美国国家公共电台 NPR I Went Through My Pregnancy With Strangers. It Was The Best Decision I Could've Made

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

You might not think of a prenatal checkup as a thing that brings strangers together and becomes a kind of community, but that is exactly what reporter Jenny Gold found.

JENNY GOLD, BYLINE¹: I'd always imagined having a baby surrounded by my family and friends. But when I found out I was pregnant, my husband and I had just moved from San Francisco to Chicago. I hardly knew a soul. I looked for friends at work, in prenatal yoga classes, at the bookstore. But I ended up finding a community where I least expected it - at a medical office.

CAROL HIRSCHFIELD: How you doing?

GOLD: Good. I'm a little tired.

You're listening to the audio I recorded at my 38-week pregnancy² visit at Northwestern Medicine. I'm lying on an exam table behind a curtain as midwife Carol Hirschfeld (ph) searches for the baby's heartbeat.

Oh, there he is.

So far, it seems like your average prenatal visit. But just on the other side of that curtain are six other couples waiting for their turn.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLD: We're part of a program called Centering Pregnancy. Instead of individual 15-minute prenatal visits, you meet as a group for two hours. After the brief medical check, we sit in a circle to talk about all the crazy things happening to our bodies. There's a curriculum focused on things like nutrition, relationships and labor³. But mostly we just talk, prompted by the two midwives who lead the group, Carol Hirschfeld and Ariel Derringer.

ARIEL DERRINGER: The things that we passed around are some quotes, if you want to say something, a wish or a - something that you're feeling. Does anyone want to start?

MIKE: So the quote that I have is the greatest gift a couple can give a baby is a loving relationship.

GOLD: It sounds a lot like a support group, and that's part of the point. The goal here is to provide medical care and educate, yes, but also to reduce stress and isolation⁴.

DERRINGER: The biggest positive outcome here is the growth of community, having people go through the most difficult transition in their life with other women going through the same thing.

GOLD: Years of studies, many focusing on teen and low-income moms, have found that babies born to women in centering groups are less likely to be born premature⁵. And that saves money, more than $22,000 for every premature birth that can be prevented. Over the past five years, the number of practices that offer centering has nearly doubled to 600. Most of the groups are led by midwives, and about half are in community health centers that serve mainly low-income women. But private practices are jumping in too. I was in Northwestern's first group.

DERRINGER: As word spreads and as people talk about their experience, I think people will be asking us instead of us asking them. My vision in the future is really an opt-out as opposed to an opt-in.

GOLD: I worried at first that I might miss out on one-on-one attention. What I found instead was the Chicago tribe I'd been seeking. I actually left the hospital a little early after giving birth to go to our final session. There were three brand-new humans in attendance.

(SOUNDBITE OF BABY CRYING)

GRACE TUMAN: I didn't think I would get emotional, but God - hormones⁶.

GOLD: Grace Tuman, one of the other moms in the group.

TUMAN: You don't feel as alone or neurotic⁷ when you can talk about things, and everyone else is going through the same thing.

GOLD: We moved back to California just two months later, but it didn't mean the end of our group. In April, my family flew all the way back to Chicago to attend a reunion in the midst of a snowstorm. Even the midwives showed up.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP MEMBERS: One, two, three.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP MEMBER: She says, I've been tired, y'all.

GOLD: This little community forged at a medical office is one I'm hoping to be part of for a long time to come.

I'm Jenny Gold in San Francisco.

(SOUNDBITE OF YAKIMA SLOW'S "MONGOOSE KID")

KING: Jenny Gold is with our partner Kaiser Health News.

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 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

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 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

5 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

6 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

7 neurotic   

adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者

参考例句：

• Nothing is more distracting than a neurotic boss. 没有什么比神经过敏的老板更恼人的了。
• There are also unpleasant brain effects such as anxiety and neurotic behaviour.也会对大脑产生不良影响，如焦虑和神经质的行为。