FDA siezes birthing pools/pregnancy is an illness

[Bubblingbrooks]

Barbaras conversation with an FDA official may shed some light on this as a clash of perspectives. She explains that she was told, Pregnancy is an illness and birth is a medical event. Therefore, a pool that a woman gives birth in should be classified as medical equipment. So what about our toilets, our bathtubs, our showers? Kiddie pools, horse troughs, hot tubs? Oh, and what about the fact that pregnancy is *not* an illness?
More info here http://www.radicallynatural.com/2011/08/fda-lunacyattacks-on-real-food-and-real.html#more

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Unbelievable! For many thousands and thousands of years, women didn't have anyone assisting births except for maybe a midwife, a friend, a mom ... no "medical professionals" ... it's just another way gubment is working to control our lives.

 

[hillfarm]

I had a doc tell me pregnancy was best handled by the experts. Hmmm. Funny I didnt know HE had a uterus.

 

[ORChick]

Unbelievable! For many thousands and thousands of years, women didn't have anyone assisting births except for maybe a midwife, a friend, a mom ... no "medical professionals" ... it's just another way gubment is working to control our lives.

Well, looked at from that angle ... for many thousands and thousands of years more women were (and still are in 3rd world countries) also dying in childbirth. Just an observation; I'm not arguing that declaring pregnancy an "illness", and outlawing birthing pools is actually a good thing
And, although this instance is from the government, it is very interesting reading up on the *medicalization* of childbirth. It really started when medical doctors became more common. They were, at that time, exclusively male, and many aspects of what many people now associate with *normal* childbirth - ie woman lying on her back, feet in stirrups, is directly related to making the *job* easier for the doctor. You would think that things would have changed as more women entered the medical field, but I'm not sure that it has. I remember a friend of mine, who was an obgyn intern at the time, saying (in response to what do you doctors think about all the natural childbirth advocates out there - This was in the 1970's) "None of that is necessary; anybody can tell a woman when to push". I don't know if her opinion has altered in the many years, and 2 children of her own, since then.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I remember a friend of mine, who was an obgyn intern at the time, saying (in response to what do you doctors think about all the natural childbirth advocates out there - This was in the 1970's) "None of that is necessary; anybody can tell a woman when to push". I don't know if her opinion has altered in the many years, and 2 children of her own, since then.

I'd be interested in knowing if her opinion changed, given usually a woman's body tells her when it's ready to push, and doctors say, "Don't push yet." Excuse me? My body said I'm ready - get outta my way, kid outcoming!

 

[hillfarm]

Here in Texas, while having some gestational tests run, a Mexican woman was giving birth in the next room. She was screaming and talking loud. The whole birth process was less than a few hours. Healthy everyone. But I heard a female nurse and female doc complaining and laughing in the hallway about the ignorant woman in there. Saying that a civilized woman wouldnt carry on like that. I was royally offended. told them I could hear them and they walked off.

Several times I heard them chastize her in the room to shut up. She ignored them and I got the impression she didnt understand English anyway.

Why is it that we distorted a natural process that is painful and normal. she screamed cus it hurt. I never made more than a small moan because I was afraid of being rude. She had a kid the right way. I had 3 c sections. First one after 22 hours of labor.

I wish I would of got off the table and walked around and grunted and pushed her along. Instead of laying there expecting the docs to do what my body could do just fine.

 

[Farmfresh]

I just had a long talk about this very subject today with my D2. Her baby is due at the end of March.

She is a thin person by nature. She has really not gained an appreciable amount of weight as of yet and just has a bit of a pooch in her tummy to show for being pregnant. All of her doctor visits have gone great so far, the heart beat is nice and strong. SHE is feeling GREAT! She had a short time when she had little appetite, but she has never had any morning sickness. Her moods are great. She is strong and very healthy.

D2 is Celiac and VERY VERY allergic to wheat and gluten. (think epi-pen and hospital visits) This means that she MUST carefully control her diet. She always has been a person that prefers milk, juice or fresh water to a soda. She has always eaten very healthy and balanced diets. (At this point I take a bow. All of the work to raise her like I was NOT raised paid off!) So we have a healthy woman eating correctly and pregnant. Great right?

Then WHY is she getting grief from everyone around her. (well almost everyone) "OH you are not gaining weight! The baby is probably going to be very small." "What is the big deal about drinking caffeine?" "You want to BREAST FEED! Gross." "You shouldn't carry that grocery sack!" "You are not having cravings yet? Something must be the matter."

Unreal.

I was telling her tonight being pregnant is a sign that a woman is HEALTHY! People that are ill do not get pregnant. No cravings is because you are getting the nutrients that your body and your baby NEEDS. When the baby is the size of a orange your butt does not need to be the size of a semi. What you eat (even caffeine) does make a difference to the developing child. WHY not feed the baby the food that God designed for it? OM gosh. Why not carry a sack, take a walk, swim, jump, and in general exercise? Does sitting motionless for 9 months make you physically in condition to do the workout they call LABOR?

And here is the clincher. (normal) Child birth does not hurt! Well not like many ladies would have you believe. I know this as fact. I had three babies (9 pounds, 8 pounds 6 oz and 8 pounds 3 oz) and not a drop of any pain killer. Heck two of the kids were born with out even an IV inserted. People just have no point of reference.

Child birth feels much less painful than having a horse fall on you. Hurts a lot less that being drug through barbed wire. Hurts less than a bad gall bladder (which D2 had removed) AND hurts less than an ovarian cyst that is the size of a potato (also in her experience). The cool thing is that the discomfort stops when the child is out.

Woman have been having babies since creation without painkillers and drugs. The human race has prospered without spinal blocks. SURE I am very thankful that medications, doctors and C-sections are available. Sometimes, if things are not quite right, they are VERY necessary. A healthy woman with a normal delivery, on the other hand should not be in the "most horrible pain imaginable" that so many women want to claim.

Pregnancy is NOT an illness.

 

[Wifezilla]

Women died in child birth because nobody had figured out the whole hand washing thing until recently. Womwn giving birth in hospitals died a lot too untill they figured out what germs were.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Women died in child birth because nobody had figured out the whole hand washing thing until recently. Womwn giving birth in hospitals died a lot too untill they figured out what germs were.

Add to that, the US ranks 40 in infant mortality this year.

 

[Lady Henevere]

Pregnancy may be considered an "illness" for legal purposes of allowing time off, medical coverage, or whatever. It doesn't necessarily mean someone is unwell. (Back when sex discrimination was a big issue in the courts they had some trouble classifying it, and they considered whether it was an "illness" requiring time off work. I don't remember what the outcome was; it's been a long time since I read those cases in college.)

There is a reply posted here saying the FDA released the pools and did not end up classifying them as medical devices. http://www.bloomingtononline.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-7601.html