HW 40 - Insights from Book - Part 3

"Dear Mr. Wagner

Thanks for writing Born In The USA. Your idea that America's health care system is taking advantage of the trust that pregnant women have in their practices to minimize care and maximize profits with little to no regard to the mother and child, and destroying small practices that still believe in the traditional way of birth, made me rethink the way we go about pregnancy & birth

To me the final third of your book really covered explained in depth how we can fix our broken birthing system in you well explained 10 step process that covers everything from educating the public, to using science to improve home births, which completely complemented the first 2/3rds of the book. But let me be more specific. These were what i thought were the most interesting ideas that really caught my attention in the final third.

1. I really enjoyed the chart of "Global Evolution of Birthing Practices," because it showed not only where we stand in terms of knowledge of birthing, but where other major countries and populations are too. (213)

2. I felt that step three was also hugely important in terms of knowledge for the women who are giving birth, and giving them their rights back. You are right to say that it will not only cut excess by doctors, but that it will make them accountable for their actions and therefore inform women more about the decisions they are about to make. (224)

3. The budget breakdown on page 243 and 244 was really a huge nail in the coffin of hospital health care. You explained how much money we spend on healthcare and how although we spend double on a hospital obstetrician when compared to midwives, we still have a higher infant mortality rate then 22 countries. We need to reassess what we value not only in terms of money, but in terms of the safety of our pregnant wives, friends, mothers, sisters, ect!

To be clear - you sought to provide a policy analysis of the health care system from the perspective of a doctor who had once been there himself, for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be to appeal to a more ranged audience by writing a book that even less educated pregnant women, or expecting fathers will be able to read and comprehend, so that they too can be warned of this system they are about to enter. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about The flaws of the industrialized birthing process from the abuse of birth enhancing drugs, to the shrinking of the practice of midwifery & the ten steps that we as a population can read and replicate in our own lives to simplify and enhance the birthing process by natural and proven methods. This has made me think about what kind of process my parents could have chosen for me and how that could have altered my personality of ideals. It also makes me more conscious about the injustices that are being had every day and the countless women who are lured in by false ideas and then cheated out of an experience that every mother should have the option to have. Thank you for writing this wonderful book and thank you and thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

Sincerely,

Sam Jossen

School of The Future Senior

HW 38 - Insights from pregnancy & birth book - part 1

1. The Author starts out describing some of the major flaws in the birth "industry," then slowly breaks them down into catagories, which he explains in detail. Then he goes into the history of birth, which leads him into what can be done to fix the way it is now so it can be safe and natural.
2. The Question that the author is attempting to answer with this book is: What are the flaws in the birthing industry and what can be done to correct them? Something that i thought would be an appropriate answer would be as simple as lemmings (metaphorically speaking). As a society we are becoming more and more like a pack of lemmings, in which we mindlessly follow each other through the birth process and just do what the person in front of us did and hopefully we make it out okay, not really asking why we did what we did.
3. The major insight that the book has in the first 100 pages is that we are being abused by our health care system. I did not find that to be all that much of an insight, but apparently doctors are abusing their power as doctors and doing what they think is best, when in fact, surgery is not the answer to everything. Potentially harmful practices take place every day in order to speed a women through labor and get her back out of the hospital. I don't feel that this comes as much of a shock, especially after the Health Care unit.
4. 
   

• Fact 1: Midwives attend 70% of births in Europe and Japan, but only 7% in America
• Fact 2: United States has the second worst newborn/maternal mortality rate of the developed world
• Fact 3: In 1955 less then 1% of all births took place at home, and it is still that way today.
• Fact 4: Hospitals aren't legally obligated to give patients statistics of the types of births and information related.
• Fact 5: Doctors regularly give women Pitocin to speed up the birth process, often damaging the women's uterus and potentially killing the baby, so they can have the baby faster for themselves.

5. Marsden Wagner is very good about the way he uses evidence. He doesn't put the source of every citation on the page, but he created a index type bibliography where the words are defined and the sources are expressed. Personally i feel that it is a good way because of the way he personalizes it and makes it more user friendly. It keeps the flow and is easily accessible

HW 37 Comments on Birth & Pregnancy Stories.

