This is from back in 1997. It’s the article I wrote for Special Delivery, the newsletter of ALACE (Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators) just as I was finishing my thesis on this topic. Now the birth/media project is available as a DVD called LABORING UNDER AN ILLUSION: MASS MEDIA CHILDBIRTH VS. THE REAL…
Author: vickielson
A Super Useful Tool For Labor And Life
A Super Useful Tool For Labor And Life by Vicki Elson, MA, CCE, CD www. birth-media.com Feel free to copy this. This is useful when you’re pregnant, every single time you think about labor and birth. It’s also useful, pregnant or not, at the dentist, on stage, during an argument, when you crave tobacco/sugar/heroin,…
My Birth/Media Master’s Thesis is Online!
It’s called “Childbirth in American Movies and Television: Patterns of Portrayal and Audience Impact,” May 1997.And you can read it at: http://www.archive.org/stream/childbirthinamer00elso#page/n27/mode/2up
Cute Baby, Even With Those Tentacles
Well, that was pretty surreal. There I was, with a mom laboring beautifully by spontaneously dancing her baby down through her pelvis, when the birth scene from “Men in Black” came on the TV. A lot of people watch TV during labor at the hospital where I volunteer. I think that labor itself is more…
Getting Born: Babies Are Not Passive Passengers
Getting Born: Babies Are Not Passive Passengers By Vicki Elson, MA, CCE, CD www.birth-media.com Feel free to copy this. I remember my firstborn kicking me in the diaphragm as her head was coming out — exactly like a swimmer pushing off the side of the pool with her feet. A baby is an active swimmer…
Car Birth Story
In my film, “Laboring Under An Illusion: Mass Media Childbirth vs. The Real Thing,” I made fun of those silly TV shows where babies get born in cars. Then it happened to me. Dear Estrella Luz, You were born in an unusual way! Your mom’s water broke late one night, so I…
Giving birth while Incarcerated
I didn’t know that tears could fall out of eyes three at a time. One from the center and one from each side, times two eyes, is six tears falling. Falling on the formica table, falling on the prison-issue denim jacket, falling on the orange pants worn by those awaiting sentencing, falling on the long graceful…
Should I take an online childbirth class?
Sure, go for it, be well informed — but take a real one too, in your community. There are three things that you just cannot get from your computer. 1. Some of the most useful content is experiential. It just doesn’t translate onto a screen. 2. Local knowledge is essential when you are choosing care…