Analysis of "I was there in the room"

"I WAS THERE IN THE ROOM"- Vagina Monologue skit by Eve Ensler
I was there when her vagina opened./We were all there, her mother, her husband and I,/and the nurse from the Ukraine with her whole hand/up there in her vagina feeling and turning with her rubber/glove as she talked casually to us — like she was turning on a loaded faucet./I was there in the room when the contractions/made her crawl on all fours,/made unfamiliar moans leak out of her pores/and still there after hours when she just screamed suddenly/wild, her arms striking at the electric air./I was there when her vagina changed/from a shy sexual hole/to an archeological tunnel, a sacred vessel,/a Venetian canal, a deep well with a tiny stuck child inside,/waiting to be rescued./I saw the colors of her vagina. They changed./Saw the bruised broken blue/the blistering tomato red/the gray pink — the dark;/saw the blood like perspiration along the edges/saw the yellow, white liquid, the shit, the clots/pushing out all the holes, pushing harder and harder,/saw through the hole, the baby’s head/scratches of black hair, saw it just there behind/the bone — a hard round memory,/as the nurse from the Ukraine kept turning and turning/her slippery hand./I was there when each of us, her mother and I,/held a leg and spread her wide pushing with all our strength against her pushing/and her husband sternly counting, “One, two, three,”/telling her to “focus, harder.”/We looked into her then./We couldn’t get our eyes out of that place./We forget the vagina — All of Us
what else would explain/our lack of awe, our lack of reverence./I was there when the doctor/reached in with Alice in Wonderland spoons/and there as her vagina became a wide operatic mouth/singing with all its strength;/first the little head, then the gray flopping arm, then the fast swimming body, swimming/quickly into our weeping arms./I was there later when I just turned and faced her vagina./I stood and let myself see her all spread, completely exposed/mutilated, swollen and torn,
bleeding all over the doctor’s hands/who was calmly sewing her there./I stood and her vagina suddenly/became a wide red pulsing heart./The heart is capable of sacrifice./So is the vagina./The heart is able to forgive and repair./It can change its shape to let us in./It can expand to let us out./So can the vagina./It can ache for us and stretch for us, die for us/and bleed and bleed us into this difficult, wondrous world./I was there in the room./I remember.

As a total Vagina Monologue fan, I have to say that this skit is absolutely beautiful. Since I did my final paper on birthing rights, I am going to analyze the birthing model used during this skit.

First of all, it is evident that the laboring woman was given the freedom to move. Eve Ensler describes her daughter-in-law crawling on all fours in pain from the contractions. Giving the laboring mother the freedom to move during labor is in line with the humanistic model of birth. This is good!!

Secondly, the woman is described as giving birth on her back, with her feet in the air. This reflects the traditional lithotomy position. The lithotomy position fits the technocratic model, because it was designed for the comfort of the doctor, not the women. It makes contractions much more painful. This is bad!!

Thirdly, Ms. Ensler describes herself as pushing against the leg of her laboring daughter-in-law. As far as I know, this practice is rarely used any more. It carries a risk for causing the pubic symphysis to separate, resulting in life-long crippling and eliminating the chance of ever giving vaginal birth again. This practice fits under the technocratic model and is really dangerous and harmful!!

At the end of her birth, the doctor is sewing her up. This means that she either tore naturally, or that she was given an episiotomy. If she was given an episiotomy, that is not good, because they often cause more vaginal trauma than giving birth without one. Episiotomies are a technocratic procedure. If she gave birth without an episiotomy, this would signify positive, women-centered, humanistic birthing practices.