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This is a stretch test,
which engineers use
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to measure the strength and stretchiness
of materials, like rubber.
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But here,
it's testing something different:
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tissue from a human cervix.
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The cervix is the gate
between a woman's uterus and her vagina.
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It blocks anything,
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like a penis, from going any further up.
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And it stops important things
in the uterus,
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like a growing fetus,
from coming down too early.
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Think of the uterus like a balloon.
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You blow up the balloon with air.
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You have to keep the air in the uterus
or the baby inside the uterus,
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and that cervix is the knot
that keeps the uterus closed.
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As an engineer,
what's really struck me about the cervix
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is that a pregnant specimen in the lab...
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It just keeps stretching and stretching.
It never breaks.
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Over nine months of pregnancy,
the cervix gets five times stretchier.
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When it's soft like the skin on your lips,
it opens up.
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And as you may know from experience
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or from a common TV trope,
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that's usually when...
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Mindy, your water just broke.
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Ah! My water just broke.
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Oh! I'm sitting here in a puddle of water.
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Uh... my water broke.
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Oh, that's cool.
We got another one here in the fridge.
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After the baby comes out,
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this very compliant material
has to remodel and repair itself.
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I don't know
of any other engineering material
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that can soften
or remodel itself that quickly.
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Put simply,
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the cervix is an anatomical
and engineering miracle.
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But that doesn't make childbirth itself
any less daunting.
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I'm not really scared. I'm, like...
Yeah, I am nervous.
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I'm completely nervous,
like, but it's only
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because this is my first kid,
so I don't really know what to expect.
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Around the world,
250 babies are born every minute.
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In hospitals or at home
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with midwives, doulas, and doctors.
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Some women use drugs for the pain,
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some have C-sections
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or use other medical technology.
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And others don't.
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Sweetheart, show me what you got.
Ready? Nice deep breath in.
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Breath. And push from your bottom.
You got this.
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Two, three, four...
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But childbirth still kills
more than 800 women every day
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around the world.
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And one global survey found that up
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to 30% of women rate childbirth
as traumatic.
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I just remember, like, closing my eyes
and going inside
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into, like, the deepest part of myself
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to just be like,
"I have to get through this."
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I was, like, really traumatized
for a really long time.
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So, what makes childbirth so hard?
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And what can women do
to have the easiest and safest experience?
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You got this.
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The contractions
in true labor
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always have a definite rhythm.
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You may suddenly wonder
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how the baby can possibly
get through that small opening.
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Don't worry, you'll stretch enough.
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It is not only pathological knowledge
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which makes the great obstetrician.
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It is vigilance.
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One that does not let you forget you have
in your hands the lives of two people.
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Most large primates give birth
in relatively similar fashion.
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The female carries the fetus
in her womb for 30 to 40 weeks,
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and then the baby emerges
from the birth canal,
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usually headfirst, within hours.
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But there's one key difference:
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humans suffer a lot more.
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It's not like a baby just falls out,
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like some Monty Python sketch,
for non-human primates.
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They do struggle, and still,
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they have a seemingly
much more easy childbirth
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than we have.
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Humans labor around nine hours
the first time they give birth
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and often go much longer,
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while most chimps labor
for just two hours.
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And there's one part
of the struggle of childbirth
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that's harder to quantify... the pain.
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It felt like the bottom half
of my body was gonna explode
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and erupt goo
all over the four walls of the room.
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Like you're
in some kind of pain blender,
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where you're just being spun around,
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and you don't know what's going on.
It feels like you're being ripped in two.
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Everything painted red,
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and there's, like, this alarm
that's like...
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It looked like
I was experiencing an exorcism.
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The question of why humans
have painful births comes down
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to anatomy and evolution.
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The theory goes like this:
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Humans, unlike other primates,
evolved to walk on two legs,
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which meant pelvises
became more complicated and narrow.
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Our brains also evolved
to be bigger than other primates',
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which means bigger newborn heads.
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So chimps get to push out a small head
from wide hips,
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while we're stuck squeezing out
a big baby through a narrow space.
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But why did it stop there?
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Why didn't we keep evolving our anatomy
to make childbirth less painful?
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Well, why didn't we evolve
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away from painful bowel movements?
