Hi Everybody:
   This in response to Mechell Roberts Turner's post about a study concluding
that walking in labor made no difference. Now really!! I don't know anyone
that has a bowel movement lying down. What outcome measures was this study
looking at?
    There are plenty of studies showing that being active in labor is helpful.
And, with respect to breastfeeding, I believe that a mother's confidence is
stronger if she has birthed her baby, if she has been all there for the
process,  rather than  being medicated and having baby sucked or pulled out of
her. Since much of breastfeeding is a confidence game, a mother who knows in
her gut that her body works often has an easier time with breastfeeding. Plus
her baby is unimpaired and can use all its skill and talents to make
breastfeeding work better.
     Having a sore butt can  be a detriment to breastfeeding. Being in pain
creates a situation where a mother often can't focus her energy on her baby,
because she is still focused on herself too much.
    Women have done the work of labor for millenia; why aren't they writing
the studies and in charge of birth? Why are we tolerating a situation where
mothers and babies and birth are turned over to bystanders? Would men tolerate
having a professional in the love-making chamber, monitoring blood pressure,
rhythm, state of hardness, lubrication, and progress every 15 minutes? Yet
this happens all the time at birth.  Warmly, Nikki