the value of a particular cow
Mar. 26th, 2012 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
boxofdelightsThe reason we let cows and pigs carry dead fetuses until their bodies expel them isn't because it's natural; it's because it's economic. You weigh the cost of any veterinary treatment against the value of a particular cow, multiplied by the chances she'll die or be seriously damaged without the treatment. It's that simple.
For a pet, it's less simple, because you also have to factor in the suffering of the owner, but we still don't presume to pass laws about it. The vet decides what to charge, the farmer or pet owner decides what to do, and the politicians recognize that it is not their place to interfere.
Now Terry England wants to put himself in the role of the farmer, who gets to make the decisions, and women in the role of cows, who get to take the risks. (I think wanting such a thing should disqualify him from any position of authority over any other person, but I am in the minority.) England's not even pretending that this is for your own good; he's saying that the harm his law will do to pregnant women is outweighed by the good it will do for the anti-abortion movement. You see, a doctor who can help remove a stillborn baby can also perform a late-term abortion. Terry England wants doctors not to learn those skills, so he'd like to pass a law making them unnecessary.
Yeah, it's kind of like the law making pi equal to 3. It's not that it's true, it's just that it's more convenient.
Terry England doesn't know anything about the harm and risk his law would inflict on pregnant women, but I do.
Information on what happens after a baby dies in utero is surprisingly hard to find; there's nothing about it in any of the pregnancy books. I couldn't find anything relevant to my situation in any of the miscarriage books, either. The most helpful book was Our Bodies, Ourselves, but even that didn't tell me much more than 1)it's called a stillbirth; 2)it's rare; 3)more than half the time, modern medicine can't find a cause.
The information that I couldn't find for myself, and couldn't phrase the question well enough to get anyone to tell me, was: What is happening to the dead body inside my body? Is it rotting? Or what? What's it going to look like when it comes out? My husband tried to ask the doctor a few times, but the most informative answer he got was, "Well, it isn't going to be pink!"
In case you're wondering: it is decaying, but not as quickly as dead bodies usually do, because the microorganisms that speed the decay are not present inside the womb. But it is decaying.
The baby died Wednesday; we saw the doctor Thursday; the pregnancy was pretty close to full term, so the doctor decided just to induce labor, but they don't start inductions on Fridays, he explained, because that might interfere with his weekend; so I delivered the baby on Monday.
A baby that's been dead in utero five days looks... not too bad, really. A bit swollen from being underwater. We got to see that he had Neal's nose, and his beautiful long fingers. But.
In a normal delivery, the baby's head passes through the pelvis facing the mother's back -- that's just how they fit together best -- and then rotates a quarter turn to help the shoulders fit through the pelvis. The birth attendant will be holding the baby's head and -- very very gently, of course, you don't want to wrench the baby's neck -- assisting the rotation. That very gentle grasp was enough to rip the skin off my baby's forehead.
For a pet, it's less simple, because you also have to factor in the suffering of the owner, but we still don't presume to pass laws about it. The vet decides what to charge, the farmer or pet owner decides what to do, and the politicians recognize that it is not their place to interfere.
Now Terry England wants to put himself in the role of the farmer, who gets to make the decisions, and women in the role of cows, who get to take the risks. (I think wanting such a thing should disqualify him from any position of authority over any other person, but I am in the minority.) England's not even pretending that this is for your own good; he's saying that the harm his law will do to pregnant women is outweighed by the good it will do for the anti-abortion movement. You see, a doctor who can help remove a stillborn baby can also perform a late-term abortion. Terry England wants doctors not to learn those skills, so he'd like to pass a law making them unnecessary.
Yeah, it's kind of like the law making pi equal to 3. It's not that it's true, it's just that it's more convenient.
Terry England doesn't know anything about the harm and risk his law would inflict on pregnant women, but I do.
Information on what happens after a baby dies in utero is surprisingly hard to find; there's nothing about it in any of the pregnancy books. I couldn't find anything relevant to my situation in any of the miscarriage books, either. The most helpful book was Our Bodies, Ourselves, but even that didn't tell me much more than 1)it's called a stillbirth; 2)it's rare; 3)more than half the time, modern medicine can't find a cause.
The information that I couldn't find for myself, and couldn't phrase the question well enough to get anyone to tell me, was: What is happening to the dead body inside my body? Is it rotting? Or what? What's it going to look like when it comes out? My husband tried to ask the doctor a few times, but the most informative answer he got was, "Well, it isn't going to be pink!"
In case you're wondering: it is decaying, but not as quickly as dead bodies usually do, because the microorganisms that speed the decay are not present inside the womb. But it is decaying.
The baby died Wednesday; we saw the doctor Thursday; the pregnancy was pretty close to full term, so the doctor decided just to induce labor, but they don't start inductions on Fridays, he explained, because that might interfere with his weekend; so I delivered the baby on Monday.
A baby that's been dead in utero five days looks... not too bad, really. A bit swollen from being underwater. We got to see that he had Neal's nose, and his beautiful long fingers. But.
In a normal delivery, the baby's head passes through the pelvis facing the mother's back -- that's just how they fit together best -- and then rotates a quarter turn to help the shoulders fit through the pelvis. The birth attendant will be holding the baby's head and -- very very gently, of course, you don't want to wrench the baby's neck -- assisting the rotation. That very gentle grasp was enough to rip the skin off my baby's forehead.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-26 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 01:43 am (UTC)I've known a few other women who endured stillbirths -- including my mother. (My only brother was stillborn.) I am so sorry for your loss and for the way the doctors treated you. Christ, how did he think it would affect YOUR weekend?
no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 02:13 am (UTC)*hugs* if you want them.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 02:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 07:53 am (UTC)Which is clearly the matter of most importance...
I'm so sorry you had to go through this.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-27 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-04 04:00 am (UTC)Thank you for writing this so that other people can understand a small fraction of what the experience was like and rail against anything that recreates the preventable parts.