美国国家公共电台 NPR Home Birth Can Be Appealing, But How Safe Is It?

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Few American women choose to give birth at home, but the number is increasing. In fact, the number of babies born outside the hospital almost doubled in the last 15 years. Is that safe? Lesley McClurg from member station KQED is invested in the answer because she's considering that decision herself.

LESLEY MCCLURG, BYLINE¹: Last summer when I got pregnant, I initially² envisioned a hospital. But then I started receiving messages like this.

JESSAMYN MEYERHOFF: You don't know what you're choosing.

MCCLURG: That's Jessamyn Meyerhoff. She's a home birth midwife and a really close friend. She warned me that doctors were more likely to push drugs to speed my labor³, pain meds or an unnecessary C-section. And there are studies to back this up. I heard similar arguments from numerous friends who shared pictures of birthing tubs and living rooms with candle lighting⁴. But my mom freaked out when I mentioned it.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You could have a complication where you would need to be in a hospital.

MCCLURG: Just to make sure her point landed, she told me about my older brother's birth.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: He was blue. They whisk him away to the ICU, and I was afraid that he'd gone a long time without breathing to the point that he might be brain damaged.

MCCLURG: Fortunately, my brother is fine. And my mom credits the hospital for saving his life. So friends on one side, family on the other, I decided⁵ to consult a woman who deals with the worst of the worst. Neda Ghaffari is a doctor at UC, San Francisco whose specialty⁶ is high-risk pregnancies⁷.

NEDA GHAFFARI: With the things that I have experienced, I would like to give birth in the hospital.

MCCLURG: Ghaffari says a team of practitioners⁸ is always just down the hall ready to respond to a drop in a baby's heart rate or maternal⁹ hemorrhaging. These kinds of complications are why Ghaffari recommends women who choose a home birth live within 15 minutes of a hospital.

GHAFFARI: It's very hard to determine which patients are going to have an obstetric emergency.

MCCLURG: And about twice as many babies die at home, which sounds terrifying. But death is rare in either setting, though 1 in 5 home births do transfer to the hospital because they end up needing medical services.

GHAFFARI: Being in the hospital is probably safer than being at home.

MCCLURG: So I'll admit my fear was piqued¹⁰ after my conversation with Ghaffari. But then I talked to Maria Iorillo. She's a licensed¹¹ midwife in San Francisco. She's attended 1,400 births over the last 30 years, most of which unfolded safely at home.

MARIA IORILLO: Birth is not a medical procedure. It is a process of you becoming a mother of this little person meeting you on the outside for the first time and continuing that relationship.

MCCLURG: If a mom chooses to take that journey at home, she will feel the full brunt of the experience.

IORILLO: So in home birth, there's no pharmaceutical¹² pain relief.

MCCLURG: Though, Iorillo does carry an oxygen tank, numbing¹³ agents, suturing materials.

IORILLO: I have three big bags of stuff. And my hope is that when I come to your birth, I actually don't use very much of it.

MCCLURG: She compares birth to running a marathon in the sense that they're both arduous¹⁴, excruciating and rewarding.

IORILLO: You can really kind of tap into, what's a woman's body made for?

MCCLURG: That sense of satisfaction appealed to me, plus I learned that I am a good candidate for delivering at home. I'm not having twins or triplets, and I don't have worrisome conditions like diabetes¹⁵ or high blood pressure. So I found myself rethinking home birth. I needed someone who knew both worlds.

ROBYN LAMAR: Hi, I'm Robyn Lamar. I'm an OB-GYN at UCSF.

MCCLURG: And yet, Dr. Lamar had all three of her children at home. She's drawn¹⁶ to laboring¹⁷ at her own pace in a familiar setting where she's the boss.

LAMAR: When you're on your home turf and you're there with your family, it really does change the dynamic.

MCCLURG: She didn't want to feel pressured to follow hospital protocols¹⁸. And yet, she stresses that what's best for one woman may not be right for the next.

LAMAR: Wherever you give birth, there's risks. And the risks differ according to the setting that you're in.

MCCLURG: The final factor to weigh is cost. My insurer will cover a hospital birth but not if I deliver at home. And in the Bay Area, a home birth runs around $6,000. So I continue to talk to friends, experts, read studies, tours hospitals.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: So this is one of our labor rooms. You can go ahead and come on in.

MCCLURG: And now eight months later, I'm still on the fence. All natural, pain meds, comforts of home, emergencies. Either way, this baby is coming and soon. For NPR News, I'm Lesley McClurg.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

7 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

8 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

9 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

10 piqued   

v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心）

参考例句：

• Their curiosity piqued, they stopped writing. 他们的好奇心被挑起，停下了手中的笔。 来自辞典例句
• This phenomenon piqued Dr Morris' interest. 这一现象激起了莫里斯医生的兴趣。 来自辞典例句

11 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

12 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

13 numbing   

adj.使麻木的，使失去感觉的v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Watching television had a numbing effect on his mind. 看电视使他头脑麻木。
• It was numbing work, requiring patience and dedication. 这是一种令人麻木的工作，需要有耐心和忘我精神。 来自辞典例句

14 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

15 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

16 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

17 laboring   

n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• The young man who said laboring was beneath his dignity finally put his pride in his pocket and got a job as a kitchen porter. 那个说过干活儿有失其身份的年轻人最终只能忍辱，做了厨房搬运工的工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But this knowledge did not keep them from laboring to save him. 然而，这并不妨碍她们尽力挽救他。 来自飘（部分）

18 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网