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And why didn't we evolve
out of painful breakups?
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Natural selection doesn't care
about pain,
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just survival. And even though it hurts...
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...we keep making babies anyway.
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What works, works.
And what's good enough is good enough.
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It's a terribly tight fit.
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It's a painful labor.
It's a long, protracted labor,
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but it works. It's good enough.
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So, to continue the survival
of our species,
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women have always been stuck
with difficult childbirths.
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- Almost there.
- How much more?
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Not much more.
One push at a time.
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The Old Testament says,
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"With painful labor,
you will give birth to children,"
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after Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge.
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And this scroll from 12th-century Japan
shows childbirth as so deadly
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that it attracted evil spirits
who were drawn to near-fatal events.
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That's why so many cultures
throughout history found ways
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to protect and comfort women
during childbirth...
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with rituals
and the support of friends and family.
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Women also tried to numb their pain
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with opium and hashish
in the Mediterranean,
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or in ancient Greece, willow bark,
which is chemically similar to aspirin.
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And scientists invented new tools
and technologies
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to help if the baby got stuck.
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Thanks to medical progress,
childbirth got less deadly over time.
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And one of the biggest areas of progress
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was the Caesarean section.
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C-sections actually originated
thousands of years ago.
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They're referenced
in almost every ancient culture,
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and were performed to save the baby
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when the mother had little
or no hope of surviving labor.
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One of the first known C-sections
where the woman actually survived
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happened in South Africa in 1826,
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performed
by the British surgeon James Barry,
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who was actually born a female,
Margaret Bulkley.
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But that wasn't discovered
till after his death.
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And around the same time,
a medical missionary
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observed Ugandan doctors
performing C-sections.
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He wrote about one operation
where the mother and baby both survived.
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There was no anesthesia,
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but the woman was liberally supplied
with banana wine.
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In the 20th century,
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C-sections started
to consistently save women's lives.
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And then, birthing technology
really started to pick up.
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Scientists started using pelvic X-rays
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to chart the average length
and rate of labor.
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And for women
who didn't progress fast enough,
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they developed a new drug
to artificially speed it up,
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called pitocin,
a synthetic form of oxytocin.
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It's a naturally occurring hormone,
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but it floods a woman's body
at three events in her life:
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orgasm, breastfeeding, and labor.
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Pitocin worked so well
that doctors and women
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started scheduling inductions
if a woman went a week over her due date,
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bringing some certainty
to an otherwise unpredictable event.
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The history of medical intervention,
when it comes to childbirth,
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has a lot to do with the emergence
of obstetrics as a medical profession.
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For most of history,
doctors didn't deliver babies,
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midwives did.
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Women trained in the real world,
through experience and observation.
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Then in the 1700s in Europe,
midwives opened up schools
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with more official training programs.
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And as waves of European immigrants
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came over to America
in the following century,
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they brought these skills with them
as they settled in the northern states.
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While in the American South,
enslaved black women were forced
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to attend to the deliveries
and care of white children
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and were torn from their own families.
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And they continued working
as skilled midwives
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long after slavery ended.
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They were often referred to
as "granny midwives."
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They tended to be senior,
older members of their community
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who had themselves already given birth
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and were viewed with respect
among their community.
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But in the 1900s,
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doctors started to edge midwives out
of the delivery room,
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and they made a convincing argument.
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Birth might look simple.
It may have been going on for centuries.
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But in fact, it was a pathological event
that requires medical intervention.
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Like a procedure called the episiotomy.
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During birth, it's common
for a woman to tear her vaginal opening.
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Then in the 1920s,
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doctors started proactively cutting
the opening instead.
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I think the idea was that that would...
that would be easier to sew up.
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And it turned out that giving people
an episiotomy
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makes the tearing much worse.
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And around that same time,
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Western doctors also started offering
new pain drugs,
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like one trend that emerged out of Germany
called twilight sleep.
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It was a mixture of a heavy narcotics:
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scopolamine and morphine.
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Extremely controversial
'cause it was really dangerous.
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Many of the women who were
behind twilight sleep
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were involved in the suffrage movement.
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And their argument was
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that women should have the right to have
a painless childbirth.
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But the drugs didn't actually
get rid of the pain,
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just the memory of the pain.
