first of all thank you to both jay and nancy for sharing especially jay for sharing something is so difficult to "talk" about..... another piece that can go into the picture is the issue of control. a woman ( and the dtats in america for those outside is 1 in 3!) who is the victim of abuse has the horrible experiece of having something done to her over which she has no control. for many woman pregancy and birthing are focal points for realizations of past incidents that they may bhave sucessfully buried until this time.... there are some excellent pieces on the subject: birth magazine published an excellent (IMHO) piece written by an abused mother of her experieces. part of what she discusses is her difficulty with ob/gyn examinations...a place where "generally" a woman has no control over what another person is "doing" to her......birth is another place where control is "given over" and if you will allowing a baby to "control" the feedings and access to the body can be very tough.... this is a very very difficult issue that needs despreately to come out of the closet and be examined, understood and treated with compasion, caring and extreme gentleness. Patricia