Bollocks is not a word I would use to describe what is put by me here to stimulate debate about a very dangerous procedure in the wrong hands.
I have never denied anyone the right to pain relief because not all women are able to access good midwife support. Most hospital atmospheres are noisy and busy with emphasis on reading machinery and pushing women to have their babies quickly - through attempts to induce by chemical and instrumental means. Women who 'fail' the trial period which has now I am told been reduced to 9 hours in some hospitals - (normal labour and birth used to be over 24 hours with good outcomes). The women are distressed even further and suffer more pain because artificial oxytocics are put in to veins with high doses by those doctors who are in a hurry to finish their day between 9.00 and and 5.00 pm.
When nature is discarded and pregnancy is terminated in this harsh way - of course women feel out of control. The pain of chemicals is horrendous and I have felt the difference of a uterus normally paced slowly and gently waltzing in to birth with a staged increase in length intensity and time apart. Chemically induced labours start straight away launching into intense long strong and brick like contractions - these contractions of course are very painful and abosutley require epidural.
Apart from that the gel which is used to begin induction containing Misoprostol/Cytotec - chemicals used in cancer treatment transferred to use in obstetrics. This method has been banned in some states of the USA because it is being linked to severe infections which are killing some women.
When you kill off body cells which is the aim of Misoprostol in cancer treatment you also kill off good cells a.k.a. the bodies normal ability to fight bacteria. This method of induction is not conducive to relaxation and in fact causes extreme fatigue in some women who then are unable to withstand the long but painful haul of ruptured membranes and pressure to give birth in a hospital.
When accompanied by infusion of oxytocic there are cases of some wombs rupturing because of the behaviour of impatient incompetent/lazy clinicians - that is they don't wait for the required period of at least 6 hours after receiving the gel. The artificial oxytocic starts pouring in.
When induction fails this leads to automatic Caesarian birth. This is major abdominal surgery which requires the surgeon to cut through layers of fat the omentum muscle and the uterus.The bladder is peeled back - thus resulting in a number of women experiencing incontinence of urine and more pain for months after birth. A catheter is already in and these also introduce infection causing E.coli a normal passenger which colonises to pathology.
Of course if the epidural has been inserted to cope with the pain caused by another sneaky way of forcing the baby to descend i.e. rupture of membranes. Rupture of membranes of itself research has shown, causes even more pain than when the membranes are left intact.
Of course the poor uterus not only has to contract after this birth it has to mend itself leaving a scar in to which subsequent placentas bury themselves and refuse to leave at the next birth/s. The pain after Caesarian birth apart from the scar requires more pain relief and hinders access to the baby for breastfeeding. The drugs of course last for up to 3 weeks in the breast milk and hence the baby with the half life of many stronger drugs remaining to affect suckling.
Intact membranes protect the major blood vessels providing oxygen and nutrients to the baby when in labour. Intact membranes protect the baby from infection. Intact membranes allow a soft cushion in front of the head and prevent damage and pain when entering the vaginal canal in normal labour.
Women who stand and squat of course aid the birth with use of gravity. A good midwife knows how to keep her hands off and use words of encouragement. Midwives are the faceless people using Masterly Inactivity that silent encouraging and supportive care which is irreplaceable. I have yet to in my wide experience find a doctor sitting with a woman in labour.
The after effects of interfering with nature causes extreme fatigue with a mother unable to perform in labour and afterwards too fatigued to care for a baby. Result is she needs more pain relief and so the cycles of obstetric cascade now similar to a torrent begins. Postnatal depression is sstrongly linked to indcution and Surgical births. Normal vaginal births have most women up and about able to breast feed and enjoy their baby.
Rates of Caesarian birth in Private Hospitals is significantly higher because women are booking or bing coerced to choose elective births with the encouragement of some doctors. Some even promote Caearina birth as a choice. I term this uninformed consent because the harmful effects of repeat Caesarian births are not mentioned.
Look up Placenta accreta increta and percreta. Once rare these events are now responsible for doubling of maternal deaths if not secondary infertility because of uncontrollable haemorrhage which results if these events occur. Interestingly this is more likely to be in the in the African American population in California USA. This research was held back for 7 years and was produced November 2009. I call this assault and battery and it is time these uncontrolled experiments of convenience were reported to the police.
Of course fear and poor education about birth and I hear from my UK colleagues that midwives are in short supply over there. There is overwhelming evidence that when the midwife is with the woman less pain relief is needed.
I would like it if Narky could walk in my shoes and hear the stories of women being paralysed up to the neck and unable to breathe when incompetent inexperienced with pregnancy physiology doctors give epidurals - this anesthetic is given into a space in your spine. I have heard the results of women being operated on without sufficient anaesthesia.
It was emphasised to me that only specialists in obstetric anaesthesia should administer this method. If you re read what I wrote I stated that not every one was able to make it through - it is the transition stage which is brief but the most painful - but if as we do, have the buoyancy of a deep bath to labour in many women are more able to cope. The experience of normal pain of childbirth provides its own euphoria after the event.
I watched one anesthetist in a major hospital arrived so drunk his breath "nearly put the women out". We were powerless to prevent this man from being covered up by his colleagues for a number or years.
Your attempt to speak to me about the euphoria after birth is uninformed. My observation comes from my being there hundreds of times over in the bush where there is no anaesthetist within 200 kms in urban hospitals at night with no doctor available and being in charge of hospitals where you are the only one on duty to care for women who choose a hospital.
If you have ever been to a home birth you would actually know what I mean. And yes I have been pregnant and gave birth twice had one baby by Caesarian birth. I was not asked if I wanted Heroin for the first and I refused analgesia in the second even though I was lying on my back pushing up hill.
I have reared four children and have 7 grandchildren 6 of whom were intervention free and one of them in a midwife only hospital in Far North Queensland Australia