Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Why is ISBN important? 14 used & new from Check out these featured resources for the latest in board review titles. Birth Chairs, Midwives, and Medicine From the Inside Flap A fascinating exploration of how birth chairs and birthing methods have evolved --This text refers to the Paperback edition. Amanda Carson Banks is Director of Development for the College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University, Sacramento. Her articles have appeared in journals like Journal of American Folklore, Impromptu Journal, and Women & Language. Browse the New York Times best sellers in popular categories like Fiction, Nonfiction, Picture Books and more. Publisher: University Press of Mississippi;
1 edition (November 15, 1999) 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) #6,329,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) in Books > Textbooks > Medicine & Health Sciences > Nursing > Clinical > Maternity, Perinatal, Women's Health in Books > Medical Books > Nursing > Women's Health, Obstetrics & Gynecology in Books > Textbooks > Medicine & Health Sciences > Medicine > Special Topics > History 85 star75%4 star13%3 star12%See all verified purchase reviewsTop Customer ReviewsMore Than Furniture|A major addition to women's studies/material culture!informative & interesting read!informative to a faultWorth reading for pleasure and for serious reference!Worth reading for pleasure and for serious reference!Not what I was looking for... Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America, Expanded EditionWe believe that only you can guide your best birth experience. The Kaya Stool is designed to support the most natural and physiologically effective positioning throughout labour & delivery
The Kaya Stool can be used in a wide range of settings and positions, allowing you to respond to your body throughout labour and delivery based on what feels most comfortable and most effective for you. These upright positions, including squatting, kneeling, lunging, and rocking increase the available space within the pelvis and stimulate more effective contractions, and have proven to yield the best health outcomes for you and your baby. Anywhere You ChooseIn Hospital. We designed the Kaya stool to allow for safe use in whatever setting you choose. The single part design is both stable and easy to clean and disinfect, easily meeting hospital standards for safety and infection control. It can even be safely submerged in a tub or pool for use in water. Before, during, and after your birth Getting familiar with the positions facilitated by the Kaya Stool will allow you to move more comfortably through them during labour & delivery. After birth it can remain in the home for continued stretching and strengthening as your body recovers after birth, and later as a playful piece of children's furniture.
Learn more about Kaya BirthA birthing chair isn’t typically used in a hospital — it's more likely to be used for a home birth or at a birthing center. Birthing chairs allow women to be in the squatting position during labor, a position many women find can make delivery easier, thanks to gravity. “The squatting position helps the mom push the baby out more forcefully,” says Elise Harper, MD, an ob-gyn at Health Central OBGYN in Frisco, Texas. “By squatting, you’re allowing gravity to help bring the baby down to the right position. It also helps open your pelvis up.” If you’re giving birth in a hospital and feel that you’re missing out on a birthing chair, don’t worry — the doctors will put you in a similar position. “In a hospital setting, we convert the bed so that women are in a semi-reclining sitting position,” says Harper. “This allows gravity to do its work, but in a controlled way. We emulate a birthing chair, but alter it because some women get epidurals and are unable to control their legs.”
Birthing chairs sound awesome, but we’ve got to warn you about one drawback: tearing. Birthing chairs can put you at a higher risk for tearing because baby’s head could put extra pressure on your pelvis (yikes!). If you’re considering using one, ask your OB or midwife how to help prevent tearing during delivery. Plus, more from The Bump: Should I go med-free for the delivery?I was standing on the second floor of Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh waiting for my film crew to begin rolling for my upcoming documentary, Medicine’s Dark Secrets, when I spied a chair (left) in the corner. At that point in the day, I was exhausted and my attention to detail was diminishing with each passing second. Heartened by the sight of a chair, I quickly made my way towards my desired rest stop. Just as I began my descent into blissful comfort, however, I noticed a sign with big bold lettering: Museum Object: Please DO NOT SIT! Just seconds before plopping my full weight down onto an antique chair, I awkwardly manoeuvred myself back into a standing position and looked around to make sure no one had seen my faux pas.
Upon closer inspection, I realised how obvious my mistake had been. This was no ordinary chair. It had a semi-circle cut from the seat, and looked tremendously uncomfortable. Indeed, I’d have to sit with my legs straddling either side of this awkward contraption to even remain balanced on it. This was an 18th-century birthing chair. Today, the idea of giving birth while sitting upright in a wooden chair may seem torturous. But long before delivery rooms, stirrups, forceps and foetal monitors, a woman gave birth at home in a chair with the aid of her midwife and other female friends, relatives and neighbours. These women were known as the ‘gossips’, for they spread the word to all the women in the community when another went into labour. The ‘gossips’ supported the mother-to-be during this time by praying with her, preparing special foods, and helping the midwife with any other menial tasks that needed doing. When the time came, the pregnant woman would be propped up in the birthing chair.
The midwife would sit below her, ready to catch the baby, while other women supported and comforted her from above. After the delivery, the exhausted mother would then be lead back to her bed, which remained unsullied from the birth itself. Overtime, birthing became the purview of the medical community. Midwives were replaced by male-midwives (the precursor to the modern-day obstetrician), who introduced forceps into the delivery. Birthing chairs were modified to accommodate these changes. Take, for example, the one on the left. The arm and foot rests on this wooden chair could be adjusted for the mother’s comfort; and (most importantly), the back could fold down, converting it into a bed or an operating table—a necessary feature if forceps were to be used. Birthing chairs were coveted pieces, and often passed down from generation to generation as family heirlooms. Little by little, however, the hospital became the locale of birth and eventually the chairs were discarded.