twilight sleep

Something especially horrible happened in the history of birth right around 1940. Male obstetricians were becoming more and more controlling of the process of birth and women wanted it their way; particularly those advocating women's rights. "Twilight Sleep" was brought to the market and almost instantly became the popular solution women were seeking. By becoming entirely sedated from a mixture of morphine and scopolamine, these new mothers felt they were taking control of their birth. It seems so backwards that being in the most passive position, sometimes even being strapped to the bed, felt like a gain of control. While the father was neglected and had no place in the delivery room for the process, the woman woke with a sleepy baby in her arms, both still doped up so that the baby could hardly breast feed, and recovery time was at least doubled. Sounds dreamy right?