Hedonistic Obstetrics & Medical Spas: Ready for Your Pap-n-Wax™?
Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 1:59PM
The Today Show aired a segment about home birth on September 11, 2009, called “The Perils of Midwifery.” Journalist Peter Alexander leads into the segment by asking, “Is avoiding the clinical nature of a hospital birth worth the risk when complications arise?” Halfway through the clip, Erin Tracy, the delegate from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists who who authored the anti-midwifery AMA resolutions last June, provided her answer to Alexander’s question.
Unfortunately, when it comes to a delivery setting, some of the emergencies arise that can’t be predicted, they happen in low-risk women with no prior medical issues during their pregnancy and if you can’t intervene within minutes, the life of the mother and the life of the baby can be endangered.
Andrew Goldman, a contributing editor at New York magazine and author of the March 22, 2009, article titled Extreme Birth, was also interviewed in the Today Show segment. The comments that Goldman attributed to an unnamed doctor have been met in the blogosphere with both laughter and disgust.
One of the doctors I spoke to said that he thought home births had become almost the equivalent of a spa treatment for women, that it was sort of this hedonistic concept of birthing.
The snippet of Goldman’s interview used by the Today Show might not be representative of the entire interview with Goldman, nor was the anti-home birth title of his New York Magazine article, “Extreme Birth,” of his own doing. Goldman wrote in a comment to Jennifer Block on her Huffington Post response to his article, “I’m sure you’re well aware that a writer almost never pens her own headline or display text, so I can’t take credit for the dek, or the headline, Extreme Birth. Blame New York Magazine.”
The childbirth-as-spa-treatment concept is actively promoted by hospitals as a way of attracting pregnant customers. The Star Tribune posted a list online in July entitled “What a Mom Wants,” which lists amenities available at local hospitals, including the following (via Stand and Deliver):
Wireless internet, flat-screen TVs, CD and DVD players, spa services by “Go Home Gorgeous,” studio-quality portrait photography.
Birthing tubs with whirlpool, surround sound stereo, massage services.
Wireless internet, doulas, water-birth tub.
Water birth, massage, “healing touch” therapy including Reiki, music therapy (including the hospital’s own harp), acupuncture.
Two obstetricians on duty around the clock, studio-quality portrait services; spa service starts in August. [Emphasis mine to highlight this luxury]
Television’s most vitriolic critic of out-of-hospital birth, Lisa Masterson of The Doctors, brags about how nice hospital labor and delivery rooms are, stating most of the hospitals now are changing everything. “They look better than my bedroom at home,” said Masterson on a January 1, 2009 episode of the television show.
According to her web site, Masterson takes spa treatments to a new level combines gynecology and spa services at her Santa Monica, California “medical spa.”
Dr. Masterson’s unique practice includes a myriad of services not found in today’s traditional gynecological medicine, paving the way for advancement in her field. She offers a medical spa within her office and is available for house calls to those of her patients unable to make the nine to five business hours.
For 75 dollars, women can “keep things clean and fresh down there” with a shave or waxing at Masterson’s medical spa. Masterson calls this “one of the best pieces of advice you will get before delivery” and adds a manicure and pedicure so that “you are a diva during delivery.”
Also on the menu at the medical spa is an alternative, non-pharmaceutical induction massage that will target specific areas of the body to encourage labor.
Interestingly, Masterson provided a pre-emptive reality check to Dr. Tracy on the May 11, 2009 episode of The Doctors, which featured Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein of The Business of Being Born and Your Best Birth. While arguing with Epstein about why home birth is unsafe because of the distance it puts between the woman and the hospital, Masterson admitted the following:
You cannot necessarily get there because even in a hospital sometimes you can’t transfer quickly.
It is a fact that emergencies occur in a hospital and the appropriate staff is sometimes unavailable to perform a cesarean. The luxury item listed above of “[t]wo obstetricians on duty around the clock” is sometimes not enough or not available.
