Knowledge is Power
©1993 Beth Weiss, Posted to misc.kids Usenet newsgroup, September 19, 1993
I wrote this when a woman asked why people kept posting their birth
stories--even if they weren't very positive.
I think a lot depends on the forum. On misc.kids, I hope people
continue to post their labor stories--in as much detail as they feel
like typing in! If pregnant women don't want to read labor stories,
they can skip over them.
At the baby shower I went to yesterday, I didn't tell my birth story--I never
tell it to first-time pregnant women unless they really want to hear it.
(They have to ask two or three times before I give details--I had a rough labor
, even if it didn't end in a c-section.
Another misc.kidder has said something like this many times.
Labor comes in all shapes and sizes.
I think this is one of the reasons why it is good that so many women post
their labor stories. I think it's important for pregnant women to realize
that not all labors are going to be "textbook labors". Some women do end
up with induced labors. Others end up with c-sections. Some don't
handle the pain well. Some labors last days rather than hours.
Again, this is why women sharing IS so important. Routine c-sections
are something that one can be radically opposed to. But there are lots of
women reading misc.kids for whom a c-section was a life saving operation--and
it's important for pregnant women to realize that a surgical birth can be the
best thing for both mother and baby in some cases.
And this, I think, goes back to childbirth educators. Our childbirth
educator told us that it WOULD hurt, and that for some women, breathing
exercises helped them cope with the pain. I felt that was an honest
assessment. She said that she wished she could tell us it wouldn't
hurt, but that would be a lie.
I think that the more we know going into childbirth, the better off we
are--as long as what we know is accurate. And for that reason, I hope that
new parents keep posting their birth stories.
              
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