For anyone interested, here are the letters to the editor that were  
in Friday's Boston Globe in response to last Sunday's article on pain  
medications in birth.

Naomi Bar-Yam

> Childbirth, in all its pain and joy -- and choice
> July 28, 2006
>
> IN ``MOTHER lode of pain" (Boston Globe Magazine, July 23) Dr.  
> Darshak Sanghavi writes that ``choosing to feel pain during  
> childbirth strikes me as odd." What strikes me as odd is taking  
> something as personal, magical, and important as childbirth and  
> suggesting that every individual should approach it the same way.
>
> Last year when I was pregnant with my first baby, I learned all I  
> could about both natural childbirth and medical options such as  
> epidurals. As a result, I approached childbirth with confidence,  
> excitement, and flexibility, not the fear that is so pervasive in  
> our culture.
>
> Because my labor was short, I did not need an epidural. Was there  
> pain? Absolutely. But I had learned techniques for how to deal with  
> it. Most important, when the pain was at its worst, I knew I was  
> just moments from holding my baby, a beautiful, healthy boy.
>
> Every woman, baby, and labor is unique. To suggest that every woman  
> should have a natural childbirth is foolish; however, to suggest  
> that every woman should automatically ``opt out" of pain during  
> childbirth is just as offensive. Every birth that ends with a happy  
> mom and a healthy baby is a success, regardless of whether an  
> epidural is involved.
> JEANNE BORAWSKI, Boston
>
> SOME MAY view the challenge of overcoming the pain of childbirth as  
> empowerment, and their preference to avoid medical pain relief  
> should be honored. But for most of us, the empowerment comes in the  
> form of having accurate and unbiased information regarding all of  
> our pain relief choices, nonmedical and medical, and having a birth  
> experience that may involve little, or even no, pain. Most of us  
> are willing to tolerate the reasonable risks and side effects that  
> may accompany the use of modern medications in exchange for a  
> childbirth free of agony. I view a pain-free birth as the ultimate  
> form of empowerment for women after centuries endured with no  
> control over our birth experiences.
>
> Dr. Sanghavi quotes Ina May Gaskin's statement that no one would  
> want a medication that would eliminate the pain of childbirth. The  
> 2.5 million women who give birth each year in the United States  
> while enjoying the pain-relief benefits of an epidural would imply  
> otherwise.
> KATHRYN J. ALEXANDER, Charlotte, N.C.
> The writer is co-author of ``Easy Labor: Every Woman's Guide to  
> Choosing Less Pain and More Joy During Childbirth."
>
> AS A NEIGHBOR to the north, I would like to reframe Dr. Sanghavi's  
> discussion of pain in childbirth in Granite State terms. Here in  
> New Hampshire lies the highest peak in the northeastern United  
> States. Standing on top of Mount Washington, one feels wonder and  
> exhilaration no matter which route or mode of transportation was  
> used to get there. Facing labor and facing the mountain are not  
> dissimilar. Some people choose to drive to the summit or ride the  
> cog railway while others choose to hike to the top. This decision  
> can vary from individual to individual and day to day depending on  
> weather, fatigue, health, kinship, and goals. Here in my department  
> at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, we believe in the hikers,  
> the drivers, and the rail riders.
>
> My physician, nurse, and midwife colleagues do not view those who  
> desire unmedicated birth as ``odd," having ``constricted  
> imagination," ``relying on pain to create a meaningful childbirth,"  
> working for acceptance into a ``select sorority," or embracing  
> ``extreme sports." We view them as women who, with a formidable  
> mountain before them, simply prefer to keep walking.
> BARBARA FILDES Hanover, N.H.
> The writer, a certified nurse-midwife, is an assistant professor of  
> obstetrics and gynecology at Dartmouth Medical School.
>
> DR. DARSHAK SANGHAVI'S article misses an important point: The mind  
> is a powerful tool -- a belief that childbirth is painful begets a  
> painful childbirth experience. The opposite is also true. I have  
> delivered two children out of hospital and without any pain relief.  
> I did not need it. I do not consider childbirth to be painful, and  
> I don't believe it has to be. My mother taught me that childbirth  
> could be easy. I set my mind that mine would be too. And it was.
> KATHERINE C. HAVENER, Los Angeles  
------------------------------------------
Naomi Bar-Yam Ph.D.
Mothers' Milk Bank of New England

[log in to unmask]
617-964-6676
------------------------------------------






             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html