THE PLOWBOY INTERVIEW

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Caesarean sections are now our nation's leading cause of maternal death!

PLOWBOY: That does sound like a wonderful experience.

TOMPSON: It was. Yet even at the time, I couldn't help realizing how different Laurel's delivery might have been had she been in a typical hospital . . . where she and only "one significant other" would have been isolated throughout labor without anyone to support them . . . where strangers who'd simply call her "Mother" — and maybe not even smile at her — would pop in periodically to poke at my very modest daughter . . . where a physician might have forced her to go through labor on her back because he thought it "inconvenient" or "disgraceful" for a woman to give birth in any other position . . . where the doctor might well have operated to deliver the baby rather than wait through Laurel's long labor . . . and where, instead of letting that little boy be with his parents right away, the staff would whisk the newborn off to put drops in his eyes and to test, weigh, scrub, and even — this may sound unbelievable, but it happens — circumcise him.

PLOWBOY: Marian, you've just now mentioned some striking differences between the home birth your daughter had and some hospital experiences. It makes me wonder — since you've had children under both conditions — what your own birthings were like.

TOMPSON: All I wanted, as I approached my first delivery, was to be allowed natural childbirth. It never occurred to me then that it might be possible to have the baby at home . . . remember, this was 32 years ago. But because I did experience an undrugged and unanesthetized hospital delivery, I was able to see just how unaware the staff people were of the needs of a woman in labor. For one thing, they sent my husband — the only person there who really cared for me — home.

PLOWBOY: They sent him home?

TOMPSON: Oh, he came right back, but they still wouldn't let him in my room. Then, when I was in transition, they turned out the light and told me that, since it was night, I should go to sleep. Later, when I was in the delivery room and about to have the baby, the attendants threw the sheet over my head and started talking about their dates and dreams and all. And why not . . . they weren't accustomed to having a woman give birth while she was awake!

Still, I'll always be grateful to my obstetrician for permitting me to have a natural delivery. When my pushing stage dragged on — because the baby was in a posterior position — he said, "You know, Marian, if you were asleep, I could use forceps and have that baby out in no time." But I was awake . . . and that was my protection.

When my second child was due, I tried to arrange for my husband Tom to be with me during delivery, but the doctor said, "No, that isn't allowed . . . and besides, there won't be room."

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