Letters to the Editor
Black Sheep
Published Letters: 29
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Please don't call grown women girls
[Read the article: "Grindhouse"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Good review, but you really shouldn't refer to women over 18 as girls! Not only is it sexist, but it isn't good journalistic style.
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Not only racist
[Read the article: Imus offends]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not only is it extremely racist, it is also extremely sexist. I can't believe this jerk hasn't been fired yet!
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36 year olds are Boomers?
[Read the article: Attack of the "seething sapphic septet"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That's news to me. I believe the Baby Boom ended in in the early 60's, not in 1970! This wouldn't annoy me so much if I hadn't seen it before: women over 35 called "Boomers" because we are "middle-aged"? ROTFLMAO!
Dates vary as to the beginning and end of the Baby Boom, but most agree on 1946-1964. Generation X is generally seen as 1963 (or 1964) to the late 1970's/early 1980's. By no stretch of the numbers, however, would a 35 or even a 40 year old be considered a Boomer. Please get your facts straight!
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Stillbirth vs. miscarriage
[Read the article: Birth certificates for stillbirth?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The loss of a fetus is called a miscarriage before 20 weeks, and a stillbirth after 20 weeks. This is because after 20 weeks, you are close to viability which is generally considered to be 24 weeks. At the hospital I work at, the fetus is considered "medical waste" if miscarried before 20 weeks. However, the parents do have the option of naming as well as cremation or burial. The fetus does not get a death certificate. After 20 weeks, everything changes: the parents have to pick either burial or cremation. The fetus gets a death certificate (although parents are not obligated to name the baby) and if they have Apgars (any signs of life) they get a birth certificate as well. I'm not sure if it is an "official" birth certificate or not. If the baby is born dead, then they get a death certificate but no birth certficate. This seems reasonable to me, but as someone who is 24 weeks pregnant now, I totally understand the desire to have a birth certificate, even if there are no signs of life. I think it is appropriate once the fetus is at or near viability.
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Not the only option
[Read the article: Federal abortion ban roundup]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sylke in AK:
I don't think C-section is the only option for late trimester abortions. There is also induction of labor. Of course, after viability, which is usually around 23-24 weeks, the fetus would need to be injected with a solution (I think it is saline or potassium) to end its life before inducing or surgically removing it. Before this time, the fetus will die on its own when it is delivered. HOWEVER, I agree that intact D&E may be the only option in certain cases-like if the women is at high risk of stroke from an induction or major abdominal surgery. So it does need to be protected.
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The quadruple screen is just a screen, not a diagnostic test!
[Read the article: Parents speak to the upside of Down syndrome]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I haven't read the article yet, but are people actually terminating based on the quad screen? That test does NOT tell you if the baby has a genetic problem, it just gives odds. It has a HIGH false positive rate! You need to have an amnio to tell for sure. I know several people who have had bad results from the screening test and they had an amnio and the baby was fine. I can't believe anybody would be so foolish as to terminate based on the quad screen.
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Only "out of shape women" have problems?
[Read the article: Extreme childbirth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Fenrisjello wrote: "I would imagine that in some ways primitive humans were much more fit physically, and connected to the cues and insticnts of their own bodies than the average modern american, thus enabling the birthing process to be more of a natural, normal event. Most people are content to live in their bodies as little as possible, allowing the media to dictate what they should feel (your menstrual cramps are unbearable! Take this pill! Labor is terrifying, long and agonizing! Take these drugs! ect.) I'm sure this viewpoint marks me as some "crunchy-granola-whatever" type, but I go with what I know. I enjoy living in my body, working with it, listening to it and using it. I am in the final weeks of my first preganacy, and have heard my share of birth stories, both encouraging and horrific, but I've noticed a pattern: the horror stories were always from out-of-shape women who asked for drugs at the first opportunity. Women who were active before and throughout their pregnancy experienced faster and easier labors, often beating the rush to the hospital, and disproving the notion of their inability to deliver babies themselves."
I am also in the last weeks of my first pregnancy. Except I am in the hospital on bedrest. I am expecting twins. I also wanted a midwife assisted natural birth. I wanted a healthy, active pregnancy. I am hardly out of shape. However, I had complications from the very beginning of pregnancy, and now here I am. I resent your implication that women who choose hospital births are fat and lazy. I am so glad modern medicine is here for me. It is ridiculous that some feel that only women who give birth med-free out of the hospital are "real" moms!
Someone mentioned their friend who did not get prenatal care and her babies ended up premature and disabled. How heartbreaking. I personally feel it should be illegal to not get prenatal care. Actually, in my state it is reportable to CPS!
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Thanks Dr. Tuteur
[Read the article: Extreme childbirth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for being the voice of reason among these increasingly wackier comments!
To unassisted birth proponents that have posted here: you say you are not vilifying those who choose to birth in a hospital or choose to use medication, or God forbid a MIDWIFE. But everything you have written smacks of smugness and superiority.
I am not going to be any less proud of myself when I give birth vaginally to my twins in a hospital. I won't be any less proud of myself if I have to have a C-section, either. I'm a mom no matter what. I carried these babies despite many complications including chronic placental abruption and preterm premature rupture of membranes, and I'll be happy to see them no matter how they get here!