Assigned Week of Delivery - My thoughts...
From: MEDSCAPE's Women's Health MedPulse(R)
http://womenshealth.medscape.com
'ASSIGNED WEEK OF DELIVERY' MORE
PRACTICAL THAN OBSTETRIC DUE DATE
An 'assigned week of delivery,' determined through
clinician skill and training, should replace the arbitrarily calculated
due date, physicians in Eugene, Oregon, recommend.
http://womenshealth.medscape.com/45679.rhtml?srcmp=wh-120701
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My personal thoughts re: 'Assigned Week of Delivery'
More Practical Than Obstetric Due Date.
By Jackie Mawson.
My mother told me (after birthing 8 children of her
own) that you just add nine months and one week on to the date of
your last period, and thatÕs your due date. She didnÕt make this statement
from medical knowledge, but from her motherÕs knowledge passed down
to her, which in turn was received from her own mother, and also from
her own personal experiences. I value her comments on the length of
my gestation more than the assessment of medical knowledge, especially
because it will reflect the personal knowledge of my matriarchal ancestors
Ð who better to know how my specific genes work, how long my pregnancy
is likely to take to grow a healthy child? Know what I mean?
If we looked to our mothers and grandmothers to see
how long their pregnancies were, if they laboured slowly or quickly,
if they had difficulties, etc, they we would surely have better predictors
of what to expect during our own individual pregnancies and labours.
Another mother may advise her daughter to add on 9 months and 3 weeks
on to the date of her last period, whereas another may advise 8 months
and 2 weeks. We have lost the intrinsic wisdom of our fore-bearers
if all of humanity expect to have the exact same length of gestation
and, similarly, of labour...
Sadly, with the interventions of induction, augmentation
and elective c/sections, etc, women will no longer carry the knowledge
of our genes. Technology will Ôpull us all into lineÕ so that we have
exact gestation lengths, exact labour lengths, or we will birth through
our soft, vulnerable bellies.
So when our daughters look to us, and ask us ÒHow long
were you pregnant with me? Did you labour slowly or fast?Ó We will
not be able to answer their questions with intrinsic inner knowledge,
because we will not ÔknowÕ the true answers. We will have lost so
much if (and I truly mean ÔifÕ) we invite unnecessary technology to
become a part of our normal births.
Where technology is necessary, then the mother can pass
this information on to her daughter, but if it may not have been that
is where the impact of technology reaches further than the birth itself.
For example: For the mother labelled CPD due to a failed
induction/failure to progress, etc, how damaging will her comments
be to her daughter. ÒSorry, dear, you may have been only 7 pounds
but I couldnÕt birth you naturally. You were just too big for my small
pelvis. The doctors had to pull you out by caesarean after hours and
hours of labour.Ó
Imagine the thoughts going through the daughterÕs head...
What does her motherÕs experience tell her about her chances of birthing
naturally? What is she ÔlearningÕ about her genes Ð small pelvis,
difficult labour was her motherÕs experience, and she was a small
baby herself! Anyway, just my thoughts on ÒAssigned week of delivery...Ó
Birthing Beautifully,
Jackie Mawson.
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