Starting off the book, there was a lot of information about Adam and Eve and and the religious scenario that took place when talking about birth and the process of birth. Although there are many people that believe in this scenario, there are many that do not. Given that there were people who didn’t believe in it, they decided to come up with a logical, scientific story behind to how and why the events happen in birth. But the discovery of the many things we know today came with a large price in the past. Many people were put through the suffering and pain of childbirth when trying to invent a medically appropriate explanation.
Continuing on the topic of people (specifically women) suffering. The group of people who experienced that more than anyone else were slaves. Not only were
their physical bodies damaged and broken, they were mentally scarred. These women were put to the maximum pain by the men who thought they knew more than anyone else. One doctor specifically had an “advantage” when it came to delivering the baby, and that family was the Dr. Sims. Dr. Sims had made many breakthroughs when it came to the structure of the vagina and how it adapted to the baby in birth. Dr. Sims noticed that “…the pushing tore the vagina walls, sometimes creating holesbetween vaina and bladder or bowel” (pg.35) This was the type of information that helpful to the medical advances we have today in the 21st century.Another family that helped in medical advances would be the Chamberlin family. This family was very dedicated to the delivery in birth and really wanted to make a difference. To do so, they created a tool that was left a secret for over 200 years. Many women saw the men in and out of the Chamberlin family as a blessing and a curse. The first thing they thought of when it came to medical men was “…the medical bag of spooky tools” (pg.19) This tool is called the Forcep, and was essentially one of the safest way to give birth. On the other hand, when looking more into the Forceps online, there were many things we would call complications today, that they thought were normal and okay back in the years leading up to the Civil War. Some of these complications were oddly shaped heads, bruising, cuts, brain damage and many other things. But of course, they did not think about it the way we do today, so they continued using Forceps.
In conclusion, although there were many breakthroughs when it came to men in the medical aspect of childbirth and delivery, it caused much harm as w
ell. The events leading up to the breakthroughs were scary and sometimes resulted in death. As Bunmi said in her blog post “So…Experimenting On Slaves Brought a Breakthrough?“, we are very lucky to know the things we do and to have advanced as much as we have since the Civil War. The medical advances have lead to less deaths in women around the United States. Although we still have complications, we are more prepared than we were and can deal with them a lot safer. I have learned a lot from the first part of this book. I had little to no prior knowledge of childbirth, only the stories I have heard from mothers than have been through childbirth. Now, I can say that today’s childbirth is nothing like it used to and I am very grateful.
StarPathDesign 
Leave a Reply