Over the past few days I have read the first section of Get Me Out, I have learned a lot of new things from such a short amount of chapters. I have never really learned much about pregnancy or how the medications and tools we have today came to be, so it is really interesting to learn how this field evolved.
I know what you’re thinking: what does this title have anything to do with the book I am reading? Let me tell you, while reading this book I have learned a lot about what use to happen to babies if they were not able to properly come out of the birth canal. I found it rather gruesome what happened to the baby. “Before forceps, babies stuck in the birth canal were dragged out by the doctor, often in pieces” (pg.19) It really got me thinking, what would happen if a baby came out of the birth canal in pieces in this day and age? I can hardly imagine how big of a lawsuit would follow
Technology has really evolved to help a woman better deliver a child. Going back to some of the first few lines of book I learned that pain medication during childbirth hasn’t always been legal. “In 1591, Eufame Maclayne was burned at the stake for asking for pain relief during the birth of her twins.” (pg.3) I did a bit of research to find out when main medication during childbirth became common practice. According to the National Ceter for Biotechnology Information, epidural only recently became a common practice less than 40 years ago. I am still curious as to how we evolved from burning
a woman at the stake to this form of anesthesia becoming a common practice.
There are many things that can contribute to the childbearing experiences of a woman. The biggest one? Race and class. The parts of the book that I have read have not really gone into depth about this topic, but I do know a few things. A patient who has less money and is of another race than caucasian would have a different experience. Now that is what I think is the case in America. In another country, where everyone is mainly the same race, class is a big part of the childbearing experience. In India, I know first hand that people in India need money. Even a doctor will still go to great lengths to receive more money. He or she will give better treatment to those who have more money knowing that in the end they will receive more money.
The World Health Organization Millennium Development Goal #5
talks about improving maternal health. The goal is to better help those living in areas where maternal health isn’t all that important. I think so far we are making better progress with this goal. Going back to what I have read so far in Get Me Out, I would say that we are stepping forward. We may have not cut the number of women dying in childbirth in half, but there are still things people are doing to help the death rate of mothers and newborn babies.
I was reading into Karla’s blog post and she made a very valid point about why women in the early times even wanted to have children. Why would someone want to do something so scary knowing that they could die? I have never really even thought about that idea.
Overall, this book is giving me insight about a topic I never really knew much about. It is really interesting to see how far along this world has come in terms of pregnancy related topics. I think that the advances we have now are making things a lot better and will continue to progress as the time keeps going.
StarPathDesign 
Nishi, I was very impressed by your blog post. In particular, what you mentioned about how doctor’s treat and bill patients was something that I wouldn’t have thought of and it offered a new perspective on healthcare. I find it interesting because the way doctor’s take advantage of patients because of their class or race could be one of the few things that hasn’t changed when it comes to healthcare.
Great job!
-Kayla Z
Nishi I took didn’t know very much about how the tools we use now came to be. While reading I was upset with the fact that people thought upper class women were treated with more care and medicine than the lower classes because the lower classes were used to hard work. However, overall it was still very interesting to learn about, good job on your post! – Elissa T.