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Women in delivery rooms thrashed violently
and screamed.
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They were often hooded
or placed in cage-beds while they labored.
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The birthing experience
differed enormously
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based on where you lived,
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your class background
and the color of your skin.
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There is a theory that the more civilized
a race or a culture is,
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the more difficulty the women
have experiencing childbirth.
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And so, anesthesia was also required
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to make sure they could get
through the process.
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Working-class women, women of color,
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immigrant women, no problem.
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Babies could just pop out.
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It was the over-civilized,
upper-middle-class women
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that needed help.
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That stereotype lives on today,
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and it's one reason black women
in the UK
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are five times more likely
to die in childbirth than white women.
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And they're three times more likely
in the US,
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where disparities exist even
at the same income level.
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Biggest issue, they're not being heard.
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When women have said, "I'm in pain,"
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the understanding
or stereotype of women of color,
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that they're not really in pain
the way they are.
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00:11:13,756 --> 00:11:15,341
So back in the 1950s,
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while many black women
didn't get pain medication
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even when they needed it,
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white women started to speak out
about being over-medicated.
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In 1958, The Ladies Home Journal
published an investigation,
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"Cruelty in Maternity Wards,"
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00:11:30,314 --> 00:11:33,275
"They give you drugs
whether you want them or not
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One woman wrote in,
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00:11:34,819 --> 00:11:37,029
"They give you drugs
whether you want them or not,
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and strap you down like an animal."
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Women start reacting
to what they believe to be
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absolutely horrific birth experiences.
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They get angry and think
they have missed out
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on what should be
the most incredible moment of their lives.
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And that somehow
that gets completely lost
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in the process of medicalizing birth.
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One of the most influential voices
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00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:02,847
in the grassroots movement
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00:12:02,930 --> 00:12:06,142
was Ina May Gaskin,
a midwife-turned-activist.
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00:12:06,642 --> 00:12:09,812
In her 1975 book, Spiritual Midwifery,
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she said that when women are
247
00:12:11,605 --> 00:12:14,358
"empowered to birth without drugs
or interventions,"
248
00:12:15,025 --> 00:12:18,362
"birth is a spiritual experience
that each woman deserves
249
00:12:18,446 --> 00:12:20,239
in a safe and comfortable setting."
250
00:12:21,073 --> 00:12:25,619
There were a lot of hippie women involved
in the natural childbirth movement,
251
00:12:25,703 --> 00:12:29,498
but there were
also middle-class suburban housewives.
252
00:12:29,582 --> 00:12:33,127
There were people on all sides
of the political spectrum
253
00:12:33,252 --> 00:12:36,547
that simply thought, "I don't need to be
knocked unconscious
254
00:12:36,630 --> 00:12:37,798
in order to give birth.
255
00:12:37,882 --> 00:12:39,133
I am capable of doing it."
256
00:12:39,216 --> 00:12:43,053
And by that time,
there was a hot new drug in town:
257
00:12:43,387 --> 00:12:44,430
epidurals.
258
00:12:44,972 --> 00:12:47,641
Scientists discovered that
injecting anesthesia
259
00:12:47,725 --> 00:12:51,145
into a certain spot in the spine
called the "epidural space"
260
00:12:51,228 --> 00:12:54,482
stopped pain signals traveling
from the spine to the brain.
261
00:12:54,565 --> 00:12:57,485
The entire lower half of a woman's body
262
00:12:57,568 --> 00:13:01,530
would go numb within minutes,
while she remained fully alert.
263
00:13:01,614 --> 00:13:03,491
It was great. It was very nice.
264
00:13:03,574 --> 00:13:04,950
No regrets on the epidural.
265
00:13:05,034 --> 00:13:07,328
I couldn't feel my body
from the waist down.
266
00:13:07,411 --> 00:13:09,163
And I knew at that point,
267
00:13:09,246 --> 00:13:11,999
it was one of the best decisions
I'd ever made in my life.
268
00:13:12,124 --> 00:13:13,250
I... I was like...
269
00:13:15,085 --> 00:13:19,089
The World Health Organization
says epidurals are perfectly safe
270
00:13:19,173 --> 00:13:20,466
for healthy women in labor.
271
00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,220
But of course,
half your body is numb so...
