Monday, March 31, 2014

Reproduction-First Reader

After reading the article Late Pregnancy, Labor Induction, and the Occupy Uterus Movement the part that I found that really stuck out to me the most was the part that stated “We consider the due date—which I imagine my nephew acknowledging with a nod of his head as he hunkers down for nine more days—as a sort of deadline. If you are still pregnant after that deadline your baby is “overdue,” and the cultural signal is that you have failed as a mother (you haven’t)” (p 4). What originally stuck out to me most in that was the joke that was made about her nephew. However, when I looked deeper into it I thought about how that was prevalent in my own life. A year and half ago my niece was born. I remember each day waiting for her to come to this world. Four days after my sister in laws due date, Macey still had not come. I remember doctors telling my sister in law worrying news about how there may be something wrong because the baby is late. But in reality, like the article says, due dates are not actually very accurate because they are determined by the last day of a women’s period and not their ovulation. Three days later, Macey was here and healthy as ever. All the worrying, but nothing was wrong.

I think that in the world we live in today, giving birth is a set time, with a set procedure, when in reality giving birth is so variable among mothers. This causes so much more worry in mothers than it should and because of this some of the energy that goes into being excited for a new child to come into this world is turned into energy that is used for worrying about the pain and all the bad that comes with giving birth. Giving the baby as much time as it needs is important, and we should no try to coax the baby out of the mother if the baby is not ready.

-Rachel Ogdon 

3 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading your post, and I believe you made a good point about how everything today is set on a schedule and has many technological interventions. The human body is very complex and doctors cannot %100 accurately give a due date for the baby because of the level of complexity within the human body and birth. I agree with the article that although the doctor gives a set due date and the baby is either born before or after that it shouldn't be that alarming, since the doctor is only giving an estimate. I believe the only time you should be worried is when the baby is born extremely early (such as weeks) or extremely late such as weeks, but by then the doctor must intervene.
    From doing the readings, and also watching the video in class I have the strong belief that we have put too much faith and trust into doctors with something that should be so important to us, when it comes to birth it should be as natural as possible with little intervention to experience the true meaning of birth. We as human beings are growing acustomed to taking the new way out or using medical intervention, when we should just sit back and let nature do what it has been doing since the beginning of time.

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    1. I agree with you completely. The Occupy Uterus article was very informative on the process of delivery. Knowing that the due that, that is giving to you by your doctor is not the actual due date will relieve a lot of families and mothers. If many pregnant women knew that their fetus is who determines whether or not it is time for them to come out, then they would not be stressed about their delivery process. I am actually very disappointed in how hospitals are operating concerning child delivery. The fact that doctors put so much pressure on the mothers to deliver the child is very disappointing.
      While reading this article I recalled my mother telling me that I was an overdue baby. She told me how the doctors were trying to get me out but I wouldn't come. They kept pressuring her to get a Caesarean section but she rejected it. She told them I will come out whenever I felt like it. I am glad she stood her ground.

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