Pregnancy & Childbirth, Part 2 of 2

We continue our look at pregnancy and childbirth by looking at puerperal fever, how to perform an emergency birth, birth risks in history, the invention of forceps, “Twilight Sleep”, weird birthing aids, plus news and pop culture!

Music: “Why Was I Born” by Billie Holiday

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13 Responses

  1. I have been listening to this podcast for the past year or so but I have never left a comment.

    I just want to say that Caustic Soda never disappoints! Good job guys!

    Caustic soda is the podcast that other podcasts aspire to be!

  2. I’ve just gone through my second childbirth. Or rather my partner has. These two episodes have been hilarious. Boys, boys, boys…

  3. Oh god. Dr. Jenna’s wisdom tooth extraction story was my worst nightmare before my surgery. Thankfully, I mentioned that to the surgical staff before and they made sure they dosed me a little more to make sure I was out. Lol

  4. There’s an episode of Mad Men that presents what I believe is supposed to be a “twilight sleep” birth. Betty Draper is having her third child, has a series of hallucinations, then wakes up confused with a baby in her arms…

    1. Also, in Mad Men there is a cryptic pregnancy if my memory doesn’t fail me. The secretary, Peggy Olsen goes to the hospital cause her belly hurts and the doctor tells her she’s in labor, and she is shocked and in denial.

  5. I understand how many people say it is a “gift from god”. but I went through hell. My first pregnancy had me motion sick all the time, I could not keep any food down. Then I became anemic. During labor when I began to tear, they tried to save it by giving me an episiotomy, which took 100 stitches and left a ball of scar tissues. I ended up anemic for the rest of my life and motion sickness to the point if I want to fly I need the “Patch” and motion sickness pills just so I do not… The second and last one, never doing it again and was 8 years later, left me hypoglycemic and motion sickness even when I drive, i.e in parking garages and roundabouts. The hypoglycemic was so bad I ended up in the hospital. The irony was they thought I had gestational diabetes due to failing the test, so they had me change my diet, which lead me to fainting and blackouts and losing weight. Some women are not designed for child birth. Mind you both time my labor was only a few hours long. I am one of those who did drink during my second pregnancy. I had maybe a total of two glasses of wine. I would sip from my partner’s glass once in a while and at a wedding I had 1/2 glass. I followed the doctor’s order, which led me to realize that Not all women are suited for giving birth. P.S. the second child is healthy, so I think drinking is…

  6. I listen to this episode in sections. Right when you guys mention the medieval surgeons removal of a still born with crochet hooks and knives, I was in the middle of a crochet project. Elbow deep in yarn with a hook in my hand I never laughed so hard. Thanks Guys

  7. Thanks very much, and hats off to you guys for another great episode. Seriously, Dr Jenna must have a stomach of absolute steel participating in that. All the best with the rest of your pregnancy and the adventures that follow (that’s when it gets really interesting, of course). 🙂

  8. I’ve been playing catch up with my Caustic Soda episodes since returning to work after crazily deciding at 44 to try for a baby and ending up with Twin boys in August last year. I loved these episodes. I could completely relate to it and i was amazed how much pregnancy knowledge I’d actually picked up and remembered. Dr Jenna was awesome as per usual.

    Oh and Dr Jenna was correct, when you’re having twins, it is recommended that you only eat an extra 600 calories, so its not double what you would for a single child. You have to be extra careful with putting on too much weight with two babies because they run out of growing space very fast!

    I am left wondering though, how did it all go for Dr Jenna, and do we have a little miss or master Causty?