| Quote: |
| Vaginal delivery is a major factor in womb prolapse, urinary and faecal incontinence. If the woman's perineum or sphincter is damaged during childbirth, she will not necessarily be affected straight after the birth. But when she hits the menopause and the pelvic floor muscles begin to atrophy, problems can arise.
Michelle Thornton, a colorectal surgeon, sees around 100 women a year suffering from faecal incontinence. "I'm seeing the end result of a traumatic birth," she says. "Very few of my colleagues would opt for a vaginal delivery and, if any of them asked me, then it's an elective C-section." Some 42% of women show some symptoms of urinary incontinence, 4%-12% of women suffer from faecal incontinence. According to Thornton, "If you have a forceps delivery the chance of having faecal incontinence increases to 40% or 45%. If you have an elective caesarean you shouldn't have any issues." Not all experts agree that the risks of a surgical birth outweigh the benefit of protecting the pelvic floor. But calibrating clinical percentages is different from witnessing the lives of women with faecal incontinence, says Thornton. "It's definitely altered the way I think about childbirth. The thought of being faecally incontinent - to have a life like my patients - I don't think I'm strong enough." Thornton feels the stigma attached to incontinence is as bad, if not worse than the physical symptoms. "Most are too embarrassed to go out," says Thornton. "They will not go anywhere unless they know there is going to be a toilet. They can't use public transport; they don't go out for meals . . . Only two of them have managed to keep a job, the rest don't because they think they smell all the time. If they cough or sneeze or laugh they know they are going to leak." Among her patients, Thornton has half a dozen women in their early 30s. They have "bonding issues with their babies . . . as well as young partners expecting to resume a normal sexual relationship. Two of the couples have split up because of the traumas." She counsels patients both psychologically and physically. "Emotionally it is tough," she says. "Having those patients with you when they get upset is tough." When treatments fail, "it's terrible, because the patient is absolutely gutted". Her patients know a permanent colostomy is the only solution. Imparting this news always makes Thornton anxious. "It's a terrible feeling. It's like giving them a cancer diagnosis." |
| aochriss wrote: |
| Wow, I thought things like this happened only in third world countries. Thanks for the info.
More interesting facts: "Childbirth in humans is an extremely difficult and dangerous process that is a result of human bipedalism and encephalization." http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node /277 |
| Few wrote: | ||
so all women should refuse to give birth and the human race should be extinct? |
| aochriss wrote: | ||||
Yeah, that's exactly what was said. |
| Darkmoon wrote: |
| More like all women should have complete autonomy to choose whether they want to endure it and take the risks that come with it. Our ridiculously overpopulated species won't be driven into extinction because some women refuse to incubate and give birth. |
| motherofhighspiritedones wrote: |
| Yet you also want to play God. You want to choose who lives. Even if in the end, a woman or the fetus dies anyway. Or both. |
| Few wrote: | ||
women have the autonomy to choose wether or not to become pregnant. but you want to become some sort of god that can pick and choose wether or not the people you become pregnant with live or die. |
| Darkmoon wrote: | ||||
Then men must already be "gods" in your eyes, since you don't have a problem with THEM deciding whether or not their bodies are used by another entity or not. Why not just admit that you see women as breeding fodder rather than human beings? Pig. |
| Few wrote: | ||
how? the people killed with abortions are already alive. |
| motherofhighspiritedones wrote: | ||||
Abortion is legal by law because of one reason: You are not considered to be "alive" or a "person" until you are completely independent from your mother at the cellular level. So yes, in a way a z/e/f is "alive", however if you take the mother out of the picture, the z/e/f will no longer be "alive". Therefore, until it can stay alive, completely independent of its mother's body (minus breastfeeding), it is not considered alive. This is the definition BY LAW. You call pro choicers murderers...yet would you call a mother who died while pregnant or giving birth a murderer because she failed at carrying the fetus or delivering it? |
| Few wrote: |
| this is not a court of laws. this is an abortion debate.and laws are not what creates life. how on earth are you capable of watching a person sucking its thumb or kicking its legs and declare the person dead. dead people don't suck their thumbs and dead people don't kick their legs. the only reason unborn babies can be killed with abortions is because they are alive. |
| Moo wrote: | ||
Yes but the law provides women with the option of abortiong, it is therefore relevant. "People" aren't killed by abortion - z/e/f's are and there IS a difference. Please try to not ignore this fact. |
| Few wrote: | ||||
z/e/f is a acronym for zygote embryo and fetus. people are created and have a continuous lifespan. some terms are used to describe certain levels of development of people during their lifespan. terms such as adult adolescent embryo fetus are used to descibe people during their lifespan. you are using the acronym zef in a blatant attempt to trick people into thinking that people are something other than people. in an effort to promote the discrimination of those people and the wanton slaughter of those people with abortions. |
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