RE: [ozmidwifery] Ann Peacock defends Liz & Tracey

[Judy Giesaitis]

Dear Trish

Congratulations on a wonderful letter, wish I was a wordsmith!!  Judy

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Re: [ozmidwifery] Ann Peacock defends Liz & Tracey

[Patricia David]

Here is my letter to the editor. Wonder if it will get a viewing. Trish


Dear Editor

In response to Anne Peacock's defense of Tracy Curro's and Liz Hayes' assertions on 
childbirth and mothering in the story recently aired on 60 Minutes, may I make the 
following comments.

Childbirth and mothering are such emotive, personal, self-defining processes that I 
think it is near impossible for journalists (and experts such as midwives and medical 
people) to maintain a standard of objectivity and ethical distance when talking in 
generalities. What I mean is, journalists have an obligation to the public to declare 
an interest where it might possibly conflict with informing the public on an issue. We 
as midwives have an ethical obligation to centre our practice on the woman and her 
choices without our own experiences clouding our objectivity. But with childbearing 
and mothering it seems (as these affect every person on the planet) everyone has the 
notion that what they did/chose/believed in is what should be the case for everyone.

This generalising of a moral position is fine for the lay person. But journalists 
should be held to account for this, I believe. They are not allowed to comment on (for 
example) Qantas or a bank favourably if they are receiving benefits from those 
companies without declaring their interest (viz cash for comment). When women 
journalists set a standard based on what they chose, they should declare that they 
chose one way, that there are many other ways of giving birth, but they should be very 
mindful of the ethical issue of their ability to influence. I don't believe they are 
playing by the rules with this ethic.

They should also be held to account on issues of fact as well. Overwhelming amounts of 
literature from psychology, sociology and even anatomy and physiology tells us that 
mothering begins in the womb with how you are mothered. It is part of a social and 
biological milieu in which social practices and mores and biology are irreducible. 

In pregnancy (and before) women fantasise about the baby, create an identity for the 
baby, and this identity is influenced by her wishes, desires and cultural 
understandings of what is acceptable from her as a mother and from the baby as a 
gendered individual (hence if it's a boy inside it kicks like a footballer, and if 
it's a girl, it kicks like a ballerina as an example). This in turn, I believe from 
reading and research into this issue as part of my own PhD studies, creates a 
dialectic between woman and fantasy/biological baby that shapes her own maternal 
identity in response.

Clearly, mothering begins earlier than after the birth. In fact, I believe based on 
reading, research, conversations with mothers, long years of observation in a 
professional capacity, and finally my own experience, that what happens after the 
birth is nowhere near as influencial in creating a mother as what happens before. And, 
may I say, the day of birth is a profound marker, no matter how the birth itself is 
conducted. The evidence on this is incontrovertable.

Using the argument put forward by Anne Peacock and Tracy Curro is, I contend, mere 
rationalisation of the choices they made, rather than a considered journalistic 
statement. As such, they should not be taken any more seriously than a letter to the 
editor from a lay public citizen. The problem is, they will be because of the 
journalists authority, and as such their journalistic integrity should be called into 
question.


Yours sincerely
Trish David
Senior Lecturer Midwifery
Monash University Gippsland.

Cheryl LHK <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Reading my paper over breakfast, we find a half page spread from Ann
> Peacock
> (Herald Sun - Melbourne, p 118) giving full credit to 60 mins and co. And
> from her personal experience having had a emergency LUSCS for her first
> child, naturally with the safety of No 2 baby in mind, booked straight in
> for another LUSCS! Her quote "Mothering happens after the birth, in case
> no
> one has noticed."
> 
> You can contact her on
> 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> Cheryl
> 
> _
> Get a Virgin Credit Card and win an adventure:   
> 
> http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;8661322;9498324;s?http://www.promo.com.au/virgincreditcard/firstbirthday/track.cfm?source=N92
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Trish David FACM
Senior Lecturer Midwifery and Nursing
Monash University School of Nursing
Gippsland Campus
Northways Road
Churchill 3842
(03) 5122 6839
0418 994033
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Re: [ozmidwifery] Ann Peacock defends Liz & Tracey

[Alphia Possamai-Inesedy]

here are the transcripts for this newspaper article:
SECTION: ANN PEACOCK: TALES OF A MODERN
WOMAN; Pg. 118
HEADLINE: Not the unkindest
cut
BYLINE: Ann Peacock
BODY:
FULL credit to 60 Minutes last week for highlighting the growing
debate about caesarean section births.
The issue was recently stirred up after I read comments by UK actor Kate
Winslet, who admitted she had originally lied about having a natural
birth.
Her daughter, 4, with her first husband, was born by emergency c-section,
though she said at the time that Mia's birth was an "uncomplicated
natural birth". 
But she recently told a magazine: "I've gone to great pains to cover
it up. But Mia was an emergency c-section. I just said I had a natural
birth because I was so completely traumatised by the fact that I hadn't
given birth. I felt like a complete failure."
I was again dismayed when, talking about the issue with a few colleagues,
one girl felt the same way as Winslet: as though a caesarean made you
less of a woman and, for some, less of a mother.
How such a horrible thought could enter the minds of these mums astounds
me.
Having a caesar -- for whatever reason, be it preventative medical or
merely convenience -- is a personal choice that should never become a
rule for advocates of one or another view.
That some advocates assume those who have chosen a caesarean are any less
of a mother is shocking.
Perhaps my opinion is coloured by my experience. My first birth had to be
an emergency c-section when, after 16 hours of labour, my baby was
becoming distressed without making any sort of entrance.
As a result, and with the safety of baby No. 2 in mind, I booked for a
caesar next time around.
Not once have I felt less of a mother as a result. Mothering happens
after the birth, in case no one has noticed.
Perhaps the tainted image of the c-section has developed through nonsense
about women who have chosen the procedure instead of natural births --
the high and mighty who have been dubbed "too posh to
push".
In the 60 Minutes story by Liz Hayes, we met a woman who tried to give
birth "naturally" and endured 20 hours of labour -- only to end
up with the baby severely distressed. An emergency caesar was performed,
but the baby sadly died.
This woman went on to have a divine child, now aged 4, by
caesarean.
Some may argue women can feel failures after caesareans. But judging a
woman's worth as a mother based on her experience with birth is not
wise.
Newsreader Tracey Curro appeared on the program. She has had both her
children by caesarean and made the most sensible observation.
"I don't subscribe to the notion that a vaginal birth is some kind
of rite of passage to complete womanhood or to be being a real
mother," she said.
"Everything that makes having children a priceless experience begins
after they're born."
LOAD-DATE: June 5, 2004 




