gripey gripes on the topic of birth vocabulary

[kettunainen]

Midwives don't "perform births". Midwives assist (if needed) and attend (if they arrive on time).

And the term "delivery" or anything related to it with regard to birth should be stricken from our collective vocabulary.

optimystik did not "deliver" our son. I was the only one in the pool and he didn't have his hands in there at all. I BIRTHED my son and

Comments

[tamago23]

As I usually put it, unless it's a cesarean or instrumental birth, there's no delivering involved; it's the mother giving birth and anyone else is just catching. (I do think it's appropriate in the case of a cesarean, because in that case the mother *is* a passive player.)

[kettunainen]

agreed. I wanted to say something to this effect last night, but it was after 3am and I was brain dead.

[kuaimao]

I really, really strongly disagree with this.

A woman who has a C-section is not "a passive player". She is enduring. She is enduring the epidural needle, the cutting of her flesh, the shakes, the pain, the long recovery, all for the sake of her child. She is, with surgical assistance, birthing her child. The necessary assistance provided by the OB does not negate her role in the birth.

To suggest otherwise, to suggest that a woman who needs a C-section to birth her child safely is birthing her child any less, or in a lesser manner than, a woman who has the privilege of having a safe natural birth, is an insult to any woman who requires a C-section.