Duped

"I feel like I was duped."  This is what my friend, now retired, told me.  We had been discussing this blog, her birth experience, and her experience with infant feeding. 

She was a pioneer for her time with regard to childbirth.  Even with a posterior presentation, which caused a very long "back labor", she waited for a couple of days before she had an epidural and forceps delivery.  She had told the nurse and doctor she was going to walk during labor, and all those things which were pretty radical back in the 70's, after the advent of the fetal heart monitor.  She did not know about positions which would encourage the baby to rotate.  She just did what she could until the doctor told her "it's time".

Her decision of formula feed was due to the fact that she was educated by the health care professionals that formula was just as good, if not better, than breast milk.  This woman has, throughout her life, done everything possible for her son.  I have no doubt she would have breastfed after returning to work had she known it was even possible.

We discussed the health care system in general and the changes (good and bad) which have occurred over the years.  I, too, was not told of the long term consequences of epidurals which led to forcep deliveries.  Knowing what I know now, I would avoid one unless it was proven to provide much more benefit than risk in the situation.  Others may choose differently.  All of us deserved and deserve to know the pros and cons of any medical intervention.

My friend has rheumatoid arthritis.  Of course we did not know way back then that breastfeeding reduces a woman's risk of developing this auto immune disease.  I deal with physical issues resulting from the forceps delivery.   We can not say we would NOT have any of these health problems if we had made different choices . . . but we still wonder what life would be like if we had known the risks and benefits of those choices and took a different path.  Might things have been different?

But, as "old" women, and as believers, we have learned to leave the decisions we made, and their short and long term outcomes in God's hands.  We can not change the past.  We can trust God to use the results of those decisions to His glory.  We have learned to depend on Him for strength through the tough physical times and the surgeries. 

And, we now tell younger women about the risks of routine medical interventions and of formula feeding.  We do not want other women to say at some point in the future "I feel like I have been duped!"

 http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/11993/20140107/study-links-breastfeeding-to-lower-risk-of-rheumatoid-arthritis.htm