Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site eosp1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!eosp1!robison From: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) Newsgroups: net.jokes.d Subject: Re: Natural Childbirth by Dave Barry Message-ID: <925@eosp1.UUCP> Date: Wed, 13-Jun-84 18:15:52 EDT Article-I.D.: eosp1.925 Posted: Wed Jun 13 18:15:52 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 14-Jun-84 01:04:35 EDT Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ Lines: 29 References: I hope Dave barry grows up quickly so that his child will have the benefit of a mature parent as soon as possible. Most of his historical data is inaccurate, and most of his attitudes toward mess, etcetera, are typical of children ages approximately 9 to 13. One point of information: The primary reason that doctors today prefer not to fill the woman full of anesthetic drugs is not, as Barry says, so that she can share the great moment with the child, but so that the child is not heavily doped before, during, and after it is born. An undoped child is less likely to die in (difficult) childbirth, and may have some advantages at the beginning of its life. The second reason is that the undoped woman can control her muscles and assist in childbirth. There are a number of medical benefits associated with this, including, I think, less chance that the doctor will have to use forceps. There is a danger of disfiguring the child when forceps are used. I took a wonderful photograph of my daughter, 15 minutes old, focusing both her eyes together to look at her mother. She was alert and awake from the start, and those early moments together for the three of us WERE wonderful... - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison princeton!eosp1!robison