Letter from Boston
Baby Trend Booming
By MASAKO YAMADA
|
|
出産ラッシュ
雅子さんが属する研究グループは、このところお産ばやり。1年半ほど前に、1ヵ月間に3人の子供が誕生し、今夏も3人の研究員が出産を控えています。雅子さんが母親になったばかりの女性たちに話を聞くと、皆楽しそうにお産体験を語ってくれます。そして最後には、決まって「今度はあなたの番?」と聞かれるのだそうです。
|
I was reading the Sunday Times today and a special
section immediately caught my eye. The section was
called "Women's Health." I grabbed it even before I
opened my usual favorite section, "Sunday Styles."
I don't know if it's because I went to a women's
college or if it's just because I am a woman, but I
can't seem to resist articles on women's health. Not
too surprisingly, many of the articles in this section
concentrated on reproductive issues. I eagerly read
the articles.
I've mentioned many times that my group is very
large. Since there are so many people in the group, we
have enough members to form a kind of society. We are
also able to see different trends sweeping the group.
Right now, there seems to be a trend in having babies:
This is no small wonder considering that so many of the
group members are of childbearing age.
Three of the group members are having babies this
summer. About a year and a half ago, three babies were
born within a month or so, too. Another trend is that
five out of six of these babies are girls. Maybe it has
something to do with the laboratory air.
I've had the opportunity to speak to many of these new
parents and I've especially enjoyed speaking to the
women. Although I've tried to be discreet in asking
them questions about this very personal experience, most
of them have in fact been extremely frank about talking
about their childbirth experiences.
Indeed, they have seemed to enjoy my interest in the
topic and have provided extra details without my asking
("My cervix had dilated only 3 cm at 2:00 p.m. on
Saturday. And then ...").
One of the things that I've heard over and over is
that they consented to epidurals only after the pain
became so unbearable that they were losing the energy
to push. The women have told me that part of the reason
they were reluctant to have the epidural is because
there is the slight risk that their spines could be
damaged. They also probably felt the lingering guilt
that natural is better.
Interestingly enough, the "Women's Health" section
of the Sunday Times had a humorous article saying that
more and more women are moving away from the once-trendy
natural birth movement and are wholeheartedly embracing
epidurals and other medical advances to help make the
experience more comfortable.
The women I talked to all seemed extremely happy with
their eventual choice to have epidurals. One woman said
she was even able to watch her baby come out, since they
held a mirror so she could see. She said she could only
remember pain from her first childbearing experience
which was a natural birth, and that this was very
different.
One of the trends from the 80's that has not gone out of
style is to have family members in the delivery room.
The stereotypical father of the 50's paces the hall
outside the delivery room and waits to hear the baby cry.
The stereotypical father now brings juice to the mother,
massages her back, holds her hand and perhaps even keeps
the video camera running while the woman is in labor.
Needless to say, he often tags along on visits to the
OB/GYN both before and after the birth as well.
One of my labmates who just had a baby told me that
he felt unprepared for all of this supporting work.
He'd grown up in the Soviet Union, where men do not do
this sort of thing. However, he was very eager to learn
how to help his American wife and he enlisted in the
help of a nurse friend for guidance.
Apparently, he did the job well, including holding a
shower head for two hours when his wife started having
contractions so that she could relax her back. It took
her 40 hours to give birth after her water broke and
she was in hard labor for 24 hours. His wife told me
that when they finally performed the epidural, the doctor
suggested that he go away. However, he stayed the entire
time. I was impressed.
These stories are always fascinating to me and I
love looking at the children of my friends. However, when
they invariably ask me, "So, why are you so
interested? Is it going to be your turn soon?" I
unhesitatingly yell, "Noooo
Shukan ST: July 7, 2000
(C) All rights reserved
|