272
00:13:24,303 --> 00:13:26,430
The pushing stage of labor tends
to be a bit longer,
273
00:13:26,514 --> 00:13:28,557
maybe, on average,
about... about 20 minutes.
274
00:13:28,641 --> 00:13:32,436
You have less control over your bladder,
275
00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,731
and it may be less easy
to walk around afterwards.
276
00:13:35,815 --> 00:13:39,485
Another medical intervention
that's been surging in popularity:
277
00:13:39,568 --> 00:13:40,694
C-sections.
278
00:13:40,778 --> 00:13:43,823
That's how one-fifth of babies
around the world are now delivered,
279
00:13:43,906 --> 00:13:45,908
twice as many as in 2000.
280
00:13:46,450 --> 00:13:49,745
In some countries, they account
for more than half of all births,
281
00:13:49,829 --> 00:13:52,081
like Egypt, the Dominican Republic
282
00:13:52,164 --> 00:13:55,334
and Brazil, where the overall rate is 55%.
283
00:13:55,584 --> 00:13:58,921
But in private hospitals,
where doctors are being paid per service,
284
00:13:59,004 --> 00:14:01,966
not per hours worked, it's 83%.
285
00:14:03,175 --> 00:14:04,218
One study noted,
286
00:14:04,885 --> 00:14:07,596
"Savings in time gained
by cutting labor short
287
00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:11,392
may motivate obstetricians
to choose a cesarean delivery."
288
00:14:12,351 --> 00:14:15,229
And while the maternal mortality rate
is lower
289
00:14:15,312 --> 00:14:17,523
in countries that perform more C-sections,
290
00:14:17,606 --> 00:14:20,860
that's only true up to a C-section rate
at 19%.
291
00:14:21,777 --> 00:14:23,821
Above that, it doesn't make a difference,
292
00:14:23,904 --> 00:14:27,283
suggesting a lot of C-sections
are medically unnecessary.
293
00:14:27,408 --> 00:14:29,952
Women who have had a C-section
on one pregnancy are
294
00:14:30,035 --> 00:14:32,997
at higher risk for complications
in later pregnancies,
295
00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,041
including higher risks of miscarriage
and even stillbirth.
296
00:14:36,625 --> 00:14:39,587
Natural birth advocates
say unnecessary C-sections
297
00:14:39,670 --> 00:14:43,007
are a result of messing with a woman's
natural rhythm of labor,
298
00:14:43,132 --> 00:14:47,219
a concept now known
as the "cascade of interventions."
299
00:14:47,303 --> 00:14:51,557
I "consented" to this emergency C-section
300
00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:55,394
due to, in my records, fetal distress
because of the heart rate monitor.
301
00:14:55,477 --> 00:14:58,230
We'll see babies have
fetal heart rate changes,
302
00:14:58,314 --> 00:15:00,274
particularly after getting an epidural.
303
00:15:00,900 --> 00:15:04,236
And epidurals tend
to follow pitocin because...
304
00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,072
As they started increasing my dosage,
305
00:15:07,156 --> 00:15:11,327
I started having really,
really painful contractions.
306
00:15:11,410 --> 00:15:13,221
Pitocin can help when a woman's cervix
307
00:15:13,245 --> 00:15:14,914
isn't opening up fast enough.
308
00:15:14,997 --> 00:15:16,916
And so they upped my pitocin,
309
00:15:16,999 --> 00:15:19,084
which I needed
because I hit my due date
310
00:15:19,168 --> 00:15:20,794
and I still hadn't gone into labor.
311
00:15:20,878 --> 00:15:24,673
You know, the minute I had to be induced,
it was up to technology.
312
00:15:24,757 --> 00:15:28,427
But there's one problem
with the cascade of interventions theory.
313
00:15:29,094 --> 00:15:32,181
In a large, randomized trial,
researchers found...
314
00:15:32,264 --> 00:15:33,307
Women who are induced
315
00:15:33,390 --> 00:15:36,435
are actually not more likely
to have a C-section.
316
00:15:36,518 --> 00:15:39,396
We probably do induce more frequently
than we need to,
317
00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,691
but there aren't any
hugely obvious downsides.
