HW 40:Insights From Book Part 3

     You find yourself at a cocktail party because your finally old enough to be at one. The author of the book you just finished reading also happens to be there .  To demonstrate that you really read the book, you say, "Hey  Tina Cassidy thanks for writing Birth. Your core argument of how the historical aspects of birth have had an effect on the way it is viewed today, made me reshape my ideas on  pregnancy & birth for the better." 

     But the author looks up, surprised to not only be  talking to someone who doesn't even look old enough to be at a bar, but instead of sharing their own birth story which countless people must have done, actually rephrased the main idea of the text she spent months giving birth to asks, "Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?" When you answer, "Well, in the last third of the book you focused on a topic which doesn't have to much light shed on it usually, which is the father's role in birth and what they go through physically, mentally, and emotionally in the months while their partner is pregnant and the moments of delivery which added another angle to the first 2/3rds of the book. But let me be more specific." And then you listed the top 3 ideas/pieces of evidence/insights/questions from that final third of the book (and somehow even listed page number references because your just that good). I especially appreciated how you discussed

1.  What the father's role in birth is and how that isn't really a choice anymore. Personally I don't think it ever should have been. This obviously isn't the way it always was and it's important that we make that connection and are able to move forward with our new understanding.. (207)

2. Learning about how other cultures compare and contrasted with our culture with the whole concept of the father being allowed in the delivery room. (208)

3. The bonding process, and how it is important for the mother and child to be together soon after birth.It seemed as if it was a biological need and a emotional need. (228)

     At this point, realizing that she's having a unique conversation with such a charming, intelligent young man with dashing good looks who is a serious reader of her book, the author asks - "But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?" You answer, "Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide historical analysis, from the perspective of doctors  the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim,and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be, to add that personal connection to your book,  which could really help make the reader feel as if they are connecting to you as a person instead of you as an author(note the key distinction there).Your audiences may not always want to simply feel as if there reading about you researching the history of birth. Just add a little drama in there. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about the historical aspects of birth and  the effect it has had on everyone that read it's  perspectives . In fact, I'm likely to do my own births when the time becomes right for me  differently as a result of your book. I thank you sincerely because as the average person on the street I didn't even know anything about midwifery. In fact I looked down on people who had home birth's, I thought it was dirty and I thought it was illegal. Everyone being born in a hospital seemed right because they need to run all there "super important tests" and they need to do fingerprinting and etc. You really helped broaden my horizon." The author replies, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society! Your generation has a long and bright future I feel confident that your generation will excel and make this world a better place with intellectuals running it.

HW 39: Insights From Book Part Two

Cassidy,Tina. Birth The Surprising Story of How We Are Born. New York:  Grove Press. 2006: Press


     In the book Birth even while being in the hundreds section of the book, the historical parts of birth are still being talked about such as the doctors's methods, and the tools being used. I enjoy the way the book is written because I feel in order to understand and come up with an opinion of the birthing system, then you have to know the history of the topic so that you can reflect on the history and compare it to the present, or even the future. In the  Business of Being Born they don't give much attention to this specific topic,  normally this would be a bad thing but since Birth talks about it's okay. As I included in last post in my opinion the major insight that the book attempts to communicate is letting the reader know what the historical aspects of birth are and how  the process of giving birth is changing,and has changed.Soon after reading more in the book I began to become a little intrigued  with the methods that doctors were using. The way they treat childbirth you would think they were holding a pregnant foreign lady prisoner. Let's be serious now how ethical and moral can giving women drugs against their will be. One proposal I have for this method in particular would be getting a written, and verbal This major insight made me think of the question  how does the growing information about the the classic birth methods shown in the book compare to the present birth methods shown in Business of Being Born enlighten people and allow them to take that knowledge and apply it to themselves to better their decision? Will we see a large decrease in the extremely high cesarean rates? 

