Did Heather Armstrong Make Ricki Lake Pee Her Pants Today?
Monday, July 13, 2009 at 7:21PMHeather Armstrong, author of Dooce which has, like, 90 billion readers just gave Your Best Birth
Prior to reading the book and seeing the movie, Heather had never given the idea of out-of-hospital birth much thought. She received a copy of Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein’s book, Your Best Birth, from the publishers, read a few paragraphs and things changed.
And then, oh God, the worst thing happened. And I didn’t even see it coming, but I’m sitting there reading that book, gritting my teeth, shaking my head when all of a sudden it started to make sense. I started to see just how medicalized labor and birth have become in America AND THERE GOES MY WORLD VIEW.
Heather’s advice to pregnant women:
…if you are pregnant or are planning to become pregnant, GO READ THAT BOOK. From now on when someone asks me what is the one piece of advice I would give to a pregnant woman, it will be: GO BUY A COPY OF THAT BOOK.
and
IT CHANGED MY LIFE. I’m not even kidding, I’ll say it again: IT CHANGED MY LIFE.
She summed it up with the following.
Making it out alive with a healthy baby was my top priority, of course, but if there was no need for pitocin or an epidural or intravenous drugs or a vacuum or forceps or an oxygen mask or an emergency c-section, then that’s what I wanted.
And really, that’s not a lot to ask.
It’s really not a lot to ask.
Read the post The labor story, part one at Dooce.com. But who are we kidding— you’ve already read it along with the rest of the English-speaking world.
Reader Comments (20)
Yep, even I read it, and I don't read her blog (I know, where have I been.) I have to say that if I'd found her blog when she was being all "epidurals rock!" I would have gotten twisted up and vowed to trash her on my own blog. I'm glad I found her Post-Epiphany. ;)
Well, it's news to me! So thank you for the happy, Jill.
RIGHT ON RICKI. Fist is in the air.
Rixa did a review on her blog, Stand and Deliver, and there was some discussion about how the book would be great for someone who has never considered questioning cultural attitudes toward childbirth. I loved it, but only after I started reading, then went back and reread it as if I had never read anything but What to Expect. It would be a great starting place for a newly pregnant woman... like BoBB.
Yes, for the record, I did pee my pants!
Jill,
Did you just pee your pants that Ricki Lake commented on your blog? (Ironically I am writing a post on how women can prevent peeing on themselves, ie, perineal integrity).
RR, I totally peed. And I have a perineum of high integrity, so I will assume you are writing about me.
Ricki, you're awesome. :)
Fabulous! Hi Ricki Lake. Go read RR's story on how NOT to pee your pants!! I am only becoming aware of this blog/author also ...don't feel bad Gina. I shall follow Dooce now. Thank you Thank you. On another note, I just got an email from AWHONN about a webinar conference they are doing about upright positions for labor... the promo reads: "Are your registered and advanced practice perinatal nurses, OBs and family practice physicians still caring for laboring women like it's the 20th century? Then you need to attend Nursing Care and Management of the Second Stage of Labor. This educational webinar will present current evidence-based information about the benefits of upright positioning and delayed and non-directed pushing. Strategies for implementation of these techniques, including preparation and education of the mother for the second stage of labor also will be presented."
I'm happy to this and hope to help spread the word to help educate those who WONT go looking to educate themselves!
Hi Birth_Lactation,
That sounds like a great webinar. I'll help spread the word, too. See you on Twitter!
Jill
I am heading over to read it right now!
yes! i've been anxiously awaiting to read Heather's birth story because from the clues I'd gathered before, I got the impression that her view of birthing has changed and I wondered what could've caused that. Just think how many people will actually go and check out that book and documentary now :) Really exciting times, ladies!
On a side note, I never read the book but I did watch the documentary before my 3rd baby was born over a year ago. Even though at that time we were set on having a homebirth (which we ended up having), my husband and I really enjoyed the show and felt so at peace with our decision to finally have a homebirth...
