Carol and all,

I bet that true unrelieved pain of childbirth surely can cause PTSD and
lactation failure.  Good heavens, think of the unprepared childbirths of some
of our grandmothers -- truly terrifying!

The problem is the assumption that "unmedicated pain" = "unrelieved pain."

My first childbirth was in a tertiary hospital that I would still trust with
my or my kids tertiary care, god forbid.   But their ONLY conception of pain
relief in labor was drugs.    Since I didn't want drugs, they figured, "OK,
she just wants pain."   No water, no backrubs, a lot of nagging and yelling
at me.    And you better believe it was traumatic!   I at least had a decent
Lamaze class, a supportive husband, and a lot of confidence, and even with
those three it was very, very hard, and terrifying to think of doing it again
later.

My second birth was much more complicated, in truth, but the midwives I had
switched to had some clue about labor support, and as result with still no
drugs I had VASTLY less pain -- basically I had a pretty good time, really.

Your anesthesiologist pal is only invited to the births of women who
need/want the drug form of pain relief.  So he probably thinks its the only
kind there is.    So the question for folks like him (and some of you know my
related rant re:circumcision -- email me privately if you want it as it is
off topic here) is:   How did you account in your study for other,
non-medical, forms of pain relief?  or isn't this a controlled study at all,
really, pal?

Elisheva Urbas
aggressive drawer of fine distinctions in NYC

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