birth

New film: The other side of the glass

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Interesting new film about the effect of childbirth practices on newborn babies. It’s pretty extreme stuff, but I think there is a lot of truth to it. We need to question the way babies are treated right after birth. It makes sense that those first few moments are really important, and the panic mode of a hospital birthing room right after the birth is not calming or peaceful. The baby is also poked, prodded, gooped up and jostled immediately after birth. I love that midwives but the baby directly on the breast immediately after the birth. This seems to crucial to me for bonding.

I do wish they had featured some partners who weren’t men in the film, but it’s not surprising they didn’t. Sigh.

Via DoulaMomma

In response to Sarah Palin, the always incredible Lynn Paltrow

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I don’t know how many of you are keeping up with the political circus that is the last few weeks (it’s pretty hard to avoid) but I know I can’t really ignore it since I live in our nation’s capital, where everyone is obsessed with politics.

This Open Letter to Sarah Palin by Lynn Paltrow of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women was a refreshing bit of logic in the last few weeks of fury around this Republican VP candidate.

Your last pregnancy, the one that has become the topic of widespread discussion and speculation provides an important opportunity to demonstrate how this could be true.

According to press reports your water broke while you were giving a keynote speech in Texas at the Republican Governors’ Energy Conference. You did not immediately go to the hospital — instead you gave your speech and then waited at least 11 hours to get to a hospital. You evaluated the risks, made a choice, and were able to carry on your life without state interference. Texas Governor Rick Perry worried about your pregnancy but didn’t stop you from speaking or take you into custody to protect the rights of the fetus.

After Ayesha Madyun’s water broke, she went to the hospital where she hoped and planned to have a vaginal birth. When she didn’t give birth in a time-frame comfortable to her doctors, they argued that she should have a C-section. The doctors asserted that the fetus faced a 50-75 percent chance of infection if not delivered surgically. (Risks of infection are believed by some health care providers to increase with each hour after a woman’s water has broken and she hasn’t delivered).

The court, believing like you that fetuses have a right to life, said, “[a]ll that stood between the Madyun fetus and its independent existence, separate from its mother, was put simply, a doctor’s scalpel.” With that, the court granted the order and the scalpel sliced through Ms. Madyun’s flesh, the muscles of her abdominal wall, and her uterus. The core principle justifying an end to legal abortion in the U.S. provided the same grounds used to deprive this pregnant and laboring woman of her rights to due process, bodily integrity, and physical liberty. When the procedure was done, there was no evidence of infection.

According to the press reports, instead of going straight to a hospital you chose to get on a long airplane flight back to Alaska.

Paltrow goes on to make the important connection between anti-choice fetus rights activism and women’s ability to control how, when and by what means they give birth. Paltrow, as usual, is right on. Read the rest of the letter here.

C-section rate in NYC up 24% in 6 years

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Crazy. Choices in Childbirth and the New Space for Women’s Health have partnered in collecting this data and getting it out into the media.

You can see a video, including a graphic about c-section rates broken down by borough, at NY1.

Choices in Childbirth has a pdf with all the stats. Just as an example here are the stats for just two of the hospitals in Manhattan. Each percentage represents the rates as they increased each year beginning in 2000 going to 2006.  

New York Downtown Hospital 11.1 % 13.5 % 13.3 % 14.2 % 18.4 % 18.8 % 21.6 %

Bellevue Hospital 18.4 % 18.5 % 19.8 % 20.9 % 22.6 % 25.2 % 27.8 %

Just as a friendly reminder, the World Health Organization recommends that the cesarean section rate for industrialized nations should not exceed 15%.

This is why NYC needs things like the New Space for Women’s Health:

Friends of the Birth Center announces the launch of the New Space for Women’s Health, a project to create a center for birth and wellness in New York City. We’re beginning a fresh dialogue with women about changing birth and women’s health care in our city. Join us in this important conversation as we plan a new beginning, in Chelsea, 2010.

Thanks to Rebecca for the link

Baby born on front lawn

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A sweet story from Ann Arbor Michigan about a woman’s second baby born on their frontlawn by flashlight.

Barbeau helped Jennifer onto the grass and onto her hands and knees – the way she had birthed Rachel two years ago. Five pushes later, Maeve was born. Pink and perfect. “As they all adjusted to what happens, everybody was calm and pleased with their beautiful baby,” she said. “And there seems to be an appreciation of the humor of the situation.” “I took the most hilarious picture of them after the birth,” said Barbeau. “It looks like a camping trip.”

Jennifer was attended by her doula, who also happened to be a home birth midwife. They didn’t plan a homebirth and were on the way to the hospital (about to get into the car) when the baby was born on the front lawn.