The concept of hedonism is often coupled with psychological egoism, the theory that humans are motivated by their self-interest. ACOG shared the results of a survey on September 11, 2009 that its members are knowingly causing harm to their patients by placing their self-interest before the health of the women in their care. OB-GYN student Hilary of Mom’s Tinfoil Hat has written a few times about a professor that turns up the heat on his patients to schedule their cesarean beginning in the first trimester of their pregnancies.
He told us that he preferred it because “twenty minutes, the baby is at the mom’s breast, and I get to go home, instead of waiting for twenty hours of labor.” He disparagingly said, “I am not a labor sitter. I am not a glorified midwife” and went on to assert that, in his capable hands, a cesarean was as safe as a vaginal delivery.
While The Today Show did not reveal the source of Goldman’s home birth disparaging doctor on the air, the topic of hedonism and the search for the most pleasurable, least lawsuit-triggering (in theory) work schedule possible is relevant in today’s maternity care climate. Producers, writers and editors at The Today Show and New York Magazine might feel that they have accurately identified the perils of midwifery, but educators, activists and consumer advocates are actively promoting awareness of the perils of hedonistic, self-serving obstetrics and helping women provide care providers who will best meet their health care needs during pregnancy and beyond.
And telling pregnant women to wax their crotches is not on their priority list.
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Reader Comments (29)
Gah, this makes me want to barf. "Be a diva during delivery," in other words, be pretty, stay quiet, don't you dare get sweaty or curse or flail around and be UNLADYLIKE. And did they HAVE to use the term "down there?" What are you, my prudish next door neighbor who can't even say "penis," and has to call it a "THING?" Yet more proof of how detached they want women to be during childbirth...can't even say the real words for the place where a CHILD IS ABOUT TO SHOOT OUT OF. God forbid we get too in touch with our bodies! BLECH!
There is just a cornucopia of things to respond to here, but first of all, a obstetrician/GYNECOLOGIST used the term "down there"? And put it in quotes herself? In 2009? For real? And this is in the context of saying that scheduling a Brazilian is "one of the best pieces of advice you will get" before the birth of your child?
My fellow women, one of the other best pieces of advice you will get: avoid like the second coming of the plague ANY doctor, let alone a gynecologist, who refers to your genitals as "down there".
Simul-posted with Jill! JINX! You owe me a beer.
Pardon my crudeness, but any OB who suggested a Brazilian would get a loud "fuck off" from me. If natural human body hair is too much bother for her delicate OB sensibilities, she can stuff it. What does she want, a dotted line to help her cut her episiotomy?
Nothing like having a bikini wax to compliment your new designer post- baby vag, i mean your "down there" area. My six year old doesn't even use the phrase "down there" to describe her pubic area/vulva! I am beyond surprised that an OB/Gyn would. Do urologists call it a wee wee? Would you go to a oncologist who called your breasts dirty pillows? A podiatrist who referred to your feet as your tootsies or piggies? No thanks, I'd like someone who uses more accurate words than the average pre-schooler And I love that now women need to feel "fresh and clean" in order to have a pleasant birthing experience. The natural state of things "down there" is something to be improved upon by modern technology, after all. Uhg.
Great response to this absurd allegation that homebirth is something women chose bc they want to be pampered...I'd like to point out that every OB/GYN office I've ever visited also offers laser hair removal, weight loss body wraps, and nutritional supplements that can help you look and feel "years younger" Sending the message that your body is icky, gross, and in need of professional grooming will surely lead to an empowering birthing expereince in which momma feels confident in her body's awesome natural abilities! My homebirth midwife, luckily, seems to like me just the way I am and is more concerned with my health, my family life, how I am sleeping, helping me to find ways to handle stress, supporting me through my pregnancy, and asking questions about how I would like to prepare for our birth.
I guess the wax is a good piece of advice coming from an OB who will more likely than not otherwise have to have the patient shaved prior to thier section ...
