Margie, you're fortunate to work in such a hospital. As a doula, I've attended many hospital births, too, here in Jacksonville and in Gainesville years ago. The interesting thing to me is that births I attended in the few years after my daughter was born (1978) were actually more likely to have happened in small labor rooms, under dimmed lights, with quiet voices and few people present, and babies treated gently.
Nowadays, even in the one "good" hospital here, the LDRP room's lights may be dimmed but there is a super bright overhead light pointed directly at the mother's crotch so the first light the baby is exposed to is *bright bright bright*. There are usually only a few staff present for the early pushing, but a LOT of people appear out of the woodwork when birth is near. Every single baby I've seen born in a hospital in the past 12 years has been rubbed briskly with a towel or blanket, whether the baby was having apparent breathing problems or not.
Frankly, the only thing I've seen really improve in the past 28 years is that babies aren't automatically whisked away from Mom and Dad right away... although we do have at least two hospitals here with mandatory nursery stays of 2-6 hours, and there is one other hospital that seems to be looking for any excuse to take the baby to the nursery for "observation".
With all that said, I do agree with you that hospitals are necessary for some women and some babies. Heck, even the bright lights, large crowds of personnel, brisk rubbing and separation are necessary for *some* babies... but they sure aren't necessary for *most* babies, and that's the way I'm seeing those practices applied around here.
Maybe I should move further south. ;-)
By the way, I believe the article Jennifer cited was written in 1995.
Cee
Margie Forrest <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Jennifer,
When was this written? I was in nursing school 28 years ago, work in an LDRP
unit now, and have never seen a baby turned upside down or held by it's feet
after delivery.
When the unit is busy, I sometimes "catch" babies to help out (NRP certified
and all). Have you seen a hospital birth lately? The lights are soft and
unless family members are making noise, it is quiet. Babies are only rubbed with
a towel on our unit if they are not breathing, in which case they need the
stimulation. So far, I haven't noticed that babies actually care when you give
them the vitamin K shot. They protest over footprints much louder, and it is
the parents who insist on those.
This issue is not black or white. Hospitals are necessary, even if
everything that we do isn't. Homebirths are not a possibility for everyone, but it is
nice that it is a possibility for those who want it, and qualify for it.
Blanket statements are seldom true. Regarding hospital births and home
births, one is not good, the other automatically bad. Horror stories from either
practice could be cited, but we shouldn't do that here. Practices on both sides
can and should be improved.
Margie Forrest, RN, BSN, IBCLC
The Lactation Corner @ Palms West Hospital
Loxahatchee, FL
In a message dated 4/8/2006 5:55:43 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
All these departures from what normally
happened at a home birth have profoundly altered the experience of
birth for the baby. Babies protest being jabbed with needles for blood
samples and vitamin K shots, don't like to be turned upside down,
rushed through space, and handled by different people. Their skin is
extremely sensitive and they complain when rubbed and cleaned. We have
been making them angry, afraid, defensive, sad, and confused--for the
greater part of the century."
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