318
00:15:42,775 --> 00:15:44,944
But last-minute changes
at the hospital
319
00:15:45,027 --> 00:15:47,696
can impact a woman's mental health.
320
00:15:47,780 --> 00:15:50,783
One study found that women
who had unplanned C-sections
321
00:15:50,866 --> 00:15:54,578
were more likely to experience
post-traumatic distress and depression.
322
00:15:55,663 --> 00:15:58,999
In her 2004 bestselling book,
Ina May Gaskin wrote
323
00:15:59,083 --> 00:16:03,504
that more drawn-out labors could be
"because of a lack of privacy or fear."
324
00:16:04,171 --> 00:16:05,965
She called it the "sphincter law,"
325
00:16:06,048 --> 00:16:08,425
saying the cervix was
like a sphincter muscle
326
00:16:08,509 --> 00:16:11,387
and that "sphincters do not respond well
to commands."
327
00:16:11,887 --> 00:16:18,018
Let's say you're in a public bathroom,
and you're trying to take a crap,
328
00:16:18,435 --> 00:16:20,688
and someone opens the door...
329
00:16:21,689 --> 00:16:23,273
or a loud noise, something happens.
330
00:16:23,357 --> 00:16:25,359
Your sphincter will freeze.
331
00:16:25,442 --> 00:16:29,071
Think about trying to push a baby out
of your vagina.
332
00:16:29,154 --> 00:16:31,365
You're trying to be relaxed, breathe...
333
00:16:31,865 --> 00:16:35,285
Fear is going to have a major impact
334
00:16:35,369 --> 00:16:37,371
on your ability to do so.
335
00:16:37,454 --> 00:16:41,000
The idea that fear made
childbirth harder was also preached
336
00:16:41,083 --> 00:16:44,878
by the French obstetrician Fernand Lamaze
in the 1950s.
337
00:16:45,295 --> 00:16:48,549
He popularized
the psycho-prophylactic method,
338
00:16:48,632 --> 00:16:50,676
now just known as the Lamaze method,
339
00:16:50,759 --> 00:16:55,222
a set of techniques for a pain-free,
fear-free, drug-free birth.
340
00:16:55,305 --> 00:16:59,560
It involved breathing techniques,
different laboring positions, and massage.
341
00:17:00,686 --> 00:17:01,895
In his book, Lamaze wrote
342
00:17:01,979 --> 00:17:04,982
that we should not try to
"cure the pain of childbirth
343
00:17:05,065 --> 00:17:06,358
by the use of drugs"
344
00:17:06,775 --> 00:17:09,570
and instead,
just stop fearing the pain itself.
345
00:17:11,780 --> 00:17:14,992
But women's reasons for choosing
or rejecting pain relief
346
00:17:15,075 --> 00:17:16,535
have always been complex.
347
00:17:17,578 --> 00:17:21,290
In Japan, just 6% of women get epidurals,
348
00:17:21,373 --> 00:17:25,419
because there's a cultural expectation
that suffering is a part of childbirth.
349
00:17:25,502 --> 00:17:29,506
And while more than 70%
of American women choose epidurals,
350
00:17:29,590 --> 00:17:32,593
that means almost 30% decide
to go without.
351
00:17:32,676 --> 00:17:35,679
My family, when I told them
that I wanted to do a natural childbirth,
352
00:17:35,763 --> 00:17:37,848
they were like, "You can't do it.
You won't make it."
353
00:17:37,931 --> 00:17:40,160
And I was just like,
"Oh, no, now I have to do it,
354
00:17:40,184 --> 00:17:42,436
'cause you can't tell me
that I can't do it."
355
00:17:42,519 --> 00:17:45,689
I just had this weird fascination
with what it would feel like,
356
00:17:45,773 --> 00:17:47,900
and I just wanted to know
what it would feel like.
357
00:17:47,983 --> 00:17:51,653
Now that I look back, I'm like,
"Why didn't I, like, want an epidural?"
358
00:17:51,737 --> 00:17:54,823
I have no idea
why I didn't want an epidural.
359
00:17:55,949 --> 00:17:59,953
Today, some scientific research
suggests that being relaxed
360
00:18:00,204 --> 00:18:02,581
could have real physical impacts on labor,
361
00:18:02,831 --> 00:18:06,168
just as natural childbirth advocates
have argued for decades.
