Greg from Daddy Types did a great article on the anti-vaccine tomfoolery going on in California. It’s really interesting to me how liberals spent the 8 years under the Bush administration carping about the attack on science and evolution while doing exactly the same things themselves. I often read about liberals not wanting to give their kids vaccines, not because they’re afraid of autism (a few have been informed), but because they don’t want to give their kids drugs. They prefer natural remedies over drugs. I’ve grown weary of explaining what a vaccine is.
I’m afraid we’re probably going to have to have a lot of deaths to stop that particular bit of nonsense.
I don’t have a problem with midwives. I have lots of problems with the fact that hospital medicine isn’t really based on science either (due to ethical concerns). We have people railing against Demerol and Epidurals to ease labor pain, but then taking “natural” tinctures from their midwives. Tinctures generally being alchohol based. Alchohol being a drug that we definitely know crosses into the babies blood stream, thanks to pretty extensive research in the 1950s and 60s (and thus having the same exact downsides as demerol).But let’s not pretend that everyone isn’t just guessing.
Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of people talking about how organically grown vegetables are the cure for obesitvy. You know, because if you eat lots of organically grown vegetables you’re more likely to be skinny. Of course if you eat lots of commercially farmed vegetables you’re going to be skinny too. ‘Cause you’re filling up your stomach with undigestable roughage.
And can we stop using the term organic? Because I’m pretty sure all the vegetables I eat are organic, regardless of how they are grown.
I’m done venting. I’ve had no sleep. How ‘bout you? Any pet peeves about the way that science is mistreated in our society?
Oh, and on a somewhat related note, can we stop all of our calvinist wailing about how commercialism is immoral, and the root of all our problems today? Scavenging from dumpsters is not a scalable way to get food.
2009-03-30T19:25:16.000Z
Just realized that I didn’t finalize one of my logic flows that I’m going to get criticized for. My point about labor drugs is that with both midwiffery and modern obstetrics it’s best guess. Essentially statistics, not science. What I find interesting is that there’s sort of a religion around one or the other being better when they both come to the same conclusion: 1) We don’t really fully know what pain drugs do to the baby. 2) Some amount of pain drug crossing over into the baby’s system is acceptable when helping mothers cope with labor pain. I’m just going to stick with the drugs that aren’t kept unregulated by Moromon Republicans in Utah. I want to know my 600mg is 600mg. But I see the other perspective.
2009-03-31T06:33:30.000Z
Oh my gosh, I agree COMPLETELY with everything you’ve said!! Not that it’s odd to disagree with you — just that it’s odd…in this town especially…to find someone with the same views on vaccination, childbirth, and the vilification of capitalism! Awesome.
2009-03-31T06:34:21.000Z
Bwuh. I mean “not that it’s odd to AGREE with you…”.
2009-04-03T03:51:34.000Z
I haven’t been keeping up with local hospital policies, and I don’t know all the backstory, but unless it has changed, I believe that the midwives who used to serve in Austin’s hospitals were removed in favor of, whatever you’d call it, more hospital-style obstetrics. It’s not as if anybody can just call themselves a midwife and set up shop. It’s a pretty rigorous field that involves various certifications and required hours of practice. Thus, people are typically forced to make a choice between one or the other rather than getting the benefits of what both have to offer. I’d think this would further place a wedge between the two camps. And speaking as a dad who has been in on a hospital birth and a birth with midwives, I’d have to say that the experience with the midwife was a much easier and gentler experience. Our hospital staff were rushed and impatient. They seemed pissed off that my wife didn’t want an epidural, and had no interest in allowing her to labor in the position that she wanted to, which would have simplified things and reduced the difficulty she was having. I’m not saying that this is the case for every single hospital birth that’s ever happened, just what I’ve seen.
2009-04-03T04:31:46.000Z
My point was about drugs. That many people are saying they’re going “natural” and avoiding drugs, but really they’re still taking drugs. Just not the drugs they give you at the hospital. It’s this belief that somehow because it’s “natural” that it’s 100% beneficial and can’t do any harm. I really have no interest in discussing the qualifications of midwives vs. nurses. Somewhere like the Austin Birthing Center is never going to be a place I feel comfortable since they have to transfer in the event of an emergency. St. David’s North Austin welcomes midwives. Apparently the programs were stopped at Brackenridge and Seton because they were losing money. My guess is that birthing centers would be trying to hurry you along if they had the same number of patients as hospitals, so it seems like the way hospitals work is more a function of the number of people they have to serve, rather than some malevolent desire to make giving birth unpleasant.
Anna
2009-04-09T01:56:11.000Z
Oh man, gotta jump into the fray :) Its just too tempting not too. I agree w/people thinking tinctures aren’t medication… Speaking as a person who has taken tinctures, I will say that I took them not for pain relief, but to stimulate contractions. And no, I don’t know the ingredients down to the exact milligram. But, I think for me, I trusted my midwife more to administer something like that because I knew it was administered as a last resort, instead of a boiler plate thing.. like “Well, in the hospital EVERYONE gets pitocin, like it or not”. Now, never having given birth in a hospital, it may not actually go down like that. I dislike the word “natural” as it applies to childbirth. Is an epidural less natural than a shot of fentanyl? Not neccisarily, in my opinion. The thing I feel most passionate about in childbirth is that a woman’s body be respected, in the same way that I think a woman’s choice should be respected in all aspects of reproduction. So, if a woman’s body is not going along with the timetable of an OB at a hospital, that dr (and nurses) ought to just throw out that timetable. The thing that makes a birth “un-natural” (for lack of a better term) is when the timing of contractions, progression of dilation and pushing is so managed that the “natural” (dang, there’s that word again) rhythm of that particular individual’s birth is ignored, or not respected. Now, all this goes without saying that there are circumstances involving life and death when we need to intervene, but you know what I’m getting at. So, to summarize… People, vaccinate your kids. Its not a drug. Women (and men): respect each other’s choices in childbirth. Hospitals: Let the midwives in and respect how they do things. People who say “organic” too much: get over yourself. My friends if I stepped on your toes, just remember that I love those toes like my own!
2009-04-09T02:07:21.000Z
Julie got no pitocin while giving birth to Etta, so it’s not broilerplate, no.
Ashley
2009-05-07T20:15:04.000Z
1. Not just liberal hippy parents are anti-vax. Some are ultra-conservative homeschoolers too. I liked the dooce.com perpective on vaccinations. Very rational. 2. Yes, some tinctures are alcohol based. Not all are. 3. St davids letting midwives back in is a very recent development. 4. Everything a mother ingests, breathes, puts on her skin or takes intraveinously passes to the baby. Including tinctures and epidurals and pitocin and your favorite body lotion. 5. Both organic and natural are over and wrongly used. So true. 6. The position of both my boys during their births necessitated some acrobatics on my part to get them out. An epi would have prevented that. That being said; after my experiences I don’t think I can do it again. Just can’t. Won’t. If I somehow became pregnant and was carrying the sweet baby Jesus I would entertain thoughts of a csection. Against all my very informed instincts and judgment. 7. Posting comments from an iPhone sucks in this format. 8. Why did the font change? Weird iPhone.
