Comments on: Hurt

By: jaQ

jaQ — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:13:59 +0000

hugs to you. what a hellish thing to put on a pregnant woman, in what should be he best memories of her life. i am terribly sorry for what you went through. shame on them, all of them, who were involved in your experience.

By: VBAC Doesn’t Make it All Better :( « The Journey: Before and After Childbirth

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:43:23 +0000

[...] everyone, doctors, nurses, midwives, friends and relatives, when I told them my awful c/section story, was, “Well, next time you can have a [...]

By: Shaina

Shaina — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:45:50 +0000

Like the previous poster, I am reading this only now, and no matter how long ago it happened, I can still cry while reading it. I hope that your pain has somehow diminished over time, and if it were in my power I would feel personal responsibility to erase the hurt and make it better.

To me, homebirth is the best thing that has happened to womankind and I thank G-d as often as I can for my wonderful birth experiences. I live in Brooklyn as I imagine you do or did. When I became pregnant I was told that ‘everyone’ in my community had their babies with Klinger/Dori/Garelik. When I came to realize that I was leaning to having a more natural birth, I was recommended to go to the Park Slope Midwives. Having read your birth story, I am glad I didn’t. I ended up having my babies at home with Joan Bryson.

However, the one who convinced me to have a homebirth was actually an older sister of mine, who had a traumatic birth in a Chicago hospital. It wasn’t even as bad as yours to convince her to get the he** out of the hospital and get everyone who she cared about to rethink their birth choices.

I will certainly be sharing your birth story with anyone I know, and I must thank you for taking the time to tell your story so honestly and straight-forward, although it must be terribly hard. I imagine that you cannot be the only woman who had such an experience, but everyone else must be trying to cover up their grief, or convince themselves that it was not bad.

With blessings of comfort and health,
Shaina

By: dig this chick

dig this chick — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 05:31:16 +0000

Oh wow. I realize your sweet babe is now a five year-old, but I am just stumbling onto this post. I am so sad for you and your experience. And I am happy you were proactive with filing complaints and with expressing your feelings here. I cannot believe these horrid injustices still happen. Thanks for sharing your experience.

By: ikm

ikm — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:22:06 +0000

I found this post via Feministe.

Thank you for writing this very powerful story. My biggest fear would be to give birth in a hospital because of stories like these. I'm so sorry you had to go through this and so glad you chose to share your painful experience to educate others.

By: Feministe » Birth fears

Feministe » Birth fears — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:56:15 +0000

[...] And even when consent is given, it so often is poorly informed. Health-care providers intentionally frighten women to get them to acquiesce. Continuous electronic fetal monitoring has been shown to be of no benefit to maternal or perinatal mortality or morbidity, but a woman refusing it will often be asked “do you want your baby to die?” Small risks of non-intervention are inflated; larger ones of an intervention the doctor currently wants aren’t even mentioned. Women are told the pain of labour is going to get much worse, and the anesthesiologist is going to be busy in a few minutes, so if they ever want pain relief, they had better get it now. Emjaybee, a regular commenter here at feministe, had a traumatic birth that culminated in a nurse running away with her baby, without her or her husband’s consent. [...]

By: Suzy

Suzy — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 06:13:29 +0000

Thank you for writing this.

I understand how you feel. I had a very difficult first birth–needlessly so–that marred the early days with my daughter, and made breastfeeding very difficult (and unfortunately I took the ped’s advice and gave up, which broke my heart). I hope you do not let this first birth dissuade you from having more kids. It WILL NOT be like this next time. You won’t let it. You will arm yourself with all the information you can find. You will do everything you can to prevent it, and you will succeed, just as I have (3 times, now!).

Many hugs.

By: lulu

lulu — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 22:41:03 +0000

HI, thanks for sharing your story. I am still in my frist trimester and was going to call PSmidwives tomorrow to make an appt, since they are close to where I live and I like the idea of midwives–but because you were kind enough to share your story, i think I will pass them by and look elsewhere. Thank you, thank you, thank you for putting the word out!

Another transplanted Texan living in Brooklyn

By: Monty

Monty — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 20:50:18 +0000

I agree with Smokey. Such disrespect and ill-regard for the person is not just an overlook in the machinery of healthcare, but an abomination of the oath that each doctor takes. I’d be terrified and angry to no end watching those events unfold to my love and newborn son. Are we not an intelligent and soulful society? Where did this go wrong? You and Matt have my support, as always. I can’t wait to meet little Nathan- he sounds and looks like just the perfect addition to the family! Love to you from down south.

By: Sithean

Sithean — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 18:55:43 +0000

Oh,hon – This just breaks my heart. I want to smack those that treated you like a number instead of a wonderful woman about to bring a precious, new life into the world. I am so, so sorry you’ve gone through this, and am equally as glad that you are complaining. Please keep us updated!