Quote of the Day: Make Yourself Look Important and Busy

“A doctor must do something. He cannot remain a spectator merely, where there are many witnesses, and where interest in what is going on is too deep to allow of his inaction.”

Walter Channing, 1848
Harvard Medical School professor of obstetrics

Read more about Channing’s career and what the Harvard Medical School’s alumni blog calls the Channings “legacy of compassion” and “commitment to social justice.”

Birth Poetry

I felt your voice come to me in my dreams, as I swam in ideas of your labour day to come,

How to Meditate with a Baby…

Lie down in a comfortable place.
Latch baby on.
Feel your bodies relax and become
Suffused with peace.
Rest your nose in his hair.
Inhale.

Molly Remer

This is a part of the birth poetry contest.

A Healthy Baby - Birth Poetry Contest

All she wanted was to birth a healthy baby
She was excited about the months ahead
She knew her baby was a blessing
She wanted what was best
She changed her diet and started exercising
She wanted to birth a healthy baby
So she did what the books and websites told her

All she wanted was to birth a healthy baby
A boy is what they told her
She never NEEDED an ultrasound
She knew EXACTLY when the one night of passion that created the life happened
She wanted the gender to be a surprise
Her measurements were always right on target
She never really wanted an ultrasound
But they made her feel like something could be wrong
Something that only the magic wand with goopy gel could tell her
She wanted to birth a healthy baby
So she conceded and did what her providers told her

All she wanted was to birth a healthy baby
They said the baby looked big
Just last week, her measurements were right on target
She did not understand
She wanted to birth a healthy baby
Would his size really make a difference?
Before now she had faith in her body
But they made her feel unsure
She wanted to birth a healthy baby
So she listened, and scheduled another ultrasound

All she wanted was to birth a healthy baby
The repeat ultrasound showed the baby had gained more weight
How accurate are those things anyway?
Wasn?t the baby supposed to be gaining weight?
Nine pounds didn?t sound too big to her
Big babies ran in her family!
But predictions of a term birth weight of 10lbs made her doubtful
Her trust in her innate abilities began to fade. She became fearful
She wanted to birth a healthy baby
So she listened to her providers and scheduled her induction with a closed cervix, and intense fear

She came as she was instructed at 5am
She had gotten no sleep,
She had eaten no food
She was operating off adrenaline, and she was full of fear and anticipation
She wanted to birth a healthy baby
So she followed the rules and listened to what they said was best
The entire day seemed to be a rapidly moving blur of various demands, commands, and instructions

Put on this gown
Get in this bed
Let me start this IV
We are going to start Pitocin
You have to keep still
You have to stay in bed
You have to keep the monitors on
They are here to break your water
No you can?t get out of bed
We need to use these internal monitors
No you can?t have any water and certainly no food
Here? are a few ice chips
Didn?t your doctor tell you how this was going to go?!
Yes of course it?s painful
YOU should get an epidural and for the last time NO you can?t get out of bed
I am glad you are finally comfortable
Let me put this tube in your bladder, you won?t feel it
Hope you don?t get an infection
We are going to increase the Pitocin
Your baby?s heart rate dropped
Quick, turn to your left side
Breathe this oxygen
You are only 4 cm dilated
I?m going to call your doctor
Open the OR its 5PM!
Lets get her ready for her c/section?..

All she wanted was to birth a healthy baby
In her heart she wanted to speak up,
But she wanted to birth a healthy baby so she took their advice
She listened to her doctor
She listened to her nurse
When all along she was waiting for someone, anyone, is there one? all she wanted was one,
One person to hear HER voice
One person to help make HER voice louder and stronger

All she wanted was to birth a healthy baby?.and it seems everyone else, just wanted to control the process

Nicole Deggins, CNM -? www.yourbirthright.com
_{This poem was used as the opening to a presentation I gave at the national AWHONN Conference in San Diego Presentation title:? Using the Evidence to Reclaim the Role of Patient Advocate.}

This is a part of the birth poetry contest.

Second Untitled Birth Poetry Submission

—

uncurling like a newborn’s fist
reaching out to receive the first touch of her mother

I feel my heart release the stone of grief
and rise on an updraft of joy so great
it turns silence to sound

I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity
to witness a miracle
and be healed

I am not broken after all
I am natural, I am normal
I am just as I am meant to be

Erinn Streeter

This is a part of the birth poetry contest.

