Final piece of good news for midwives in New York State. Governor Patterson on Saturday signed the Midwifery Modernization Act, which will mean a vast improvement in access to midwifery services in NY State. The legislation was pushed through by the amazing organizing and activism that rallied after the closing of St. Vincent’s almost put home birth midwives out of business.
Midwifery Modernization Act signed by NY Governor
August 2, 2010
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Posted by radicaldoula
Guest post: Tantric Birth
July 14, 2010So I connected with Nekole after seeing a tweet about her workshop at this year’s Sex 2.0 conference where she presented about TantricBirth. Sounded pretty interesting to me! I invited Nekole to write this post about how she defines TantricBirth. Learn more at her website.
Nekole Shapiro synthesizes a lifetime of experience as a body worker and Tantric practitioner, her birthing experiences as a mother and doula and her profound love of science into TantricBirth, a holistic approach to the birthing experience. The TantricBirth system uses interviews, presentations, classes and direct family planning and birth support to enable families to have an empowered birth experience. Nekole is an LMP and holds a BA in Asian Studies and a Premedical certificate from Columbia University.
An Introduction to TantricBirth
Our human experience is deliciously deep. It is impossible to affect one aspect of ourselves without affecting another. Our parts are woven together like a tapestry. When I hold my baby and feel love, my body undergoes a change, my spirit is affected and my mind is altered. When I am embodied, I am aware of all of this as it happens and can feel it in every cell of my being. When I am embodied, I feel my power.
Other than during her own birth or death, a birthing woman enters the most altered physiological state of her life. Because we are an interconnected weave of human experience and expression, this altered physiological state is also an altered emotional, mental and spiritual state. All of who we are is changing at a rapid pace as we labor and birth our babies, and again as our bodies get used to no longer housing a baby. In this way, if I can embody the birthing experience, I can access a power greater than any I have felt before.
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Experimental drug being used to “fix” intersex genitals
July 13, 2010This is a post that I wrote for Feministing a few weeks ago. I wanted to cross-post it here because this issue, of kids born with intersex conditions, definitely comes up for birth workers. While you may not have had this experience yet, it’s possible that one day you will be with a family when their child is born with an intersex condition. This could lead to all sorts of responses from the midwives or doctors you are working with–including the decision to perform surgeries on the infant.
It’s a huge issue, and one that is difficult to tackle in a blog post. But it’s one that I would like to keep writing about. Just as I talk about gender and the ways folks identify outside of the binary of male and female, there is also the biological fact of gender diversity, exemplified by folks who are born with intersex conditions.
At the moment of birth, when the doctor/midwife/practitioner wants to issue the hallmark phrase–”It’s a boy/girl!” if there is any confusion around this, it becomes a huge issue.
Maybe it shouldn’t be–and maybe one day we’ll move away from such a strong propensity toward gender categorization. In the meantime, we’re dealing with doctors who would rather employ experimental hormonal treatments in utero and perform radical medically unnecessary surgeries on infants than deal with gender ambiguity.
Obviously I have a strong opinion on the matter. The post below has more info, if you’re confused about what I’m saying.
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Big victory for midwifery in New York State
July 1, 2010
I have been writing about the dire situation for home birth midwives in New York City, prompted by the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital, one of the only midwife and birth friendly hospitals in NYC.
Because of a piece of NY State law that required all home birth midwives to have the signature of an OB at a hospital in order to practice, when St. Vincent’s closed due to debt problems, the midwives were out of luck. This move pretty much eliminated home birth as an option in New York City, and the law had made it hard for midwives around the state to practice.
Well, we finally won one! It’s incredible and in many ways unexpected, but a bill was introduced by some amazing and fierce activists in New York State called the Midwifery Modernization Act. This act would remove the requirement for a Written Practice Agreement between midwives in New York State and obstetricians, the contract that was keeping many midwives from practicing because doctors and hospitals did not want to sign them.
Thanks to some amazing lobbying on behalf of birth activists and advocates (and an incredible number of phone calls from folks like YOU) the MMA has passed both the NY State Assembly and Senate.
Hopefully within a short time (as long as Governor Patterson signs the bill) this will mean that midwives across New York State can practice without being beholden to the signature of one OB or hospital.
This doesn’t mean that the midwives won’t be using hospitals to transfer when necessary, but this one signature won’t be the determining factor for their practice.
Congrats to everyone who worked on this important legislation!
More information at Free Our Midwives.
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New radical birth magazine: SQUAT
June 22, 2010A new radical birth publication, SQUAT, just came out with it’s first issue this week. The tagline of SQUAT is “An anarchist birth journal.”
I’m proud to say I contributed a piece to the first edition of the magazine, about being a radical doula. SQUAT is a real live print publication, which you can order from magcloud here. You can also preview it there, and it looks pretty freaking awesome. I miss the paper in hand publication days sometimes, and this one looks like it’s got a great layout.
The folks at SQUAT are also organizing a camp, which they say will be “a radical celebration of midwifery and birth!” It’s in August in Washington State. Details here.
If you want to buy the first edition of SQUAT, go here. I also have a sneak preview of my article after the jump!
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Providing birth support to trans and gender non-conforming folks
June 8, 2010So I had a great weekend at the Philly Trans Health Conference. It was my first time attending the conference and I went to speak on a panel about trans parenting organized by Cara Rodriguez-Fucci, an amazing genderqueer activist and new parent.
My favorite part of the whole weekend was when during my panel, I asked at the beginning of my comments for folks to raise their hands if they’d heard of doulas before. In a room of about forty people, almost EVERYONE raised their hands!! And this was not a doula/birth centered conference at all. I think that says a lot about how far doulas have come in recent years.
