The equipment I used looked much different, there was a plexiglass dome with a plastic skirt that fit ’round the abdomen, connected to a vacuum device. I cannot remember the doctor’s name who delivered J_ and heard that he had passed away just a few years after J_ was born. I remember that he had talked about a follow-up study, but sadly, nothing was done. You will find that as a scientist, my son does not put much stock in it, because there was not a truly scientific study done…

Hello… I found your web page while trying to research the abdominal decompression equipment and process I used back in 1969 for the birth of my first child. I did it because I had read an article, probably by Dr. Hehns, about how to have a genius. Did it work?

I believe absolutely that it did. My son was valedictorian, graduated from Stanford with honors, has an MD/PhD from Harvard and is currently teaching and doing research at Cornell Medical School. As a scientist, he laughs at my stories. As the mother of a ‘genius’, I believe it worked.

I too used decompression in 1968, for the recommended time and through the first stage of  labour.

I have been looking for a) any sort of survey on the ‘children’ and b) feeling very strongly that more research should be done for painless labour.

My experience was probably very like your mother’s, except that late in labour the 10lb baby proved to be a breach which may have been related to the decompression throughout labour, and resulted in late diagnosis.