362
00:18:06,251 --> 00:18:10,089
The top of the cervix actually
has a lot of muscle that does contract,
363
00:18:10,172 --> 00:18:13,550
so that's what made us start to think,
"Okay, well maybe this is a sphincter."
364
00:18:13,634 --> 00:18:16,929
And so, that actually completely changes
the map that we're working with
365
00:18:17,012 --> 00:18:19,515
to understand what goes on in pregnancy,
366
00:18:19,598 --> 00:18:21,642
because in women who deliver early,
367
00:18:21,725 --> 00:18:24,353
that cervix starts to open prematurely,
368
00:18:24,436 --> 00:18:27,022
and it might actually be a sphincter
that's relaxing too soon.
369
00:18:27,856 --> 00:18:30,651
But why that happens
in one patient over another,
370
00:18:31,235 --> 00:18:32,653
we don't fully understand.
371
00:18:33,403 --> 00:18:36,698
Mechanics obviously play
a really important role in pregnancy.
372
00:18:36,782 --> 00:18:40,244
I do need an engineer to help me
understand how strong is the tissue.
373
00:18:40,786 --> 00:18:42,496
We can run "what if" scenarios.
374
00:18:42,579 --> 00:18:45,541
So,
what if the patient has a short cervix?
375
00:18:46,041 --> 00:18:50,337
Will her cervix open if the baby kicks
or if there's a small contraction?
376
00:18:50,420 --> 00:18:55,551
Can that cervix mechanically withstand,
you know, the loads of pregnancy?
377
00:18:55,634 --> 00:18:58,637
We should know those answers.
You know, we're curing cancer.
378
00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,306
We should be able
to understand pregnancy a lot better.
379
00:19:02,015 --> 00:19:05,144
That's why there's still
so much conflicting information out there
380
00:19:05,227 --> 00:19:06,812
on the best way to give birth.
381
00:19:07,437 --> 00:19:09,439
And a lot of it is very insistent.
382
00:19:09,690 --> 00:19:12,860
These baby boards are probably
where the seed was planted for me.
383
00:19:12,943 --> 00:19:15,946
Things like an epidural were cheating,
384
00:19:16,029 --> 00:19:18,115
and that the best way forward
385
00:19:18,198 --> 00:19:20,534
would actually be give birth
386
00:19:20,617 --> 00:19:23,162
without any medical intervention
whatsoever.
387
00:19:23,245 --> 00:19:25,914
I think sometimes the voices there
in the movement
388
00:19:25,998 --> 00:19:29,001
can push themselves
into a particular set of choices.
389
00:19:29,084 --> 00:19:30,085
And rather than saying,
390
00:19:30,169 --> 00:19:32,462
"Let's empower people
to make whatever choices they want,"
391
00:19:32,546 --> 00:19:35,299
say, "Let's empower them
to make these particular set of choices."
392
00:19:35,382 --> 00:19:39,428
Well, when I found out that my daughter
393
00:19:39,511 --> 00:19:41,972
was going to need to be delivered
via C-section,
394
00:19:42,055 --> 00:19:43,473
I felt like a failure.
395
00:19:43,557 --> 00:19:48,437
I felt like I had failed to do
what I set out to do.
396
00:19:49,104 --> 00:19:52,608
Natural childbirth advocates
may be criticized by some
397
00:19:52,691 --> 00:19:55,944
for exaggerating the negative impact
of medical interventions,
398
00:19:56,028 --> 00:19:59,281
but their advocacy
has also dramatically improved
399
00:19:59,364 --> 00:20:01,408
the way many women give birth.
400
00:20:01,491 --> 00:20:05,829
In the 1970s, episiotomy rates
in the UK were over 50%,
401
00:20:06,163 --> 00:20:09,041
sometimes performed
without the permission of the patient.
402
00:20:09,541 --> 00:20:13,754
But then, there was a backlash
against so-called "birth cuts."
403
00:20:13,837 --> 00:20:17,883
A survey was organized by British midwife
and activist Sheila Kitzinger.
