From: seb1@leia.dr.att.com (sharon badian)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Use of drugs during labor (% wise)
Date: 27 Jul 92 15:59:52 GMT
Reply-To: seb1@druhi.att.com
Organization: Bell Labs, Denver, CO.

In article <2809@ariel.its.unimelb.EDU.AU>, sue@ariel.its.unimelb.EDU.AU (Sue McPherson) writes:
|> There is a current cultural perception that a drug free natural labour is a
|> 'good thing' because any unnecessary medication should be avoided. In the
|> 'huff & puff' classes I attended I was told (and I think it is the 'norm' 
|> throughout Australia);
|> 
|> 1. the mother should have the amount of pain relief she feels she needs!
|> 2. the recommended approach to pain management was to work progressively
|>    through the following methods until a satisfactory level of pain
|>    relief was achieved;

I think this is the important point. Mom gets what mom wants. But, some of
the stories I've heard seem to indicate that doctors/nurses are "pushing"
certain medications (such as epidurals). Given that moms are not particularly
coherent in labor to begin with, if some nurse kept saying to you "We
can get rid of that pain, no problem" every 30 minutes or so, how will
most women react? One woman sent me mail to say that in one hospital they
give all women an epdirual when they get to 5 cm. I mean, really! Sounds
like they're running a racket for anaethesiologists (especially since
epidurals run $800-$1000 a piece).

|> I guess the main thing they emphasised was that its was primarily the mother's
|> choice. They told the story of the couple who came in determined to have 
|> drug free labour, but after some time of very painful contrations the mother
|> was having difficulty and the midwife suggested that she might like a
|> pethedine injection. The mother said yes, but the father said 'But we agreed
|> to a drug free birth' and the mother changed her mind. This happened several
|> times through a difficult labour and the mother made it through but was a
|> wreck physically and emotionally. The sting in the tale was that the same
|> woman came back to have her second child WITHOUT her husband!

These are the kind of questions you really have to have settled beforehand.
And our childbirth instructor said if you have decided absolutely for a
no drugs birth, you're crazy. This woman has had 2 no drugs births, but
she knows that sometimes it's what the mother needs and no one should stand
in her way, including herself. I thought the idea was to have an experience
that you can deal with, not one to set your teeth on edge the rest of your
life!

You don't know what's going to happen before it happens. You have good
options now in drugs. Sounds like you are setting yourself up for dis-
appointment if you say "absolutely, no way, no how."

The reason I asked this question wasn't because I wished to advocate
no drugs births (I'm hoping for one, but I'm no fool. I'll take it if I
need it). But, I want to feel like I made the choice, not some nurse or
doctor. Given the widely different statistics from Boulder and Denver,
it sounds like getting my choice is going to be a lot easier where I
will deliver (in Boulder) than if I were to deliver in Denver. I was
just wondering if other women heard similar statistics during their
childbirth classes (though I would guess that classes in Denver wouldn't
freely tell you their statistics because a lot of women would be very
shocked by them!).

The responses I have gotten so far haven't been what I expected, but
they are very interesting all the same.

-- 
Sharon Badian
AT&T Bell Labs - Denver
seb1@druhi.att.com
Newsgroups: misc.kids