[Avodah] childbirth as a time of sakana [was: bat mitzva "bo bayom"]

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Zev Sero _zev at sero.name_ (mailto:zev at sero.name) 


>>Yes, childbirth was considered inherently dangerous, not because  of
anything to do with the actual process of birth but simply as a fact  of
nature, "min shmaya ka-radfu lah"....    ISTM that
the  reason this view developed was that childbed fever was such a  terrible
killer, and its cause was completely unknown; women were dying for  no
discernable reason, clearly unrelated to the actual trauma of  childbirth....
it's not the baby who's endangering her, it's the fact that
she's at  this mysterious dangerous time, being judged by  BDShM....<<


 
>>>>>
Childbed fever is a massive infection,  sepsis, and ironically this became a 
much more common cause of death  /after/ people started having babies in 
hospitals but /before/ they knew   that germs cause infection or how infection is 
spread.  So this was in  relatively recent times -- maybe 18th or 19th 
centuries.  Before that most  women gave birth at home with midwives and most of them 
did not contract  childbed fever.
 
 
There was a famous doctor, Semmelweiss, in the 19th century, who claimed  
that doctors themselves were spreading the disease from patient to patient, and  
when he started insisting that all the doctors and nurses wash their hands  
before examining patients, the infection rate and death rate went way way  down. 
 (Unfortunately other doctors were outraged that he was, in effect,  accusing 
them of causing their own patients' deaths, and they ran him out of  town.  
IIRC he ended up dying in an insane asylum -- he went crazy  from agmas nefesh 
that so many women were dying when their deaths  could be so easily prevented. 
 Too lazy to look up wiki but I think that's  the story.)
 
In any case, infection was not the only or even the most common cause of  
maternal death before the 20th century -- you're wrong about that.   Childbirth 
itself *is* dangerous without modern medicine.  Even in modern  times it is 
still somewhat dangerous -- my own neighbor lost his mother when he  was ten 
years old; she hemorrhaged at home two or three days after  giving birth.  I 
remember a similar case in the Catskills a few years ago  where a woman home alone 
in a bungalow colony bled to death a few days after  childbirth.  It can 
happen so quickly that there isn't enough time to get  help.
 
There is also something called pre-eclampsia -- again, too lazy for wiki  -- 
but I think it's a sudden sharp rise in the mother's blood pressure during  
pregnancy, and it's a medical emergency that can lead to maternal  death.
 
It is also possible for a mother to tear in truly horrifying and  disgusting 
ways, and once in a while you hear about women in primitive places in  Africa 
or Asia, without access to modern surgery, who suffer the rest of their  lives 
because of unrepaired damage caused by childbirth.  Stuff is hanging  out, 
they're in constant pain, hope that's not too graphic.
 
Of course all kinds of health conditions can be brought on or exacerbated  by 
pregnancy, even before you get to childbirth -- from varicose veins to  
diabetes to blood clots to liver problems, heart problems and  kidney problems.  
There's also such a thing as an ectopic pregnancy,  which is another 
life-threatening medical emergency.   In olden days  it would have killed the mother and 
no one would have even known what  happened.
 
Nowadays, maybe ironically, modern medicine itself can cause  problems.  My 
sister has a friend who was left a paraplegic as the result  of an epidural.  
And C-sections can be life-saving for both mother and  baby, but they are 
performed WAY too often and cause their own set of  problems, including infections 
(generally treatable) and uterine  rupture (uncommon but it happens) in 
subsequent pregnancies, and lots of  other fun stuff. 
 
So before the advent of modern medicine, childbirth /was/ intrinsically  
dangerous and it wasn't just a "mysterious dangerous time, being judged by  
BDShM."  This is the reason given why the mitzva of peru u'revu is an  obligation 
for men but not for women -- people are not obligated to risk their  lives to do 
a mitzva.  (Of course if they want to fulfill the  mitzva, men have to 
persuade women to cooperate, but that's another thread  -- see under "shiduchim."  
However, women are not obligated to marry or to  have children.)
 
As for "being judged by BDShM, it is known that people are especially  judged 
at a time of danger.  Not a "mysterious" danger but a known danger,  like 
crossing the sea or crossing the desert, or giving birth.
 
Today we live in a time when many dangers have been greatly ameliorated  by 
modern science (B'H) and of course that's why we don't bentsh gomel for  
situations that did formerly call for that bracha.  Some people think we  have lost 
some connection with HKB'H as a result -- we are less consciously  aware that 
ultimately, He is the one who brings us safely through travel,  hard times, or 
childbirth.  The scientific knowledge and  the technology we enjoy is a gift 
from Him but He's still running  the world.  We forget that even now we really 
do have to daven and not take  anything for granted.  The rare unexpected 
tragedy reminds us, but then we  forget again.
 
 


--Toby  Katz
=============






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