A baby born in a tree! A baby beamed out of her mother’s body! A baby born to Arnold Schwarzenegger! I’ve looked at hundreds of TV and movie birth scenes to discover exactly how the mass media distorts birth. I found that Hollywood routinely exaggerates fear, danger, and speed, like in this common motif: the minute a pregnant woman’s water breaks, there’s a mad rush to the hospital. Cars screech around corners and run over pedestrians, or, worse, they get stuck in traffic. None of this would matter if it...
Pregnant In Jail
If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know how you rely on your favorite fetus-nourishing foods. You know how you cherish your collection of pillows and your comfortable bedding. You choose your shoes and clothing carefully for comfort and self-expression. You know how nice it is to get the kind of exercise that feels good – the pool at the Y,...
The Evidence-Based Truth About Epidurals
The January 11, 2012 Slate.com article “The Truth About Epidurals: Are they really so bad?” by Melinda Wenner Moyer concludes with this paragraph: “Women shouldn’t cave to pressure from either side.” [Of the 'mommy wars' between natural birth advocates and pro-epidural advocates] “They should make informed decisions based on their goals and priorities. I aspired to have a comfortable birth...
Dads At the Core of the Experience: Part 1 – Pregnancy
“In this postmodern era, we have gone beyond the unconscious, anesthetized births of the 1940’s and 1950’s, the systematic elimination of lay midwifery, the demise of breastfeeding, and even ‘natural childbirth’ to an enormous range of options and historical shifts. These include the presence and active involvement of fathers during pregnancy and at birth.” (Davis-Floyd & Sargent, 1997) Women are...
Body Modifications and Breastfeeding: What You Need to Know
Body Modifications are a group of practices that include branding, scarification, tattooing, piercing, and other body art. Body modifications have been around nearly as long as breastfeeding. Archaeologists, historians and body art practitioners note that tattooing and body piercing have been performed, in one form or another, worldwide for over 5000 years. However, within the last 20-30 years body modifications...
