Outrage Over the CDC & Circumcision

There has been a great outpouring of rage over the anticipation of the CDC’s release of new guidelines that would recommend routine circumcision for all newborn boys in the United States. ?This blog is, however, one of action, not merely feeling. ?So I would urge you to read up on the subject and send a level headed, strongly worded statement of your beliefs to people who are making these policies. ?There are plenty of talking points available.

• Male Circumcision and HIV: The AAP Project
• Intact America (petition as well)

Please post a comment if you have some other great activist related websites on the topic.

ACOG Gives Go Ahead for Liquids in Labor

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has given the go ahead for women to drink some liquids in labor. ?This list includes:

• Soda
• Fruit juice without pulp
• Sports drinks
• Coffee
• Tea

They still say that women having a planned surgery, be a it a cesarean birth or a tubal ligation after birth may need to be restricted on a case-by-case basis. ?This also goes for women who are obese, having diabetes, etc.

While I’m glad to see that they are encouraing women to drink in labor, it’s been a long time coming. ?Even the American Society of Anesthesiologists has been saying this for a long while. ?As for food, ACOG still gives a big thumbs down despite the known benefits of food in labor for mothers who want it.

Hopefully this boost will make it’s way to a labor and delivery unit near you someday soon.

Reducing Infant Mortality

Please watch this video and then spread the word about how to reduce infant mortality. Click here to visit the website and get help with writing to your legislator, or sending them this video.

Reducing Infant Mortality from Debby Takikawas on Vimeo.

Birth and Healthcare Reform

“$13 to $20 billion a year could be saved in health care costs by demedicalizing childbirth, developing midwifery, and encouraging breastfeeding.”
? Frank Oski, MD, Professor and Director, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

When I read this quote I was thrilled to see that there was someone on the inside who agreed with what I knew about birth and healthcare reform. ?Jennifer Block wrote a great piece for Rh Reality Check entitled Where’s the Birth Plan? She makes many valid points, but none as striking as this:

“Childbirth, in fact, costs the United States more in hospital charges than any other health condition — $86 billion in 2006, almost half paid for by taxpayers. This high price tag — twice as high as what most European countries spend — buys us one of the most medicalized maternity care systems in the industrialized world. Yet we have among the worst outcomes: high rates of preterm birth, infant mortality, and maternal mortality, with huge disparities by race.”

What is our problem? ?Seriously why can’t we get our act together? ?We overprovide care to so many women in the childbearing experience, which jacks up the price and risk. ?Even if we let every woman choose her own provider, birth setting and the like, including epidurals and cesareans on demand, VBACs and homebirth with midwives - we’d be much better off than we are today when it comes to both maternal and infant outcomes as well as cost.

The Big Push for Midwives campaign did an economic analysis. Did you know that if just 10% of women had planned out of hospital births with a midwife, we’d save more than $9 billion dollars? ?That’s a lot of healthcare money…

So while everyone else is arguing about the end of life care, I’d like to see us shift the topic to the beginning of life care. ?It only makes practical and economic sense. ?Your thoughts?

Happy Birth Day Birth Survey!

Come join the weekend fun as we mark the one year anniversary of the national launch of The Birth Survey!? Starting now and ending at midnight on Sunday (Eastern), we will be giving away “door” prizes and other fun things.? You will be entered for the prizes for the following:

• blog post about The Birth Survey (with link to this post)
• share The Birth Survey facebook group on your blog and/or facebook profile
• share in the comments or on your blog about how The Birth Survey has helped you
• post a link to this contest on a forum, blog or other acceptable (non-spamming) location

To enter you posts, leave a comment here saying you’ve met the requirements and add a link where applicable.? Be sure to use your real email so we can contact you about the fabulous prizes!

Edited to add:

Winners chosen by Random.org.

Veronika is our first winner! ?She won the Homebirth Children’s Book.

Micky is our second winner! ?She has won a set of Trust Birth Postcards donated by Teri Shilling & Passion for Birth.

Kristin is our third prize winner! ?She’s getting a set of the VBAC Facts cards to hand out!

Kate Griffin wins prize #4! ?She will receive a set of The Birth Survey cards.

Jennifer Vermeer wins our last prize, also a set of The Birth Survey cards.

Email me with your address so I can send your prize. Everyone already posted is still entered for later drawings!

Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate this weekend and by spreading the word over the last year. ?Here’s to another great year ahead of us!

Join the Virtual Nurse-In on Facebook!

The Facebook group called Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene (official petition to Facebook) is hosting a virtual nurse-in in honor of world breastfeeding week. The group is hosted by the organization called The Mother’s International Lactation Campaign (M.I.L.C.) which is “dedicated to the normalisation, protection and promotion of breastfeeding”.

Participation is simple. Just post the words “hey facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene” into your status update. Then post a picture of someone breastfeeding their infant as your profile photo for the week of August 1st to 7th. This picture can be one of yourself, a work of art, or someone else. It can even be a cat nursing her kittens!