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Obstetric violence exists

2021-08-23T04:08:01.036Z


They can be unnecessary practices. It is medicalizing at all costs. It's about intervening unnecessarily. And, in addition, it is also knowing that you are an uncomfortable woman because of requests that are normal when you "know too much"


It took me two years to become aware of the delivery of my first daughter. It was a sunny day in November 2015, while I was writing a report on obstetric violence. He had contacted El Parto es Nuestro, which a year earlier had created the Spanish Observatory of Obstetric Violence (OVO), a body linked to the association whose objective was to publicly denounce the practices that constitute this type of violence in Spain and work to eradicate them . From here came a first report prepared from the data collected from the testimonies of almost 2,000 women. I remember talking on the phone with Chus, the journalist who was doing press work at the association at the time, about the sources with which I would like to address the issue. That November day I ended up telling her about my delivery from beginning to end.It was liberating to get that out. Why not before? I asked her forgiveness several times for invading her with my personal story. She, empathetic and respectful, accompanied my feelings. This is something that has always fascinated me about women's groups, feminist associations, how good listeners they are. I guess it was inevitable that she would end up becoming, by chance, a good friend several years after that.

More information

  • 'Kristeller': the unnecessary maneuver that is still practiced in childbirth

  • Obstetric violence: the silenced abuse behind caesarean sections and the 'Kristeller' maneuver in childbirth

Obstetric violence is sometimes subtle violence. At first you may not feel it, but it becomes something that pricks you inside. Like a splinter that you don't really know how it got to the index finger of your hand, and that you don't really know how to remove it either. Everything comes from behind. Even before you get pregnant. It did not happen to me, but I know women who have had to face comments on their gynecological visits that alluded to their fertility or their bodies in a way that is far from health issues. When I got pregnant with Mara I started reading everything I could about pregnancy and childbirth. I wanted to know stories from other women because, as Carme Riera says in

Time of waiting

, I wanted to know "how other women have lived this wonderful and at the same time terrible metamorphosis". At that time, maternity blogs became an inexhaustible source of experiences and feelings. Other women had first trimester nausea. They had felt the first kicks. They had been collecting ultrasounds. They had bought things that the baby never needs later. And they had become a kind of counter of weeks that advanced along with a growing impatience to know what that "terrible metamorphosis" will be like.

Birth stories always gave me mixed feelings. Reading them was a want and I don't want to. Better to know. Better not know. I would wake up many nights thinking about one of the stories. The episiotomy haunted me. Also caesarean section and separation; it was enough to think about it to hear the racing of my heart, to feel the sweat on my hands, that my stomach rose a little more than my uterus had already risen. But everything could go well. A normal pregnancy in a healthy woman does not have to go wrong. In moments of euphoria I could have tattooed a "Everything is going to be fine." I assumed that being very prepared for the moment and having as much information as possible would save me from any avoidable discomfort.You had to choose a good place to give birth because it would be of little use to “know” what you needed without a space that offered it and a health staff that respected you.

My daughter chose a Tuesday to be born. The counter had stopped in week 40. We arrived at the hospital at 11 pm the day before loaded with a suitcase with tiny clothes, the CDs for the music equipment that they claimed to have and the expectations contained as one who wants to contain a storm in a glass jar. I went through a monitor room and then through an ultrasound and a pampered touch. The disappointment: two centimeters of dilation. Perhaps the smart thing to do would have been to flee from there and wait at home to dilate at least 6, 7, 8 centimeters. Both counting weeks and I calculated that fatally. Instead, I behaved well: I agreed to go to the delivery room assigned to me, I allowed myself to be monitored and a IV line placed. I was expressly prohibited from taking absolutely anything, neither liquid, nor solid,and I found no trace of the pilates balls that they said they had on the visit. Discarded the shower and the walks to support the contractions. We did find the stereo, but it turned out not to work. Chance?

I was consumed with pain in each lying contraction. I needed to move, to stand up. When I did, the signal from the monitor was lost and they came running to warn me that I had to be

"lying down

and still." "

Tumbadita

and still ”. During those first hours the contractions gradually increased in intensity, but my firm wish was not to opt for epidural analgesia. Wasn't he going to be able to use balls and douches for dilation? Every so often different people came to ask me why I didn't want to wear it. “You have to put it on”, “Now it hurts, but the contractions will get worse and you won't be able to bear it”, “You will have a very bad time if you don't put it on”. They offered me an enema and tear the bag. I gave in to the epidural after six hours without being able to move as my body asked. There were more touches. They probed me, tore my bag, put an internal monitor on me, and hooked me up on oxytocin. A complete pack that was not part of my birth plan. More people entering the room, more messages booming:"When the baby is born there is a possibility that we will have to take him to suck him if he has swallowed something", "Let's see if it is possible not to cut", "You are very

narrow,

if it does not come out, we will have to go to the operating room ”. Vulnerability marking my yeses.

I was afraid, but not of childbirth. I was afraid of not being able to move, because they had scared me, because they did not respect what I needed (nothing that was not in the Guide on care for normal delivery), because it turned out that the epidural that I did not want almost caused me to faint, because I didn't want to be separated from Mara, because I didn't want an incision made in my perineum. "Let's see if it is possible not to cut." Luckily it was possible that they respected not to cut. I remember myself in the expulsive pushing myself in the directed pushes and begging, please, please, not to have an episiotomy. I suffered a minimal tear that healed on its own without further ado. Luckily, they didn't separate Mara from us either and put her on me. 16 hours into labor facing constant questioning and lack of empathy.Obstetric violence is a disrespected delivery. They are those words that stick in a moment when you feel vulnerable. "I don't know what to give patients like you for iron," a gynecologist told me during my second pregnancy check-ups. Obstetric violence can be unnecessary practices. It is not putting into practice the care recommendations based on the latest available scientific evidence. It is medicalizing at all costs. It is unnecessarily over-intervening. Obstetric violence is also knowing you are an uncomfortable woman for requests that are normal when you "know too much".Obstetric violence can be unnecessary practices. It is not putting into practice the care recommendations based on the latest available scientific evidence. It is medicalizing at all costs. It is unnecessarily over-intervening. Obstetric violence is also knowing you are an uncomfortable woman for requests that are normal when you "know too much".Obstetric violence can be unnecessary practices. It is not putting into practice the care recommendations based on the latest available scientific evidence. It is medicalizing at all costs. It is unnecessarily over-intervening. Obstetric violence is also knowing you are an uncomfortable woman for requests that are normal when you "know too much".

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-08-23

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