When I talk about scientific info that altered traditional practices making
birth safer, I am talking about stuff like basic germ theory.  Washing
hands, early cord care, sanitation.  It is science at this level, along with
specialized obstetrics for emergencies, that has made the difference in
maternal and infant mortality. I just find it hard to argue on the side of
"traditional" practices or to romanticize the past when the rate of infant
mortality can drop from 300-400 births per thousand to 7.  How spiritual
were those births, I wonder?

I'm not defending staff convenience factors that are basically stupid in
uncomplicated labor.  I'd love maternity services to be better and for every
birth to be the profound event it should be. And yes, I know the US lags
behind other places in terms of birth practices.  As a health worker I'm
scrupulously trying to work towards improvement.  But while we continue to
shoulder the burden of carrying things forward for our generation as best we
can understand how, I'd like to cast an eye backward occasionally and mark
how far we've come. We can acknowledge that while things aren't perfect, we
do have reason for some gratitude.  I'm awfully grateful, for instance, that
none of my girls died of neonatal tetanus,  and that when I had mastitis, it
didn't turn septic  and almost kill me (like my husband's grandmother in the
era before antibiotics).  More than likely when my girls deliver, they and
their babies will survive the experience.  You couldn't say that 100 years
ago, and in a lot of places you still can't say it today.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com
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