Marking the beginning and end of labor,
breastfeeding, childhood etc. are all
culturally determined markers. In the
US, and I think in other  cultures as
well, we like things to be dividable into
nice neat boxes each with its beginning,
middle and end. Life doesn't really work
that way, but it makes it easier to talk
about it, to mark in on our calendars,
measure it.
When I teach childbirth classes, I am
constantly trying to strike that balance
between talking about average labor, describing
the stages, showing the posters that illustrate
the stages and letting people know that real
labor doesn't work that way. Each labor is
different. Averages makes it easy to make
posters and talk about it, but average
is not the same as normal.
This is, of course, true of breastfeeding,
child rearing and so many other areas in our
lives.
Average is a useful tool for statisticians and
sometimes teachers, but it has to be used
carefully when you are talking about and to
real people who have real labors, breastfeeding
patterns, children etc.

My sister-in-law had a baby a couple of weeks
ago. Depending on how you look at it her labor lasted
6 days or 4 hours. She had pre-labor/early-labor signs
for several days. Once it was clear she was in labor,
the whole thing was 4 hours long. So how long was
her labor? Does it matter?


  Naomi Bar-Yam

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