Hippocratic Oath

A Meaningful Oath? In ancient Greece, Hippocrates, sometimes called the ‘father of medicine,’ required his students to take an oath. For over two thousand years the graduating young doctors of many countries have repeated it. But how meaningful can this vow be today when we consider that one of the promises made is: "I will not give to a woman an instrument to produce abortion"? Awake 77 9/8 p.12

Hippocratic Oath From Wikipedia

The Hippocratic Oath is an oath traditionally taken by physicians pertaining to the ethical practice of medicine. It is widely believed that the oath was written by Hippocrates, the father of western medicine, in the 4th century BC, or by one of his students.[1] It is thus usually included in the Hippocratic Corpus. Classical scholar Ludwig Edelstein proposed that the oath was written by Pythagoreans, a theory that has been questioned due to the lack of evidence for a school of Pythagorean medicine.[2] The phrase "Above all, do no harm" is usually attributed to the oath. Although mostly of historical and traditional value, the oath is considered a rite of passage for practitioners of medicine, although it is not obligatory and no longer taken up by all physicians.

Original, translated into English:[3]

“ I swear by Apollo, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath.

To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art.

I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.

I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.

In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.

All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.

If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot.

Awwwwh, I just had to share!

Little L, born at 6lbs 15oz is now at 9lbs 9oz, as of Thursday, 26 days after birth. Little porker!

He fits so perfectly in the bathroom sink.

Daddy's boys!

D saw L having some belly time on the floor and he decided to join.

Little L's Birth Story

I wasn't sure if I would have the energy to write this post or not... but I then figured L's birth went so well and so fast, that it probably wouldn't take me too long to write about it.

I've been told by a few friends now that I was "made to have children" as I do seem to have easy births. I have heard so many birth stories gone wrong or that were simply loooong and tirering. I must say that I have never really experienced that. L's birth was incredibly fast. Faster than D's and D's was already quite fast (I will write his birth story one day, soon hopefully).

I was due Monday the 23rd of February. My sister in law, who lives in Czech Republic with her husband and their first son was due on the exact same day. My husband's parents decided to go stay with them for 3 months to help out with the new baby, which meant that they were most likely going to miss L's birth AND not see him until 3 months later. They were going to catch their international flight from our city. They arrived at our house Friday night the 13th of February as they were going to stay with us till Monday. We of course joked about how great it would be if I could have the baby early, just in time for them to see him before leaving...

Well... Saturday afternoon, February 14th, at 3 pm exactly, as I was having a nap alone at home while the family was running around with last minute errands, my water broke. I wasn't exactly sure if that's what it was since it was just a trickle. I thought I might have a little "bladder control" problem. But this trickle kept going for a while. When they all came home I told them what I thought this might be, but I didn't seem to be having real contractions. Seemed to me I was still having Braxton Hicks. T and I left to run an errand and now the contractions were starting... by te time we came back home they were stronger. By 5 or 6 oclock, they were very consistent and much stronger.

This is a picture of me at home just after showering. I like taking a picture right before I go to the hospital to see how big I was. I have a picture pregnant with D, in the exact same spot.

Now, my big thing with birth is that lots of pictures will be taken. So as I did with my last brith, I took a nice shower and did my hair and put all my makeup on because I am vain, lol. I don't want to look back at pictures years from now and look like I had just been run over by a truck. Of course I expext and know that I will look tired, but doing all those things just helps me feel better and feel ready. Plus, most books I've read have suggested finding things to keep busy with during the contractions. This helped me a lot with D's contractions, althought THIS time I barely had time to do all of that AND pack up. The contractions were getting stronger so much faster than the first time. I had nothing packed since this ws 9 days before the baby's due date.

We got to the hospital at 8:30pm. Nurses checked me, I was at 5 cm. This time around everything seemed more painful than the last time. I figure a big reason for that was how fast things were moving along. I could barely keep my mind on top of things, on top of the pain. As with the last birth I wanted a completely natural birth. I didn't stay in the examining area very long. I was progressing too fast. They brought me over to the delivery room.

My mother and father-in-law stayed at home with D, they were waiting for a phone call to come over to the hospital as I really wanted D to be there right after the birth. My parents were 3 hours away and would not be able to make it until the next day. My friend who was suppose to be in the delivery room with us was trying to rush to the hospital in time as she was visiting friends just outside of town. She made it just in time.

I had the baby at 9:44.

I had offloaded pictures from our camera memory card onto the computer just before leaving so we would have enough memory to take lots of pictures, but in my big hurry I forgot to actually erase the pics from the card once copied onto the computer. While my friend was trying to take a video of the baby coming out, the memory filled up. She turned to T and asked what she should do. He looked down for what he thinks was one minute, so he could erase old pictures and when he looked up the baby was already on my chest. I was so mad at myself, it was my fault he missed the baby coming out.

They were able to tape the first pushes and then started tapping again as the bay was on my chest. They thought at first that I must have only pushed for 4 or 5 minutes. Turns out that after looking at the internal clock on the camera, I seem to have pushed for under 3 minutes.

T's parents wit D.

That was the most painful 3 minutes of my life yet. More painful than the first birth. Probably cause the pain was condensed into such a short time. Oh, and don't get me started about the "afterpains".

Baby weighed 6lbs 15oz and measured 20". I now have soooo much respect for women who have 8lbs + babies or have hours and hours of contractions or pushing. It is hard to imagine anyone could handle that much pain. The friend who was with me in the delivery room didn't get to have the natural births she had hoped for. She PUSHED for 3 hours with her first one and she ended up having a C-Section as the baby seemed to be stuck in the birth canal. This was really hard for her. Her second one ended up being a scheduled C-Section. She really wanted to be in the room with us, to see a natural birth. She was crying when the L was born. This made me appreciate so much more being able to have a fast uncomplicated natural delivery.

My mom with L.

Next day, home with my boys.

My mom and brother visiting.

Dropping off T's parents at the airport.

Little recap:

• 3:00 pm Water breaks
• 6:00 pm Contractions are getting much stronger as I try to pack and get ready.
• 8:30 pm I'm checking in at the hospital, I'm at 5cm.
• 9:41 pm I'm allowed to push
• 9:44 pm Baby is out
• 10:00 am Staff tells me my discharge papers are ready and I can leave whenever.
• 4:00 pm We leave the hospital.

WOW!! I'm tired just thinking about it again, lol.