In a message dated 1/7/00 10:03:24 AM Central Standard Time, Nikki Lee writes:

<< So could the new mother's foggy mind be an artifact
 of her strange environment? How can she integrate all that she needs for this
 new baby plus deal with the different sights, sounds, smells, and environment
 of an artificially constructed environment? >>

I'm sure that "birth in captivity" is inherently different than in birth in a
more natural (home) setting.  I'm also thinking fogginess has to do with the
kind of care received and not just the anesthesia.  During my first
(hospital) birth the nurses were very interested in things they could measure
- how many cms, how many minutes, how high the peaks on the graph paper were,
how much fluid, how many seconds pushing, etc.  During my second birth (and
prenatal care) the midwife was interested in tuning in to me and reading more
subtle cues.  It was hard for me after the birth of my first child to adjust
to the idea that there wasn't an answer book, no exact measurements, no
precise timing.  Learning my baby's cues, and trusting them, was very
difficult.  But I wasn't foggy at all about my unfinished accounting job and
made calls the same day to handle open items.  After the birth of my second
child I had no trouble with the natural rhythms of life (or bf) - but found
concentrating on logical, measurable tasks (balancing the checkbook)
difficult and tedious.

I'm remembering a study that indicated that women who had good emotional
support during labor (doulas?) displayed more affection to their babies at
three months pp.  Stepping way out on a limb...I wonder if the birth process
opens up the brain to new ways of processing information and exactly how
those synapses develop is related to the birth experience.  I heard some
technical session about hormonal (oxytocin) receptors at the LLLI conference
that made me realize how complex our biological processes are and how well
they can explain behavior once we understand them.

Elaine Ziska
Jackson, MS

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