HW 34 - Some Initial Thoughts On Birth

            The idea of birth fills my mind with contradictions and ambiguity. Birth has both positive and negative connotations to me, and it is a challenge to work through these pros and cons and find their causes. Conceptually, childbirth seems beautiful, because it is essentially the act of a human going through intense pain and prior long-term discomfort to produce a breathing, pulsing organism capable of laughter, love, hate, sadness, confusion, tears, etc. On the other hand, birth is aesthetically disgusting. I imagine that the combination of bodily fluids create an unpleasant odor; there is very little pleasure in the sight of those fluids and of a woman sweating through the intense pain. The cries of the mother and of the baby are, arguably, far from musical.

              Another obscurity in my mind comes from the term, "the miracle of life." If I understood the derivation of that cliché, perhaps it would make more sense. Every aspect of reproduction of which I'm aware is generally understood to have set steps and a scientific explanation. What kind of miracle has an accepted and thorough scientific explanation? "The miracle of life" makes life seem not only inordinately spectacular, but impossible to go awry. I think there is much uncertainty in birth, because it could be the beginning of something wonderful. A newborn baby has the potential to develop into an intelligent, industrious, loving, talented, and tenacious being. He or she also has the potential commit horrible, violent, cruel acts over time. I suppose birth is ambiguous, because life is ambiguous. Perhaps people phrase it in such an optimistic way because pessimism is pointless and a cause of worry. Additionally, no one wants to believe that their child will grow up to be a monster. The term still bothers me, though.

               My experiences with birth have been fairly minimal. My one child-birth related memory is of going to the hospital to visit my mother after she birthed my younger sister. My mother was physically weak (perhaps because I scarfed her hospital lunch), but she was happy and glowing. I remember when I first discussed birth in depth with my mom; she told me that mine was the easiest birth out of her three daughters. I felt superior to them. This unit has caused me to wonder why I had that feeling of superiority. An easy birth would be associated with a very small, co-operative baby, would it not? It's interesting that the only time it is acceptable in our society to be small and fight-less is when we are infants.

Questions:

-Do men ever/often guilt women about their inability to have sex immediately before/after birth?

-How does pregnancy/birth affect marriages?

-How does pregnancy/birth affect the relationship between parents and already born children?

-How can women lessen their childbirth pain holistically?

-How has childbirth transformed over the past few centuries in the US? What caused those transformations?

-What are the direct effects of individual vitamins during pregnancy?

-What causes a parental love to be unconditional/conditional? Is it time spent with child, child's dependability, a hormone, a belief, a psychological tendency...?

-Why is life/birth called "The miracle of life"? Is this an accurate term?

-Do babies have conscious thought?

-Is a baby with big eyes more likely to be nurtured than a small-eyed baby?

-Can we remember our birth? Does it register in our unconscious or conscious?

-Pros/cons of home birth, hospital birth, water birth, etc?

-Why do people have children?

-Why is pregnancy shameful in some societies?

-What are stigmas associated with pregnancy?

-Is a fetus alive?

-What medical services are administered to babies, and are these services harmful/helpful?

-What medical services administered to women are harmful/helpful?

-How are current birthing practices different across different current cultures?

-How has baby clothing become sexualized over time, and it this related to fears of pedophiles?

-What are superstitions about birth/pregnancy, and what caused these superstitions