birth for women.
In this book the author uses a lot of factual evidence with a few stories thrown in. Mostly cluing the reader in on facts and historical information on how we are born. She also includes stuff about her birth experience and the women of her family that allow the reader to connect.
by Tina Cassidy
This book is organized in a way that gives the reader facts and historical information about how women have been giving birth. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of birth and the process that dates from different time periods. One of the major questions this book focuses on is how has the way women give birth and choose to give birth changed over time and over generations. There's certainly been a change over time in the way birth is handled in our culture, from women having natural births with midwives present to now having cesarean births in hospitals.
How different generations of women and different cultures have dealt with birth and the role of nature and how birth is suppose to be a natural experience for women is an insight that I agree with because over time they way women give birth compared to years ago has changed. With new medical technology, hospitals, the absence of midwives, and more cesarean births taking place than natural births.
. How woman's bodies have changed and adapted to giving birth over time.
. The connection between the woman's diet and the size baby she delivers.
. How midwives are no longer present at as much births then before.
. The role hospitals play now in the birth process.
. The role drugs play during birth for women.
In this book the author uses a lot of factual evidence with a few stories thrown in. Mostly cluing the reader in on facts and historical information on how we are born. She also includes stuff about her birth experience and the women of her family that allow the reader to connect.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
hw 37
Comments for me:
Your post was well written and well structured. The part that I found insightful was "She spoke about needing a lot of help after having the c-section since she couldn't hold the baby for the first week, which didn't make her feel 'self sufficient'." It draws on our conversation in class about how we might demean women by helping them too much, this shows that maybe women don't want ALL of the help that they get. This would be an interesting thing to look into.
Your style of writting was graceful, particularly in the way that you began each chunk. Begining with one word to sum up your interviewee's feelings gave me a sense that you were truly interested in what they had to say and made me interested in what other things the person may have to say. The most insightful part to me was "She also had a lot of doubt through out the pregnancy , wondering if she would be a good mother or if the baby would be healthy." To me, this is not a feeling that would dominate my thought if I was in that situation, i may be fearful of the future however I would be optimistic. I would look forward to the future and try to find ways to make the whole process easier, rather than adding stress that can be avoided.
Larche,
Your style of writing was very fluent and it really showed me that you got a good understanding of what you were writing about. I really thought that your interviewees responses were great and it kept me very interested through out your post. I think your most insightful lines were, "For this interviewee, she described her all three of her births as "easy". She spoke of working right up until the day before giving birth to one of her children.
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Rossi,
It seems that you really tried to make sense of the feelings and actions of your interviewees during their pregnancy experience that gave you an understanding of their situation and sparked some thought.When referring to a pregnant woman's cravings I liked the line "It seems to just be an excuse to spoil the woman, and of course she takes advantage." Which goes back to the idea of treating women as sacred and precious by attending to their needs and spoiling them due to the pregnancy.
Jay,
I enjoyed reading your interviews from three different points of view of the pregnancy and birth process. I liked the line "Pregnancy is like no other aspect of our lives, because there is a living thing inside of the women which is such a mind boggling experience." It shows that pregnancy and birth is an experience that is handled differently by mothers and fathers as they experience a variety of emotions ,knowing that they are bringing a life into this world .
Max,
I liked how you chose to do your interviews from a more personal angle. A line I found interesting was "She disregarded all other distractions and the whole time was just thinking about having a family who she would love and would love her." speaking of your mother's pregnancy experience that got me thinking about the reasons behind and motivations of why women decide to get pregnant and start a family.
Your post was well written and well structured. The part that I found insightful was "She spoke about needing a lot of help after having the c-section since she couldn't hold the baby for the first week, which didn't make her feel 'self sufficient'." It draws on our conversation in class about how we might demean women by helping them too much, this shows that maybe women don't want ALL of the help that they get. This would be an interesting thing to look into.
Your style of writting was graceful, particularly in the way that you began each chunk. Begining with one word to sum up your interviewee's feelings gave me a sense that you were truly interested in what they had to say and made me interested in what other things the person may have to say. The most insightful part to me was "She also had a lot of doubt through out the pregnancy , wondering if she would be a good mother or if the baby would be healthy." To me, this is not a feeling that would dominate my thought if I was in that situation, i may be fearful of the future however I would be optimistic. I would look forward to the future and try to find ways to make the whole process easier, rather than adding stress that can be avoided.
Larche,
Your style of writing was very fluent and it really showed me that you got a good understanding of what you were writing about. I really thought that your interviewees responses were great and it kept me very interested through out your post. I think your most insightful lines were, "For this interviewee, she described her all three of her births as "easy". She spoke of working right up until the day before giving birth to one of her children.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rossi,
It seems that you really tried to make sense of the feelings and actions of your interviewees during their pregnancy experience that gave you an understanding of their situation and sparked some thought.When referring to a pregnant woman's cravings I liked the line "It seems to just be an excuse to spoil the woman, and of course she takes advantage." Which goes back to the idea of treating women as sacred and precious by attending to their needs and spoiling them due to the pregnancy.
Jay,
I enjoyed reading your interviews from three different points of view of the pregnancy and birth process. I liked the line "Pregnancy is like no other aspect of our lives, because there is a living thing inside of the women which is such a mind boggling experience." It shows that pregnancy and birth is an experience that is handled differently by mothers and fathers as they experience a variety of emotions ,knowing that they are bringing a life into this world .
Max,
I liked how you chose to do your interviews from a more personal angle. A line I found interesting was "She disregarded all other distractions and the whole time was just thinking about having a family who she would love and would love her." speaking of your mother's pregnancy experience that got me thinking about the reasons behind and motivations of why women decide to get pregnant and start a family.
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