Oct 18

“Sin Is Preventing Your Cervix From Fully Dilating…”

“Sin is preventing your cervix from fully dilating, we’re going to have to do it manually!” -Home Birth Midwife to client whose cervix stayed at 7 cm for several hours

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There are 18 comments to this post.

michele had this to say, Oct 18, 2009 @ 7:17 am (Quote)

Just one word: Wow

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Kate had this to say, Oct 18, 2009 @ 7:22 am (Quote)

eh? surely some mistake, no one would say that…!

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Mary had this to say, Oct 18, 2009 @ 10:45 am (Quote)

Oh she said it alright. You can find my original birth story here: http://soontobemothermary.blogspot.com/2009/05/birth-story-oriana-violet.html

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Kat had this to say, Oct 18, 2009 @ 11:21 am (Quote)

Sadly, yes there are some rural midwives from extremely hyper-religious communities that would say this. Nothing against religion, I am a believer myself, but some people have been so poorly taught and misread the Scriptures to blame everything they don’t like on sin. Sometimes there are possibly other causes of a less metaphysical nature than “the devil” and “sin” for some situations!

This is one of many reasons I do tend towards supporting some state licensing standards for homebirth midwives, even though there are some possible drawbacks, there is also a need for accountability.

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Amelia had this to say, Oct 19, 2009 @ 9:40 am (Quote)

Oh, so it was sin and not a malpositioned baby that kept me at 7-8 cm (and in transition!) for a dozen hours? Good to know. /sarcasm

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spingirl had this to say, Oct 19, 2009 @ 12:12 pm (Quote)

I’d love to hear that midwife explain how my heathen self managed to have two precipitous labors…the sin in my life should have kept me in labor for months! lol

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Caren had this to say, Oct 19, 2009 @ 2:19 pm (Quote)

Wow, not to mention that YOU CANNOT safely manually stretch a cervix from 7 to 10!

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Jill--Unnecesarean had this to say, Oct 19, 2009 @ 4:51 pm (Quote)

Mary! I knew this was you. That would be the first and last time I’ve heard of someone saying this to a client or patient.

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Karla had this to say, Oct 19, 2009 @ 10:15 pm (Quote)

It might have been “generalized” sin…ie: sin has definately affected all of creation…but, to say it was a personal sin is horrific…amazing what some people will do in “the name of Jesus/God”….so sad!

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Michelle Potter had this to say, Oct 20, 2009 @ 8:12 am (Quote)

Karla, I agree that sin is ultimately the reason for all death, sickness, and misery in creation (in the sense that those things entered the world when Adam and Eve first sinned, not in a personal “this is happening to you because you are a sinner!” sense), but it’s a very impractical thing to say during labor, and certainly not a reason to try to manually stretch someone’s cervix open! If I were in labor and asked why this or that went wrong (or, why I needed some intervention), I’d consider “because of sin” a total non-answer, and be annoyed at having to ask, “Ok, OBVIOUSLY, but what is the IMMEDIATE cause?” And I’m a major Bible-thumping right-wing loony.

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Kat had this to say, Oct 20, 2009 @ 9:50 am (Quote)

I’m a Bible-lover myself, and right wing, though I try to stay away from being too loony (well, most of the time). I agree, sin in general causes a lot of pain and heartache. Did I have some easy births because I am a “better” person? NO of course NOT! I am a sinner just like everyone else, not “better” than anyone.

Were my difficult births a direct result of sin going on? Not really. And just as with all situations I go through, those hard times worked for good in my life, because I have made friends I never would have met otherwise, and learned things I never could have if my life had been different.

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Mary had this to say, Oct 20, 2009 @ 1:03 pm (Quote)

Just to clarify; I think she was talking about original sin and not personal sin. Not that it makes any difference in the long run. I’m actually not going to be having any more children because of the state of maternity care in this country. I’m a conscientious objector from now on.

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Michelle Potter had this to say, Oct 20, 2009 @ 5:33 pm (Quote)

Mary, I’m so sorry that it’s been so hard for you. I really think that even blaming it on original sin is obnoxious. You asked a legitimate question, and she gave an answer on par with, “Because life is unfair.” Pointless and unhelpful all around.

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Lisa had this to say, Nov 5, 2009 @ 4:24 pm (Quote)

Were her initials J.J.? I just read a story w/a midwife w/those initials who manally dilated a VBAC mom from 7 to 10.

Some of these stories seriously qualify for the birthrape blog I found recently (http://birthraped.wordpress.com/)

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Mary had this to say, Nov 5, 2009 @ 6:43 pm (Quote)

Lisa: No those weren’t her initials and I do want to point out that all in all I had a pretty good birth experience. Birthrape is a serious issue and at no point did I feel that violated. Yes what my midwife did/said was stupid but it was a small part of what was overall a positive experience.

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