Untitled

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 738, 4 September 1953, Page 5

Sir-I have just heard a most disappointing discussion from 1YA on. natural childbirth, For somé members of the panél it Was rather like deaf-mutes discussing a Beethoven sonata, the score of. which they had, as one revealingly put it, "waded through." In fact, the very spirit of the thing, the mother’s vital need for mental and emotional security, and the satisfaction of all inStinctive reactions towards the child, was almost as completely missed. Comment would scarcely be meritéd were it not for some genétalisations quite sin¢érely believed which should not be allowed to pass: Foremost was the confident assefticn that patients in labour aré not now left alone. Perhaps the fortiinate ones in some Hospitals’ are not, but my gtiess is that, taken- over’ all New Zealand, two-thirds are. left alone at some period, some for long terrifying intervals, énd often in cases when the staff quite honestly believe they did not leave the patient. In fact, the statement "I was never left alone" is still something to be remarked on particularly, not just assumed. It. should be noted, too, that the mere presence of another human’ being does not. fulfil Read’s éxplicit statement of the absolute necessity for the "continuous undivided attention" of someone in whom the patient has "absolute trust." Another generalisation was that all patients now receive "nine months’ instruction." This_is also very far from true, and often the instruction that is given.is very far from the edtcation

advocated by natural childbirth experts. Then a speaker compared the education of a mother for a natural birth with a conditioning of attitude of girls in a native race, assuming an identical process. This alone would certainly bear out his later priceless admission, "I don’t know whet we’re talking about," a perfect illustration of the complete lack of common ground between one who goes through the experience and one who watches. In fairness I think the NZBS should broadcast talks by those who really merit the title of expert on the particular topic, in this case the ideal being presumably a woman doctor who has _herself had a natural birth, and the opposition provided by a mother who has tried both types of birth and prefers the unconscious one.

EXPERIENCE

(Opotiki).