Girly bits
Slate’s article on (dun Dun DUN) the truth about epidurals (not linked) jogged some vein of rantiness within me. And talk about XX innards, mamahood, estrogen/progestin/oxytocin etc is femme, right? Anyway.
I tuned out of this article as soon as they stressed the “gosh pushing and crowning hurts a lot” aspect of childbirth pain, when it’s earlier transitional contractions that are actually when stuff Gets Real. (I’ve always put this down to the fact that most women have actually seen their vulva and felt of their (ahem) birth canal, whereas they’ve rarely met their cervix.)
Then I closed the article when I saw the ”gosh interventions r bad” angle right in the first couple paragraphs. Not a good start, so I didn’t bother with reading the rest. It’s not necessarily that I think articles like this “degrade the birth experience.” (direct quote)
I did natural childbirth twice without “intolerable pain” (that I can recall), and I’d never preach that for anyone. Childbirth pain is now an avoidable harm, and yet I still think intervention rates and c-section rates can be brought down to everyone’s benefit.
