I’ve been feeling very bogged down lately by intense and somewhat depressing news and blog posts. Maybe it was the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade…who knows. So today something a little fluffier to write about.
I’m not generally a huge celebrity stalker, but lately it seems like there is a lot of news about famous people giving birth.
Nicole Richie, the pseudo-actress best known for her stint on The Simple Life with Paris Hilton, gave birth on January 11th.
‘The Simple Life’ star, who delivered Harlow Winter Kate Madden naturally two weeks ago, was keen to get a clear view of the moment her little girl entered the world at Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Following the birth, Nicole – who had had an epidural injection to help her with the immense pain – then sent a note to Christina Aguilera, who was in a nearby ward awaiting the arrival of her son.
Since when did epidural births become natural births? Okay, so I said this would be a lighter post–but are c-sections becoming so common that going natural just means not delivering your baby surgically?!?! Come on! The article ends by recounting Christina Aguilera’s birth by c-section the next day.
Radical Doula 
are c-sections becoming so common that going natural just means not delivering your baby surgically?!?!
. . . yeah, actually. Sadly enough, I think that it does.
I am with you here. The very thought hit my brain the second I read this. At work I am forever correcting people who use the term ‘natural’ to mean non-cesarean. Maybe we need to use the word ‘unmedicated’ instead? Sheesh….
It’s because no one can bear to say the word ‘vaginally’. And yes, also because having a baby without surgery is considered somehow special or worthy of praise these days. Sad but true.
That term gets misused a lot, but that’s a pretty severe misapplication of it. People would congratulate me for delivering “naturally” and I would laugh. I didn’t use any pain medication, but there was nothing remotely “natural” about the amount of pitocin that was pumped into me. On the opposite end, when I was in the Peace Corps, the women in my village would say a birth wasn’t “natural” if the woman had an episiotomy.