ACNM Publishes Guidelines for Eating in Labor

One thing that my husband was smart enough to ask on our hospital tour was their standards on eating and drinking in labor. This is something that is really important to me. I am really crabby and tired when I don’t eat and I just don’t think that would be the best way to labor. It seems the American College of Nurse-Midwives agrees with me. They have released new guidelines that say that eating in labor “can provide women with the energy they need and should not be routinely restricted.” To learn more about the guidelines, particularly related to eating and the possible need for general anesthesia, go to Clinical Guidelines for Nutrition in Labor

The following may be helpful as well:
Eating in Labor
Practice Guidelines for Obstetric Anesthesia

Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) has a new look!

Okay you guys know that I moonlight as a geek most days of the week, a birth geek, but a geek nonetheless. So when I found out that CIMS was about to reveal their newest website, I was thrilled. They have such an important message about helping mothers and babies have the safest birth possible - something we all want - that it was thrilling to hear that soon it would be very easily accessible for most people. So without further delay, check it out:

Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS)
http://motherfriendly.org

A Victory for Missouri Midwives and Moms

My deep congratulations to the women and families of Missouri! I was raised in Missouri and I feel a close connection to the struggle of midwives in that state, where it is a felony to practice midwifery. My youngest sister was delivered at home almost 23 years ago by one of the most competent, talented midwives in the state, despite the illegal status of midwives. However, after many years of fighting, a midwives licensure bill just passed the Missouri Senate in its final hours. Unfortunately, there was not sufficient time for the bill to make it to the House, so they still have a fight ahead. But finally, there is hope. Do you ever wonder if we birth activists are making a difference? Be assured, we are. Read on for the media release in its entirety. . .

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, May 16, 2008

Midwives Licensure Bill Passes Missouri Senate

Grassroots momentum sweeps Capitol as legislation 25 years in the making now heads back to the Missouri House in the final hours of the last day of session

(JEFFERSON CITY, MO)–HB2081, which included would provide for the licensure and regulation of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs), passed the Missouri Senate today by a strong majority. CPMs are allowed in 40 states, 24 of which license and regulate them. Missouri law classified CPMs as felons.

“Today’s vote was a victory for democracy, and we applaud the Missouri Senate for standing firm in the face of intense pressure from well-financed special interests out to protect their turf,” said Laurel Smith, President of the Friends of Missouri Midwives. “The Senate chose instead to listen to the thousands of people from across the state who have been steadfastly and patiently demanding access to legal midwifery care for many years.”

In addition to being trained as specialists in out-of-hospital birth, CPMs are experts in risk assessment who work in collaboration with physicians when mothers or babies develop conditions that require a consultation or
transfer of care. CPMs are also trained to ensure that all babies born outside of the hospital undergo state-mandated newborn screenings and are provided with legal and secure birth certificates.

“This bill ensures that midwives who have met the national standard and state regulations are legally available to provide care for families who desire out-of-hospital births. It also provides transparency and accountability through the state agencies that oversee midwife licensure and birth records.” said Debbie Smithey, President of the Missouri Midwives Association.

Missouri is a priority of The Big Push for Midwives Campaign , a nationally coordinated campaign to advocate for regulation and licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and to push back against the attempts of the American Medical Association Scope of Practice Partnership to deny American families access
to legal midwifery care.

Media inquiries should be directed to Mary Ueland at (417) 543-4258, better_birth@yahoo.com.

New Discussion Board for Healing Birth Trauma

I have been working with some women (Jenne Alderks, and another which prefers to remain anonymous) to create a discussion board for healing birth trauma. We joined together with Sharon Storton of Solace, who was thrilled to host the discussion board on her website. Here is the announcement about it. Feel free to pass it on to women who have experienced birth trauma;

This message is to announce a new online discussion board called Solace For Mothers, An Online Community For Healing Birth Trauma. It is for women who have experienced trauma around the process of giving birth. For these women, giving birth has left them feeling deeply disappointed, traumatized, or even violated. We want these women to know that they are not alone, that birth trauma is very real, and that other women have had similar experiences and feelings. We have created an online community as a place for women to begin or continue their healing journey.

In the online community, there are different categories and forums, and the topics covered are issues that often come up for women dealing with birth trauma. It is our hope that women can virtually support each other on their healing journeys in this online community, and perhaps eventually connect with each other in the real world if they choose.

There is an introduction page here; http://www.solaceformothers.org/forum.html, and from this page you can register for the discussion board. Due to the very personal nature of this subject, we have made an effort to keep this community private, and women must register before being able to enter or view posts. If you do not fall into the category of a woman suffering from birth trauma, or if you would like to see a preview of the community before joining, you may visit this link to do so; http://www.solaceformothers.org/preview.html. This link is not the actual community and you will not be able to view members’ posts from there, it will simply give you an overview of the topics covered.

We are sending this message out via email and posting it to online communities and to lists in order to reach these women. Please send this message to anyone who you feel may benefit from it.

Sincerely,

Jenne Alderks and Jennifer Zimmerman, creators and moderators of the discussion board

Supported by Sharon Storton and the Solace For Mothers team

Choosing Tests

One thing that has been very difficult for me this pregnancy is choosing what tests I want. In the beginning we chose not to do any genetic testing. Later, I chose to go through with the glucose tolerance test (for example). The risk with each of these types of tests is that a label, whether it is accurate or not, can affect the kind of birth I have. Not only from my practitioner’s point of view but also from mine. For instance, the more I find “wrong”, the less I believe in my body’s ability to have a natural pregnancy and birth. This is a hard line to walk for me. It involves LOTS of reading and polling before going through with any test. What do you think? Do you think we are hurting or helping ourselves with all of the tests available for pregnant women?

VBAC Bans Tracked Across the Country

Final Numbers are available for VBAC Bans across the country! Local birth activists polled hospitals that have Labor and Delivery Units. You can access this information on the ICAN Website by selecting the Advocacy Link. Then search ICAN’s Hospital VBAC Policy Database by state or zip code to find out if your local hospital bans VBACs or not.

Barbara Stratton, a national VBAC activist who reversed several bans, has opened up a national yahoo group for people actively working on reversing bans across the nation. VBACtivist@yahoogroups.com. This is a great place for people to share ideas and strategy with people all over the country. She only wants people to join who are actively working on reversing bans. If you are interested in making a difference in your area, please join the group.

What good maternity care looks like…

I think most people would agree that we’ve got some problems with our maternity care in the United States. The cesarean and other intervention rates are skyrocketing and yet women are reporting that they aren’t happy with their care. All the while some babies are suffering from our maternity care system when they shouldn’t have to do so…

So thanks to Citizens for Midwifery (CfM) for putting together a really cool handout called Three Models of Care it includes the Midwives Model of Care, The CIMS Ten Steps and the Lamaze Normal Birth Care Practices. Wow, it’s just cool. This is a great tool for childbirth educators, doulas, doctors, midwives, everyone who has a chance to interact with pregnant women and their families! Download your free copy today!