User:Mkang29/sandbox

RESPONSE PAPER

1. My first Wiki entry was on Cowpox. It detailed how the disease affected society at the time, from a medical and political standpoint. In addition, it described how cowpox was used an effective method against the disease smallpox, and how this significantly impacted the medical world during that time. My second Wiki entry was on Forceps in Childbirth (obstetrical forceps). It detailed the complications of childbirth and how the invention of obstetrical forceps solved many of those complications, while also propelling obstetrics into a respected, popular medical practice
2. I did not collaborate with anyone on neither of my Wiki entries
3. The assignments were structured well. It was easy to keep up with, and expect what was due each week. This helped with my scheduling for studying.
4. I got a lot of critical thinking out of the wiki entries. I had to dig deep and find why this particular subject mattered and why anyone would care to read it. Research skills improved a little. I am familiar with researching for topics, but having to do it for this course helped a little.
5. The Wiki entries were a good way to spice things up in a nontraditional way which is a good thing. With all the things that students have to do, it was good to know that what I write down is something that the entire world will be able to read. At the beginning, things were a little rocky but it got better throughout the course. Overall, it was a good and different experience. Traditional assignments would put students in a study mode. Where the students just do the work to get a grade and not really care about the information of big picture. These projects helped to not think about the grade and focus more on the information, big picture, why it matters, etc.

Did You Know

The Chamberlen Family kept the obstetrical forceps a family secret for nearly 100 hundred years, until Peter Chamberlen, a surgeon, presented it to the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1723.

FORCEPS IN CHILDBIRTH

Summary

Obstetrical is an adjective that describes things relating to childbirth and the childbirth process. Because of this, another name for the forceps in childbirth is the obstetrical forceps.

Complications

Child birth was not considered a medical practice before the eighteenth century. It was mostly over seen by a midwife, mother, stepmother, grandmother, sister, neighbor, or any female relative. "Around the 19th and 20th Century, childbirth was considered dangerous for women." With the introduction of obstetrical forceps, this allowed non medical professionals, such as the aforementioned individuals, to continue to oversee childbirths. In addition, this gave some of the public more comfort in trusting childbirth oversight to common people. However, the introduction of obstetrical forceps also had a negative effect, because there was no medical oversight of childbirth by a medical professional, of some sort, this exposed the practice to unnecessary risks and complications for the fetus and mother. These risks could range from minimal effects to lifetime consequences for both individuals. The baby could develop cuts and bruises in various body parts due to the forcible squeezing of his or her body through the mother’s vagina. In addition, there could be bruising on the baby’s face if the handler of the forceps were to squeeze too tight. In some extreme cases, this could cause temporary or permanent facial nerve injury. Furthermore, if the handler of the forceps were to twist his or her wrist while the grip was on the baby’s head, this would twist the baby’s neck and cause damage to a cranial nerve, resulting in strabismus. In rare cases, a clavicle fracture to the baby could occur. The addition of obstetrical forceps came with complication to the mother during and after childbirth. The use of the forceps gave rise to an increased risk in cuts and lacerations along the vaginal wall. This, in turn, would cause an increase post operation recovery time and increase pain experienced by the mother. In addition, the use of forceps would cause more difficulty evacuating during the recovery time as compared to another mother who did not use the forceps. While some of these risks and complications were very common, in general, many people overlooked them and continued to use them.

Medicalization of childbirth by forceps… that’s not what the subtitle is going to be but that’s basically what the next paragraph is about

The introduction of the obstetrical forceps provided huge advances in the medicalization of childbirth. Before the eighteenth century, childbirth was thought of as a medical phase that could be overseen by a female relative. Usually if a doctor had to get involved that means that something had gone wrong. Around this era, (eighteenth century) there were no female doctors. Since males were only exclusively called in for extreme circumstance, the act of childbirth was thought to better known to a midwife or female relative rather than that of a male doctor. Usually the male doctor’s job was to save the mother’s life if, for example, the baby had gotten stuck on his or her way exiting the mother. Before the obstetrical forceps, this had to be done by cutting the baby out piece by piece. In other cases, if the baby was deemed undeliverable, then the doctor would use an item called a crochet. This was used to crush the baby’s skull and then pull it out of the mother’s womb. Still in other cases, a caesarean section (c section) could be performed, but this would almost all the time result in the mother’s death. "In addition, women who had forceps deliveries had shorter after childbirth complications than those who had caesarean sections performed." These procedures came with various risks to the mother’s health and not to mention the death of the baby. However, with the introduction of the obstetrical forceps the male doctor had a more important role. In many cases, they could actually save the baby’s life if called early enough. Although the use of the forceps in childbirth came with its own set of risks, the positives included a significant decrease in risk to the mother, a decrease in child morbidity, and a decrease risk to the baby. The forceps gave male doctors a way to deliver babies. Since the forceps in childbirth were made public around 1720, they gave male doctors a way to assist and even oversee childbirths. Around this time, in large cities some notable being London and Paris, some men would become devoted to obstetrical practices. It became stylish among wealthy women of the era to have their childbirth overseen by man midwives. A notable man midwife was William Hunter. He popularized obstetrics. "In 1762, he was appointed as obstetrician to Queen Charlotte." In addition, with the use of forceps, male doctors invented lying in hospitals to provide safe, somewhat advanced obstetrical care because of the use of the obstetrical forceps.