HW 59- SOF Prom

I decided to speak with two people that attended prom on Thursday, Julian and Diaz. I would have like to get in contact with more of the seniors, but typically not many of them came in to school the next day. When asked about how it went, Julian responded, "It was alright. It didn't really go the way I had it planned out in my head, considering how my date ended up getting sick pretty early in the night, leaving me to get her home. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves though, so my experience probably was not as good because I didn't really have many close friends there...to you know, share the experience with." The next question I asked was how the after party went. "It was fun for a little, everyone was just getting really trashed and having a lot of fun, but then [name of date] ended up hooking up with some other guy which, was a little annoying, and it was even worse when she started getting sick. In general, it was not my idea of the perfect prom/after party experience, but f**k it cause it wasn't even my prom haha."

The next person I spoke to about their prom experience was Diaz. When asked about how his prom experience, he responded, "To be honest, it actually went a lot better than I expected. My date looked great, and she was probably the biggest jaw-dropper there, considering she usually dresses in much less feminine clothing. It was cool to see everyone in the grade together all in one place dressed up, I really got a feeling of community and looked back on all the times we had together, good or bad." The next question I asked was how the after party went. "It was f****n crazy! Everyone there was wildin' out, and from what I saw pretty much everyone was having a good time. It wasn't like a huge mess where everyone was hooking up with everyone else, but there were definitely people getting it in though."

If I were not so bad with computers, I would have posted some of the pictures from prom that were posted up on facebook. One of the most interesting things I heard was how [a girl who's name I don't have permission to use] ended up looking extremely feminine and nice, when usually she is dressed in the type of clothing that boys usually wear. This completely coincides with the idea that prom brings out the girl's desire to look as pretty and feminine as possible, and although I had not agreed with that at first, I am starting to have second thoughts. All this talk of prom is certainly getting me curious, so I will certainly be attending my prom.

HW 58- Prom Interviews

Although I briefly touched on this subject in my last post, I decided to speak to my mom a second time to see if I could squeeze any more details out of her regarding her prom experience. When asked about what happened after the prom itself, she said, "Well, it probably isn't the typical experience that you might be imagining. Me and some of my friends and their dates all went back to my house actually, stayed up all night, you know, being teenagers, and then my parents made breakfast for everyone in the morning." This answer was extremely surprising to me, but I decided to leave that particularly subject at that. My mother also told me that she spent two days searching online for the perfect dress, but that when she found out that she would be taking her best friend, it didn't really matter to her as much.

The next person I spoke to about prom was one of my good friends who is a senior. He told me that he was glad he was able to avoid the drama of trying to find someone to take because he has been with his girlfriend, who goes to the same school, for almost a year now. "I still haven't gone out and got what I'm going to where to prom...to be honest it doesn't really matter that much to me, and I'm pretty sure [girlfriend's name] feels the same way cause she told me she wanted me to come with her this week to get her dress this week." (by the way, my friend's prom is this Friday) Finally, I asked him what he was planning on doing after the prom. "Well, there is an after party, but me and [girlfriend's name] probably won't stay at that very long. I'm thinking we'll just come back to my house and have sex, as quietly as possible of course haha." Well, it looks like I have managed to find myself the perfect stereotypical boy's plan for prom.

Finally, I decided to speak to my friend who is now a freshman in college about his prom. "I really didn't stress prom at all, from start to finish. I took a girl who I was pretty good friends with in high school, but really only for the pictures. I didn't expect to be doing much with her later." I then asked him about what his experience was like at the prom itself, and he told me it was pretty much boring. "It was awkward meeting my date's parents, but other than that the whole thing was pretty dull." I just posed for a few pictures, and chilled with [name of date]. I definitely was not dancing, haha." Finally, I asked him about what happened after the prom. "Yeah, that's where the night got a little more exciting. I pretty much left the girl I took to prom and hooked up with a bunch of girl's at the after party. I was drunk, but other than the liquor that was there I don't remember there being any other drugs there." Okay, I was wrong when I said my senior friend's planned experience was stereotypical, this kid's was practically the definition.

The one thing I found in common with all three people I interviewed was that prom really was not that big of a deal for them. This is admirable, in my opinion. Teenagers have enough stress in their lives, and the fact that all these people were/are able to avoid the stress of prom is truly impressive. I will certainly try to take all these people's experiences into account when I plan for my own prom, and I definitely plan on talking to some more people who have already experienced the event.

HW 57- Initial thoughts on Prom

I am a little embarrassed to admit it, but I really don't know anything about prom at all. I have a few friends that have gone to their proms, but the stories from my friends usually end up being about the party that takes place afterwards (typical). However, the story my mom tells me about her prom is very different from the typical image that many teens I have spoken to today have displayed, which is probably in part because she is my mother. She broke up with her boyfriend right before prom, so she ended up taking her best friend. This was interesting to me because it completely contradicts the ideas/fantasies that involve sexual activity after prom which are often associated with the word "prom" itself.

I am not really sure about what happens at prom, other than that the boys are always wearing nice suits while the girls always try extremely hard to look their absolute best. People take lots of pictures, and maybe there is some slow dancing involved, but otherwise it seems like everyone is just standing around looking pretty. However, I am also aware that many people consider the occasion to be somewhat of a "rite of passage" and that it is when you "graduate your childhood" in a sense. I really don't know enough about the event to form an opinion on whether or not I think it is as important as many people describe it as, and I am hoping these five days will be enough to help me formulate an accurate one.

As of now, I am certainly planning on attending prom. I was thinking about taking one of my best friends like my mom did to give the event more of a casual feel, while still looking as "pretty" as possible. Otherwise, I might end up bringing someone from outside of school, and I would like to learn more about how that would work both as far as social status and pricing are concerned.

Some Questions-
Why do so many feel the need to dress extremely nicely for prom? Or is it actually required?
Where does all the money go that the students spend to pay for their prom?
What is the general procedure of how a prom works?
How involved is the school staff with the actual prom itself?

Extra Credit Option 1

Extra Credit Option 1

   

For this extra credit assignment, I deliberately visited two cemeteries at midnight; Trinity Churchyard Cemetery (the picture on the bottom) and St. Paul’s Cemetery (the two pictures on the top. I also was able to walk through the cemetery on 155^th street and Broadway on my way from a friend’s house, but I was unfortunately not carrying my camera with me. As you can clearly see, due to the lateness of the hour in which a visited these cemeteries, (which are both very near the site of the world trade center) I was not able to actually get inside either of the cemeteries. Fortunately, the gate went all around the block that the cemetery was on for each, so I was able to get a clear view of almost every gravestone despite not actually being able to get in. 

One difference I noticed between the two cemeteries was that St. Paul’s was certainly much more well-lit then Trinity, and the church was also much less eerie. In St. Paul’s, I noticed many stone casket-shaped objects that had large holes in them, which I found to be very strange and was not something I saw in either Trinity or the cemetery on 155^th street. Both of these cemeteries were very small, and only took up 1 square block each.

The gravestones were surprisingly not as crowded as a thought they would be in either cemetery, considering how small both of the cemeteries are. When I drive past some of the cemeteries in Queens or Brooklyn, despite the enormous size of each cemetery, the gravestones seem to be very close together. When I was walking around each of the cemeteries, I was surprised to realize that I didn’t feel sad at all. Even though I felt like I had come to terms with my own mortality, it did not bother me that much because all the bodies had suffered the same fate and were still so close together, even in death. It gave me a strong spiritual feeling that I can’t really explain, but I am happy I did this assignment.

HW 56- Comments

Ben H said...

I really liked that this post provided detailed information on both the ways of caring for the dead that are thought of as most common. Your grandmother's perspective on cremation was particularly interesting to me because I sort of have similar ideas, and I believe that my grandmother felt the same way (she was cremated as well). "I believe our soul/consciousness survives beyond death and does not require a body for any kind of supposed resurrection." This quote does an excellent job of capturing the basic argument supporting cremation. Finally, I enjoyed the way you provided the historical traditions that were the reason for your other grandmother's decision to have an open casket burial. The argument seems to be for more practicality/freeing the soul from the body vs. preservation of the body & soul together. Nice job!

 

Ben H said...

One of the things I really enjoyed about your video is that it touched on the idea that funerals often seem awkward to many people, but otherwise they are almost always a time where families unite in mourning. I have experienced this same feeling of unity at a funeral, which is probably why I found the idea so interesting. I also liked how our societies obvious paranoia when it comes to preserving the body was exposed by your video, and your post did a very good job of touching on almost all of the ways of caring for the dead that I am aware of. Nice work!

Ben H said...

I think you did a very good job compiling your research. Not only was it a good idea to start by looking back to the previous illness and dying unit (sort of) by viewing the health care report, the fact that you actually took the time to send that e-mail was very impressive to me. One of my favorite lines was, "It’s a bit reassuring though, that there are ways to get around the restrictions of home funerals in the state." I liked this because you acknowledge that although it is not usually a good thing to dodge the law, certain restrictions neither promote the funeral or burial experience. Nice job!

 

Ben H said...

Great video! One of the things I thought was especially interesting was when Leslie said that when she was growing up, young children would often not be invited to funerals because it was a very "sad and sacred" occasion. I also loved the way Jim was so specific in his description of the first funeral home he was speaking about. I also think you did a very good job summarizing the contents of the video in you 2 written paragraphs. Nice work! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

megumi said...

While reading Stiff, one of the topics that bothered me the most was donating our bodies to science. This post was really interesting and well-written. I was surprised to see that even recently, there are problems as the one you mentioned with the crematorium, "The article also states that over 16,000 lawsuits have been filed over the past 19 years arguing that the body parts of people's loved ones were being dismembered from the body and sold without the consent of the family." This is really disturbing, and made me less likely to donate to science. It may have benefits, but I don't like the risks since there are certain things I definitly don't want my body to go through after death (such as beautifications/plastic surgery)

May 17, 2011 2:53 PM

Jim Harker said...

This post was truly startling to me. As someone who's mother has recently been cremated and had her ashes given to our family, I am now very concerned. The thing about this post that really stood out to me was the evidence you were able to gather. For example, "Instead, they were told that an unscrupulous crematorium owner secretly carved up her body — along with the bodies of hundreds of other newly deceased — and provided knees, elbows, heads and other parts to medical research organizations in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars." This quote is a perfect example of your whole argument. In addition to your online sources, you also did a very good job analyzing 'Stiff', and it is certainly a book that I am interested in reading now. Very intriguing and enlightening post!

May 18, 2011 2:48 PM

Raven said...

I really think this paper is interesting. I think it's good that you focused on cadavers and the benefits and disadvantages of donating your organs to science. I liked the line: "Although some people may think that this is a very important procedure, the reality is that most people probably did not imagine their bodies being used for the beautification of others rather than helping the living with actual medical issues or conditions." Do you think that in the end it really matters what happens to the human body after death? (I mean yes it's important to respect the dead but what if someone needs organs the dead person has?)

May 18, 2011 3:09 PM

TIM said...

This might be one of my favorite posts yet! This may be because I have always been interested by the topic of death, but the statistics you brought up were really scary to even think about. For one, I never realized dead bodies had the potential to be so useful for the living, but more importantly I can't believe people would be so disrespectful as to actually dig up a dead body! You also had many interesting quotes, such as "You can see the pulse of her heartbeat in her liver, and all the way down her aorta. She bleeds where she is cut and her organs are plump and slippery-looking." This one really made me want to learn more about the whole issue. Good job!

HW 55- Culminating Project for Care of the Dead Unit

There are many decisions to be made about what one wants to have done with their body after they die. They need to choose if they want to be cremated, buried, or have some other method of getting the body out of sight. They also need to choose if they want to have their body embalmed or not. But before all of these things, one must decide if they want to donate their bodies and their organs donated to science. The decision to donate ones entire body to science is certainly a noble one, considering that the organs of that person may be used to save the life of someone who is sick. However, are cadavers always used by science to advance medical research and save lives? Or are there some more "profitable" ways to deal with the organs and the body after it has been donated to science that are unjustly being utilized by medical institutions?

The act of donating the body, or even just one organ, to science has always been regarded as a very honorable and considerate action, as it should be. Cadavers are extremely important to medical students, because they allow them to practice dangerous procedures that they would not be able to risk on a living patient, and are therefore extremely valuable in the world of medicine. For example, in London in the 17th century, "resurrectionists" were paid to dig bodies out of graves and essentially served as "body snatchers" or "grave robbers", making about five times as much as the average person at the time. In fact, "The best known of the London surgeon-anatomists was Sir Astley Cooper. In public, Cooper denounced the resurrectionists, yet he not only sought out and retained their services, but encouraged those in his employ to take up the job" (Roach, 45). Although the action of stealing a body right out of the grave seems to be down-right disrespectful, it is understandable why some people might believe that the result justifies the means. Cadavers are essential for research and can be operated on as practice so that real surgeries have a much higher chance of being successful. Not only that, the inside organs of most dead bodies tend to look, feel and react just like those of the living, which makes the training even more realistic. "On the inside, H looks very much alive. You can see the pulse of her heartbeat in her liver, and all the way down her aorta. She bleeds where she is cut and her organs are plump and slippery-looking" (Roach, 169). In addition, cadavers can also be used to help one discover when and how an accident such as a place crash may have occurred.

Unfortunately, it has become apparent that bodies generously donated to science with the intention of helping the living and to save lives are not necessarily serving those purposes. "Human remains have become increasingly valuable as medical research expands. Body parts are in demand by companies that want to teach surgeons to use their products, and they're also used at medical seminars where doctors can practice techniques and earn continuing education credits" (Armour). As a result of this, the practice of dismembering bodies and "dealing" the body parts to medical institutions has become very popular among harvesters. For example, an article in USA Today describes children of a woman who passed away receiving what the assumed to be the ashes of their mother. "But in 2002, family members say, they learned that the ashes didn't belong to their mother. Instead, they were told that an unscrupulous crematorium owner secretly carved up her body — along with the bodies of hundreds of other newly deceased — and provided knees, elbows, heads and other parts to medical research organizations in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars" (Armour). The article also states that over 16,000 lawsuits have been filed over the past 19 years arguing that the body parts of people's loved ones were being dismembered from the body and sold without the consent of the family. To touch on one of the less severe problems with the way that bodies are treated after science, it turns out that some cadavers are being used so that surgeons-in-training can practice doing nose-jobs. Although some people may think that this is a very important procedure, the reality is that most people probably did not imagine their bodies being used for the beautification of others rather than helping the living with actual medical issues or conditions.

From crematorium operators dismembering and harvesting the body parts of dead bodies without consent and then proceeding to distribute them to medical organizations, to body snatching in order to continue medical research, to experimenting nose-job techniques on dead bodies, it is safe to say that donating the body to science has not always been and is still not a completely honest business. However, for many people, the chance of being able to donate their own body in order to save the lives of others is enough to get many people to do it. Not only that, it turns out that if you donate your body, you do not have to pay any money for the cremation or burial process, where normally a traditional burial in New York City costs around $15,000! In summary, donation of the body to medical organizations is an option that should certainly be considered, but those who consider it should also be aware of the potential risks of harvesting.

 Citations

Armour, Stephanie. "Donated Bodies sometimes are sold for personal profit." 28 APR 2006: n. pag. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-04-27-body-parts-sold_x.htm>.

Armour, Stephanie. "Illegal trade in bodies shakes loved ones." n. pag. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-04-26-body-parts-cover-usat_x.htm>.

"The Value of Donating." Science Care. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.sciencecare.com/donate.htm>.

Roach, Mary. Stiff. 1st. London: W.Norton & Company Ltd., 2003. Print.

HW 54- Independent Research B

Although I was baptized and raised as Greek Orthodox Christian, for some reason I have always felt more closely connected to the religious beliefs on my fathers side of the family, which are that of the episcopal church. So I decided to do some research on episcopalian beliefs. Like all Christian faiths, Episcopalians believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and the one who was, "sent by God to free us from the power of sin, so that with the help of God we may live in harmony with God, within ourselves, with our neighbors, and with all creation" (An Outline of Faith). In this faith, eternal life means a new existence after death where all the people of God are together either in Heaven or Hell. "By heaven, we mean eternal life in our enjoyment of God; by hell, we mean eternal death in our rejection of God" (An Outline of Faith). Episcopalians also clarify what form the body will go into heaven with after a person passes away. Apparently, God will raise the spirit, in the form of the human body that it used to be confined to in life, into the heavens. "Our assurance as Christians is that nothing, not even death, shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (An Outline of Faith) It appears that the Episcopalians believe in a strict afterlife that consists of Heaven and Hell, but whichever one you go to you will still be in the shape of your body on earth.
(information found at http://www.episcopalspringfield.org/faith_outline.html)

I was not aware of any Episcopalian church's anywhere near my area, so I decided to call the person in my family with the most experience in this particular faith that I could think of, which is my oldest aunt. When I asked her how she felt about death in relationship to her religious beliefs, she told me that she believes in a Heaven, but is not quite sure what to make of the idea of Hell. "It doesn't seem right, having someone suffer for all of eternity because of sins they committed in their short time on earth. No matter how bad of a person someone is, nobody deserves that. It seems like the atheist idea of oblivion after death would be bad enough." I then asked her how she felt about the religious affiliations with the way that bodies were cared for after the person has died. "Well, personally I think that I would want to be cremated like my mother did. For some reason, it feels more spiritual, like the soul would rise up with the smoke to heaven."

To first analyze what my aunt was saying, I think it is interesting that she feels that her soul will be freed more easily if she is cremated because I used to (and sort of still do) feel the same way. However, that is because of the only cremation I had ever seen before, which was actually in the first new Star Wars movie that came out. In the end, everyone was gathering around the man who had been killed, while is body was burned outdoors and completely exposed to the rest of the world. In my opinion, this is sort of a peaceful image, and is probably the reason why I initially was leaning towards cremation. However, after doing research by reading the assigned book and listening to guest speakers, I have learned that cremation is nothing like the image I saw in my childhood. As far as the episcopalian faith in general, I was surprised to receive an answer as to what form the spirit would enter heaven as. It seems that the fundamental beliefs between episcopal Christians and other Christians is that Episcopalians seem to be very progressive with their ideas in life, (such as gay marriage) but their take on the afterlife is pretty much the same.

HW 53- Independent Research A

1.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/us/21funeral.html?ref=funerals

Precis: When 92 year old Nathaniel Roe passed away, his body was dealt with in a very non-traditional way. His children decided that it would be best to bury him at home. Rather than calling a funeral home, they bathed and dressed their father's body in his favorite clothes. He was then buried on his own farm in a coffin made out of pine by his own son. In addition to that, the family only paid $250 for the whole process! In a few states, there are laws that require a professional who is associated with the funeral business to handle the body, but New Hampshire is not one of them so the family was able to do what the pleased with their father.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/03burial.html?scp=1&sq=osama%20bin%20laden%20burial&st=cse

Precis: When Osama Bin Laden was killed, the United States chose to bury him at sea rather than on land in Pakistan to avoid his body becoming a symbol for remaining followers. Supposedly, all rights of a Muslim burial were given to him despite his many crimes. Although some supported the fact that he was laid to rest at sea in order to prevent the creation of a shrine/symbol, there were many who were opposed to it as well.

Although the two news articles deal with very different topics, they both can be tied back to the common issue of efficient vs. religious burial. The man who was given a home burial by his family was highly efficient, considering it only cost the family $250 and they could have chosen whatever type of religious ceremony they wanted. Also, one of the women who was speaking in the movie from class said that to be around the dead body of a loved one can be helpful to achieve realization with the fact that the person is really dead, which, according to her, leads to a more comfortable experience. The burial of Osama Bin Laden was different in the fact that the man was most likely hated by all the people who were around to watch him buried. However, it was similar when looking at the efficiency of it. Although the reasoning that was given was that his body was not buried on land because the area would become a shrine and an inspiration for bad men, it sure is a lot faster to just dump a body in the sea than actually see to it that it is buried. The religious aspect of the burial was not likely decided by the victim in this case.

2.

I am fortunate enough to live right across the street from a funeral home (http://www.hdmafuneralhome.com/), so getting inside to talk to someone seemed easy enough. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get much past the front desk, but the woman who was there was kind enough to answer a few of my questions. Being someone who has not actually been to a funeral home before, I asked her what it was exactly that they provided for people. She told me that they cover pretty much everything from preparation of the body to the services at the church as well as the coffin being set in the grave. But that was only for the traditional burial. She said that they handled cremation (which I found out costs $855 after going on the website!!) as well as customized burials. She described a customized burial as following many different religious customs, and also added that they had employees who would provide any kind of emotional support and consult needed. Typically, most funeral services take place mid-afternoon at this funeral home, and they usually do not handle more than one service in a day.

HW 52- Third Third of Care of the Dead Book

Precis: In the previous chapters of this book, I haven't even begun to get into all the astonishing atrocities that almost no one is aware of. In China all the way up until about 1910, a common practice was to consume parts of decayed human cadaver as medicine. Although it would not necessarily cure you, it was believed to ease pain when taken with alcohol. This choice was not out of desperation; many people actually enjoyed the meat of the dead. Aside from that, it has also been discovered that heads chopped off by the guillotine were actually functional for about 5 minutes after decapitation. After knowing all of this information, I still plan to donate my body and organs to science.

"Well, one can see that you don't look in the basket when they are all there together. You've never seen them twist their eyes and grind their teeth for a good five minutes after the execution. We are forced to change the basket every three months because they cause such damage to the bottom." (Roach, 201)

"On May 21, Guthrie succeeded in grafting one dog's head onto the side of another's neck, creating the world's first man-made two-headed dog." (Roach, 207)

"People were swallowing decayed human cadaver for the treatment of bruises." (Roach, 224)

"Likewise powdered human penis, as prescribed in the Chinese Materia Medica, was "taken with alcohol." The stuff might not cure you, but it would ease the pain and put a shine on your mood." (Roach, 228)

"Chong describes a rather gruesome historical phenomenon wherein children, most often daughters-in-law, were obliged to demonstrate filial piety to ailing parents, most often mothers-in-law, by hacking off a piece of themselves and preparing it as a restorative elixir." (Roach, 233) Ewww!

"He writes that in years past, another job perk of the Chinese executioner-in addition to supplemental income from human blood and fat sales-was that he was allowed to take the heart and brains home for supper." (Roach, 237)

As I was reading this last section of this exceptionally well written book, aside from being utterly disgusted, part of me thought back to the food unit. I'm sure at least most of us would agree that eating decayed human body parts is pretty vile, but as we learned in the food unit, so is eating most hamburgers in America. And similarly to the people in China who used to eat human cadaver, many of the students in this class are fully aware of what is inside that kind of processed meat, and yet many of us still choose to consume it simply because the taste is too enticing. I will never be able to look past my views on cannibalism, but in reality, who are we to judge these cannibalistic activities; at least what they did supposedly had health benefits!

HW 51- Second third of Care of the Dead Book

Precis: Although cadavers are sometimes used for lesser purposes, they are almost always helpful (at least for research) in some way. Cadavers can be operated on as practice so that real surgeries have a much higher chance of being successful. Not only that, the inside organs of most dead bodies tend to look, feel and react just like those of the living, which makes the training even more realistic. In addition to that, cadavers can also be used to help one discover when and how an accident such as a place crash may have occurred. After talking to many doctors about the way they felt about operating on cadavers, they often had casual responses that did not directly address the issue of the difference between performing surgery on the dead as opposed to the living.

"A young cock whose head Dr. Kaau suddenly cut off...as he was running with great eagerness to his food, went on in a straight line 23 Rhinland feet, and would have gone further had he not met with an obstacle which stopped him." (Roach, 181)

"On the inside, H looks very much alive. You can see the pulse of her heartbeat in her liver, and all the way down her aorta. She bleeds where she is cut and her organs are plump and slippery-looking." (Roach, 169)

"Does it feel odd to perform surgery on someone who isn't alive?
His answer is surprising. 'The patient was alive.' I suppose surgeons are used to thinking about patients-particularly ones they've never met-as no more than what they see of them; open plots of organs." (Roach, 194)

One part about the text that I thought was funny (well not exactly "ha ha" funny) was the way that many of the doctors responded to being asked if they felt any discomfort about operating on people who are dead. The fact that these doctors are able to completely look past the fact that they are cutting into dead people while barely even (or not at all) acknowledging that these people are not alive is astonishing to me, and honestly just downright strange. After thinking about it for a little while, I guess it sort of makes sense though, because I believe one of the guest speakers we had for the illness and dying unit said that doctors are trained to not treat patients like normal human beings when it comes to operations in the first year of medical school. On the other hand, being objective during surgery seems completely different from not being phased by operating on dead people all the time.

HW 49- Comments on your Best Break Homework

megumi said...

I found your post very interesting and got me thinking. I did not think the first thing your interviewees thought of when hearing the word 'death' was those that are close to them. I found this particularly interesting because I remember one of my close relatives had told me before that she worries more about my my life than her death-which was a shock to me at the moment but after reading your post I think it makes more sense.

HW 50- First Third of Care of the Dead Book

Precis: When bodies are donated to science, they may undergo many different purposes. For many, one of these purposes is to practice surgical procedures. However, these procedures can range from potentially life-saving if done on a living person to practice for nose jobs. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the practice of live dissections became popular. The reason for this is because the number of medical students was growing, while the amount of cadavers was more or less staying the same. Herophilus managed to dissect more than 600 live criminals. Today, there is only one field research facility in the world that serves the soul purpose of observing human decay. There are many signs that can be observed within the phases of human decay which can be used to help detectives in forensics.

"Cooper was an outspoken defender of human dissection. 'He must mangle the living if he has not operated on the dead.'" (Roach, 45)

"Enthusiasm got the better of compassion and common sense, and the man took to dissecting live criminals." (Roach, 40)

"The brain liquefies very quickly. It just pours out the ears and bubbles out the mouth." (Roach, 67)

The main thought that the book (especially chapter 2) has given me so far is disgust. I know that many of the units we have covered so far are intended to be topics that people do not really think about in depth very much, but this one is something that I haven't really thought about at all, not even bubbled. So when I read things that tell me that humans who have donated their bodies to science are having their heads cut off and surgeons practice nose jobs on them after they die, it is sickening. I am curious more about how bodies are dealt with in the present, although slightly afraid, compared to the 18th and 19th centuries.

HW 48- Family Perspectives on Care of the Dead

Although this assignment was posted before Easter when I saw quite a few of my older family members, I did not feel comfortable asking them questions about death and dead bodies at the time, so I decided to just speak to my parents. I started off by asking my father what he thinks of when he hears the words "death" and "after death" and he told me he immediately thinks of his mother and sister, and then sometimes starts to think about his father, who passed away when my father was only two years old. He told me that he knew the most popular methods of handling the bodies of those who have died are burial and cremation, but then he asked to himself, "However I'm not sure what happens to bodies that have been mutilated to the point where they do not even resemble humans any more, or bodies that have been cut into many pieces." As disturbing of a thought this is, it is also a pretty interesting one. When asked which way he would prefer to have his death dealt with, he immediately responded with cremation. He did acknowledge the fact that it is a less "green" method of caring for the dead, but that it was important to him that his ashes be kept by either my mother or myself.

I talked to my mother the next day. When I asked my mother what she thought of when hearing the words "death" and "after death" she said, "I think mostly of (a good family friend who recently passed) and my father, but then I start to think about religion and God and those kind of things." My mother also said the same thing as my father when asked about the ways she was aware of when caring for the dead, so I decided to ask her if there were any alternatives she would prefer. "Well, off the top of my head, I guess not, but maybe if I thought about it for a while I would be able to think of something more pleasant than either rotting underground or burning to ashes." My next question was which way she would prefer to be cared for after she passes away, and her opinion did not come nearly as quickly or clearly as my fathers. "Well...I'm sort of torn on this one. In my religion (Greek Orthodox Christian) cremation is not supported, but my personal opinion right now is that I don't really want to be buried either. At this point, I really can't say for sure."

The first interesting thing I noticed about both my mother and my father's opinions after interviewing them both is that the first thing they both thought of when hearing the words "death" and "after death" was people that were close to them and have now passed away. If they did think of some higher place and purpose for peoples lives or the afterlife, it was not until after they had acknowledged their dead friends and family in their minds. I find the same thing to be true for myself a lot of the time, which leads me to wonder if there is something about our society and the way we care for the dead that causes people to worry more about their friends and family then the concept of death itself. I also noticed that both of my parents seem to want, or at least lean towards, cremation instead of burial for themselves. I can only wonder if that has influence my opinion that I probably want to be cremated as well.

HW 47- Peer Perspectives on Care of the Dead

In order to understand the perspectives of the people around me regarding the care of the dead, I figured it would be easiest to first interview a friend that I am very close to. (however our family backgrounds are radically different) The first question that I asked him was "what do you know about the way dead people are treated after they have passed away?" He responded by saying "I mean, when I think of people dying, the first things that pop into my head are a funeral and a will. Now that I think about it, considering how greedy people are in America, it is surprising that there is enough respect to allow people to give all there stuff to whoever they want even after they are dead, cause' they don't really have any control over who gets what after that." This was an interesting comment for me, because I had forgotten all about wills in my previous thoughts and responses. When I asked about his experience with the care of the dead, he said that he had been to 4 funerals in his life, but he was not really close to any of the people and therefore doesn't feel very sad or have any sentiments relating to the events. "Even though one of the people who died was my grandmother, she was on my moms side of the family, and I'm not close to them because...(I have been asked to not reveal this information)" Finally, I asked him about the different methods of dealing with bodies that he was aware of, and which way he would prefer for himself. "Umm, I guess only to be buried or to be burned, and at this point I have no idea what I would want."

The next person I spoke to was one of my cousin's, who I am not as close to as the friend I spoke to before. However, our experiences with the care of the dead are much more similar, having been to a funeral together. When I asked her what she has noticed about the care of the dead, she said, "Well, from what I've witnessed there is always a long church service intended to celebrate the life of the person who has passed. After that, the funeral takes place, but for Ma (our grandmother who was cremated) the cremation did not take place until at least a few weeks after the funeral, compared to burials which usually happen on the same day. Once all the tears are shed, there might be a sort of party with food and drinks to lighten the mood." This response was almost exactly what happened with my grandmothers funeral service. However, I did not attend the cremation (and never have) and my cousin did, so next I asked her about what she observed there. "It was very sad, even more so then the funeral, and it was also strange to watch a person being cremated. However, this ritual seemed slightly more appealing then being buried underground and rotting away forever. The whole process felt very...important." The last part of her comment was extremely thought provoking to me, so I asked how she felt about all this weight and importance being placed on the care of the dead. "I think that it is good to respect the dead. Even though I am not extremely religious, I still think it is good that people celebrate the lives of others after they have passed."

The last person that I decided to interview was one of my co-workers at my job. She is a few years older than me, and has a baby, so I thought her opinions would be interesting and different to hear about. After asking how she felt about the way the dead are cared for in America today, she responded, "I think its nice that almost everyone gets their own funeral and so many people attend out of respect, but I think that funerals have become looked at as such negative occasions, rather than focusing on celebrating the life of whoever it is that has died." The next question I had was, "I agree with you, but if your baby were to pass away right now God forbid, wouldn't you have a hard time keeping your head up?" "Now that you mention it, you're probably right. I would like to say that I would try to accept that she was in a better place with my father, but inside I know that it would tear me apart. I guess that explains why funerals are such sad occasions for most people." The last question I asked her was if she would prefer a cremation or a burial for herself. "At this point, I really don't know. I have never seen it happen before; my father was buried. I think I would want to learn more about it before making a decision, because the idea of my body rotting underground doesn't sound that appealing to me."

Each of the three people I chose to interview had both bubble responses as well as responses that required actual thought process. Many of these ideas went hand in hand with some of my own opinions, such as when my co-worker said that burial does not sound appealing but that she would want to learn more about the ways that the dead can be cared for before making a decision. I thought my first respondent's comment about the idea of wills was an interesting one and it was something I hadn't thought about before. Finally, I was surprised at how none of my respondents explicitly stated that they would want a burial, when it is definitely one of the most popular ways to deal with the dead.

HW 46- Initial thoughts on care of the dead

So far, the experience that I have had with dominant social practices associated with care of the dead has been extremely simple. In other words, I haven't really put a lot of thought into the issue at all. I have only been to two funerals, and although I was pretty young, I was still able to make some basic observations. I noticed that almost all those who pass away choose to have funerals in honor of their death. The body in the casket is often dressed up in nice clothing as well as bathed, and the eyelids are always closed. Based on these simple observations, it seems like a typical practice of our society today is to respect the bodies of those who have deceased, possibly to ensure that they are not haunted by the souls of the dead.

Another thing that I have noticed is that even people who are religious, such as my family, are still often mourning the death of their loved ones despite the fact that their beliefs tell them that they have moved on to "a better place" now. It seems like this could be because of our natural selfishness and our desire to be with the people we love no matter what the cost. After all, if they are in a better place, why should we be sad unless we can't handle living without them? This leads me to another possible reason for some people, which is that their faith in their religion is not actually that strong, and therefore they remain uncomfortable with the deaths of their loved ones.

Some questions I have about the upcoming unit-
Why is it that people remain sad even though funerals are meant to be the celebrations of the dead's lives?
Why are bodies often dressed up and bathed before being buried or cremated?
What are the other dominant social discourses that are associated with care of the dead that are not as normal as they seem?

HW 45- Comments on comments

At Lucas' comment- I agree with you when you said that I was could have structured the post slightly better after looking at it again. I was also glad to see that you had noticed the bias that lies in most of the American citizens' minds today against home birth, and hope that people will soon start to think a little more deeply about the issue. Thank you for both the constructive and appreciative feedback!

At Megumi's comment- I am very glad you appreciated the value of hearing from someone who had experienced both home and hospital births; I was very lucky to have found someone with so much personal experience! I also think it is good to recognize my mother's opinion because it seems to be such a perfect representation of how most people in America today feel about the topic. Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my post!

HW 44- Comments

Ben H said...

For your project, I believe that you intended to explore how much knowledge people had on the topic of hospital births and what their impressions were. You explored to different hospitals to see how they handled birth, as well as interviewing multiple students at Hunter College. This topic is extremely important to me, and it should be to everyone else as well. Understanding the procedures of hospitals is essential in the woman's decision to either have a hospital birth or go with a midwife instead. It is also important to be aware of the general public's understanding of a topic like this, so one can observe what knowledge people still need to acquire in order to take an educated stance on the matter. I think you guys did an amazing job making that video! The fact that you were able to get all those students to talk to you for such a long time is impressive in itself, but your choice of questions in the interview provided very informative answers. The effort you put into this project was clear, and it showed through the observations you made in the hospitals. It would have been nice if you had been able to get the necessary information out of the hospital staff, but nevertheless, great job!

 

 

Ben H said...

It seems clear that for your project you were focusing on the differences between home and hospital births. Using evidence such as financial reasons and the comfort of the women, you support home birth as a solid alternative to the mechanical process of hospital births. This topic matters to me because it is something that I intend to consider highly when having children of my own in the future. Although I am not the one who will ultimately be making the final decision, having this information is essential for women that are unsure of where to give birth. The conclusions made in your project are some that should be observed by all women today. I really liked the way you were able to connect your topic to your personal life by speaking to your mother. Her opinion demonstrates the ignorance (no offense to Sheline of course) that you depict in your project. One suggestion I would make would be to incorporate the opinions of any mothers who had experienced a home birth and observed how she felt about the debate. However, I understand that for some people this might be hard to come by. Overall, good job!

 

 

Ben H said...

Your choice to focus on the mistreatment of pregnant women in prison was a very interesting and unique one. This topic is important to observe primarily because of how many people do not even think about it, as you stated in your project. Although it is hard for me to personally relate to it, your project was still important to me because my eyes were opened to a completely different area of pregnancy and birth that I had never even thought about myself. I really liked the way you were able to include multiple real-world situations for a topic that was so specific and rarely spoken of. If you had been able to find more statistics, that would have made your point even more convincing. Good job!

TIM said...

I think that what you were comparing in your project was the differences in home birth and hospital birth as far as the woman's comfort level is concerned. This topic is extremely important to me, because I am someone who had never even heard of a home birth before reading this. I thought that you had to give birth in the hospital because there was no other safe way. It is also important for women to know the information in your post so they will know that they have another option if they do not want to have their baby in the hospital. I really liked the way you were able to interview a woman who had experienced both a home and hospital birth...I feel like it made your point a lot more believable and strong. Overall, this was a pretty good post Ben.

April 11, 2011 6:24 PM

Jim Harker said...

This post was focused on observing the aspects of home and hospital births that are typically not viewed even by those who are aware of the safety differences, such as comfort of the woman. You describe the woman's comfort as being influenced by financial needs, as well as physical surroundings and previous knowledge. As a father who's wife experienced a hospital birth, this post is important to me, but not as important as it would have been 17 years ago. Although I don't think I would have changed my mind about where you were going to be born because of all the things that went wrong in your birth, the information in this post would have certainly been helpful for Tia and myself just in case. There are also many women who could use knowledge like this to save money as well as stress and pain in some cases. I especially enjoyed the section where you provided the quote from your mother, because it seemed to do a good job of represented how most people today would respond when asked the same question. For some constructive criticism, I think that you could have gathered more information from women who gave birth at home on how the surroundings effected them online. Other than that, good job. I can see you put a lot of effort into this one.