At 01:12 PM 6/06/2004, you wrote:
Reading my paper over breakfast, we
find a half page spread from Ann Peacock (Herald Sun - Melbourne, p 118)
giving full credit to 60 mins and co.  And from her personal
experience having had a emergency LUSCS for her first child, naturally
with the safety of No 2 baby in mind, booked straight in for another
LUSCS!  Her quote "Mothering happens after the birth, in case
no one has noticed."
You can contact her on
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cheryl
_
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Alphia Possamai-Inesedy Ba (Hons.)
PhD. Candidate
School of Applied and Human Sciences
Bankstown Campus, University of Western Sydney
UWS Locked Bag 1797
South Penrith Distribution Centre
NSW 1797 Australia
Phone: 02 97726628
Fax: 02 97726584

RE: [ozmidwifery] Ann Peacock defends Liz & Tracey

[jo]

Oh MAN! The impact that the ridiculous 60 mins story has had is
unbelievable.

Natalie and I held an Active Birth workshop this w/e and one of the woman
piped up today and said she'd seen the segment. We had been talking about
informed consent and suggesting that if all sorts of things were being
offered to them in labour to ask for 5 mins alone to discuss with hubby or
support people. The woman then said how she'd seen the segment and that what
if the baby was in real danger (like Vanessa's) and she refused help for 5
mins to discuss with partner which rd to take and that the 5 mins cost the
babies lifemaybe she should just go for the c/section!?!?!?

S pd off!

jo

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cheryl LHK
Sent: Sunday, 6 June 2004 1:13 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [ozmidwifery] Ann Peacock defends Liz & Tracey

Reading my paper over breakfast, we find a half page spread from Ann Peacock
(Herald Sun - Melbourne, p 118) giving full credit to 60 mins and co.  And
from her personal experience having had a emergency LUSCS for her first
child, naturally with the safety of No 2 baby in mind, booked straight in
for another LUSCS!  Her quote "Mothering happens after the birth, in case no
one has noticed."

You can contact her on

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Cheryl

_
Get a Virgin Credit Card and win an adventure:   
http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;8661322;9498324;s?http://www.promo.com.au/virg
increditcard/firstbirthday/track.cfm?source=N92

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Re: [ozmidwifery] Ann Peacock defends Liz & Tracey

[Denise Hynd]

Dear Cheryl

If you ask me these pro C/S arguements are similar to those for regime
(Bottle) feeding and Controlled Crying in that they do not understand or
accept the primacy of the phyisiological let alone emotional needs of the
baby but ride on the false convenience of adults and fear of babies to take
over their mother's lives ??

Try quoting  from Prof Stanley (on Enough Rope in 2003)

 "It is now very, very obvious from all the research that if you don't
nurture a child properly, respond to it's crying in a certain way, comfort
it in certain ways, even from the very first year of that child's existence,
then patterns of responses are laid down. The circuits in the brain are
developed that actually lead to. you know, psychological problems,
behavioural problems. The hormones do not get turned on at the right time,
the brain connections are not made. And so in fact it's very, very
important. Perhaps we knew about this intuitively before and we've somehow
forgotten it now in modern society. Children have fallen off the agenda. But
this incredibly rich time for brain development starts in utero, when you're
pregnant with a baby, and it goes on for the first 8, 10 years with
incredible development still occurring through the teenage years."

Also politicians,other  media and many authoritative figures and health
professionals are currently proffering concepts of community based solutions
which support individuals and families taking personal responsibility for
health and effective parenting (as per NMAP) as a means of addressing many
social problems.

Denise

- Original Message - 
From: "Cheryl LHK" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2004 11:12 AM
Subject: [ozmidwifery] Ann Peacock defends Liz & Tracey


> Reading my paper over breakfast, we find a half page spread from Ann
Peacock
> (Herald Sun - Melbourne, p 118) giving full credit to 60 mins and co.  And
> from her personal experience having had a emergency LUSCS for her first
> child, naturally with the safety of No 2 baby in mind, booked straight in
> for another LUSCS!  Her quote "Mothering happens after the birth, in case
no
> one has noticed."
>
> You can contact her on
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Cheryl
>
> _
> Get a Virgin Credit Card and win an adventure:
>
http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;8661322;9498324;s?http://www.promo.com.au/virgincreditcard/firstbirthday/track.cfm?source=N92
>
> --
> This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics.
> Visit  to subscribe or unsubscribe.
>


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