Hi Olya,
Your video is beautiful. I left a comment on YouTube. I can see that you felt at peace about your decision... you were just plain at peace.
These are exciting times. Thanks for being bold and putting your video out there for almost a quarter of a million people to see.
Jill
@The Feminist Breeder I just read your VBAC story...you had an epidural and seem happy with it. Why would you trash Heather on your blog for it?
Holy cannoli... is this April Fool's day or something? First the uberblogger makes natural birth "cool" overnight and then Ricki's commenting on Unnecesarean? Was that really Ricki? Am I dreaming???? I dunno, but I LIKE IT!! :-)
Buscando la Luz,
It comes from her neck of the woods IP address-wise. The e-mail left is her e-mail address on My Best Birth... ricki@mybestbirth.com. I guess someone could e-mail her to ask. ;)
Jill
I'm totally peeing MY pants that RL left a comment over here! Who knew!!?
Ricki and Abby have done SO MUCH to bring mainstream recognition to normal birth! I cannot tell you how many women I've heard say that they have considered OOH birth when they wouldn't have before because they saw BoBB. Or how many husbands it convinced which really seems to be the sticking point.
Our first home birth spurred my husband to be a (Loud) advocate for the normalcy of birth. I think he said something like "We got up, had a baby, and went on with our day. It was like nothing out of the ordinary happened but everything had changed". I heart him. :)
I think I might be the only person in the world who never heard about Dooce!
No, I was NOT NOT NOT happy about that epidural (and now I'm wondering if I need to rewrite that whole thing because I would never in a thousand years want someong to think that I was even remotely happy about getting a the epidural that shut down my labor.) I also had a horrible reaction to the epidural during my cesarean, and never wanted to go near one again.
Did you read the part of my VBAC story where I had the epidural removed because it was the cause of my stalled labor, and finished my labor without any pain relief whatsoever?
Did you also read the part where I discussed the fact that I only got the epidural because I felt the urge to push, and they were telling me I couldn't push, and I felt that was the only way to stop my urge?
Looking back, if I had done what my body had told me to do, and not allowed them to interfere, I prolly would have had that baby in a couple of hours (just like I did when I finally got the epidural unhooked.) So yeah, anybody who says epidural are the cure for labor is just plain wrong, in a whole lot of cases. Not all.. but many.
TFB: I was wondering, because you were talking about how unmanageable your pain was at 2cm, then again when it was turned off. I guess I chose my words poorly when I used "happy." I should have said something to the effect that when it was dosed, it gave you the relief you needed... which is the message I got from your story. From what you wrote, you requested it, as well as your extra dose to help you from 8-10cm. It doesn't sound like you were being hounded to accept it.
I read it. I re-read it several times, including when I wrote this. I still get the message that, although you didn't want another epidural, your pain was unmanageable (which does indeed happen...everyone has different pain,) and it gave you relief. I don't think that you or anyone else should be trashed for getting pain relief, if they need it.
@M'Lynn - The pain was "unmanageable" because I was listening to the staff, and not myself. It was also "unmanageable" because they would not give me the natural pain relief I asked for (tub.) The epidural was something I never wanted to resort to, and don't feel that I would have had to resort to if I had stayed the hell away from that hospital.
And I made it quite clear that getting that extra dose of epidural toward the end was a huge mistake. It didn't make me feel any better, and it made pushing completely ineffective. I was only able to push baby out after that dose wore off and I was able to feel everything again. It's just a little too easy when there's a bolus hanging out of your harm to hit the button, but the minute I did so, I knew it was a bad idea.
I once read an article titled something like "Epidurals are for putting up with the hospital." All too true.
I don't fault anybody who resorts to them, but to publish the most popular blog on the planet and say "Epidurals are the greatest thing ever" (which is what I assume she was saying before) is just all kinds of irresponsible (and statistically inaccurate.)