I hope people (besides regular readers) get that it's as silly to call obstetrics hedonistic as it is to call home birth hedonistic.
I'm still dying to know who the doctor was that told Andrew Goldman that out-of-hospital birth was the same as a selfish spa treatment to women. It makes me wonder if it's anyone we know.
I am surprised a good old colonic is not on the "menu" either. Don't want anything to come out "down there" that is not supposed to.
Unreal.
Ok, the last thing -- absolutely the LAST thing -- I would have thought about during labor, was whether or not I had just had a manicure and/or pedicure! Somehow, whether or not I had pretty red toenails doesn't seem like it would even enter into my conscious brain during a contraction. This whole post makes me want to barf. Blech!
However, I'm actually somewhat in favor of laborists, because I can see it being a benefit to women, to have a doctor in the hospital who doesn't care when she gives birth, because he will be going home at the same time, regardless of whether she gets a C-section in an hour, or has a vaginal birth ten hours from now. Doctors who attend night-time births, knowing they have to get up at 5:30 the next morning to get to the office in time to see a full schedule of patients, have a definite interest in speeding up a woman's labor so that she will give birth sooner rather than later, so he can get more sleep. Not saying all doctors would do this -- just saying the temptation would not only be there, but could be very strong, and would then cause a woman and her baby to undergo medically unnecessary, unwarranted, and potentially dangerous interventions so that he could get extra sleep. A laborist wouldn't.
Laborists are great. The only real criticism I've heard is that you don't know who's going to show up while you're crowning, but that's... pretty much how it is in most hospitals anyway. I fully support staffing round-the-clock laborists, especially if it's a way of making hospitals okay with VBAC.
Great post!
I have no desire for any 'pampering' in the sense of the word used here. The only pampering I would like is being treated like a person not some womb pod that might sue the doctor.
I did meet a woman once that wanted to put her full face of make-up on before they gave her the baby back (after it had been taken to the nursery for a number of hours) because she 'wanted to look her best" for her baby. That makes me want to cry! That baby could not care one bit
You know what makes me feel all fresh and clean "down there"? Soap. And I can do that at home. I'm just sayin'.
You forgot the post-cesarean tummy tuck! OBs are touting those too.
I think the bikini wax/manicure/pedicure spa part is ridiculous.
HOWEVER, I loved being waited on in the hospital. Not having to clean anything, room service meals, and having someone to help me 24/7 for those first few days was wonderful. I loved it.
Ridiculous. And why does Masterson fail to mention that the increased blood volume as a result of pregnancy makes the pain of any waxing or skin treatment (let alone in a swollen, ready-to-give-birth vulva!) nearly unbearable? Maybe they offer mini-epidurals for that, too? This is frustrating. You know what? I am even more intrigued by "unnamed doctor" thinking that home birth is hedonistic, therefore pleasurable. Pleasure is a good thing, yes? And the definition of hedonism is maximum pleasure, minimal pain. Hmm.
Spa treatments really are the last thing on my mind when I'm getting near the end of my pregnancy. All I'd like to do is give birth, as a VBAC, with a modicum of respect and dignity....oh, yeah, and without all CEFM, IV, etc. Since that's apparently the last thing on the list I suppose it's not a grand surprise that I now birth at home in my average home with a stock tank (inflatable birth tub this time) in my kitchen. Why does that equate to me wanting spa treatment?!? Sheesh!
I'm with you, Naomi! If wanting someone to care for me who actually gives a damn about me and my baby as real people, not dollar signs, is hedonistic, then by god I'm a decadent pleasure junkie and damn well proud of it!
*taps beers with Dou-la-la*
I always thought women who showed up with shaved or waxed vaginas, or mothers wearing thongs late in pregnancy, were kind of weird as a practitioner. It seemed to me to sexualize a non sexual process.
Thanks for the link love, Jill. I feel like a spy on the inside or something.
