"In a breastfeeding class, I once had a mother tell me that her childbirth
educator said that there was a wall between the epidural space and the
bloodstream so that none of the medication could ever reach the baby!?"

They actually tried to tell me this, in a hospital-based childbirth class.
The nurse anesthetist came in to talk about "the good stuff" (yes, those are
the words he used, as he spoke to us, clearly over-glorified in his own mind
-- telling us "I'm the guy you're going to be happiest to see") and I was
asking specific questions, like what medications are in the ITA (our
hospital doesn't give epidurals, just intrathecals), how they work, if
there's any flexibility about how much of something goes in, etc.  Just
before the guy asked me to go see him privately (because I was making the
other couples think twice about getting their "happy juice"), he announced,
in front of 4 other couples: "none of your questions matter because the
medication never gets to the baby."  Of course, his next explanation was
about the "antidote" medication they sometimes had to give babies that were
born too soon after the drugs were administered and were "floppy babies."

And would you believe...5 years later, they still can't understand why I opt
to pay out-of-pocket for homebirths.

--Diana in NY (still pregnant, but ready to go anytime this baby -- my 3rd
-- is ready!)

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome