1841

My wife is due in a couple of weeks, and our plan is to go to a local midwife center.

Her father is an ER trauma surgeon, and her mother has been a nurse for almost 40 years. They both think birthing centers are a great idea, and that a lot of what happens in hospital births is both unnecessary and actually dangerous for the mother.

If you want to run your mouth about how dangerous other people’s choices are, maybe spend some time actually reading up on the topic first so you don’t sound like such a judgemental braying jackass.

Pregnant women already have enough people telling them that every choice they make is wrong and will HURT THE BABY. Don’t add to the problem unless you actually know what the fuck you’re talking about.

1842

Grats on Sunday!!

1843

This dentists/barbers/doctors at birth stuff is in the wrong thread.
This is the right one: http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?p=1752507

1844

Congrats, I hope things go well for you!

I too have many people in my extended family in the medical profession in a capacity that doesn’t actually involve delivering babies regularly. So what?

Then fix the hospitals, don’t just walk away from them because they might do something bad. Not that I believe that hospitals are doing anything bad. I’d totally believe that hospitals do a lot of stuff that wasn’t totally necessary in an effort to pad up the bills, but I’m having trouble swallowing dangerous. You’d need a strong cite to convince me of that one.

I have read up on it, thanks. There’s a lot of arguments out there against hospital births. There are also a lot of arguments out there against having children vaccinated. The two share a lot in common in terms of demonizing the medical establishment and convincing people they will be just fine if they do the opposite of what their doctors recommend . . .

Sorry, but a parent choosing to turn their back on modern medical science and all the wonderful things it can do to save a baby or mother in a birth gone horribly wrong is in fact making a choice that can and will HURT THE BABY. I know what you mean about all the terrifying and conflicting messages out there, so I understand what you are saying about it being very confusing.

I’m not asserting that I know more about this topic than you and should be listened to because of my awesome expertise, I’m asserting that there are medical professionals that do know a ton about this topic and anyone who insists on having a birth outside of the methods the professionals recommend needs a slapping.

1845

Since when is it my job to fix the American medical system? I just want to have a kid.

Also, you do realize that C-sections are major surgery, right? That shit ain’t risk-free.

Unnecessary surgery definitely counts as dangerous in my book, but maybe you have different standards.

There’s also some research showing increased infant mortality rates for C sections compared to vaginal births, if you want to focus on the baby instead of the mother.

Who said anything about “demonizing the medical establishment” or “turning their back on modern medical science”?

All of the midwives at the birthing center we picked are certified nurse-midwives with direct admitting privileges to the nearest hospital, which is about two miles down the road.

It’s not like the only choices are “go to a hospital” and “go squat behind a tree in the woods”, you know.

And I’m asserting that you’re being really sloppy with your arguments, making a lot of assumptions, and demonizing people without stopping to actually understand what they’re really doing.

1846

I went on a food tour in Chicago (Bucktown/Wicker Park) a couple of weeks ago, and it was terrific. Any Chicago-area QT3ers, I highly recommend it. There’s also a North side one, which I want to check out later.

If you’re not in Chicago, if there’s any sort of food tour nearby, I’d suggest giving it a look. It was a fun way to find some new haunts, and a few hours of kicking around the city and eating was a great way to spend an afternoon.

1847

I know this has nothing to do with childbirth, but…

I managed to get a pair of boots today on my lunch break, at Sears of all places. On sale even. I now have all the requisite protective gear to ride motorcycles tomorrow. Yeah, that’s not so interesting…

Instructor dude mentioned in class last night that one of the local television stations is doing a feature on the program, and that they’ll be filming us driving around or something. I said I’d be sure to dress up for it. I’m going to be a star! A star!

1848

Cool.

Just, uh, try not to drop the bike on camera.

1849

There’s a time and a place for both ends of the scale - natural childbirth and c-sections, and everything inbetween. The issue is that overall we have swung too far across to the medicated/c-section end of things, and the pendulum needs to be pulled back closer to center. If anyone arguing about this hasn’t read that excellent article that jeffd linked in P&R recently, go check it out. I don’t think that demonising the entire medical community as profit-mongers is any fairer than demonising hippie moms who choose to give birth in a more natural way.

Personally, the idea of a home birth scares the shit out of me, I preferred being in a hospital because I’m highly risk-averse. In the end its good that I was right there in a hospital, but its impossible to know how things could have turned out if I’d done things differently.

1850

Did we talk about circumcison yet?

:|

1851

I thought that was more dinnertime conversation.

1852

Unless you just got circumcised, you probably want this thread instead.

1853

He was already there.

1854

I was walking my dog Sigge late saturday night and was almost home when I passed the local pizza place/pub. I was on the other side of the street when I heard a bark and running from a table outside the pub came an Amstaff/pitbull straight at Sigge.

I let go of the leash and suddenly my dog was fighting for his life. After maybe 30 seconds and a lot of running the other dog’s owners got hold of their dog and I had to coax Sigge out of a cellar stairwell. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so scared. He was bleeding from his legs and his back and I was just in shock. I took him home and was going down to talk tot he other dog’s owner when I saw them slink away around a corner down the street.

Thankfully none of the wounds seemed serious after I cleaned them, superficial cuts and one slightly deeper puncture wound on his thigh. Sigge is walking around on three legs now but I think it’s mostly that he’s bruised and in pain.

Mandatory picture.

1855

Poor puppy!

My carpal tunnel’s been really bad this last week, so last night I decided to try spinning wool last night. It’s been like two years since I last did it (because of a back injury in 2007), but it came back to me pretty quickly. So now I have a half-full bobbin of bubble gum pink Merino, and my arms don’t hurt. Yay!

1856

Lots of dog events here lately.

Is that dog-u-drama?

Teehee.

1857

I would take him to the vet. Attacks like this are exactly why I use the ‘choke collar’ style leash that Cesar Milan recommends. I had the same thing happen with my dog but because he was close to me, I was able to extricate my dog and kick the shit out of the other dog.

1858

I had to google Cesar Milan … a dog whisperer, huh?

1859

He’s really really good. His approach with dogs works with how they are, not how you are. If you have a dog and would like to see better behavior with them, I’d recommend these DVD’s.

1860

That might be but whenever someone labels themselves as some sort of animal whisperer my bullshit alarms go off and I sort of tune out. It’s like people who claim to talk to the dead. Nonsense, IMO.