I'm currently reading Pushed, by Jennifer Block, and I learned a new word today. Tokophobia: fear of childbirth or pregnancy. There are two types, primary and secondary. Primary tokophobia is the fear and deep-seated dread of childbirth which pre-dates pregnancy and can start in adolescence. Secondary tokophobia is due to a previous horrendous experience regarding traumatic birth, poor obstetric practice or medical attention, postpartum depression or other such upsetting eventings, which renders them emotionally unable to have more children.
I'm sure that there are people who actually suffer from this - I've read that about 10% of women have this phobia. I'll admit, I've had some form of it as I got closer to having each of my babies. But the part that makes me sad is that it could be avoided with positive birth experiences, doctors who would view birth as a natural process and not an accident or law suit waiting to happen, and hospitals who would get all those machines off of the laboring woman!
I'm really enjoying this book - it's so eye-opening! I'll write a review when I'm done...which will soon because the book is due back to the library on Saturday, lol.
1 comment:
I am definitely going to check this book out and I also really want to watch those two documentaries you were talking about in your last post. (I'm not pregnant or anything :-) But I guess it's never too early to start preparing for the next one, especially since there is A LOT that I want to do different next time. Love all your posts and hope you guys are doing good in Texas! We miss you guys!
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