Activisim Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS)
by Robin
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CIMS The Birth Survey Ambassador Training- Come learn to make The Birth Survey a success in your community
Calling All Maternity Care Activists! Enjoy a Family Vacation and Reinvigorate Your Birth Activism! You are invited to attend the “CIMS Grassroots Advocates Ambassador Training for The Birth Survey” and become a project ambassador at the CIMS Forum in Orlando, Florida.
Interested in gathering obstetric intervention rates for the hospitals and birth centers in your area? Become a GAC STATS Ambassador and work with us to collect obstetric intervention data at the facility level for all 50 states. The public has the right to know what is happening in our hospitals. We will provide you with the support, tools and guidance you will need to connect with the right people in your state, access the data, and get the data out to the public.
Want to help spread the word in your community about The Birth Survey ? A consumer feedback tool similar to “Angie’s List”or “Consumer Reports,” but for maternity care where women provide and view feedback on specific doctors, midwives, hospitals and birth centers in their local community. Join the GAC Marketing Ambassadors and help make The Birth Survey a success in your area. We’ll provide you with marketing tools and materials designed to engage the public and generate excitement.
If these activities are of interest to you, please come to the GAC Ambassador Training at the CIMS Forum. Thursday, March 6th from 9am-3pm in Orlando, Florida. See attached pdf flier. Register at http://www.motherfriendly.org/events/index.shtml.
Scholarships: A limited number of need-based full registration scholarships are available for the forum and training. Apply online for a scholarship by clicking http://www.thebirthsurvey.com/survey/index.php?sid=5&newtest=Y.
CIMS Forum: To learn more about CIMS, the 2008 Forum, and to register for the CIMS Forum and the included GAC Ambassador Training please visit http://www.motherfriendly.org.
For more information on the GAC Ambassador Training and The Birth Survey visit www.thebirthsurvey.com or email info@thebirthsurvey.com.
Please pass this announcement along to other interested activists, list serves, etc. Thank you and we hope to see you at the CIMS 2008 GAC Ambassador Training
- CIMS Grassroots Advocates Committee
Have you Hugged a Midwife Today?
Midwives make gentle birth possible.
Midwives are care givers, health care providers and counselors.
Midwives share knowledge of natural healing and support our transitions to parenthood.
Midwives are activists, working women, daughters and mothers.
Midwives are steadfast, nurturing all that birth can be.
Have you hugged a Midwife today?
The Hazards of Plastics
There was a recent article in Mothering magazine that I found to be very interesting. The article, entitled “Out of the Mouths of Babes” can be read here. It talks about the toxins found in certain plastics, the health problems that they are associated with, and what to buy instead. The article focuses on infants and the many plastic products that they come into contact with.
A study referred to in the article, “Toxic Baby Bottles”, was released by an advocacy group called Environment California and can be read here.
Also, here is a video that shows mothers from the group called Making Our Milk Safe (MOMS) holding a protest to ask Target to phase out PVC from it’s merchandise;
Apparantly their efforts worked, as Target recently announced their plans to phase PVC out of their stores, which you can read about here.
This information has really given me something to think about, and along with all the toy recalls lately, I’ve been thinking about trying to just completely phase plastics out of our lives. Of course, that seems like an impossible task, but I do check the recycle codes now and am trying to get rid of, and not buy any more 3, 6 and 7 plastics, which apparently are the dangerous types. Many plastic things we have don’t give any indication anywhere what type of plastic they are, and now I am left confused as to what types of chemicals we have sitting around our home. It is upsetting that these chemicals are still being used in any products, and especially in children’s products, but I find it hopeful that Target has taken steps to phase some of them out and I hope that other retailers follow suit.
What are you Having?
When someone asks me, “What are you having?” I almost want to give them my drink order. How many times do people ask pregnant women this question? It is clearly assumed in our culture that everyone has had at least one ultrasound, although the benefits and the risks of ultrasounds are not are not fully known.
Although I can’t measure things like damage to hearing or increased health care costs, I can share with you what I have seen happening as a result of the early ultrasound. Many ultrasounds are done at the end of the first trimester. Later, that information is used against mothers, to pressure them into induction according to the ultrasound-determined due-date. Yes, they harness the excitement of early pregnancy and turn it into evidence for starting that cascade of interventions!
When people asking me what I’m having, I cheerfully tell them,
“A Baby!”
Our First Pregnancy
Positive pregnancy test? Check. Shocking news? Not really. Even before my husband and I got our positive pregnancy test I declared I was pregnant. That was just a few days before Thanksgiving. While we had promised each other that we would wait until after Thanksgiving to tell our families, but as soon as the second line appeared I knew that I was going to tell. And I did…and then came the rash of questions. “Where are you going to have your baby?” “Was the pregnancy planned?” (I’m in my early twenties and this is our first baby.) Then came the advice. “Don’t be a hero, take the epidural” “Have the doctor do as many tests as possible, early on.” While I realize all of these comments were well meaning, I began to get really irked. Wrongly, I had supposed that we wouldn’t have to start defending our decisions before we had celebrated the news. My route was to simply smile and nod while ignoring their comments. Was it chicken of me? Maybe. But all the while I knew that only my husband and I know what is right for us and our baby.
