An illustrative example

A brief example, told from the point of view of common sense, should clarify the two related points that
  1. most of the statuses that "Lonnie," the mother-soon-to-be, could claim are not in fact claimed or acknowledged at moments when matters directly related to the labor, for example the level of her pain, emerge in conversation. In this process most of the potential uniqueness of this labor is erased and this scene is thereby recognizable as Hospital Labor.
  2. some matters are in fact open to specific negotiation in some uncertainty, thereby opening the way for the labor to turn out to be somewhat unique even as it is recognizable as Hospital Labor.
The scene is taken from a moment about half an hour after Lonnie has been administered an epidural at her repeated request throughout pre-natal visits, and about an hour before the baby is to be born (though of course no one knows that for sure at this moment). Lonnie, her husband, the nurse, and the researcher are in the room, hovering over Lonnie as a contraction finishes. The transcript starts during this contraction and continues for a few seconds thereafter. Figure 2 is a frame grab from the videotape showing a moment towards the end of the contraction when husband, nurse, and researcher check the recording machine

Transcript, Seconds 904:58 to 905:27
 
frame from video (90521)

Every participant has been looking at the monitor and use the inscribed trace as an argument in an evaluation of Lonnie's pain. Through the use of the trace, the participants claim some authority, an authority which Lonnie accepts, even as she challenges her husband's actual evaluation.
frame # Lonnie husband  nurse 
90458 ~ ~ ~ breathe  ~ ~
~ ~ breathe ~ ~ ~
90500 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ blow it out ~ ~
~ ~ come on ~ keep ~ ~
~ ~ breathing ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
90510 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ it's going down 
~ ~ ~ ~ now ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ xxxxx
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
90520 ~ ~ that one  going ~
~ ~ was almost as spikey as ~ ~
~ ~ the one that you have had ~ ~
~ ~ before ~ ~
oh well it hurt ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ well clearly it didn't  ~ ~
~ ~ hurt as much as the other one ~ ~
it hurt though ~ ~ ~ ~

Note how, in this transcript, the contraction, while it is redundantly performed by all the participants in their behavior (body movement and positioning) is actually not discussed directly. All the comments ("breathe" "it's going down" "it was almost as spikey") refer to the contraction: "it" is what is being talked about. However that "it" is not open for negotiation at this moment. Something else is: the identification of the contraction on a series of axes: on/off, strong/weak, and, most interesting, the amount of pain that Lonnie can claim. The contraction, the machine that records it, the authority of the husband to comment on the contraction, all that is taken for granted. What is not taken for granted is the amount of pain Lonnie is experiencing in relation to the pain she would have to suffer to warrant her perennial claim that the epidural is not working as it should, and that she should be given more medication. In our vocabulary, we would thus say that two matters emerge directly, though not quite in the same fashion. We would also say that much that one might expect to be relevant, like Lonnie's status as an MD, does not emerge. The interplay among the various matters that emerge, and the materials that are used during moments of emergence leads us to talk about "the hierarchical construction of consequentiality in the labor."

January 30, 1999