Just another story for the sometimes births are just so easy they happen in cars, on couches, on front lawns files.
Cute quote to end the article:

“If I’d really planned a home birth,” she insists, “I think I would have given birth in the backyard.”

Controversies in Childbirth Conference: March 2009, Dallas TX

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Photobucket
I just heard about this conference recently, and I’m very curious. It’s called the Controversies in Childbirth Conference: A National Forum for Discussing and Debating Differing Viewpoints on Today’s Childbirth Practice. It’s being held in Dallas/Ft. Worth TX on March 27-29, 2009. From the conference website:

The Only Conference Bringing Together: Obstetricians, Pediatricians, Family Physicians, Certified Nurse Midwives, Certified Professional Midwives, Certified Midwives, Nurses, Doulas, Educators, Lactation Professionals, Hospital Administrators, Health Insurers, Regulators, Advocates, Legislators and Insurers to address the major contemporary controversies in childbirth.

This Birth Conference is Neutral Territory! No predetermined outcomes or agenda. This birth conference is not produced by any organization beholden to its membership or other group. Many seminars will be debate format or panels with opposing viewpoints.  We will examine, debate and discuss: Evidence, Economics, Perception and Politics.

Sample Topics:

  • Is the current U.S. maternity care system sustainable?
  • Are medical interventions good or bad?
  • Do birth advocates hurt their own cause?
  • Will reducing c-sections overload the system?
  • Can normal birth be profitable?
  • How can nurses advocate for their educated patient against the physician?
  • Is there value in labor pain?-  The Epidural Debate.

Can a conference that tries to bring together OBs, midwives, doulas every truly be neutral territory? I’m also a tad suspicious as it seems to be hosted by a company, not a non-profit organization. Perhaps this is a money making venture rather than a true effort to create dialogue? (This might be my non-profit biases coming through). Also there does not appear to be a host committee or sponsoring organizations that are not advertisers or other companies.

The sponsoring company is called “The Business of Birth” and their slogan is “Making the Business of Birth profitable for you!” Now I don’t know about all of you, but that is not exactly my goal. I believe its the business aspects of birth that have created the mess we are in right now, where c-sections rates are skyrocketing and midwives can’t practice because of malpractice costs.

Anyone know anything about this conference? I’m very curious to know more.

Birth of a Surgeon, tonight on PBS

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A PBS series tonight chronicles the story of Mozambique, where the maternal mortality rates had reached such crisis levels that they decided to train midwives to do obstetric surgery.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s deadliest place to give birth. Each year over a quarter of a million women die in childbirth in the region. But Mozambique is combating high maternal death rates by implementing unconventional programs.

I have only seen the preview, which you can also watch here. Despite the rather dramatic tone (why do they have to make childbirth seem so scary?) I like the sound of the show.

Midwives often take the blame for high maternal mortality (and infant mortality) in developing countries. They are demonized when governments (both local and international) step in and build hospitals and try to “modernize” maternity care. The midwives are portrayed as backwards, uneducated and elderly. Rather than work with midwives, often this process is rather imposing, attempting to force all women to give birth in the hospitals they build with doctors instead of midwives.

There are many problems with this approach, as transportation to the hospitals built in primarily urban centers in a challenge. Additionally many of these hospitals don’t even have the resources they need (doctors, medicines, equipment) and are not providing much better care for all women than the midwives.

Much of my opinion comes from some time spent in Ecuador, both working at the public maternity ward and talking to midwives in different parts of the country.

So approaches like training midwives to do some emergency surgeries, in addition to other basic skills (like when to take a woman to a hospital) seem like a good solution to me. In the US, midwifery care remains at odds with the ob/gyn practice, I think that’s mostly a business concern. There is no reason why other countries can’t adopt a diverse a multi-tiered system. I know of another program called Nueve Lunas (nine moons) in Mexico that provides additional education for rural indigenous midwives. (Note, the link for that school is in Spanish)

The show premieres Tuesday July 15th on PBS.

American Medical Association passes resolution to outlaw homebirth

MZP3 Comments

Unfortunately, this is not surprising.

Maternity care is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States,” said Steff Hedenkamp, Communications Coordinator for The Big Push for Midwives. “So it’s no surprise to see the AMA join the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in its ongoing fight to corner the market and ensure that the only midwives able to practice legally are hospital-based midwives forced to practice under physician control. I will say, though, that I’m shocked to learn that the AMA is taking this turf battle to the next level by setting the stage for outlawing home birth itself—a direct attack on those families who choose home birth, who could be subject to criminal prosecution if the AMA has its way.

