Know any pro-choice midwives in San Diego, CA?

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A reader emailed me recently to ask about finding pro-choice midwives and birth centers in San Diego after she had this not-so-pleasant experience:

I just visited The Best Start Birth Center in San Diego for an annual exam and introduction to their pre-natal and birthing facilities. After taking my medical history, the midwife asked me about my “grieving process” for a past abortion, and then referred me to Rachel’s Vineyard, a pro-life Catholic ministry that offers workshops to “heal the trauma of abortion.”  I was startled, angered, and disappointed. I realized that I could not comfortably receive care in this facility, even though it’s the only midwife-run birth center in my area.

It is not uncommon for the silence of the midwifery community on abortion to hide the beliefs of some who are patently anti-choice. Since most women who have abortions are also mothers at some point in their lives, this reader’s experience may not be so uncommon.

So Radical Doula readers, anyone know of pro-choice midwives in San Diego that we can refer her to? How I wish there was a directory somewhere online with this information. Leave any suggestions you might have in comments!

New York signs anti-shackling law

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Governor Patterson signed a bill into law yesterday in New York State that outlaws the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women.

The anti-shackling law, signed Wednesday, requires correction officials statewide to transport pregnant women and those who have just given birth without using handcuffs and leg irons unless the inmate poses a major flight risk.

This is a big step forward to protecting the rights of pregnant incarcerated women. There has been a push to eliminate this practice of shackling, spearheaded by the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, a really great organization. Hopefully more states will follow suit.

For more on the practice of shackling pregnant incarcerated women, read Anna Clark’s piece over at RH Reality Check.

New research series: Parenting with Dignity

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The Center for American Progress has a new series of articles out called Parenting with Dignity.

The first article is titled Labor Pains: Improving Employment and Income Security for Pregnant Women and New Mothers and I’m really happy to see the class/economic justice angle on parenting.

Check it out!

Doula program in the UK

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An article in the Times Online, a UK paper, talks about the role of doulas in the UK birth system.

In Britain, where women are urged to opt for fewer epidurals during labour and adopt more holistic approaches to pain, the numbers seeking the services of these new birthing partners could soon rise. Last month Dr Denis Walsh, associate professor in midwifery at Nottingham, criticised the “epidural epidemic” sweeping the NHS. The proportion of mothers receiving an epidural injection or spinal anaesthetic has doubled in 20 years to around 37 per cent.

Research in Britain and the US has shown that the emotional and physical support of doulas can shorten a first-time labour, vastly reduce the chances of a Caesarean section and lower the rate of medicated pain relief needed. The benefit of these birthing partners has persuaded the Government to support a doula programme across England.

So far so good. The article covers the situation with doulas in the UK, what they are, why you might want to use them and an analysis of a new voluntary network of doulas around the UK, including some who provide volunteer services to women for no cost.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the way they ended the article, attempting to sum up the pros and cons of having a doula:

The Pros and Cons

Pros

Doulas offer continuous support in labour if midwives are too busy.
Give back massages and create a calm atmosphere for mothers.
Provide back-up for anxious fathers unsure of what to do.
Reduce the chances of a Caesarean section and any medicated pain relief needed.

Cons

Not medically trained.
Not regulated.
No standardised training.
May make fathers feel redundant.

It’s overly simplistic to try and make a pros and cons list–whether or not to have a doula is such an individual choice, and depends on a number of factors. I also think all of the cons listed are not really cons–doula’s don’t need medical training, since we’re not performing medical procedures. Regulation is up for debate–but I think a doula’s reputation does a lot for making sure people work with doulas they can trust. And no, partners should never feel redundant or unnecessary, as a doula serves a different role than the partner and support person for the mother.

Thanks to Susanna for the link

Dooce’s full birth story up now–read for some laughs

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Dooce, the big mommy blogger I mentioned last week, has her full birth story up now in three parts. You should read it, it’s damn funny.

The best part? She talks about her doula. Now that’s some good exposure for us. There are some nice pictures too.

Part one, part two and part three.

How Personhood USA and their bills will hurt all pregnant women

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A new video from the fabulous National Advocates for Pregnant Women, about the new crop of personhood bills that are popping up in states around the country and why they are bad for all pregnant women–whether you are terminating your pregnancy or not.

This is the type of legislation that birth advocates and abortion activists need to rally together and fight against, because they will limit all our choices–from abortions to home births. If we give fetus’ rights that compete with the mother’s, we’re all in danger.