HW 42- Pregnancy and birth culminating project

The debate over hospital birth versus home birth is slowly increasing in popularity as midwives are beginning to gain more respect. Both sides seem to have made clear arguments for their case. The obstetricians and gynecologists that support hospital births would argue that superior technology and more available staff make the birthing process much more safe. On the other hand, those who support home births via midwives say that both women and babies are safer in a home birth, and most of the deaths that occur during childbirth are because of unnecessary OB/GYN intervention in the first place. However, there is no point in discussing the opinions of those who support either of these sides, the real question is how do certain factors that exist in both of these environments cause comfort and discomfort for the woman giving birth, for she is the one who will need to make the final decision on which type of birth to have. The most important aspect of giving birth is that both the woman and the child can be as safe as possible during labor and birth, but considering the fact that there is evidence that points to both the home and hospital birth sides of the debate, the second most important aspect should be considered highly. That aspect is the comfort of the woman in the environment that she chooses, which is what the remainder of this project will be exploring.

There is one huge factor that surprisingly seems to be more overlooked by most than expected which can cause a woman discomfort, and that is the issue of money. Our previous unit on illness and dying showed us that over 50 million people in America are currently not covered by health insurance, and sources suggest that, "For patients not covered by health insurance, the typical cost of a vaginal delivery without complications ranges from about $9,000 to $17,000 or more, depending on geographic location and whether there is a discount for uninsured patients." (Baby Delivery Cost) For an uninsured woman, knowing that there is a good possibility that you will need to pay thousands of dollars just to have a standard birth in a hospital would create a lot of discomfort and certainly be very stressful. Even patients with insurance are likely to pay somewhere between $500 and $3000 for their standard births. Cesarian sections cost even more for any patients without insurance, and can range from 14 to 25 thousand dollars. However, when considering all of the chemical and mechanical intervention that woman experience in hospital birth, it really is no surprise that they are able to charge so much money for the process. For some women, the much larger staff of trained professionals on scene while they are giving birth can provide a sense of safety and security, which are both factors that positively contribute to the mother's experience. To quote Dr. Moritz, "Obstetrics is 98% not exciting, and 2% sheer terror...but hospitals are good for when you have that terror." (Business of Being Born) The doctor seems to suggest that it is the emergency situations that hospitals are good at dealing with, which can be an attraction for women who are afraid that something will go wrong. However, if something only goes wrong two percent of the time, then why should obstetricians in hospitals be dealing with the other 98%? The film Business of Being Born also speaks about all the unnecessary treatment that women are given in hospitals, such as episiotomies without informed consent of the patient while they are paralyzed by an epidural.

In the year 1900, 95% of women were giving birth at home. Today, less than one percent of all women who give birth choose a home birth. (Business of Being Born) The reason for this is obviously that women of this generation are not necessarily comfortable giving birth at home, for various reasons that can range from safety to having to clean up the mess in their own home. However, the majority of sources that I have witnessed (including both Business of Being Born and Born in the USA by Marsden Wagner) have insisted that home birth offers much more choice for the women than hospital birth. "Final decisions about the place of birth can be left for the woman to make during labour, thereby ensuring that she keeps all her options open. Midwifery care will follow the woman regardless of whether she needs or wants to give birth in hospital." (Home Births Information) Not only are women given the ability to make their own decisions on the treatment they receive, it should be considered that hospitals are open 24 hours a day, and if something were to go wrong in a home birth, an ambulance could be called to take the mother to the hospital. Financially, to have a birth supervised by a midwife at a home birth is much cheaper than being at a hospital, although it will cost quite a bit of money either way. "Midwife fee which is usually between 1500-3000 dollars. This fee covers prenatal care, birth, postpartum check up, newborn check up and screening." (Home Birth Cost and How to Pay for it) Although this financial advantage over hospital births provides a comfort advantage for most women, there are certainly less people on staff in case of an emergency. Other than the attending midwife, typically the only other people the mother will have for support is the family, but this does mean that she has the option to pick and choose whoever she wants to be there. These two different perspectives of looking at the company that the woman chooses to have can be either comforting or discomforting, depending on the person.

After doing research online about the factors that women consider to be comforting and discomforting, I figured it was time to talk to someone that had been through both the home and hospital birth experiences. Fortunately, a friend of mine's mother happens to be a woman who gave birth in both situations. She has asked for her name to be kept anonymous, but she is the mother of three. Her first child (who was born in 1993) was born in the hospital, but both of her daughters (born 1996 and 1999) were born in her own apartment. When I asked about how her experience was in the hospital, she responded by saying, "Well, medically everything went well, but everything felt very mechanical and not personal. In the beginning, having all the nurses and doctors around me was actually more intimidating for me than reassuring, and none of them really seemed like they cared about how I was feeling in the moment. I did eventually get used to it, though, and once I held my son for the first time, nothing that had happened before mattered." Her description of what I had researched to be a typical, healthy hospital birth inspired me to ask why she had chosen to embark on the home birth journey for her last two children. "Hmm...I guess it was because I felt like there was an emotional part of the experience that was missing," she said. "It's like I felt like I was not involved enough in the experience, as strange as that may sound. But when I had [first daughter] and [second daughter] they felt even more like...they were all mine. Honestly, I was pretty paranoid that something would go wrong and we wouldn't be able to make it to the hospital in time at first for my first daughter, but for my last child everything went smoothly, medically and emotionally for me."

Ultimately, only the woman who is preparing to give birth will be able to determine which situation is best for her, because both hospital births and home births have different appealing aspects that might attract different types of people. However, the conclusion I have made about the reasons why less than 1% of woman do not feel comfortable having a home birth is that they are either because they are ignorant or afraid. When I asked my mother why she did not have a home birth, she said, “Home birth? Why would I have? I wanted to have a natural birth, but I’m not that radical, and thank God I didn’t, because everything  seemed to be going wrong when I gave birth.” My mother, along with millions of other women, seem to have chosen a hospital birth mainly because they are worried about (as Dr. Moritz describes) the two percent chance that a situation will turn into sheer terror. My mother also asked why she would have even considered a home birth, as if it was a completely foreign concept to her. This represents the extremely limited amount of knowledge that most people today have about home births, and therefore they often don't even consider them as an option. 

Citations
(All citations from homework 41 post were included as well)

"Baby Delivery Cost." CostHelper. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.costhelper.com/cost/child/baby-delivery.html>.

"Home Births Information." Birthjourney.com. N.p., 2010. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.birthjourney.com/homebirth.php>.

"Home Birth Cost and How to Pay for it." Home Birth Guide. N.p., 2009. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.home-birth-guide.com/homebirth-cost.html>.

Wagner, Marsden. Born in the USA. 1st. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006. Print.  

Lake, Ricki, Prod. Business of Being Born. Perf. Dr. Moritz, Julia Barnett Tracy. 2008, Film.

 

HW 41- Independent Research

Topic of culminating project: How environmental differences between home and hospital births can effect the woman's process of giving birth.

"Hospital Birth." The Center of Unhindered Living. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://www.unhinderedliving.com/hospital.html>.
This source provided a detailed list of the pros and cons of giving birth in a hospital, including certain environmental factors.

"Home Birth vs Hospital Birth isn't about location." Exploring the full spectrum of natural parenting. N.p., 18 Jan 2011. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://www.mamaeve.com/index.php/natural-childbirth/251-home-birth-vs-hospital-birth-isnt-about-location/>.
This source talked about the risks and benefits of both hospital birth and home birth, and brings up many of the points mentioned in both the movie The Business of Being Born as well as the book Born in the USA by Marsden Wagner.

"Maternity Care: Birthing Facilities: Two Choices for Your Family." UC San Diego Health System. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://health.ucsd.edu/women/child/facilities/>.
This source provides details on two different types of environments that pregnant women may choose two give birth in inside of a hospital; a more traditional setting as opposed to an ABC.