Kevin,
I really like your observation of not really understanding what these stories mean especially because you have nothing to compare them to because the t.v. does lie to us. I feel like this blind intelligence is really something that you can build off of to help further your independent research because what do these stories mean? Was what the first women really went through significant in terms of birth stories (it seems so to me). I feel like maybe going in depth a little more on the other stories would have given it something to compare it to. But i can understand your interest in the first one because it caught my attention as well. Good writing Kevin.
Sam

Dean,
I think you really had something with the first story. It was a really interesting point that people sometimes aren't sure about why they have babies but they have them because they feel it is natural and they know that they want it. I feel that if you had continued on that thought then you would have had something. You do have good ideas here but i feel like you rush it a little bit. Take your time and maybe you will surprise yourself.
Sam

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Mom (mentor)
Sam,
It's so interesting to see pieces of the stories i have told about having my kids be interpreted by one of them. These experiences are so precious to me and i am proud that you understand that and have crafted meaningful and sensitive stories around them. Having children is one of the most profound experiences a woman can have, and given the enormity of the process of birth and beginning of life, i would have to say my favorite line is "All i know is I am home now". at the end of the day, no matter what your experience, that is where you go to really being your journey of life.
Stephanie

Eli (protege)
Sam,
I love how in each story you give a sense of emotion. Its almost as if you could potentially live three different lives and this is where they all started from. What is also interesting is how you incorporated the feelings and tone of those around you. For example in the 3rd story you quote: "She refused drugs because she didn't believe in them" (Person #3). You are able to subtlety include how the people around you felt and therefore what kind of family you came from.
This makes me wonder...How early is one's life shaped? At what point do you start to become who you are? Could being abandoned as child and brought into a new home make you a completely different person? Seemingly yes, but then the eternal question of nature versus nurture returns...How influenced am I by my first seconds, days, weeks in this world?
Eli

Sam,
Thanks for commenting on my latest post. I thought that your post was really interesting because it showed how our parents affect who we are. For example your second story about the person who was adopted was very different from your first and third story because their relationships with their birth parents are different. Person #2 seemed a little confused even though they love their adoptive parents. On the other hand, people #1 and #3 seem to be content with their parents.

Dean

This post was really cool. I love the first person narrative. I also like that the point of views that were represented were all from the childrens perspectives, the second hand storytelling was interesting. I found the second story to be the most interesting, and I think it inspired one of your bolder questions: "Are they afraid of what will happen after words or are they willing to accept that for what they will be creating?" When you explain the person talked about if the family that gave thier child away knew they could provide for him or her. Like Andy would say, it's developing one of those "bubbles".
Overall I really enjoyed reading your post, partly because it didn't go on and on, partly because it had a great style to it, and partly because of the interesting information it provided. Keep it up.
-Kevin

I liked that one of your interviews had the perspective of an adopted child versus an adoptive parent. It was interesting to see that the person did not care to know their birth story but rather how their known parents came about raising him/her. I also liked the questions you pondered at the end,"What inspires pregnancy in women? Is it a motherly instinct or is it natural? Are they afraid of what will happen after words or are they willing to accept that for what they will be creating?" It'd be interesting to collect answers from several mothers.

Beatrice

HW 36 - Pregnancy & Birth Stories

Person #1

I was the second child. My parents had already had my older brother for a year when they found out they were pregnant with me. They followed the footsteps they had set when they had my brother while my mother was pregnant. My mom went in to labor at 3 in the morning. So they dropped my brother off with a friendly neighbor and took my mom to the hospital. On the way there they thought it was a false alarm and began to turn back, but they were wrong. They described it to me as i was almost born in the car. To my mother, this had already become routine. She, again refused any medication or painkillers that the hospital would offer her. Several hours after entering the hospital, she was now holding her second son. Not 5 minutes had passed since she had given birth and her parents were already waiting outside to meet their new grandchild. She hadn't even had a chance to clean herself up yet. But they were just as excited as my mom was to meet me.

Person #2

I never met my real parents. There has never really been a discussion about them in my house because i accept the people who raised me as my parents. Not the people who gave me away. So i don't know the exact story of my birth. I know that before i was a year old, my parents came and flew to seattle and picked me up from the family that had given birth to me. I don't know the exact specifications of the trade, i don't know if my parents paid them, or if the other family gave me up because they knew they couldn't take care of me. All i know is i am home now.

Person #3

I am the oldest child in my family. My mom has told me time and time again about how she would bathe me in the sink with the baby book open next to her. Everything she did was out of her best judgement mixed with what the baby book had told her to do. She was young an inexperienced in the world of giving birth, so she was scared. She didn't want to do anything wrong because she didn't want to have that on her conscious. When she went into labor she made my father rush her to the hospital. She spent a total of 16 hours in labor. She refused drugs because she didn't believe in them. She said the faces my father made while she was giving birth was almost worth it. She said that as soon as the doctor walked out of the room, she saw her parents peering in the room looking to see their first grandchild. My mom said that the first time she held me, she knew i was hers. She felt the bond between us. Something that can never be broken she said.

What inspires pregnancy in women? Is it a motherly instinct or is it natural? Are they afraid of what will happen after words or are they willing to accept that for what they will be creating?

