Dear Everyone:
    From what I have read, the idea of moving a woman from place to place
during different stages of her labor, delivery, and recovery is merely the
factory concept applied to the hospital system. This is another way that the
Industrial Revolution has infiltrated our lives. When the body is viewed as a
machine, and the process is viewed as production, then it makes sense to move
the body on down the line as the process is completed. It seems to be more
efficient.
   Nobody ever asked the birthing woman what she wanted.
   There was a program on the other night that was critical of Princess
Diana's involvement with complementary medicine, because hardly any of the
modalities she used are considered worthwhile by mainstream folks. Then a
someone came on and pointed out that in the NHS, a doctor has to see 10
patients an hour. That is 6 minutes each. Whereas a reflexologist or massage
therapist or acupuncturist will spend at least an hour with someone, one to
one. Which would you prefer?
   There is no substitute for time spent with a person. When birth is rushed
and put on a schedule, or when any medical contact has a time pressure on it,
the end result is far from what it could be. And so many of the breastfeeding
difficulties we work with come from forcing the system: the mother has to
deliver by "x" number of weeks, has to get the baby out in "x" number of
hours, and then the baby has to breastfeed by "x" number of hours of age. The
one who most strongly resists this pacing is the baby. A mother can be scared
into submitting to a neonatectomy, whereas a baby will pull in, like a turtle,
and refuse to participate.
   A large (3,000+ births /year) local hospital is getting rid of its LDRPs.
One reason is that more folks can be fit into the postpartum rooms than in
LDRPs; another reason is that so many mothers complained about having to have
their babies with them all the time.
   Boy, do we need the strength of the 60's, where men handcuffed themselves
to their mates so that they would be able to go into the delivery rooms and be
part of the birth of their families.!! Warmly, Nikki