Lemay-zing Insights

If you haven't checked out Gloria Lemay's writing do yourself a favour and follow the links below. She consistently impresses me with not just what she has to say, but how she says it as well. Take her blog entry from today for example:

Recipe For a Caesarean Section

1 nice, well behaved woman
1 impatient obstetrician
½ doula
Minced birth plan
2 tsp prostaglandin gel
2 tbsp pitocin (do not use the authentic oxytocin)

Mix together slowly, monitoring as you go along. Once pain is intolerable, add

1 generous epidural (to freeze the well behaved woman from her breasts to her toes. )

Check with an ice cube for sensation. This epidural will be helpful in the cutting process to follow.

An external fetal monitor and contraction belt will help to move the process along. Once distress is induced in the inner cavity of the well-behaved woman, an amni hook can be used to puncture the protective lining. Some cooks prefer to insert a spiral screw into the scalp of the infant within the cavity to insure a certain outcome.

When it comes time to insert a knife, have all gadgets and implements for removing the infant at hand.
Cover well behaved woman with green cloths and screens exposing only a small strip of belly area.

Watch the finished product carefully for several hours after completion of the cesarean section to make sure that the recipe has performed as promised.

Information all women should have, that all natural birth activists spread as far and wide as they can, presented in a new light.

During my own pregnancy I felt very inspired by certain extracts from Gloria's work, namely:

I also find it valuable to view birth as an "elimination process" like other elimination processes-coughing, pooping, peeing, crying and sweating. All are valuable (like giving birth is) for maintaining the health of the body. They all require removing the thinking mind and changing one's "state." My friend Leilah is fond of saying, "Birth is a no brainer." After all "elimination processes" are finished, we feel a lot better until the next time. Each individual is competent to handle her bodily elimination functions without a lot of input from others. Birth complications, especially in the first-time mother, are often the result of helpful tampering with something that simply needs time and privacy to unfold as intended. (From "Pushing for First Time Moms)

Knowing from experience that my body was excellent at coughing, pooping, peeing, crying and sweating without any "help" from others or conscious effort on my own part, I went into labour confident that by trusting my body I was in very safe hands.

I am thrilled that Gloria is now keeping a blog, so we can all benefit from regular installments of her insights.

Lemayzing Work:

Pushing for First Time Moms

Pelvises I Have Known and Loved

Gloria's Blog