HW 34 - Some Initial Thoughts On Birth

As a teenager i look at birth as an after effect of sex, not as some primal need to reproduce. In the animal kingdom it is a necessity to reproduce and to have the most babies so that your species continues because you are at a constant threat of predators and higher ups on the food chain. Pregnancy can be scary for all parties involved. You are creating life, for the woman, they need to hold and grow a child inside them for 9 months. They need to change their eating habits, their working habits, and how they go about daily life. Not only that, but it is a stigma to be pregnant. People look at you differently and treat you differently. If you are on the train you offer your seat to someone with disabilities or someone who is pregnant. Not only that, but pregnancy is an incredibly painful process. It changes your body.

Even more important then that, it changes your mind. It changes how you think and act, you are no longer just responsible for yourself, but you are responsible for someone else who isn't able to take care of them self. They rely on you totally and completely to nurture them and teach them and just take care of them.

Some Questions i had:

• Are women afraid of pregnancy?
• What percentage of women are single mothers?
• How often do women die during childbirth?
• What are the infant mortality rates in the U.S.?
• What are the depression rates of pregnant women?

HW 33

Amhara,
I think that you have a strong voice in what you believe to be a "broken system." You made very broad but poignant statements to the missing pieces of the health care system. You are right to say that it is a rat race per say of who can make the most and therefore be the most protected from pending disasters. As just a side note, you do have some minor spelling and grammar issues that distract the reader from what you are really trying to say. But other then that, good job
Sam

Matt,
I was really impressed by your positive life attitude towards such a depressing topic. I do agree though that we focus too much on the death aspect of life, rather then enjoying the time we are given. I feel that it is more of a religious question as to how the life we live affects the death we die. But you are very right to say "they're the moments where everybody is smiling. These are the moments that are priceless." You did need to work on your grammar and spelling, but i think that if you reread it and made those quick corrections then this piece would greatly improve. I did enjoy reading this though.
Sam

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Sam,

It seems to me that the idea of lingering on the earth in your final years worries you a lot. I have a question about a question you made above:"I was the most curious as to if you were 85 and you knew that you were finished with everything that you wanted to do on earth and you knew you were dying, would you die? Or do you stick around until your body says you can go?"
Are you asking whether your attitude toward death could expedite or slow down the dying process? If so then I think a fascinating thought that you should definitely look more into. Another question you could ask is how does your setting in your final years (home, retirement home, hospital) affect your attitude toward dying. I could see through your writing that you were on the brink of asking that question yourself

Amhara

Younger Brother (Eli)
Your opinion on the value of end-of-life care is very interesting. You take the whole countries interest and realize that people suck up the healthcare system in their final days. You don't outwardly say that but it is implied by statements such as "I just think it is ridiculous that it costs so much money for the end of life care where you live your final days hooked up to machines".

To respond I would just ask what about the loved ones. When grandma passed we valued every second. Imagine what grandpa thought. This is hard to think about but it proposes that you only live once. Yes it is hard to let go, but this life is our only one (as far as we know). So why not spend boatloads of money just for another day. If it means one more smile, then you could argue its worth it.

Mentor (Mother)
"Or do you stick around until your body says you can go?"
If only the solution were that simple. You talked a little about health care and the end of life as living winds down. I think there is no clear cut answer -- there is the life of the dying, and of the living to consider. there is what medicine can do to prolong life, but as you pointed out, is it always for the better? As we all approach a time when the purposefulness of our life is in question maybe we will be fortunate enough to reflect back on some of these words, and as medicine helps or hinders, we find some peace in the life we lived.

HW 32 - Thoughts following illness & dying unit

Throughout this unit I had the reoccurring question, what happens after we die? So for this unit I was less interested in the political side of healthcare, but in the ripples it causes and how illness and dying affect the thought process a person has. During the elevator speeches Alex made a great statement, he said "I think that the body doesn't want to die, even if the mind does." This was a perfect example of what I was looking at this unit. For my final project I looked at how people who were living in a retirement home acted and how it compared to my own grandfather who is living in Florida. I was very interested in what causes someone to die when they get to that age. Not in the scientific aspect of it, but in the moral and existentialist perception of life and death. I was the most curious as to if you were 85 and you knew that you were finished with everything that you wanted to do on earth and you knew you were dying, would you die? Or do you stick around until your body says you can go? This is where the path becomes hazy because not only does this suggest a separation between body and soul, but it suggests that we are more in control of our life force then we thing we are.

If I were to say something about the health care system aspect of the illness and dying unit. I think that it is outrageous that so much money is spent on health care, especially the end of life care. But this also connects back to my original ideal that people need to be at peace with themselves when they die, so lying in your bed at home in pain waiting for death doesn't seem ideal for most people. They want every precaution taken because death is scary. I just think it is ridiculous that it costs so much money for the end of life care where you live your final days hooked up to machines, pumped full of numbing pain medication. I don't care if people choose to appreciate death or not, I do care that all of these people don't understand it as fully and will do everything in their power to avoid it. Death can't be avoided, it claims you eventually, just appreciate the time you do have.