Comments for Eleanor Sullivan

Comment on 101 Ways to Poison Your Enemies by Deborah J. Benoit

Deborah J. Benoit — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:38:58 +0000

I had the pleasure of hearing Luci speak at Crime Bake. She’s very knowledgable and entertaining. I came away marveling at how many poisonous plants were growing in my garden. Lots of food for murderous thought – make that writing inspiration.

Comment on 101 Ways to Poison Your Enemies by Eleanor Sullivan

Eleanor Sullivan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:26:22 +0000

To be caught, however, a drug sceen must be ordered that targets the exact substance. With the cost, fewer are done than we imagine.

Comment on 101 Ways to Poison Your Enemies by Pam De Voe

Pam De Voe — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:43:33 +0000

Isn’t it amazing how such beautiful plants can be so deadly? I am using one of these in a mytery I am currently writing. They are a handy weapon. Although, as you point out, in today’s world they are also a discoverable (is that a word?J) weapon!

Thanks for the input, Eleanor.

Comment on Childbirth in Bygone Eras by Eleanor Sullivan

Eleanor Sullivan — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:13:12 +0000

I appreciate your observations and agree with you, especially about birth occuring in the context of the culture. A friend worked as a maternity nurse in Iran (during the Shah’s time) and said that Iranian women made no sounds during labor. It was as if they felt nothing painful or uncomfortable and then announced to the nurse, “it’s time.”

I used the Ulrich book to help create the midwife protagonist in my book, Cover Her Body. I was so grateful to have a primary source and read an actual midwife’s words about her work. There’s a PBS show on DVD illustrating the book as well.

Comment on Childbirth in Bygone Eras by Eleanor Sullivan

Eleanor Sullivan — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:09:03 +0000

See the next post for another view on childbirth. I appreciate everyone’s contributions to this post!

Comment on Childbirth in Bygone Eras by Cheri Van Hoover

Cheri Van Hoover — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:26:48 +0000

With all due respect to Dr. Lyle’s medical background and experience in internal medicine and cardiology, it appears that his understanding of childbirth practices both past and present is somewhat limited. Pregnancy and birth are normal physiological processes. Like all normal physiological events, the potential for disease and pathology is always present, yet most births in our own species, just as in other mammals, can be accomplished with minimal intervention. Birth is hard work and it hurts, but women have been doing it as long as there have been human beings on this planet and it’s easy to see that we’ve had no difficulty multiplying our numbers, even in a world where the interventions common to Western medicine remain the exception throughout the world.

Birth occurs in a cultural context. Women from different cultures have different customs regarding where and how they give birth. Although the process is universal, each woman and family will approach it quite differently, depending on who they are as members of a family and a society.

The involvement of physicians in birth is a relatively modern phenomenon, and one that actually increased the risk of pathology for a very long time because of the very factors mentioned by Dr. Lyle. Some would argue that even with our current level of knowledge about infection control and our improved technical skills, modern medicine continues to pathologize and add risk to normal birth. Ample evidence exists which shows that women who are supported by the presence of another woman, even one who simply sits silently in the room, have fewer complications and better outcomes than those who lack this type of support, even in a hospital environment.

For more information about childbirth practices among the Amish today, I suggest Penny Armstrong’s book, “A Midwife’s Story.” For those interested in an accurate overview of the history of childbirth in America, I recommend “Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America” by Wertz. The Pulitzer prize winning history by Ulrich, “A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812″ is an outstanding analysis and gives a wealth of information about day to day live in colonial America.

Comment on Childbirth in Bygone Eras by Jenny Milchman

Jenny Milchman — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:56:22 +0000

With the C section rate at over 1/3, and the United States ranked quite low among developed nations for childbirth success, this post made me wonder how far we have come? Thank you for the perspective.

Comment on Childbirth in Bygone Eras by Eleanor Sullivan

Eleanor Sullivan — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:03:58 +0000

I appreciate your comments. My grandmother, a descendant of the founder of Zoar, the village in my story, became a CS at age 27 after the births of her children. She lived to be 91 and said she’d never had so much as an aspirin in all those years. When her daughter (my mother) developed polio, she wasn’t taken to the dr. Only when she couldn’t return to school without a doctor’s note, did she learn what disease she’d had. She always walked with a limp due to one leg shorter than the other. I guess CS folks only give in with the law interfered.

Glad to hear you survived!

Comment on Childbirth in Bygone Eras by Maud St. James

Maud St. James — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:24:44 +0000

I too was born at home, in 1946, with my mother’s best friend and a Christian Science practitioner in attendance. This was in the middle of a large city. My mother was a devout CS who refused to have a doctor in attendance, When my father (who was neither CS nor devout in anything) reminded her that by law a doctor had to sign the birth certificate, she agreed to let the doctor in the house (a first!) but made him sit outside the bedroom until after I was delivered, then come in and authenticate the birth, sign the certificate and then she made him leave. Small wonder that I am an only child, and that after hearing tales of my birth I never had any children.

Comment on Childbirth in Bygone Eras by Eleanor Sullivan

Eleanor Sullivan — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:13:07 +0000

Thanks for adding to my knowledge! I grew up in a city and born by C-section. I can see I led a sheltered life!

For my stories, I have to do lots of research so I end up with tons of information, more than I need. That’s why I started this blog–to share some of it.

The simpler times are inviting, as you say. That’s a comment I’ve heard about my first historical. Easier to find online but stores can order it. I have a small publisher and they don’t always get into bricks and mortar stores.

I appreciate your comments.