Breathing problems in elective cesarean babies
A new study published in the British Medical Journal indicates that babies born via elective cesarean section prior to 39 weeks gestation are up to four times more likely to have breathing difficulties than babies born vaginally or via emergency cesarean.
In other words, if a cesarean is performed for non-emergency reasons before labor naturally begins, the baby is more likely to have problems breathing. The study notes that stress hormones released when labor begins affects successful infant lung function. When a cesarean is performed before labor begins, these hormones aren’t released.
Interestingly, the researchers included information about the number of mothers in the study who requested their cesarean surgery. This data was only collected for the last four years of the eight-year study, but it seems that only a fraction of the elective cesareans were actually requested by the mothers. So who’s doing the electing for the rest of them?
In the wake of the CDC report of rising c-section rates, it’s important (albeit alarming) to read more evidence of the risks of cesarean. Now if only the doctors would INFORM pregnant women of the risks…
Cesareans reach all-time high… but not by mom’s choice.
Cesarean births have reached a new record high, according to a CDC National Center for Health Statistics report released yesterday. In the report, Births: Preliminary Data for 2006, the NCHS finds the cesarean rate climbed 3 percent from 2005, to 31.6% of all U.S. births. This represents a 50% increase in cesareans over the last decade.
As a nation, we should be shocked and alarmed by this. That such a large number of women and babies are being exposed to surgical risks that far outnumber the risks of normal vaginal birth is nothing short of appalling.
So far, mainstream media is focusing on the other shocking increase found in the survey: Births among teens have increased for the first time since 1991. If news of the cesarean increase reaches the popular media, it’ll be interesting to see how it is spun. In the last few years, there have been many sensational stories about celebrities “too posh to push,” who choose cesarean births, and real-life women who are doing the same. In addition, there was the media coverage of the March 2006 National Institute of Health State-of-the-Science Conference on Cesarean on Maternal Request. This coverage makes it easy to point to mothers as the ones choosing c-sections. The very title of the conference, “Cesarean on Maternal Request,” fuels the erroneous perception that moms are asking for it.
Where is the real c-section story? The VBAC bans, the overuse of medical intervention during labor, the money and politics and litigation that steer so many healthcare decisions?
Here is recent example of media coverage of cesarean. Babytalk magazine announced their 2007 Stinky Diaper Awards to celebrities who display “poopy attitudes” toward children and parenting. One group honored with a Stinky Diaper are moms who schedule pre-term c-sections for vanity purposes. Yes, this can happen. And yes, any mother who knowingly ignores the risks to her baby for the sake of avoiding stretchmarks should be pointed to the nearest child welfare office. However, I suspect it’s a *very* small number of women actually doing this.
So here is my question to Babytalk. Where is the Stinky Diaper for docs who scare moms into sections, then call it “maternal request?”
Cesarean Rates Sky Rocket
This is a developing story so come back for more coverage.
The CDC today released the preliminary birth data for 2006. You can read the whole report and download individual state data. For example, the national cesarean rate is now 31.1%, but in my state more than 1/3 of all women have cesareans (34+%).
Here is coverage of the issue, including press releases:
Childbirth Education Doulas Informed Consent Obstetrics Pregnancy
by leahtrabue
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5 Lies Your OB Tells You
- I’ll be there for the birth.
In reality, there is a group of doctors and/or midwives who take call. What percentage do they really make it to the birth? Now ask them to remove cesareans and inductions! - I think your birth plan is great!
They just have no intentions of following it! You want to know how they will react to your birth plans, ask others who used the same practitioner. - You don’t need to take a childbirth class. I’m there to help you.
But only as you actually give birth to the baby! Seriously very few practitioners, even midwives are there for every minute you’d need them. Hire a doula to cover those off minutes (or hours). Besides a good childbirth class can help you figure out what you want from birth and become familiar with the process. - You should come in when the contractions are 10 minutes apart…
Only if you like to watch paint dry. 10 minutes apart at the end of pregnancy is pretty early and might not even be real labor. Staying home until you’re emotionally and physically ready is probably best for mom and baby. Some women choose the 4-1-1 method: contractions 4 minutes apart, lasting at least 1 minute, for at least 1 hour. - It’s for the baby’s health!
Okay this one isn’t always a lie, but make sure when they say baby they don’t really mean “my malpractice provider,” “my golf game,” or the “convenience of” someone. Educate yourself about birth and getting informed consent and knowing the what, why, when, how and if not now later!
Can you think of any?
YouTube and Breastfeeding
I really want to just say, “Again?” Between the YouTube, Facebook and other breastfeeding debacles - don’t they realize they are only drawing more attention to breastfeeding? Seriously this is like banning a book.
But when the League of Maternal Justice had their breastfeeding montage removed from YouTube, they decided to fight back. Below is their latest installment. Have a look and consider going to YouTube to favorite the video or to comment about it.