So maybe this is a ploy orchestrated by the newly formed "American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists", since one of their goals is to be the authority on the (mis)information which women (and everybody else) receive about maternity care practices. I'd be surprised if internet censorship is not in the top 5 of their to do list.
In the over 30 years that I have dedicated to supporting women in labor, during birth and throughout their early postnatal days in Tokyo, New York and Miami, I have NEVER heard one of them demand any of the things that this doctor offers with such glee. A perineal massage is not a luxury, it helps to prevent episiotomies. A tub during labor relaxes those who wish to have some respite from the stress of contractions. A home birth with a competent midwife assisting a healthy low risk mother is without a doubt, the healthiest and most satisfying way to have a baby. I will add that it is possible for a woman who knows what she wants and has good support to birth with a supportive midwife or ob with no intervention and her wishes respected in a hospital. And with regards to "waxing down there" well, that is utter nonsense of course. That is just dubious esthetics which the mother might choose for personal reasons. Certainly not to keep anything fresh. Hair is "down there" for a reason. There is NO reason not to support women's choices in childbirth unless they are unreasonable, like having an epidural in the parking lot or having a cesarean so that baby has a "nice round head." So primitive and ignorant. I think I will join the first reader and barf!
Barfing and gagging too!
Tiffany
As a friend said, "My birth at home was totally like a spa. The warm jacuzzi tub, the back rubs, the juice with the bendy straw, the baby coming out of my vagina...wait a second..."
That piece was, well, a piece all right.
Thank you for all of these comments. Yes, I'm glad to have MomTFH to do reconnaissance work (the real reason she's posing as an undercover med student-- hee hee) and Tara just made me laugh so hard. Spa treatments don't usually involve that much grunting and pushing, do they? I don't really do the spa thing, so I don't know.
Morgan... heck yeah! Mother the mother! Pamper away. :)
The idea of making pregnant women feel uncomfortable about what everyone is going to see "down there" during their birth is so unacceptable on so many levels. It doesn't bother me one bit what people do or don't do to their pubic hair, but it's mean to try to make women feel that their bodies are not going to be acceptable to the hospital staff. If this were marketed by an independent esthetician, I wouldn't have thought much, but coming from an OB's web site, it doesn't feel very affirming.
I'd like to point out that every OB/GYN office I've ever visited also offers laser hair removal, weight loss body wraps, and nutritional supplements that can help you look and feel "years younger" Sending the message that your body is icky, gross, and in need of professional grooming will surely lead to an empowering birthing expereince in which momma feels confident in her body's awesome natural abilities!
That OB/GYN offices offer beauty and weight loss treatments absolutely astounds me. How in the WORLD are they taken even remotely seriously?
Being 5 weeks post-partum, I can (with red cheeks) say that shaving my VULVA really cut down on the LOCHIA smell, and made cleaning my VAGINA easier. All it took was a disposable razor and a bar of soap. I shaved my legs and thighs before labor because it's something I regularly keep up with, but I couldn't reach my GIRLY BITS because of my belly. If doctors and nurses prefer SHAVED PUSSY then we have a bigger problem here than just defensive medicine.
Anon, I believe that the alleged preference is for WAXED ones.
Maybe women could get a stencil and wax their birth plan right where it will be seen and not ignored.
Jill, that is f*cking genius. A birth plan bikini wax. Perfect.
I know in surgery, evidence-based medicine states that you're supposed to trim hair (any hair, anywhere on the body) instead of shaving it. It lessens the incidence of surgical infections. I would think waxing or encouraging a bare region "down there" would increase c-section infections or leave an open pathway for MRSA or something. I usually like to keep my lady business neatly trimmed, but I will make sure that I don't shave my bikini line before delivery to lessen the risk of infection.
Well, I, for one, made it a point to have a pedicure right before my due date. I wanted to be able to see my pretty pink toes (wait, the color was actually called Chastity!) poking out of the water of my birth tub in my family room! Sadly, I was too distracted by giving birth to remember to look. Oh well.