Part one: A few things here. Years ago when studying this topic, I learned that midwives were much more common during the 1800’s and in the early 1900’s, male doctors rapidly ‘medicalized’ having children and pregnancy so they could be ‘in charge’ of this most natural phenomenon. Forceps, anesthesia  and ether followed. Cesarean sections increased.

Do you think this is still the case? (Yes.)

http://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1639&context=etd

I’d get to page 5 or 6 at least before I started reading.

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/health/nursing/why-childbirth-medical-procedure more recent and in the UK

And then there is the COST http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/health/american-way-of-birth-costliest-in-the-world.html?pagewanted=all

This article is even five years old.

What can be done about it? What IS being done about it in your communities? Do you see women struggling to take charge of the birth of their own children?

Part two: Answer the student as if you are having a conversation with them. Answer with name.

quince wrote:
My grandma always jokes saying that she was born at her house on top of the hill, I always thought she was joking but she wasn’t! My grandma is probably 65 or around there, but her and all her siblings were born at home without the help of medicine. I never realized how much things had changed since back then, because as long as I have been alive that has been the case. When I was born, they had to use a ‘vacuum’ because they couldn’t get me out. It was too late for them to do a c-section, and even back then it was rare that they were performed! In the old days, physicians only assisted in childbirth when there were complicated births or emergency deliveries, I feel like the amount is increasing. I can’t help but wonder why are there so many more complications now if we are ‘advanced’?

Women are losing control of their bodies. The abortion discussion is so popular these days, and one big thing in that argument is that women deserve to maintain control over their bodies! Women do get to choose whether or not they receive an epidural, but I still feel like some doctors can be forceful of these things. Cesareans are also becoming way more popular, and I feel like women don’t have a choice in most cases. When women do have the opportunity to choose, they are pressured into it by fear. Even on tv shows, the doctor says we have to do this or your baby could be hurt, etc. What really bothered me was the cost of childbirth. They wonder why people sometimes avoid hospitals and do dangerous, at home births, and it could be because of the outrageous cost! In the old days, giving birth was an amazing thing for women to do and they were praised. It feels like these crazy prices are just punishment. Someone that I am friends with on Facebook posted how her insurance wouldn’t cover a midwife, so I do not think that women have the proper right to control the birth of their own child.