So... people keep inventing devices to make birth easier. Never mind that a woman might be happy on all fours on the floor, or squatting, or pulling on a rope, or leaning on her bed or her partner, or floating freely in a pool of warm, analgesic water...
No, we must have machines and gadgets and devices. There's been a version of a birth stool around for thousands of years, as you can see if you google image it. A simple device that supports a woman and lets her baby come out. But in Ohio, they've come up with the startling idea of the 'birth machine' chair, also termed the 'Relaxbirth' -
Mmm, comfy? Except, wait, I have to say, it reminds me of an orange juicer.
Or even:
Seriously, doesn't this woman look like she's about to be juiced?
Here's another thing that anyone who knows about birth might notice - see how she's sitting right on her coccyx? Well, not to preach, but in pregnancy, women's joints and ligaments soften so that their coccyx can move right back and out in order to make space for the baby to pass. If you've lain on your back during labour, you'll know how horribly fucking painful it is, compared to say, leaning forward, as the baby scrapes along all your nerves and the bumps of your spine. Pushing a baby over a coccyx that's stuck curving in is difficult, painful, and dangerous. That's why birthing lying on your back was such a god awful idea. Doctors like it for access, but it has bad results. This picture seems to me to be all about access for the practitioner, not about helping the mother let the baby out the easiest way possible. She's sitting on her coccyx. Nooo, Relaxbirth, NOOOO!
Someone once told me she thought the idea of giving birth on all fours was 'undignified'. Such brainwashing has gone on. A leading and influential obstetritian here has stated that gravity is irrelevant in delivering babies. Really? Really? The world went mad a long time ago, strap yourself into the Relaxbirth and do what you're told.
Anyway, why am I posting this little rant here, instead of other places where I usually rant about stupid and destructive anti-woman and anti-baby birth practices? Eh? Well, it's because I wanted to post this photo as a final association, and I didn't want to upset anyone's tender sensibilities, because it is quite disgusting... but I couldn't help thinking of it.
No, we must have machines and gadgets and devices. There's been a version of a birth stool around for thousands of years, as you can see if you google image it. A simple device that supports a woman and lets her baby come out. But in Ohio, they've come up with the startling idea of the 'birth machine' chair, also termed the 'Relaxbirth' -
Mmm, comfy? Except, wait, I have to say, it reminds me of an orange juicer.
Seriously, doesn't this woman look like she's about to be juiced?
Here's another thing that anyone who knows about birth might notice - see how she's sitting right on her coccyx? Well, not to preach, but in pregnancy, women's joints and ligaments soften so that their coccyx can move right back and out in order to make space for the baby to pass. If you've lain on your back during labour, you'll know how horribly fucking painful it is, compared to say, leaning forward, as the baby scrapes along all your nerves and the bumps of your spine. Pushing a baby over a coccyx that's stuck curving in is difficult, painful, and dangerous. That's why birthing lying on your back was such a god awful idea. Doctors like it for access, but it has bad results. This picture seems to me to be all about access for the practitioner, not about helping the mother let the baby out the easiest way possible. She's sitting on her coccyx. Nooo, Relaxbirth, NOOOO!
Someone once told me she thought the idea of giving birth on all fours was 'undignified'. Such brainwashing has gone on. A leading and influential obstetritian here has stated that gravity is irrelevant in delivering babies. Really? Really? The world went mad a long time ago, strap yourself into the Relaxbirth and do what you're told.
Anyway, why am I posting this little rant here, instead of other places where I usually rant about stupid and destructive anti-woman and anti-baby birth practices? Eh? Well, it's because I wanted to post this photo as a final association, and I didn't want to upset anyone's tender sensibilities, because it is quite disgusting... but I couldn't help thinking of it.
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