The Big Push for Midwives has released this story (the above text is from their press release). What people tend to forget is that the American Medical Association is a professional association, not a scientific or medical (and therefore unbiased) organization.

It’s hard to see this as anything other a business ploy to further dominate (and secure) their place in the market. With how expensive childbirth is, it’s a lucrative market.  This mode of business-oriented thinking has dominated the attempt to push out midwives since the beginning of obstetrics. What’s missing here? Perhaps what is best for the mother? Just a thought.

Hospitals: not always where you go to get better

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Hi everyone! I’m on a two week vacation (from my day job at least), in Seattle and San Fransisco. Hopefully it will give me some time to catch up on blogging, and make some much needed changes here at Radical Doula! Stay tuned for an overhaul of my blog roll, as well as my Radical Doula?!?! page revisited.

I’ve had this article in my drafts for a while, and while it’s a piece from last year that ran at Alternet.org I wanted to highlight it anyway.

In The Disturbing Truth About Doctors and Your Medical Safety Atul Gawande discusses the spread of disease in hospitals, partially caused by providers not washing their hands enough.

Each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, two million Americans acquire an infection while they are in the hospital. Ninety thousand die of that infection. The hardest part of the infection-control team’s job, Yokoe says, is not coping with the variety of contagions they encounter or the panic that sometimes occurs among patients and staff. Instead, their greatest difficulty is getting clinicians like me to do the one thing that consistently halts the spread of infections: wash our hands.

Those of you who know anything about the history of obstetrics in the United States are probably familiar with puerperal fever, which was a major cause of death of pregnant women when birth was first brought into the hospital. (Side note: this is a great thing to bring up as a counter to the “but so many women used to die in childbirth before hospitals argument”) Basically, doctors at the time didn’t understand bacteria and how disease was spread. They also believed that hand washing wasn’t necessary for gentlemen. This meant that doctors went from birthing mother to birthing mother without washing their hands or using gloves, and passed infections between them.

Continue reading →

Free meeting for expecting parents in NYC

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MAY MEETING TOPIC: Inspiring Birth Stories

So many horror stories circulate about birth that it can be difficult to believe that labor and birth can be a beneficial experience. One great way to counter the effects of frightening stories is to hear and read empowering ones. These stories may change you because they might tell you something you didn’t know before or they might help you look at things from a different perspective than you ever had before. (Passage adapted from the introduction to the birth stories in Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin.)


DATE: Thursday May 29th 2008, 6:15-8:30PM

LOCATION: Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (at 95th street), NYC

GUEST SPEAKERS: Four new mothers who will talk about their individual choices and experience with regards to their birth, Kristen M. Leonard, Midwife, Mary Esther Malloy-Hopwood, Childbirth Educator, Doula and Lactation Counselor.

We hope to see you there, and welcome you to invite your friends, family or other expectant families who might be interested.

RSVP is appreciated ( laure@choicesinchildbirth.org)
The flyer can be printed from the following link: http://www.zen63326.zen.co.uk/CIC/

Upcoming DC Event: Intentional Motherhood

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I’m excited to announce this upcoming Washington DC event for three reasons. One, I helped to organize it. Two, it brings together two of my favorite topics, birth and abortion. Three, it happens to fall on my birthday! If you are in the DC area, you should come to the event, and wish me a happy birthday.

Intentional Motherhood: Connecting Abortion, Pregnancy, and Birth
Considering the full range of women’s reproductive rights:

The right to affordable birth control.
The right to parent.
The right to choose abortion.
The right to midwifery care.
The right to determine a birth plan.
The right to prenatal care.

Our Bodies Ourselves has provided indispensable information on women’s health and sexuality for more than 40 years. Their newest book, Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth addresses the questions and needs of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the “fourth trimester” of early motherhood.

The DC Abortion Fund is excited to host a a book signing and discussion to explore the many connections between these issues.

Featuring
Judy Norsigian, Executive Director, Our Bodies Ourselves
Alexis Zepeda, Board Member, DC Abortion Fund
Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel, National Women’s Law Center

Wednesday May 28, 6:30 pm
Hawk ‘n’ Dove, 329 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Capital South Metro

Suggested Donation: $20

All Proceeds Benefit the DC Abortion Fund


If you have questions or are interested in co-sponsoring this event, please contact Betsy Illingworth at betsyillingworth@yahoo.com or Dina Morad at dinamorad@gmail.com

I have yet to read the new OBOS book, but so far I have heard good things about it. After reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting during my thesis work in college, I know we are in desperate need of good pregnancy books that don’t scare women. It’s also a good book because its pretty affordable–only $15! We will be raffling off some books at the event, and Judy Norsigian will be there to sign copies.

Hope you can make it!