Jennifer Tow says:<< It is a comparison between two forms of traumatic,
invasive, medicalized brutality.>>
You know, Jennifer, it's statements like the one you made (that I have
copied above)that serve only to potentially undermine women's confidence
in their HCP's. On occasion, I have seen women come in to our unit to give
birth with such a preconceived notion (usually fed to her by a radical
childbirth instructor or similar person)and then be completely infuriated
with this instructor because she (the patient) feels she has been lied to.
Usually, it is because the patient finds out that their birth experience
(while it may turn out to be different than expected)isn't nearly as bad
as they have envisioned or been led to believe that it will be.
While I would certainly agree with you that birth is for the most part
over-medicalized and invasive, I really take issue with your approach and
use of the word brutality in this case.
It is statements like this that make our role (as LC's for example)seem
far less professional. Personally, statements like that only serve to make
the general public (and certainly the medical community)view us
as "radical wingnuts." I don't want to be thought of in that capacity
really because it hurts me as well as our profession in general.
Personally, I take great offense that you would see my role as a
participant in brutality, because it certainly is not.
I don't mean to offend you but because you are NOT a nurse and you do not
have an intricate working knowledge of how most places work, I cannot feel
that your perspective is a valid one. You cannot have an appreciation for
this area, just as I cannot have an appreciation for CST and what you do
because I know little about it.
I know that some facilities are indeed, more invasive than others, but in
general birth is NOT the brutal event you would imagine it to be and to
paint it that way, is completely inaccurate.That approach only serves to
discount one's credibility as a professional.
Home birth is a great option for many but at the same time, because there
is often little documented follow up of these mothers and babies, we have
no assurance that these babies are necessarily any better off than the
baby born in your brutal hospital setting. I know full well from reading
some HB women's birthing websites, that their babies sometimes do not
regain quickly all the time,nor are they necessarily any less jaundiced.
We have absolutely no assurance that they are breastfeeding any
better,either. We cannot follow what we cannot and do not see. We may
never know because these families often do not follow up where these
issues would be accurately tracked.
I do not intend to make this into a confrontational thread but personally,
I am tiring of your continual criticism of an area where you have really
very little experience and certainly no expertise.
Again, I would reiterate the fact that as LC's (no matter where we
practice) it is our duty to take mother and baby where they are when we
meet them and do the best we can to use our expertise to get breastfeeding
off to a good start (or repair whatever the problem may be at the time).
If we want to further our profession, it is prudent to go with the flow
(where we may effect quiet change) than to buck a very powerful system,
look bad and diminish the credibility that we have worked so hard to build.
Respectfully,
Betsy Riedel RNC, IBCLC
Connecticut
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