UNLIMITED "Vaginas are scary" discussion thread!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Maternal death absolutely skyrocketed when birth was medicalized. Keep in mind that the rate of death for a normal attended birth pre-medicalization was about 5/1000, and after medicalization became widespread it reached a peak of 85/1000. By contrast, the most dangerous birth prior to that time was unattended birth, which had a maternal death rate of about 25/1000 (NIH).

Better off unattended than medicalized, holy shit.

I wonder how accurate those numbers were in underdeveloped areas of the country though. I imagine if you live out in the Appalachians in 1930, don't own shoes and the nearest coroner/doctor is miles away and no one in your part of the country can afford a car yet, there are going to be a lot fewer non-live births that get reported and a lot more infants that die before they're issued birth or baptismal certificates...especially of Maw gets knocked up annually and loses about half of 'em.

Still, even if that number is off by 20/1000, that's some fucked up shit.

This is maternal deaths, not infant deaths. Humans are the only species that requires attendance in giving birth. Thanks to being all bipedal & smart & shit. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The US still has an absurdly high rate of infant mortality, though.

That's due to insurance companies interfering in medical decisions, I think.

The prevailing theory is that it's mainly a combination of very poor rates of access to prenatal care and education, leading to more premature and low-birth-weight infants. Other less significant contributing factors are thought to be exposure of infants to resistant bacteria in the hospital, and excessive medical intervention during birth; ie. the absurdly high rate of induction, which often leads to emergency C-sections when the baby goes into distress.

There's probably something to that last bit.  When I had the monkey, they induced me, and for hours they had me rolling back and forth because he couldn't breathe in there after they broke my water. 

Yeah; there are a combination of factors there too, but the main thing with that is that induced labor leads to stronger, more rapid and longer contractions than are normal, and it can negatively impact the oxygen to the baby.

Oh, I am dead against Oxytocin except in a narrow segment of cases. Where you goin', lady? You can't wait for the kid's brain to finish cooking? Eat some avocados and sit back the fuck down on that egg, guhl!"

Yes, it's a useful tool of medicine, but it's being badly misused (IMO).

Someday, somebody's going to pay me for my opinions. 

[navkat]

Dude, the fact that women in LA can now schedule a c-section with their plastic surgeon attending for personal convenience sort of makes me vom onto my cranial cavity.

[Telarus]

The US still has an absurdly high rate of infant mortality, though.

That's due to insurance companies interfering in medical decisions, I think.

The prevailing theory is that it's mainly a combination of very poor rates of access to prenatal care and education, leading to more premature and low-birth-weight infants. Other less significant contributing factors are thought to be exposure of infants to resistant bacteria in the hospital, and excessive medical intervention during birth; ie. the absurdly high rate of induction, which often leads to emergency C-sections when the baby goes into distress.

There's probably something to that last bit.  When I had the monkey, they induced me, and for hours they had me rolling back and forth because he couldn't breathe in there after they broke my water. 

This (along with the ramp up of the medicalization in the 90s) is why my mother decided to have her 3rd kid (my sister) in one of the underwater birthing centers (not in the hospital campus, etc, etc). The infant doesn't feel the need to pull breath until after birth when they pull them above water surface.

[Freeky]

The infant doesn't feel the need to pull breath until after birth when they pull them above water surface.

I did not know that, and always wondered how that worked.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Is this the thread where I get to bitch about the fact that I was diagnosed with a "lazy uterus"?

WELL

     That's your fault for not disciplining it properly.

OR

     Is that a medical condition?

That is the honest-to-goodness name of a medical condition that basically boils down to "get that fucking baby out already I'm bored."


...Okay I'm being a little disingenuous there. "Lazy uterus" is a condition wherein the uterus isn't super enthusiastic about contractions in general, resulting in very slow labor and difficulty passing the afterbirth. With my first, they decided that pumping me full of pitocin and walking out the door was totally a viable treatment for this, hence the midwife with the second kid. Even with her, there was a certain amount of "alright, let's get that fucking kid out already" but she didn't do anything to induce until I was already at 8 cm.

It's just unbelievable to me that OBs can get away with putting shit like "lazy uterus" and "incompetent cervix" in their fucking textbooks. It's exactly as if the medical term for erectile dysfunction were "useless penis."

[navkat]

"Fat, out-of-breath, aging, diabetic penis."

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

"Fat, out-of-breath, aging, diabetic penis."

Oh my god, when did you meet my ex?

[Cain]

Having a fat penis alone doesn't sound like a bad thing...

[Triple Zero]

The guys last name is Dick?!

Are we sure he isn't a robot?

EDIT: That would explain his lack of human emotions...

There's another guy called Weiner, and yet another guy called Boehner.

My personal pet theory is that our reptilian shapeshifter overlords have a really juvenile sense of humour.

Relevant to this thread: http://www.cracked.com/article_19785_5-ways-modern-men-are-trained-to-hate-women.html

That is a great article, even though he delves pretty far into sarcasm in the last bitter few parts.

How do you mean, sarcasm? That he's exaggerating male urges? Because his descriptions are pretty spot-on. Probably not every male does all of that, all the time, but almost every/nearly all/nearly all is a lot closer than even the [/i]most/most/most of[/i] scenario. It's odd, though not very surprising, that there's a lot more thinking about boobs in my head now I'm single (or maybe the amount is the same, just the attention is more varied).

Maybe at the end with the whole power thing. Or maybe, not even that. It's just not a big thing for me, especially not in a sexual thing, but thinking about it, I do recognize it in even my most intelligent friends (being my friends, of course implies they don't turn those urges to misogyny--much).

No, yeah, men are quite the odd animals. It must be so ... quiet and peaceful in a female head, I cannot imagine!

Another thing this article made me wonder about, how does this work for gay men? The same but they think about male ass? I suppose? (but what about boobs? how do they fill that gap?? it boggles the mind ...)

The infant doesn't feel the need to pull breath until after birth when they pull them above water surface.

I did not know that, and always wondered how that worked.

Babbies got all sorts of secret superpowers!

[Oysters Rockefeller]

The guys last name is Dick?!

Are we sure he isn't a robot?

EDIT: That would explain his lack of human emotions...

There's another guy called Weiner, and yet another guy called Boehner.

My personal pet theory is that our reptilian shapeshifter overlords have a really juvenile sense of humour.

Well, at least they have a sense of humour. If this is what we get now, I'd hate to serve under reptilian shapeshifter overlords without one.

[Kai]

We all do!

I appreciate that you accept me for who I am and don't get all pissed at me.

Also, my hobby is reading WHO and CDC reports. It's why I decided to go to school for what I'll eventually be studying.

You are so WEIRD!!!!!

Could be weirder. I could be reading about bugs, or rocks.

Pegged. 

[Cain]

Babbies got all sorts of secret superpowers!

Not limited to, but including, detecting evil.

[Cainad (dec.)]

We all do!

I appreciate that you accept me for who I am and don't get all pissed at me.

Also, my hobby is reading WHO and CDC reports. It's why I decided to go to school for what I'll eventually be studying.

You are so WEIRD!!!!!

Could be weirder. I could be reading about bugs, or rocks.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]