"Home Birth." Second Nature Birthing. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://www.naturalchildbirth.co.uk/homebirth.shtml>.
This source provides information on the ability of the body to naturally cope with the pain of labor, and explains that home birth allows the body to do this where hospital birth involves unnatural use of chemicals to cope with and speed up birth.

Griebenow, Jennifer L. "Home Birth and Out-of-Hospital Birth: Is It Safe?." Homebirth- Safety and Benefits. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://www.gentlebirth.org/ronnie/homejjg.html>. 
This source includes even more details and statistics on home birth, and generally supports it over hospital birth.

HW 40- Insights from book part 3

Hey Dr. Marsden Wagner, thanks for writing your extremely informative book Born in the USA. Your ideas about how obstetricians are not necessarily the right specialists to be dealing with healthy, routine childbirths really caused me to look at the processes of pregnancy and birth in a completely different way. All my life up until I started reading this book, I was under the impression that people had to give birth in the hospital. The only story I had ever heard about a home birth was that of the sister of one of my friends, who was born on her couch at home. At the time, that story was the oddest thing, and extremely hard to grasp. Now that you have provided me with the facts, my perspective has completely changed.

My favorite part about the last third of your book was the way it was able to connect the first points relating to the differences between midwives and obstetricians to the overarching issue of the flawed American system of childbirth today. For example, you immediately started this last section off by saying, "We Americans are consumed with the need to believe that we are number one. But here's a wrenching fact: forty-one countries have better infant mortality rates than the United States does." (Wagner, 212) The second thing that you said which I particularly enjoyed was how one of the most important solutions to this flawed American birthing system was to educate the public, "It is crucial to the movement for humanizing birth that the American public understand childbirth, midwifery, and the present abuses in our maternity care system." (Wagner, 220) Finally, I thought that the way you stressed the importance of taking necessary political action to solve this issue was great, especially when you said, "Another political battle is fought in the land of insurance companies. ABC's need insurance, but some insurance companies decline to do business with them or charge higher premiums to physicians who provide backup services to ABC's. As a result, ABC's are being squeezed from both directions. (Wagner, 228)

It seemed that your main purpose in writing this book was to inform the public of the current issues that the American birthing system has, and also to describe the reasons that these issues exist as well as suggest possible solutions toward the end. In my personal opinion, you did a stupendous job accomplishing all of these goals. If you were interested in writing a second edition, however, there is one suggestion that I might make. This text seems to be designed to educate mostly adults, or young adults at the least. One way to make sure that everyone is able to comprehend all of the extremely important information that you have displayed in your book would be to have a second edition that is aimed at a slightly younger audience, for ages about 13-17. There are a huge number of young teen girls getting pregnant, and it would be a shame if they were not able to make a well-educated decision on where to give birth simply because they did not have the necessary reading skills or patience to be able to understand the valuable information that you are trying to get across. However, as far as suggestions go for your current book, Born in the USA, I don't believe I can give you any. You did a stellar job incorporating your own message and at the same time, being able to support your ideas with well-cited evidence. While reading your book, I was constantly thinking about the decision of whether to have a midwife supervise birth or to be admitted to a standard hospital to be taken care of obstetricians, and which type of people would prefer each choice. I know for a fact that I will take this information with me no matter what decision I choose to make later in life regarding childbirth, and I appreciate all the time and effort you put in to creating this amazing book.

HW 39- Insights from pregnancy and birth book part 2

After reading Born in the USA by Marsden Wagner (published 2006 by The Regents of the University of California) up to about page 200, it seems that the book is organized in the way I had originally expected. As discussed in the previous post, the first 100 pages focused mainly on the dominant social practice of going to the hospital to give birth under the supervision of an obstetrician. Now it seems that the author has shifted focus and for the second hundred pages, she is discussing the less commonly practiced procedure of using a midwife to assist the pregnancy and birth process. (However, in this section there are exceptions, and Dr. Wagner will sometimes refer back to the obstetric practices) There are many interesting aspects of the second hundred pages of Born in the USA that have to do with pregnancy and birth. I learned about ABC's (alternate birth centers) for the first time in this section, as well as the author's general insight that, "In a hospital an obstetrician is in control, whereas in an ABC the birthing woman is in control." (Wagner, 133) Also, the author mentioned the fact that Midwives could save families a lot of money as opposed to hospital births, and reminded us that the right to refuse treatment is granted by both the constitution and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Finally, another interesting phrase that Dr. Wagner used was, "Doctors control women with fear. They have succeeded in convincing the great majority of American women that they cannot safely give birth outside the hospital." (Wagner, 190)

After finishing about two thirds of the book, the main argument that stood out to me was that any environment that employs midwives rather than obstetricians is more suitable for healthy, normal births. So I decided to do some research on what the author calls ABC's, or alternative birth centers. This is what the Providence Alternative Birth Center had to say about themselves, "The philosophy of the unit is to foster a natural birth experience – one that does not routinely require medical intervention – and one that respects your privacy while encouraging family involvement. The Birthing Center rooms are equipped with queensize beds, a hydrotherapy tub for relaxation during labor, birthing chairs, comfortable recliner chairs, a refrigerator and many more amenities." (http://www.stjohnprovidence.org/Women/Pregnancy/) Another quote I found stated that, "A certified birthing center offers the opportunity for pregnant women to take greater control of their pregnancy care and creating the kind of environment they prefer for labor and delivery." (http://www.parentprofiles.com/pregnancy-articles/birthing-centers-an-alternative-to-hospital-deliveries) So according to these two sources, Dr. Wagner was correct in saying that women would possess greater control over their experience outside of a hospital. So really the next question that rises from this would be if it is more important for the woman to be able to make her own choices, or is the hospital (with its more advanced technology and procedures) the better choice? I'm sure the answer to this question is different for every woman, but so far, this book has got me thinking midwives are the way to go.

HW 38- Insights from pregnancy and birth book part 1

So far, the book titled Born In The USA by Marsden Wagner, the author has structured the book so that information about the roles of obstericians is revealed first, followed by the pros and cons of dealing with birth in the way that these doctors are trained to handle it. The main question that the book is trying to answer is made clear on the cover of the book, "How a broken maternity system must be fixed to put women and children first." In otherwords, this book is observing the flaws in the current system of dealing with pregnancy and birth as well as the dominant social practices, (that are not as normal as I would have thought) and looking at possible improvements to the system. I expect that many of the other books are dealing with a similar topic and question, but from what I have read of one of the other books, Born In The USA does not use as many real-life experiences (so far) and has stuck strictly to the facts and analysis, aside from the very beginning of the book and a couple other situations.

In my opinion, the major insight of (about) the first 100 pages of the book has been that although the practice of obstericians is extremely important, they should not be the ones to handle "normal" childbirth; in otherwords a birth where medical treatment is not necessary to save either the mother or the child. Quotes such as, "Many surgeons believe a surgical cut to be better than a natural tear, although scientific data has proven otherwise," (Wagner, 56) are scattered throughout the first 100 pages, and represent the overestimation of how helpful all of the obsteric intervention really is. There are many points in the book so far that have got me thinking. The author's opinion on epidural's is one of them; for example, on page 54, she asks "Is epidural block safe? Epidural can hardly be called "safe" when close to one-quater (23 percent) of women receiving it have complications." (Wagner, 54) I never would have imagined that the percentage could be that high, considering all the people I know who have recieved an epidural, including my mother. Not even the movie we are watching in class has looked on the subject in such a light. (Or at least not yet) As far as evidence goes, the author of this book has done a stupendous job so far. There have been at least five large, detailed tables of statistics to prove Dr. Wagner's point. However, the source of this information is not always clear, but the position of the author leads me to believe that the information is accurate. Also, the real-world examples that the author provides are extremely powerful. There is an extremely good example on page 84 (I won't quote it because it is too long) that deals with a young married couple who's pregnancy went smoothly when the day that the mother was due had finally arrived. The two practicing obstericians practicing in the town decided that pitocin, and epidural, and an epistotomy needed to be executed even though there was not scientific evidence that there was a problem. The baby ended up being vaccumed out and was diagnosed with severe brain damage, all because of this unnecessary intervention.