I met one other doula at the conference, Beagle, who practices in Asheville. And I met an awesome midwife, Abigail, who works in Gainesville. Abigail and I are plotting a workshop for next year’s conference focusing specifically on pregnancy and birth, and I would love to get a meet up of trans and gender non-conforming birth workers together.
I’ve gotten a few emails over the years from trans and gender non-conforming doulas or aspiring doulas. As providers, there are many questions to be answered about how we do our work as doulas and as trans/gender non-conforming folks. It can be tricky, when being a doula is in many ways not about us, to figure out how to make space for yourself and your identity with in a highly gendered and gender normative birth environment.
I’ve worried for a while that my gender presentation as a genderqueer person might make some birthing folks uncomfortable. I’m still not sure how I would deal with that, it’s yet to come up in my work.
But another big set of issues is providing support to trans and gender non-conforming parents. I think as doulas we can do so much to make sure that folks have the best experience possible. You don’t have to be queer, trans or gender non-conforming to provide care as a doula that is sensitive to these communities. Here are some ideas/things to think about when working with trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) doula clients:
- Asking about preferred gender pronouns is always a good start. Heck, even with folks that you don’t know identify as TGNC! It’s the assumptions that get us into trouble. Just because someone is pregnant doesn’t mean they identify as she/woman/mother etc.
- As a doula, you could help the pregnant person strategize about how best to communicate preferences like language and pronouns to their doctor or midwife. If they were comfortable with it, you could even do some of the advocating/explaining/reminding. It can get tiring as a TGNC person to constantly be reminding and educating folks.
- Pronouns aren’t the only important thing–the language we use to refer to our bodies is important too. TGNC folks often use language as a way to talk about their bodies in a fashion that reflects their identity. This might be hard for medical providers to understand or get used to, but as their doula if you respect this language it could make a big difference.
- Unfortunately there isn’t much research out there about TGNC folks and pregnancy/birth. We don’t know much about the effects of hormone treatments like testosterone on pregnancy and fertility, or the impacts of chest binding on breastfeeding. Research as much as you can and see what communities exist for TGNC folks to share experiences and knowledge.
That’s all for now! One resource that was mentioned as somewhat helpful was The New Essential Guide to Lesbian Conception, Pregnancy and Birth. I haven’t checked it out but I recommend looking it up.
If you have experiences/tips to share about working with TGNC folks, please add in comments! I hope to write more about this issue in the future.
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The research is clear: Vaginal birth after c-section is safer and better
May 25, 2010Highlighting something that we all already knew, the research is finally starting to come down in our favor on this issue of vaginal births after c-section (VBAC). Despite the frightening number of hospitals entirely banning VBACs, and an alarming number of providers refusing to do them, the research is showing that VBACs are the safer, better option for most moms and babies.
From the LA Times:
The first paper summarizes the findings of a government consensus conference that took place in March at the National Institutes of Health. Researchers concluded that vaginal birth after cesarean is “a reasonable choice for the majority of women.” The paper is based on a large database of births and finds that although both elective repeat cesarean section and VBAC are highly safe, maternal death was higher for elective repeat Cesarean sections (0.013% versus 0.004% for a trial of labor). The rates of hysterectomy, hemorrhage and transfusions did not differ between the two groups. Uterine rupture — the complication that is usually given for discouraging VBACs — was rare but higher in the trial of labor group (0.47% compared with 0.03% in the repeat C-section group). Infant death was higher in the trial of labor group (0.13% compared with 0.05% in the repeat C-section group).
How long do we think it will take medical practice to catch up to the research?
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Where’s my midwife?
May 18, 2010
Sylvia from a new organization, Where’s my midwife? sent me this video. It chronicles the response to a Wilmington, NC ob-gyn practice that one day decided to fire all their midwives. The physicians told them that they didn’t want to “wait around for the midwifery patients to give birth.” This is unfortunately not a new or unique story. It’s happening all around the country. Midwives need autonomy from doctors who can control their ability to practice.
I got chills multiple times while watching.
It’s a success story, as their grassroots organizing resulted in a reversal of the antiquated hospital policy that required an OB to be present when a woman was giving birth with a midwife. Doesn’t look like the midwives got rehired though.
This movement is growing, that’s for sure. In just the three years I’ve been writing this blog, the activism and activity around this issue has exploded. There are so many more doulas, midwives, parent advocates. Things are getting worse in the world of birth, and it’s getting people activated.
Where’s My Midwife is continuing their activism beyond this one instance, and working to open a Birth and Wellness Center in Wilmington NC in May 2015.
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Posted by radicaldoula
On Radio Bilingue this afternoon, 3:30 pm EST, talking about maternal health
May 10, 2010I’ll be a guest on Radio Bilingue this afternoon, talking about maternal health and the situation for childbirth in the United States.
You can listen to the program here. It will be in Spanish! I’ll post the link to the interview after the show.
Update: You can listen to the recording from the program here.
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Video and update about NYC midwives
May 3, 2010Rachel, a doula from New Jersey, sent me this video she made about what she fears the birth future will be like.
So the situation with the NYC homebirth midwives has not been resolved, despite amazing advocacy and action on all your parts. The Department of Health told Choices in Childbirth they got more calls about this issue than any other, ever.
I’ll keep folks posted if I hear anything else about the situation in NYC.
UPDATE: Lauren at Birth and Bloom has an account of the press conference that happened on Friday.
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Posted by radicaldoula