404
00:20:18,300 --> 00:20:21,595
And she found episiotomies
caused more lasting pain
405
00:20:21,762 --> 00:20:23,889
than any other procedure in childbirth
406
00:20:24,264 --> 00:20:26,975
and that a natural tear
generally caused much less pain
407
00:20:27,059 --> 00:20:28,059
than a cut.
408
00:20:28,602 --> 00:20:31,563
A study was launched,
and three years later, it concluded
409
00:20:31,647 --> 00:20:35,817
that there was "no evidence to support
the supposed benefits of episiotomy."
410
00:20:36,777 --> 00:20:39,029
More research confirmed these findings,
411
00:20:39,112 --> 00:20:43,408
and by 2012, episiotomies in the UK
were down to 15%.
412
00:20:44,701 --> 00:20:46,245
And the natural childbirth movement
413
00:20:46,328 --> 00:20:49,248
brought back one of the most ancient types
of labor support...
414
00:20:50,082 --> 00:20:51,833
having a doula present.
415
00:20:52,501 --> 00:20:54,711
Doulas aren't doctors or midwives.
416
00:20:54,795 --> 00:20:56,755
They're trained birth coaches,
417
00:20:56,838 --> 00:21:00,425
there to support the laboring woman
and help make sure her wishes
418
00:21:00,509 --> 00:21:02,678
are being respected
by the medical provider.
419
00:21:03,262 --> 00:21:05,722
You're so strong. Look at you.
420
00:21:07,933 --> 00:21:10,653
A number of studies
have confirmed the presence of a doula
421
00:21:10,686 --> 00:21:12,729
"reduces the need for interventions,"
422
00:21:13,313 --> 00:21:15,941
finding a 51% decrease in C-sections.
423
00:21:16,525 --> 00:21:20,153
I think it's partly just that it's nice
to have somebody in the room
424
00:21:20,237 --> 00:21:24,032
to say, "Yeah, this is... this is normal."
Like, "This is okay."
425
00:21:24,116 --> 00:21:26,410
Like, "Everything is going fine."
426
00:21:26,493 --> 00:21:29,830
I think that that part of labor is quite...
can be quite scary.
427
00:21:32,374 --> 00:21:34,001
We almost there, sweetheart.
428
00:21:35,210 --> 00:21:36,378
We are almost there.
429
00:21:38,213 --> 00:21:40,173
And the natural childbirth movement's
430
00:21:40,257 --> 00:21:43,010
underlying message
continues to resonate around the world...
431
00:21:43,343 --> 00:21:46,013
that women should
make their own choices
432
00:21:46,596 --> 00:21:48,265
based on what's best for them.
433
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:50,892
I decided to have a natural childbirth
434
00:21:50,976 --> 00:21:52,894
because you go to a hospital,
435
00:21:53,228 --> 00:21:56,315
black women
are kind of disproportionately, like,
436
00:21:57,065 --> 00:21:59,192
ignored, I guess, in hospitals.
437
00:21:59,276 --> 00:22:03,405
The only birth I ever had witnessed before
was a friend who gave birth
438
00:22:03,488 --> 00:22:07,326
without any medicine or interventions,
but it was in a hospital,
439
00:22:07,409 --> 00:22:09,328
and I thought that was the best
of both worlds.
440
00:22:09,411 --> 00:22:11,663
My birth plan was go to the hospital,
441
00:22:11,747 --> 00:22:14,726
listen to everything the doctors say,
and then come back with a healthy baby.
442
00:22:14,750 --> 00:22:16,251
That was 100% of my plan.
443
00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:20,380
There's no way yet to predict
how any one birth will go
444
00:22:21,048 --> 00:22:23,508
or what interventions are necessary
for each person
445
00:22:23,592 --> 00:22:25,844
because every woman is different.
446
00:22:25,927 --> 00:22:29,014
And then also, like,
every baby is totally different.
447
00:22:29,097 --> 00:22:31,933
The baby was, um, sunny-side up,
448
00:22:32,017 --> 00:22:36,271
the kind of labor pain that's, like,
way worse than regular labor pain.
449
00:22:36,355 --> 00:22:39,358
I turned blue.
There was blood everywhere.
450
00:22:39,441 --> 00:22:43,111
They ended up giving me pitocin
without any epidural,
451
00:22:43,195 --> 00:22:45,197
and then I had an episiotomy,
452
00:22:45,822 --> 00:22:48,325
and all of it was like a total shock.
