Betsy said: > >> 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.<<<< So we are supposed to worry about "looking bad?" Are you kidding me? Yes, sadly, there is a "powerful system" in charge of birthing culture in this country, and to say that the only proper and acceptable method of confronting and challenging it is to lay low, be quiet and "look good" may be your way. It may, in fact, be the best way to keep your JOB if you're a nurse. But it damn sure isn't MY way, and I don't have to pussy foot around worrying about what some overbearing and unenlightened head doctor thinks is "right." Or what some resentful controlling night nurse likes to do with "her" babies. I think telling the truth straight out works best. When the time came for me to have a baby in a town where every mother was sectioned after 12 hours of labour, I chose homebirth. And I most definately had a better outcome than I would have had in the horrible maternity ward in that town. I bless the lay midwife/Bradley instructor who told me the truth about what was happening to women in that hospital. I am forever grateful for the wise-woman birthing knowledge she imparted to me, and the confidence she helped me develop in my body's ability to give birth. Forget the institutional mindset- birthing and breastfeeding wisdom must be passed on by women who still carry the knowledge. If this makes some in the medical establishment uncomfortable or worse- well, that's their problem, not mine. In the great majority of cases medicalization is an unecessary hazard of both birth and breastfeeding. Hmmph. Sue Jacoby, IBCLC Clovis, CA (not the town in question...) *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html