Childs Birth in the World of Modern Technology The issue of technology being a part of modern life is a controversial one.

Some feel that the contribution of technology has made a positive impact in modern life and that technology helps improve the quality of life. Others see that contribution of technology has negatively impacted modern life. The child birth wasnt unaffected by the modern world The past century has brought numerous advances in childbirth technology, including how the baby's wellbeing is monitored. The baby could only be monitored by using a stethoscope, or a specially designed fetal stethoscope a century ago. In the !"#s, the electronic fetal monitor was introduced, that provided the physician with a paper record of the baby's heartbeat. $roviders can monitor electronically by using an e%ternal device placed on the mother's abdomen, which uses &oppler ultrasound to detect the baby's heartbeats, or with an internal device placed directly on the baby's head during an internal e%am, which measures the electrical current generated by the heart. $roviders generally offer women an array of tests during their pregnancy. It is now possible to identify more problems and ris's earlier in pregnancy than ever before and ma'e sure to avoid them. (or some women, the increased options for prenatal testing may lead to an increase in an%iety. )ll pregnant women desire a healthy baby, and to receive test results during pregnancy that indicate a potential problem leads to increased stress, which can ultimatelly cause problems for baby. There is no better e%ample of the surgical approach to birth than cesarean section, because it is the ultimate solution of all surgeons*cut it out. It carries a two times greater ris' that the woman will die from the surgery. +ven if the woman does not die, she is at ris' for many serious complications from the surgery, such as the accidental cutting of her bladder or other internal organs and a ,# percent chance she will get an infection as a result of the surgery. Since the woman often gets a fever with this infection, her fever necessitates a fever diagnostic wor'-up of her infant, with blood tests and even spinal tap of the baby. .aving a cesarean birth also affects the future reproductive possibilities of the woman, because having a cesarean section means she has a decreased chance of ever getting pregnant again. )nd if she does get pregnant again, she is at higher ris' that her pregnancy will occur outside her womb, a condition that will never result in a live baby and is life threatening for the woman.

If in her subsequent pregnancies she succeeds in ma'ing it to the end of pregnancy and goes into labor, she is also at higher ris' of two serious complications during the birth, both of which can threaten her own life and the life of the baby/ a placenta that bloc's the outlet for the baby or a placenta that detaches itself before the baby is born. There is about 0 percent chance that when the surgeon cuts into the woman's body during a cesarean section, the 'nife will accidentally also cut her baby. 1ecause all the water is not squee2ed out of the baby's lungs as is normally done during a vaginal birth, more babies born after cesarean section develop serious respiratory distress syndrome, one of the biggest 'illers of newborn babies. 1ecause doctors are not as good as they would li'e to be in estimating, even with ultrasound, whether the pregnancy has gone long enough. Too often a cesarean section is done too soon, resulting in a premature birth. $rematurity is a big 'iller of newborn babies and also carries a higher ris' of brain damage to the baby. There has been an epidemic of unnecessary cesarean section births because doctors li'e a quic', surgical solution for birth. +pidural bloc' for labor pain. It is seeing a rapid e%pansion of epidemic proportions because doctors are selling it to women as hard as they can. They need lots of birthing women to choose this form of pain relief if these doctors are to ma'e a grand living. Their hard sell includes telling women that epidural bloc' is 3safe.3 .ow safe is it really4 5arcotic-type pain medications, such as nubain, morphine, demerol, or fentanyl, are often used to alleviate labor pain. These medications are associated with longer labors and might also ma'e women groggy, lightheaded, and nauseated, potentially interfering with your ability to move about freely. 5arcotic-type pain medications might also cause a baby to be born sleepy and in need of breathing stimulation. 6onversely, they might ma'e a baby irritable. +ither e%cessive sleepiness or irritability may interfere with the successful initiation of breastfeeding. The use of an anesthesia might lead to a baby who settles into an unfavorable position for birth, which might result in a cesarean section, forceps, or a vacuum e%tractor-assisted birth. 7omen with anesthesia might e%perience a drop in blood pressure, which could affect the amount of o%ygen that gets to the baby.

&oes this lac' of o%ygen have any permanent effect on the baby4 8esearch has found that -month-old babies whose mothers were given epidural bloc' during labor may have neurological test results that suggest possible minor brain damage. 7hile this is a finding not yet completely confirmed scientifically, it is a possibility that is certainly worrisome and should be told to women offered epidural bloc'. +pidural bloc' carries another ris' that is found in many of the interventions and technologies used during birth. 7e cancompare it to the 3domino effect.3 This means that the use of one intervention leads to the use of another intervention, and the use of that intervention leads to the use of yet another intervention, and so on. 1ecause labor pain is an essential component of the normal mechanisms of the body for the progress of labor and since the epidural bloc' eliminates this necessary pain, epidurals also eliminate the normal mechanisms for the progress of labor. So it is to be e%pected that considerable research documents a longer labor if the woman is given epidural bloc'. )s normal labor is no longer possible with epidural bloc', there is four times greater use of forceps or vacuum e%traction and at least twice as much cesarean section after epidural bloc'. These surgical interventions, of course, carry their own ris's both for woman and baby. So the woman choosing epidural bloc' trades less labor pain for a longer labor and, if a cesarean section is done, more pain for several days after the birth, as well as increased ris's for both herself and her baby. 5o honest doctor would ever suggest that drugs given for pain are without ris's. 1ut in their pursuit of relieving a laboring mother's pain, doctors inevitably resort to prescribing drugs, when in fact, there are many non-pharmacological ways to relieve pain. (or e%ample, scientific research has proven a number of drug-free techniques to be effective in relieving the pain of normal labor. .ypnosis has been used before anesthesia was introduced in medicine. .ypnosis cannot be used to control a person against her will. The mother is the only one who can get in and out of a hypnotic state with the help of her hypnotherapist. Self-hypnosis is not going to ta'e the mother's mind lost in outer space. It will help her calm her mind and rela% her body. This shortens the duration of childbirth and avoids unnecessary medical procedures such as a cesarean section, forcep delivery or vacuum e%traction. 9iving birth using hypnosis gives the

mother control over her childbirth. She can induce self-hypnosis to reduce pain. She can even convert pain into nothing more than a feeling of pressure when giving birth. :other's can deliver the baby without any medical intervention. 7ithout the influence of drugs she will be able to use her body refle%es to push the baby out. She can deliver her baby at her own pace without being forced to push. The mother and the baby will go through the birthing process happier and healthier. She won't be struggling after a ma;or surgery or waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. 7e see there are many reasons for the unnecessary overuse of technology during pregnancy and birth, most reasons connected to doctors. The technology itself is in most cases ;ust a tool for the to fill their poc'ets and is unnecessary in child birth. This is the 3:odern 7orld. 3