453
00:22:48,408 --> 00:22:53,372
I had no idea that any
of this would be so hard.
454
00:22:54,039 --> 00:22:57,501
I was really nervous.
I know how much the tissue stretches,
455
00:22:57,584 --> 00:23:00,337
but I trusted my physicians,
and I was in good care.
456
00:23:00,420 --> 00:23:04,132
With my first kid, the experience
was more overwhelming.
457
00:23:04,216 --> 00:23:05,651
The birth experience with my second kid
458
00:23:05,675 --> 00:23:08,970
was, like,
sort of a very idyllic experience.
459
00:23:09,054 --> 00:23:10,555
I mean, also, with a lot of blood.
460
00:23:10,639 --> 00:23:12,933
I'm not gonna lie.
I am angry and resentful,
461
00:23:13,016 --> 00:23:16,019
and I have a lot to process,
five years later.
462
00:23:16,103 --> 00:23:20,148
And yet, at the same time,
it was amazing and wonderful.
463
00:23:20,732 --> 00:23:23,860
I still consider my C-section
to be natural childbirth.
464
00:23:24,653 --> 00:23:28,740
I don't consider anything humans do
to be unnatural or supernatural.
465
00:23:28,824 --> 00:23:32,702
And so natural is the only other option.
466
00:23:32,786 --> 00:23:37,749
I was afraid of pain,
and I had a full epidural.
467
00:23:37,833 --> 00:23:40,836
I thought, "This is so silly.
468
00:23:40,919 --> 00:23:44,047
I'm missing out on something.
I could have done this."
469
00:23:44,631 --> 00:23:48,760
I was angry at myself
and kind of ashamed that I just caved.
470
00:23:48,844 --> 00:23:53,390
They have nothing to be ashamed of
because they're still doing a big work,
471
00:23:53,473 --> 00:23:55,284
- which is bringing life into the world.
- ...two, three...
472
00:23:55,308 --> 00:23:57,995
Growing a human
and bringing that human into the world
473
00:23:58,019 --> 00:24:00,105
regardless of the route of delivery...
474
00:24:00,188 --> 00:24:02,691
Nine and ten. Beautiful.
Deep breath, deep breath!
475
00:24:02,774 --> 00:24:04,276
...is still a big feat.
476
00:24:04,526 --> 00:24:07,654
Right back at it. Ready?
And push on your bottom!
477
00:24:12,033 --> 00:24:15,787
Come on, baby, you got it.
That's it. You got it.
478
00:24:15,871 --> 00:24:18,015
- Come on, give me another one.
- Ready? This is it.
479
00:24:18,039 --> 00:24:21,751
Here we go. That's it.
480
00:24:28,758 --> 00:24:30,111
- Let's go.
- Ready?
481
00:24:30,135 --> 00:24:33,889
Most important push of your life.
Ready? One, two, three. Right back at it!
482
00:24:33,972 --> 00:24:36,516
You got it. Yes, Daysha. Hold her down.
483
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,978
Open your eyes! Open your eyes!
Open your eyes!
484
00:24:40,061 --> 00:24:42,165
- Look at your baby.
- Open your eyes.
485
00:24:47,277 --> 00:24:49,112
Oh, my God!
486
00:24:49,196 --> 00:24:51,406
- Oh, my God!
- Okay.
487
00:24:52,032 --> 00:24:55,160
- Oh, my God!
- Congratulations, Mommy!
488
00:24:57,204 --> 00:24:59,831
You never worked on anything so hard
in your life.
489
00:24:59,915 --> 00:25:02,167
- I know he's worth it, right?
- My grandbaby.
490
00:25:02,250 --> 00:25:04,294
- My grandson.
- Mm-hmm.
491
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:09,216
Oh, look at him! He's so little!
492
00:25:09,299 --> 00:25:11,718
All right. Come on, bud.
493
00:25:11,801 --> 00:25:14,387
There you go. There you go. There you go.
494
00:25:15,514 --> 00:25:18,558
Welcome to the world, sweetie!
495
00:25:18,642 --> 00:25:22,687
Daysha, Daysha, you did it!
42424
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