I used to freak myself out by looking in the mirror and prying my eyelids back so that I could see the curve of my eyeball. It doesn't freak me out anymore, though.
Someone on my flist said 'falling' should be on there and isn't. It should probably be between 'heights' and 'jumping from high places'. ;)
I think it is sad that so many women fear giving birth. It one of the things that is worst about being male; the fact that we can never have that experience. I think this is partly due to the American/Hollywood representation of birth with women screaming in agony in a hospital bed as there child is ripped from them by some holier-than-thou physician type. The fact that women are forced to give birth in the wrong position doesn't help either. For the record the best position to give birth (least pain/tears) is in a crouch. I have spoken to many women who have had home births in rural Portugal that said that was the way they did it, not because anyone told them to, but because it felt natural. These are women who have had many (in some cases up to 9) babies and knew exactly what they were talking about.
Yes, I'm a firm believer that hospitals, where sick and dying people go, are the worst place for giving birth in every case except when somebody's actually at risk of dying. Birth is not a disease or injury.
I've heard a lot of women who fear home birth a lot more than birth in a hospital. They want someone in a white coat with lots of shiny machinery to preside over the process, some authority they believe knows more about birth than any mother or midwife. Maybe seeing so many depictions of birth as some horrible medical performance has convinced them that giving birth at home is as dangerous as home appendectomies.
I don't think I have any of those beliefs, although of course I've been exposed to them, but I marked down "giving birth" as a fear because it's really not something I want to have happen to me. Certainly not at this stage of my life, and probably not ever.
Talk to you later today, but the sooner the better before I have to shoot off.
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I used to freak myself out by looking in the mirror and prying my eyelids back so that I could see the curve of my eyeball. It doesn't freak me out anymore, though.
Someone on my flist said 'falling' should be on there and isn't. It should probably be between 'heights' and 'jumping from high places'. ;)
Reply
I think it is sad that so many women fear giving birth. It one of the things that is worst about being male; the fact that we can never have that experience. I think this is partly due to the American/Hollywood representation of birth with women screaming in agony in a hospital bed as there child is ripped from them by some holier-than-thou physician type. The fact that women are forced to give birth in the wrong position doesn't help either. For the record the best position to give birth (least pain/tears) is in a crouch. I have spoken to many women who have had home births in rural Portugal that said that was the way they did it, not because anyone told them to, but because it felt natural. These are women who have had many (in some cases up to 9) babies and knew exactly what they were talking about.
Reply
I've heard a lot of women who fear home birth a lot more than birth in a hospital. They want someone in a white coat with lots of shiny machinery to preside over the process, some authority they believe knows more about birth than any mother or midwife. Maybe seeing so many depictions of birth as some horrible medical performance has convinced them that giving birth at home is as dangerous as home appendectomies.
I don't think I have any of those beliefs, although of course I've been exposed to them, but I marked down "giving birth" as a fear because it's really not something I want to have happen to me. Certainly not at this stage of my life, and probably not ever.
Talk to you later today, but the sooner the better before I have to shoot off.
Reply
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