Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Perineums

Everyone has heard a story of a birth where the perineum was "tight" and just wouldn't stretch to allow the head to be fully born, and the midwife (or doctor) just had to either cut an episiotomy (it makes me wince to even consider) or massage it back around the baby's head.

Does this make biological sense? This makes as much sense as saying that a baby won't breath properly if not suctioned. ????
Um, no.

Any perineum that hasn't been mutilated by
FGM will stretch as needed to birth a baby. Perhaps those women who have these so called 'tight' perineums need to be given more privacy, perineums unobserved, to give birth.

Sort of how our vaginas are soft and open up to our lover's touch but tense up when a stranger inserts a speculum.

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

I STRONGLY agree with this. I birthed my daughter at home and my midwfife told me that I had a very tight perineum. I pushed for three hours and then had an episiotomy. I always tell my husband that, reflecting back on it now, I feel like if everyone would have just left the room and let me push for a while on my own, I could have prevented the episiotomy. I really believe this.

Anyway, you have a great blog. Thanks for this post.