HW 37- Comments on birth stories

TIM said...
I think that your most beautiful section in this post was when you spoke about how different it was that the 17 year old girl's boyfriend was so determined not to have his girlfriend get an abortion. When you wrote that, "Her boyfriend, who is also 17 years old, remained by her side the whole time. In fact, he did not even mention the possibility of abortion to her, and when she finally brought it up as something she would prefer not to do, he agreed 100 percent," it really made me think about how certain stereotypes that we get used to about people are not always true. I think that after reading your post I will be less judgemental towards people in general, but especially pregnant teenagers and their boyfriends.

Jim Harker said...
In my opinion, you have certainly done an excellent job portraying your mother's experience through those rough nine months in our lives! In all seriousness, however, I believe that you most thought-provoking line was, "I also think that the situation of my mother's pregnancy fits in perfectly with my idea that the best time to have children is 25 to 35, because after 25 many people are responsible enough to handle it, but if you wait too long your child won't have grandparents for long." Although I believe that this kind of statement really only applies to certain people, it was a very interesting idea to throw in and your justification for not having children after age 35 also caught my interest. One suggestion I might have made was to add a little more detail on the specifics of the notes that your father (myself) took while your mother was in the hospital. Overall, (from my perspective that is) this post is solid work.

Ben H said...

I was inspired by the amount of interesting ideas that I had not previously thought about that you were able to fit into this post. For instance, the way you describe your mothers reasons for having a child was largely based on cultural practices was very eye-opening for me. However, your most thought provoking line in my opinion was, "At first I felt bad for her, but I learned from her that having a baby at a young age isn't a 'mistake.' At least she dosn't think so. Why does our culture put down teen pregnancy so much?" This sentence really made me realize that so many people in our society look down on teen pregnancy, and yet usually don't provide any legitimate reasoning or evidence for their opinions. Great job!

 Ben H said...

I really liked your decision to choose three women who had experienced the processes of pregnancy and giving birth in order to gain multiple perspectives on a similar situation. One of your lines that was most interesting to me was, "So she believed that having children would be the best option, and another thing she mentioned was that she didn’t want to have kids too young and she didn’t want to have them when she was too old so then was the perfect time to have children." One of the reasons this caught my eye is because I have a similar belief, and also because it sparks questions such as, "Statistically speaking, what are the best ages to have a child?" Your post certainly got me thinking about even more aspects of pregnancy and birth, great job!

HW 36- Pregnancy and Birth Stories

The first person that I spoke to about her experience with pregnancy was my mother. When my mother first found out she was pregnant, she was working as an actress on a show. She noticed that she hadn't had her period in an unusually long time and was feeling a bit odd, so she took a home pregnancy test, which read positive. Then she proceeded to go to the local clinic in Houston, Texas, where she was working, who confirmed her pregnancy. She continued to work on the show she was doing for three months, but did not stop working because of her pregnancy. It just so happened that her show was closing, and so she figured that it would be best not to look for work for the time being. Her belly started growing noticeably at about five months after she found out she was pregnant. After this point, my parents began taking pre-natal classes on the Bradley method... in other words on how to naturally deliver me with the use of as few drugs as possible. Ironically, a large assortment of drugs ended up being used for the delivery for things such as inducing labor and the doctors fear of my heart rate being slightly odd. She told me about how throughout the 9 month period people everywhere were giving her extra amounts of attention, which was not surprising to me at all.

The description of the process of pregnancy that my mother gave me fit completely into my initial viewpoint of the subject, probably because it is the story of my own birth. Honestly, the way my mother was talking about the whole situation, it seemed like none of it was that big of a deal to her. This might be because she had a good man and friends who were by her side the whole time, a gift which should not be taken for granted considering the amount of people who are not so fortunate. I also think that the situation of my mother's pregnancy fits in perfectly with my idea that the best time to have children is 25 to 35, because after 25 many people are responsible enough to handle it, but if you wait too long your child won't have grandparents for long. My mother was definitely responsible enough, and it showed because her and my father did practically everything right.

Naturally, the second person I felt inclined to talk to about pregnancy was my father. After speaking to him, I realized that the mental experiences of both my mother and father were pretty similar. (obviously not the physical experiences however) My father was very nervous about the whole situation, although he was not unprepared. Througout a large part of the nine month period, my father took notes during my mother's pregnancy as well as in the classes they took on the Bradley method. He also said that the process of my mother giving birth was painful for him as well, but emotionally, because it was hard for him to look at my mother while she was in so much pain. Another thing my father told me was that he felt like neither of them were giving eachother as much attention as they were before the pregnancy, because discussion of the baby was always popping up. This reminded me of a situation that I knew with my friend's sister where the father of the child left the mother alone because he didn't want her attention on the baby instead of him. However he was obviously not ready to be a father, when my father certainly was.

According to my initial opinions about birth, my father was not the stereotypical male figure during my mother's pregnancy. I determined from speaking to both of my parents that my dad did a great job of supporting my mother the whole time, and also tried to help out by learning as much as he could about taking care of newborns as well as the process of the birth itself for when the event arrived. The most interesting thing in my opinion about speaking with my father was discovering the amount of notes he took. There were seven pages of detailed notes with marked times starting at 2 in the morning when my mother was in the hospital. He describes how he can now understand "why husbands/fathers might back away from the event," and he also explains how he would have been hopeless if not for the classes that the two of them had taken together.

After talking to my family and discovering the details of a rather mature handling of the 9 month period of pregnancy and birth, I decided to talk to a friend of mine who was only 17 years old when she gave birth a couple months ago. As expected, she told me it was physically the most painful experience of her life. Other than that, the only other thing I could have predicted about her experience was that she was extremely surprised when she found out that she was pregnant. She told me she was not sure when the child was conceived, so she naturally was also not sure how along she was when she found out but she guessed it was about 2 or 3 months. Her boyfriend, who is also 17 years old, remained by her side the whole time. In fact, he did not even mention the possibility of abortion to her, and when she finally brought it up as something she would prefer not to do, he agreed 100 percent. This was practically shocking to me; its as if this 17 year old boy who has not even finished high school yet feels that he is ready and wants a child. Anyway, she described the moment that she first held her son in her arms as "the best fucking moment of my life!" (please excuse the language) Before this moment, however, she told me that she was feeling stressed out all the time and also depressed on occasion.

I think that this is possibly the least stereotypical story of birth that involves teen parents I have ever heard. The fact that the father of the child did not even bring up the option of abortion, and that when it was brought up he opposed it completely, is astonishing to me. I know that if I were in that boy's situation, I definitely would have at least brought up the idea of abortion and I'm certainly not ready to be a father! It seems that people can say a lot of things before they are actually thrown into the life of being a potential mother and father, but when it happens, one might feel very different. It also seems like it depends on when you believe the child is alive. The girl I asked said that she thinks her boyfriend had told her that he believes the baby is alive practically right after it is conceived. This would explain why he did not consider the option of abortion...to him it would feel like he was killing his own child.

The topic I would like to explore further is how the increased amount of teen girls becoming mothers currently is effecting both the lives of the parents as well as their children. However I am also interested in looking at the reasons that pro-life supporters believe abortion should not be a legal option for anyone.