The biggest mommy blogger talks about natural birth

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Thanks to Bethany for giving me a heads up about this. Dooce, probably the biggest mommy blogger on the internet, recently wrote about her birth story. Her humor is pretty awesome, and I think her experience is probably pretty common. You can read the first segment here.

Up until about the 30th week of my pregnancy I hadn’t given labor much thought, only that I was going to ask for the epidural two days before contractions started. I’m not kidding, that was the extent of my birth plan. There was no need to experience any of the pain, I thought, especially since I had been through this before and I remember thinking that the pain was so awful that it was going to kill me. Give me the epidural and any other pain relief, maybe throw in a couple dozen shots of bourbon, oh and how about you just put me under general anesthesia and wake me up two days later. I’m not good with pain. I tend to complain and holler and call people regrettable things. It’s like the Hulk, only he’s on his period.

I was also under the impression, having never really researched the subject whatsoever, that any woman who would opt for a homebirth was not only COMPLETELY OUT OF HER MIND but also not interested in the safety of her unborn child. I mean, there’s a reason that infant and maternal mortality rates are so much better than a hundred years ago, right? HOSPITALS. And MEDICINE. And smart people we call DOCTORS. Yes, women routinely used to go out into the field by themselves and give birth without any assistance, and many of them routinely did not return BECAUSE THEY DIED.

But then out of no where the publishers of Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein’s book Your Best Birth sent me a copy, just like the publishers of many books send me copies of other books all the time. Internet, I have rooms full of books that publishers have sent me. ROOMS FULL. And I was just about to toss this onto the mountainous pile of ones I’d eventually drop off at Goodwill when, I don’t know, I flipped through a few pages and gave a full minute to one or two paragraphs. And those two paragraphs happened to be ones that really pissed me off. So much so that I read them aloud to Jon and said something like GOD, THOSE HIPPIES! or I BET THEY SMELL LIKE PATCHOULI!

You know, something totally open-minded.

Continue reading →

Radical Doula: Maria Dolorico

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maria_radicaldoulaAnother awesome Radical Doula I want to highlight, Maria Dolorico, who is a doula in Boston. You can learn more about Maria at her website and her blog.

What made you become a doula?

I was an unlikely doula. I had no appreciation for birth as anything but a medical experience. My father is a retired anesthesiologist; growing up, if his chair was empty at the dinner table, it’s because he was giving an epidural. Anticipating the birth of my first child, I remember knowing I wanted an epidural, even saying, “There’s nothing natural about that kind of pain!”

Everything was going according to plan in my labor, and because of the epidural I felt the intense, but not quite painful pressure of the contractions. But then something amazing happened in second stage (pushing) – I felt myself giving birth. In my mind, I had never seen myself as anything but passive while laboring, yet with each contraction, I got behind each one and pushed my daughter further and further into the world. Between each contraction I was meditating, exquisitely focused on gathering my breath and my strength. Her birth was glorious, victorious, and I was heroic. I remember being a little sheepish as I told the birth story again and again, because it seemed to me that I was the only person on earth to have ever given birth before.

After her birth, I spent countless hours thinking up ways to get back into the delivery room. I thought about becoming a nurse, but had no interest in nursing outside of labor and delivery. Somewhere in this search, I heard the word “doula” for the first time, and I assumed that I could never be one because I didn’t see myself as an advocate for natural birth.

With my background and previous career as a mental health clinician, I began to work as a post-partum doula, finding clients who really benefited from not just my knowledge of infant care but from the intimate counseling and companionship I provided. The friend of a client asked me to be her birth doula because she “got such a good feeling” from me, and I vehemently declined. But she persisted, and serendipitously there was a birth doula workshop within a few weeks of her due date. I attended, bristling every time there was disparaging subtext about women who chose epidurals, yet I was excited finally to have a reason to be in the birth room. I knew in my heart that my doula practice would not be motivated by helping women have a natural birth, but by helping women find resources within themselves, at depths they never even imagined, in order to give birth in a way that was meaningful to them.
Continue reading →

More Radical Doula twitter action!

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So for those of you on Twitter, I just set up the radicaldoula twitter account. It’s set up to automatically post new blogs from here, so if you want a feed of Radical Doula posts directly to your twitter you can follow radicaldoula here. If you want posts and commentary from me (about all sorts of things) you can follow me, miriamzperez, here.