tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post8227268179485955333..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: The Birth MachineJim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-86507778544834162522010-11-25T10:41:49.061+00:002010-11-25T10:41:49.061+00:00I get Feminism, Lis, I really do. I’m not sure I’d...I get Feminism, <b>Lis</b>, I really do. I’m not sure I’d call myself one but I’m definitely pro-women and I recognise they’ve had a hard time of it over the years. I expect it was growing up with a domineering father and watching how all the fight got kicked (metaphorically) out of my mother over the years, That doesn’t mean my dad was a bad provider – my mother never wanted for anything in practical terms – but things weren’t important to her. And that’s what got me about <i>The Yellow Wallpaper</i> when I first read it. You couldn’t call the husband ‘bad’ and I’m sure if he’d been told he was oppressing his wife he’s have been offended. It’s the old bird-in-a-gilded-cage-scenario. <br /><br />My daughter was born in 1980. I’m actually not sure how long my wife was in hospital. I don’t think it was as long as a week but she was transferred from the maternity unit to a hospital closer to where we lived for a few days at least. I’ve written a bit above about my memories of that time which is why I no doubt connected with <i>The Birth Machine</i> but you’re right, it’s not just obstetrics, it’s all forms of health care that are geared towards processing patients as opposed to treating individuals. In my forthcoming article about R D Laing’s time in Glasgow’s Gartnaval I wrote this: “Laing noticed that none of the doctors actually talked with the patients – they treated them as ailing organisms as opposed to poorly people…” He’s talking about mentally ill people, schizophrenics, and the fact is the doctors were caring for the patients as best they knew how but somewhere along the line they’d forgotten they were dealing with people. For all Laing’s failings if the only thing he did was get his colleagues to sit up and realise what they were doing then the boy done good as far as I’m concerned.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-34280614142458288822010-11-25T08:53:34.577+00:002010-11-25T08:53:34.577+00:00Another terrific review, Jim. I enjoy the compari...Another terrific review, Jim. I enjoy the comparison between Elizabeth Baines's book and the Yellow Wall Paper. <br /><br />I only came across the Yellow Wall Paper about six years ago and it sent me through the roof. <br /><br />I found it so thoroughly fantastic. I think I shall enjoy Elizabeth Baines's book, too. It puts me in mind of my own labours.<br /><br />I gave birth to my first daughter in 1982 and in those days beyond the horrors of the labour, afterward while we stayed in hospital for the mandatory seven days, we were required to weigh our babies before and after each feed. We were told not to change their nappies in the process. The medicos wanted to measure exact intake and output, exact increases in weight. We needed then to record the exact amount of change in the baby's weight on the scales. Only after the baby had regained the inevitable initial loss of weight post birth could we take the baby home. <br /><br />Draconian methods like this stay with me. I still feel persecuted at the thought - the patronising attitudes and the machines.<br /><br />I hate to say it, but once you are in hospital whether for birth or death, the same depersonalising process seems to go on, as it did recently for my broken leg. <br /><br />Hospitals are horrible places in which to stay, however necessary they may be. <br /><br />Thanks, Jim.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-20952875075095280782010-11-22T10:32:42.438+00:002010-11-22T10:32:42.438+00:00There are different kinds of lies, Koala Bear Writ...There are different kinds of lies, <b>Koala Bear Writer</b>, and the one in this book is the one that I see the most of – lies of omission. All the woman in this book wants is an answer to a simple question which she gets but only after the fact, when it’s too late to affect her decision. I see doctors do this all the time, only share as much as <i>they</i> see fit to. There are arguments for and against this approach – yes, why worry a patient needlessly – but whose information is it at the end of the day? Thanks for your thoughts – nice to see a new name appearing in the comments.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-73958304464879204582010-11-22T03:31:22.346+00:002010-11-22T03:31:22.346+00:00I'll have to put this on my list of books to t...I'll have to put this on my list of books to track down. I was willing, with my last baby, to have a "freebirth" (unattended birth at home) just to avoid the hospital "machine." I think birth is a natural, normal process, and in our society today, it has become a "disease" - something that needs to be hospitalized, treated by doctors, dosed with drugs, even be subject to surgery. Midwives are one answer, but one must be careful with midwives, as some midwives are just as "hospitalized" as the doctors are. I feel very strongly that pregnant women today are being lied to about their options and their pregnancy. Thanks for reviewing this book.Bonnie Way aka the Koala Momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11601183003333359031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-76323701219087547072010-11-18T16:25:55.589+00:002010-11-18T16:25:55.589+00:00I have to agree with you there, Kass. There really...I have to agree with you there, <b>Kass</b>. There really was something magical about watching my daughter being born. It doesn’t matter how much you understand the science actually witnessing one living creature being drawn from the body of another is something else, especially when you contributed to it being there. The hospital staff were actually quite nice on the whole (and predominately Irish for some reason) but part way through I found myself in tears in the Gents swearing I’d never put anyone though this again and it wasn’t even a bad labour – about twelve hours if memory serves me right – Christ knows what I would have been like if things had gone badly. I can understand not explaining to me what was going on but I hated it. Part of me would rather have sat in the waiting room like the fathers had to do in the old days; there's a lot to be said for ignorance.<br /><br />I think you have the germ of a poem in that last line by the way.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-89270265809378768762010-11-18T15:47:20.092+00:002010-11-18T15:47:20.092+00:00Modern medicine has made childbirth so machine-lik...Modern medicine has made childbirth so machine-like. Lying on her back, totally out of control, her feet in the air, propped into an ergonomically horrid position, a woman is asked to push against gravity and deliver offspring.<br /><br />Childbirth <i>is</i> a combination of science and magic. <br /><br />Perhaps there is something appropriately symbolic for children born into our current society -<br /><br />...so many constructs and contraptions they hope will have mercy on them...Kasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-45925307732931366142010-11-15T10:16:34.248+00:002010-11-15T10:16:34.248+00:00Nice to see another Australian has found their way...Nice to see another Australian has found their way to my blog, <b>Von</b>. I’m pretty sure you’re my only goose breeder though. I know what you mean about the Grimms but they did elaborate on the tales which is all I was saying here. As regards hospitals and the attitudes of doctors I don’t think the attitudes expressed in this book are unique to obstetricians. My wife visits a rheumatologist who also needs to be taken by the lapels before he’ll listen to her. There’s this reluctance to part with information too as if it will hurt you to know what’s happening or what might be wrong with you. Very frustrating.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-71614756226523885022010-11-15T00:54:03.441+00:002010-11-15T00:54:03.441+00:00I know a number of midwives.They tell me birth in ...I know a number of midwives.They tell me birth in hospitals is as bad as it's always been for women.Something about technology and doctors taking over and disempowering.Not much has changed.<br />You probably know the Grimm brothers simply collected tales from many women, some they were related to, some were neighbours and others in different parts of the country.The tales are old and part of their heritage but they merely wrote them up.Vonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17421069895155350144noreply@blogger.com