birth activist

I've had allergies and asthma since I was a kid. I thank my mom all the time for breastfeeding me as long as she did - who KNOWS how much worse off I would be had she not!? But I think about this baby I worry about my child inheriting this less-than-wonderful trait. A new study suggests that there is a link between babies born by cesarean and allergies and asthma. Dr. Ly said "This finding is exciting because it suggests that the mode of delivery may be an important factor influencing immune system development in the neonate." By avoiding a c-section I might help the chances of my child not having these conditions. That's awesome! You can read more about the study here

This week my baby turned from transverse to breech. I am only 33 weeks pregnant, so the baby has plenty of time to turn. The one thing that really stood out to me, though, was the lack of concern by most of the people I talked to about it. Multiple people told me "You'll be fine. Baby will turn. Don't worry." But how hard is that? As a pregnant woman I worry about my baby and my birth. Luckily, I have a really good support team who I went to. They helped me voice my concerns and lead me to some resources about turning malpositioned babies. Not all women are as lucky as I am to have such a good support system. There is plenty of poor information available about pregnancy and birth-related subjects. How do we as birth activists spread the word about accurate and non-threatening information?

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

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?

I just ran across this Parent Dish article about how this mom was upset by a breastfeeding ad. Please leave her a comment and let her know that the billboard isn't trying to guilt women into breastfeeding - it's simply stating a fact of life.

When I saw the title to this article "Choosy Mothers Choose Caesareans" I was intrigued. It didn't take long for my intrigue to turn into rage. In my opinion, the article makes it sound like the choice between a vaginal birth and a caesarean is equal to "paper or plastic?" This line really got me: "Pretty tidy way to conduct the often messy business of childbirth." Really? Having your abdomen sliced open is tidy? Hmm... What do you think?

Today I was talking with another pregnant woman about her upcoming birth. She said she was scared to give birth vaginally and had chosen a scheduled c-section. I must have looked at her like she had three heads. I explained that I am petrified of a major abdominal surgery. What is it about our culture that makes women fear what is normal and natural? How can staples and sutures in your belly be a better alternative?

Luckily, this did give me a chance to discuss my views on elective cesarean sections and clear up a few of her misconceptions. Then I went on to tell her a few things that my husband and I are doing to avoid an unneccesary surgery.

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.