The Apgar Score & Childbirth History
A very good article about the history and risks of childbirth: The Score.
Today, electronic fetal-heart-rate monitoring is used in more than ninety per cent of deliveries; intravenous fluids in more than eighty per cent; epidural or spinal anesthesia in three-quarters; medicines to speed up labor (the drug of choice is no longer ergot but Pitocin, a synthetic form of the natural hormone that drives contractions) in half. Thirty per cent of American deliveries are now by Cesarean section, and that proportion continues to rise.
It actually does a very good job of pointing out both sides of the coin. Especially at the end when it weighs planned c-sections. It has some very good points.
And yet there’s something disquieting about the fact that childbirth is becoming so readily surgical. Some hospitals are already doing Cesarean sections in more than half of child deliveries. It is not mere nostalgia to find this disturbing. We are losing our connection to yet another natural process of life.
God that article made me cry. I went through the same thing – only Evie had 0 Apgars at 1, 5, 10 minutes. Finally with 5 at 15. Horrible. Horrible. I lost so much blood. This really brought it back for me. The scariness of it all. Her being clinically dead and having to witness them bringing her back to life. Wow. Thanks for sharing this. hugs And yes-C-sections are hell to recover from- but it saved both our lives
Yes, absolutely. I cannot IMAGINE how scary that must have been for you, Jen. We were all in tears reading the blog, worrying about the both of you.
Its ok – and totally don’t feel bad. I am glad I read the article and wrote her birth story. Thanks for giving me the impetus to do it!