     1. I don't understand why even though the pros of c-sections don't seem to quite outweigh the cons they are still done at such an alarming rate?  Is it because people are just being misinformed? Or is it because since the doctor is referring it, the patients don't want to go against the 'wise professional'  (pg 107)
      2.   Natural vs Medical this is an idea that will come up as long as you talk about birth. Before this unit started I thought the idea of birthing at home was weird, and dangerous. This is what society had taught me my whole life. Is this because our society favors hospitals and doctors more than midwifes? Probably when people hear hospitals they think doctors, and technology. Honestly that does sound more comfortable than a midwife and less technology,especially if you only know what the average person knows about birth which isn't much. (pg 183)

     3. What are the differences between tools with  midwives and doctors? Or even better who knows how to use that technology more effectively? ( pg 161)

    4. Personally I think that since celebrities seem to highly value  C-sections as a way to keep your body noticeably similar to pre-pregnancy that's why hospitals seem to value them more. There favoring what the rich seem to prefer instead of what the common people seem to prefer which is something that happens more in American society than it should.  (pg 123-124)

     5. How often are cesearan sections peformed in other countries? How does this affect their birthing? Does it lead to more deaths or less for babies and the mother? (Pg 103)

     
     The one crucial factual claim that I chose to research was the symphyseotomy. This word stuck out to me I had never heard anyone say it before, didn't know how to pronounce it, didn't and still don't know how to spell it, and couldn't figure out what it meant even with the book telling me. Fortunately the author was just about correct with her research about symphyseotomy. She gave two examples of women where it happened and showed how it affected them.


     Dumont, M. "The long and difficult birth of symphysiotomy or from Severin Pineau to Jean-Rene Sigault." U.S. National Library of Medicine . N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar 2011. .


Bibliography:
Dumont, M. "The long and difficult birth of symphysiotomy or from Severin Pineau to Jean-Rene Sigault." U.S. National Library of Medicine . N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar 2011. .

HW 38: Insights From Pregnancy and Birth Book Part 1

     The way the book Birth: The Surprising History of How we Are Born is organized, it starts off combining historical and statistical evidence for the reader. The book doesn't really include personal accounts from women who have gone through birth except of course the opinion of the author. The book is also organized in a sort of meaningful manner, the author isn't trying to cram all the information on each page, and instead is trying to spread it out which is something a reader like myself can appreciate.The main question the book is trying to answer is how birth and the whole process of how it's handled progressed throughout history and stands where it is today. Something that has become typical with units in the class is that they become to much of  an industrial process instead of something that nature should handle. One common thing that I've noticed in this book and in this unit is that  instead of treating birth as a gift, society views it as a disease and treats it like one by using drugs and surgeries. The major insight that the book attempts to communicate is that birth is a essentially a physical process( not saying that I don't personally think it's an emotional and mental process). It's also very important to be educated and aware as to how birth and the birthing process has changed over time for the worse mainly and  that it's not to late to  change it for the better. On page 44 of the book Tina Cassidy discusses her opinion on the idea of hospitals and births. She states that "There was a good reason for the medical establishment to accept nurse-midwives: as baby boomers began to reproduce, the birthrate outstripped the number of obstetricians- Meanwhile, women, empowered by the liberation movement, were looking for a kinder, gentler birth experience, one that did not involve obstetricians or even hospitals." Tine Cassidy stated that hospitals and obstetricians weren't really sympathetic enough to their patients which is actually much more important than it seems.This showed her opinion on the topic very well. 

Five Aspects

1. Education About Birthing: If anyone finds themselves in the situation regardless if they are the male or the female they should still investigate this so they can be prepared for what's up ahead of them.This is something most Americans surprisingly don't know about. 
2. Historical Research Regarding Birth: Before you even start thinking about having babies you should take the initiative to learn the history of birth and how it has changed over time. If you wanted to go a step further you could even research how birth in humans differs from other mammals and primates since there the most genetically similar animals to us.
3.  Exposure to Alternative Ways to Give birth: It turns out there is usually an alternative way you can go about these things (exp for the food unit one could be whole foods, for the illness and dying unit one could be leaving the country and going to Canada). For this unit it could be midwives.
4. Finding Out The Truth About Hospital Birthing: The American people should be informed about what hospital birth is really like and both the pros and the cons of it.
5. Finding Out The Truth Regarding Home/Natural birth: we both feel that people should be informed about what home birth is really like and both the pros and the cons of it as well. 

     Tina Cassidy used lots of  historical evidence to support her beliefs and  arguments. The sources of her evidence are included in the bibliography that way if you wanted to check something out yourself you can do so. She  communicated her evidence through her  insights. Later in the book I would love to see Tina Cassidy mention some of the pros of hospital births The book would have been so much more  beneficial if she had just put in a little more effort and explored the cons of birthing at home further and exposed her readers to that so that her readers could make the best decision for themselves