Non-mortgage debt and financial wellbeing of Irish households 22:34 Apr 13 0 comments "Monsanto protection act" slips silently through congress 18:52 Mar 26 0 comments Clinton tells rich they are the problem at 2500 a head event in Dublin 11:30 Oct 01 4 comments Attitudes in Mental Health Services 19:41 Aug 11 25 comments Local food 14:31 Jul 18 0 comments more >>Blog Feeds
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony Waiting for SIPO Anthony
Human Rights in IrelandIndymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy
Lockdown Skeptics
News Round-Up Wed Jul 24, 2024 01:01 | Richard Eldred
Porsche Scraps Electric Car Targets as Demand Slumps Tue Jul 23, 2024 19:43 | Will Jones
?Mission-Driven? Government is the Antithesis of Liberty Tue Jul 23, 2024 17:30 | Dr David McGrogan
Victory! Hospitals That Brought Back Mask Mandates Backtrack After Complaints Tue Jul 23, 2024 15:30 | Dr Gary Sidley
Read it and Weep: The BBC Journalists Taking Home Six Figure Salaries Courtesy of the Licence Fee Pa... Tue Jul 23, 2024 13:45 | Will Jones
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international editionNetanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en |
Perineal Injury and Maternity Practices in Ireland
national |
consumer issues |
news report
Monday October 17, 2011 14:58 by Tracy Donegan
Pelvic Floor injury in Ireland today Pelvic floor injury is not a given in childbirth. Mums can stack the odds in their favour of emerging from childbirth whole, healthy and intact. Perineal trauma in Ireland has become
so common place that women almost expect that they will need some
'help' in this last very important part of birth. Hollywood has
us convinced that all that purple faced pushing is normal. The 2nd
stage of labour becomes a frantic race to get the baby out as quickly
as possible – suggesting to women that their own body is a danger
to their baby. But hang on a minute - your body has grown your baby
from 2 cells to a perfect baby...knowing exactly where each
fingernail should be placed....where your baby's tiny ears should be
placed....down the the perfect number of hair follicles on your
baby's head...with no conscious input from you.....no 'fetus growing'
classes...just the intelligence and wisdom of your body. Your body
knows how to finish the process. Nobody told this Mother that holding her breath for long periods of time was putting her baby at risk. Nobody told her that 'purple pushing' could damage not only her baby, but her bladder, her pelivc floor and perineum. In fact the antenatal classes encouraged it and other women told her to 'listen to your Midwife - she'll show you how to push'.
There are a number of studies comparing coached vs spontaneous pushing In 2003 the WHO recommended removing coached pushing from practice. Research from 1957 describes the damage to the muscles of the vagina and support ligaments after coached pushing so the new research is reaffirming what we already knew to be the case - that 'purple pushing' is harmful for women and their babies and the more Mums can educate themselves about Irish maternity practices the better. I often hear Mums say not to focus on the birth as it's 'just one day'.....but that's not the case for those women who are living with incontinence for the rest of their lives. Information is power.
Midwife Penny Armstrong describes her experience of episiotomy. "One becomes accustomed to routines - including cutting of the flesh - and can get in the habit of not questioning their necessity. But if you are not accustomed to it, it is shocking to see vibrant muscle cut. I think of muscles as being strung out on our bones like strings on a cello - vibrating with potential, as if for an extended concert. I dream about a baseball player with his shirt off and the graceful cresting of power tha curves up from teh small of his back, across his shoulders and down his arms. to interrupt that progression of movement is an esthetic crime, and I feel sure we wouldn't do it if it were avoidable. If a professional athlete was on a table in the operating room and if there was no other remedy but surgery, the prospect of cutting his muscles would still be sobering...seeing him prepped and draped, we would know that everything possible had been done....physical therapy, massages, slings...Only then would they resort to the knife. Maybe we don't think of these women's muscles with the same regard because of where they are located. We don't see them crossing and gliding as they make our hips swing; we don't watch them spreading into broad ribbony bands when we squat down. Because we can't see them, maybe we think of them as a static crude vessel fit only for containing entrails, bowels and other oozy organs. Maybe that's what makes them easier to cut... But I have seen the muscles in women. In the delivery room, when the cut was made across three or four major muscle groups, and I've seen them retreat and lie there, shrunk back into themselves, and I felt the same way I would if the athlete's muscles had been cut. The same way I feel when a cellist's string snaps during a concert. The music of the body, the resonance and the potential for rapture are interrupted"
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (1 of 1)
Jump To Comment: 1was born in Ireland.
Brutality(and I was just the dumb daddy witness), possibly exacerbated by my insistence on attending(at her insistence, but I was into it). It seemed to stem from the midwives and nurses resentment at my male intrusion into THEIR sphere. That said, the male obstetrician was a high-class rat, who very nearly got an episiotomy when he sent a bill I refused to pay. The prick, who swore he would attend and that my presence would be fine, was on fucking holidays on the day(and the birth was on time).
the second in water in Berlin. Altogether better. discrete assistance, but our ownership of the process.
That was a while back. I hope things have improved here since.
Pregnancy is the epitome of health. Demedicalise it. And keep trying to publicise this abuse. yet another dimension of the 'hidden oirlind'.