Dear All, I think we should be a bit careful with our language here. Comparing the delivery a baby with 'hard stool' is a huge insult to women in labour. Women also do not - traditionally - go back to working in the fields immedaitely after delivery. Let's not over romaticise to this extent please! Lindsay Barnes
On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 S kumar wrote : >Dr.Sharma, > > Under normal circumstances, when women stick on to the ancestral traditions > and advice given by elders, normal deliveries were the norms. We see how the > tribals or working women even at the fag end of their pregnancy, continue to > work and leave the work to deliver the child asisted by another older woman > or a midwife and return to work. > > Delivery is such a smooth process provided one does not interfere with the > growth of the child by excessive vitamins, minerals like Calcium or other > medicines to expedite delivery..etc. The delivery is nothing more than pasing > a hard stool and we should leave it to nature for the pains to appear, > increase the frequency and force until the child is delivered. > > One of the main causes for increased caesarean has been indiscriminate use > of Calcium tablets, that hardens the bones of the foetus esp. the skull > making the passage more difficult. > > Follow nature, normal food and good exercise with normal home activity. The > delivery would also be normal. > > >"Dr.V.N. Sharma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The fact that has been surprising me for last 40 years -why Medical > Science suddenly turned to caesarean births in last 20-25 years seem to have > been answered. It is not just this. Every portion of medical practice is > doubtful today. Anyway for the present I would like the present link to be > opened and read. Thanx >http://downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20080531&filename=news&sec_id=15&sid=32 >-- Birth in the Squatting Position by Polymorph Films 1979 (10 >mins, Brazil) The business of being born by Abby Epstein (83 mins, USA) >Birthday by Naoli Vinaver (10 mins, Mexico) Born at Home by Sameera Jain >(60 mins, India) > >Commercial cinema, at least the variety common in this country, tends to show >childbirth in a kind of half-light: the mother screaming and blood flowing >profusely. If the end is happy, a doctor enters with a scalpel and saves the >woman. The baby is taken by its feet and smacked on its back to make it cry >and everyone is happy. > If the way you see childbirth is influenced by such imagery, four > films screened on April 29 and 30 by the Delhi Birth Network would have been > perfect to correct your perception. These films were about natural births and > home births. They showed that doctors are in most cases not required for > childbirth. > >Birth in the Squatting Position from Brazil is a good introduction to the >concept of natural birth. The woman and the child work out the process of >delivery between them right in front of your eyes. The baby comes out in the >mothers hands or just lands softly on a bed kept ready for its arrival. >Doctors, if present, stand there and just watch the process. The documentary >follows five births and as the babies pop out effortlessly, one after the >other, you get comfortable with natural births. The Business of Being Born >shakes you out of this comfort. It shows that natural births rarely happen if >a doctor is involved. Hospital births are more likely to end up in a caesarean >for the simple epidural injection starts a cascade effect ensuring that the >only way to save the baby is to extricate it by making an incision in the >mothers abdomen. > >Natural births are said to strengthen the bond between mother and child. The >third documentary, Birthday , emphasizes this. It shows a family in Mexico >taking part in the process of getting the new baby into the world in a water >bath. > >The fourth film, Born at Home, is about India where home births and natural >birth are only options for the majority. It shows traditional dai s (midwives) >in rural Rajasthan and Bihar, and in Delhi slums helping in delivery. > >Born at home brings out interesting tid bits of traditional knowledge, which >are being lost because they do not fit in with modern practices. One such >pertains to when the umbilical cord should be cut. Traditional wisdom lets the >connection remain till the child is acclimatized to the new environment. It is >only when the cord stops pulsating, that it is cut. This also ensures that the >placenta comes out of the body. Modern doctors cut the cord immediately after >the child is born and placentas are known to remain in and lead to further >problems. > > >Lessons from tradition > >Besides their visual appeal, there is a lesson in these films: there is a role >for doctors in childbirth, but not one in which they stage-manage the show. >The problem is when doctors are involved, cases of natural births are rare, >more so in private hospitals that use surgery. For surgeons trained in >obstetrics and gynaecology, money is the incentive. They do not have the >patience to let nature take its time. > >usa, where most births take place in institutions, has a higher rate of death >of both mother and the infant than Europe where natural births are common. > >Studies show that the number of normal births in India in government hospitals >is relatively higher. However, achieving 100 per cent deliveries in public >hospitals suffers given the sorry state of public health system in the >country. In urban India, even when natural birth is talked about, it is with >an emphasis on the learning from the West. As a result, we lose out on >indigenous practices. > >For example, in Rajasthan, to ensure that surroundings are sterilized, a dai >uses clean sun-baked sand and warms it. This sand is layered on the bed and >covered with a cotton cloth. The heat eases child birth. But now this practice >has given way to use of plastic sheets that are rarely cleaned and so increase >chances of infection. > >Consider another example. This is to take care of the mother after she >delivers. Medicinal herbs are burnt and covered by a huge basket. The mother >squats on the basket; the smoke has antiseptic properties. > >The way forward would be to train more mid-wives because 99 per cent of >childbirths need just a disinfected blade and a thread. They are also cheaper. >Doctors should of course be available for emergencies. > > > > > > > > Jharkhand Network | Jharkhand.org.in/network > > > > > > > > >
