On TV and in Movies when a woman is about to give birth, why is it always suggested that someone boil water?
Answer:
It's just a TV/movie tradition. I was an EMT. If I ever had an emergency childbirth patient - thankfully I never did, I'd have sent the dad to do it just to get him out of my hair (if he looked like he'd be more of a hindrance than a help).
It's just like TV/movie courtroom scenes. If I had a wild sexual experience with a luscious brunette hottie for every time a fictional judge said "this is highly irregular, but I'll allow it" I'd be a sated and happy FeelBaby.comer.
possibly to steralize baby bottle nipples??
Sterilization. You don't did the baby in, but water that's been heated up to 5000 degrees will take the hide off a hog. It'll surely kill a few germs.
My response was, "Give me an epidural NOW!!"
Back then the water was used to sterilize items that were being used during the birth like a towe or to remove blood from the baby or the mother.
possible to clean the baby w/ sterile water?
To kill germs, they would wash thier hands and tools or towels in hot water to kill any germs. Then use the hot water to clean up the mess afterwards.
Some may think it is to sterilize any instruments used in delivery, but mainly it is to keep anyone who is panicking, something to do to prevent getting in the way.
I think it was something they did to give the father something to do to distract him from the birth.
This is an excert for the web page below:
"(a Norwegian translation of _Pregnancy and Childbirth_ by Sheila Kitzinger) says, retranslation mine, "Boil a little water; most of it will be used for coffee and tea, but it is also useful for washing your perineum after the birth." The perineum is the bit between the vagina and the anus. Since it says to boil the water just after calling the midwife, one presumes it will be considerably cooler than boiling hot by the time the baby makes its appearance."
Also you might want to look at this site It talks about "boiling water in movies" http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/we...
Water was used to steralize instruments and to have clean water after the baby came. They didn't have to water systems we have now and there was a lot more bacteria in the water and it could have been harmful.
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