Violence in Maternity Care

The non-profit organization Solace for Mothers: Healing After Traumatic Childbirth is asking anyone who has experienced or has witnessed violent maternity care, to write a letter to Lynn Rosenthal, the presidential advisor on violence against women, and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Solace explains:

We invite you to join us in writing to Lynn Rosenthal and Michelle Obama in an effort to bring awareness to the violence women experience at the hands of some maternity care providers. First Lady Michelle Obama has made recent remarks championing the rights of childbearing women, and may be an ally for this cause. Lynn Rosenthal is a former executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

We are calling for an official review of perinatal practices to investigate common and flagrant violations of patients? rights; mainly the right to informed consent and refusal. We are asking that enhanced and enforced mechanisms for accountability follow the investigation.

What can be considered violent maternity care? Solace states,

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence in this way:

“the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.”

Violence in maternity care is expressed in many different ways. There can be physical violence, such as forcing procedures which women have explicitly refused. There can be emotional violence, such as coercion, manipulation, or verbal abuse. There can be an exertion of power or force over women’s legal rights by individual health care providers and/or by hospital policies such as threatening to call child protective services if a woman does not agree to a procedure or threatening to withhold care in labor if a woman does not agree to the provider?s suggested intervention. ?Informed consent? refers to the legal right of all patients to have the risks, benefits and alternatives clearly explained prior to any procedure. All patients ? including laboring women - have the right to accept or refuse any suggested treatment. Withholding informed consent through the use of physical force, coercion or manipulation is an act of violence and is illegal.

Provider-perpetrated violence during childbirth can result in the birthing woman suffering traumatic stress, anxiety disorders such as posttraumatic stress, postpartum depression and other disabling mood disorders.

For more direction, please click here to visit the Solace for Mothers webpage about the campaign.

To read the letter sent to Lynn Rosenthal and First Lady Michell Obama from Solace for Mothers, Click Here.

Please write letters and spread the word to anyone who may have experienced or witnessed violent maternity care.

Untitled Birth Poem

—

Take you away? Never.
Holding you, bare skinned,
while you licked your lips,

I would break eye contact with you
only long enough to laugh defiantly
at anyone who would tell me

a needle would serve you better
than my kisses -

or that you would be left wanting
at the holy chalice of my
heartbeat-threaded breast.

So small, and yet,

you can turn
your mother’s laugh
into a spear.

Erinn Streeter

Erinn is open to suggestions for a title in the comments!

This is a part of the birth poetry contest.

The day you were born

The day you were born
I heard your first gasp
and I cried in my joy
your hands were so tiny
your feet so perfect
my pride would not allow me
to see any flaw
and let me tell you
you had none!

The day you were born
I felt a new love
as deep as any crush
I’ve ever held
but more intense
a bond strong and new
your every breath
every move
was of complete interest
to me
I wanted nothing more
than to watch your tiny face
as it moved and twitched
in the newness of the world
I had fallen in love
unconditional love
for the first time.

The day you were born
was a birthday for me
I became
a whole new person
my heart was rearranged
no longer thinking
only for myself
but seeking
everything for you
I became
focused and directed
the world was so different
in my eyes
heritage, promise, hope, and mortality
were all in my thoughts

The day you were born
I was born too
born anew
a mother
who had not been before
nurture and love
grew in my soul
and dreams all became
for you

So now I am thankful
in my memory
of you
and the day you were born
since that day
you’ve grown and changed
I have watched you
with expectation
of enormous wonderful changes
and yet
mourned the loss
of the baby you were
you must keep growing
becoming the one
you are meant to be
and someday you’ll go
and when you do
I know I’ll find myself
remembering
the day you were born.
Dawn Meisenheimer Lewis

This is a part of the birth poetry contest.

Pulse

One, Two, Three,
A cadenced rhythm,
Always recognized.
One, Two, Three,
What has gone wrong?
One, Two, Three,
The oxygen is on.
One, Two, Three,
Someone call 911.
One, Two, Three,
Pray that life shant fade,
Before it begins.
One, Two, Three,
?I have a pulse.?
But he?s still not breathing.

Jessica Williams
(baby made full recovery after 32 day NICU stay)

This is a part of the birth poetry contest.

Healthy Baby Bounty Bag

Photo (c) Lansinoh

Have you seen these cool bags from Cottonwood Kids? They are the alternatives for other breastfeeding discharge bags - but breastfeeding friendly. Now you can be your own activist and send a letter ask for your hospital to carry them! So download your sample letter now!