birth activist blogs

Responsibility & Empowerment

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:06:40 -0400

I've had several conversations over the last few days about the notion of responsibility for birth. The conclusion I've come to is that until women are willing to take responsibility for their actions regarding birth choices - they won't get the empowerment.

So let's say you have a particularly awesome birth. You had nearly every one of the desires met from your birth plan and you were in charge of the decisions. (Notice this does not say how or with whom you gave birth - but it was your choice.) You feel the empowerment because you took the responsibility.

But so many times women abdicate this responsibility by handing over the decision making ability to their care provider or make decisions that lead to a place they don't want to be and rather than accept the responsibility for that decision - they blame someone else. That person can be their practitioner, their husband/partner, their doula, the labor nurse... the list goes on.

For example, a woman says "The doctor saved my baby!" Great! I mean that's why we pay doctors and midwives - to be the life guards of birth. But a question that is often asked is - Why do we hear this statement so much? Are babies really needing to be "saved" that often?

The problem is two fold.

1) Women aren't as often standing up and making choices for themselves as well as making choices and then not accepting the responsibility for the outcome.

2) We have care provider who set up situations where they go from life guard to life saver. (Think of the arsonist who starts a fire only to rush in and save everyone and become the hero...)

The system is broken in many ways. This is but one angle. But it really points out the need for careful selection of your practitioner as well as the mental and emotional energy to delve into the decisions that you need to make as a parent wholeheartedly.

C-Sections, Allergies and Asthma

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:30:26 -0400

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

How American is our Medical Association?

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:43:29 -0400

or
AMA Plans to Remove Mother's Choice

We've seen Mother's choices restricted in the past:
Little or no access to midwifery care
Food restricted during labor
Pushing in the lithotomy position
No Option for Vaginal Birth After Cesarean
- Just to name a few.

Now, the AMA is adding another item to their list - Outlawing Homebirth!

At their recent annual meeting, the AMA stated that:
"That our American Medical Association only advocate in legislative and regulatory arenas for the licensing of midwives who are certified by the American College of Nurse-Midwives." In plain terms, this means that the AMA will only support hospital midwives, or CNMs.

Sign the Petition

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:43:00 -0400

The recent resolution by the American Medical Association opposing Home Birth is all over the message boards today. Resolutions were introduced by the AMA to support ACOG's position against home birth and to "develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the AAP and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers."

Sign the Petition Today! Please help send a message to the AMA and ACOG, and to our state and federal legislators, to tell them that we object to these resolutions and we view legislation that would restrict a woman's right to choose a home birth as a being contrary to scientific evidence and a violation of women's basic human rights.

VBAC Coalition

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:15:10 -0400

If you are looking for an inspiring little birth activism project for your area, I have an idea for you. Join hands with other women in your area and form a "VBAC Coalition." According to ICAN, over 3,000 hospitals across the United States have instituted facility-wide bans on Vaginal Birth After Cesarean. In our town, women are being told that they must have a repeat cesarean regardless of their present health status and regardless of the reason for their previous cesarean. We know that these bans are not only un-supportable by good evidence, but they are also a basic violation of a woman's Patient Rights and Human Rights.

If you would like to take on the hospitals, here's a place to start. Check back on birthactivist.com for further steps and updates as we go through this process.

Step 1: Form a coalition. Gather together with a small group of women representing your local birth network, ICAN chapter, La Leche League Chapter, as well as individual women who have been affected by the VBAC Ban (or who just care deeply, even if they've never had a C-Section)

Our coalition consists of a chapter leader of BirthNetwork, a mom who has had one previous cesarean, a mom who demanded for herself a successful VBAC despite the ban, a mom who had an "HBAC" or Home Birth After Cesarean because of the ban, and a Certified Nurse-Midwife who is our resident "safety and statistics expert." We met together today to discuss our plan of action to pressure our local hospitals to reverse the ban.

Stay tuned for step 2! "

Access to Information

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:01:29 -0400

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?

52 Things You Can Do to Be a Birth Activist

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:59:50 -0400

After our local BirthNetwork's community activist meeting, I got to wondering what was out there on the web in the way of birth advocacy. The Journal of Perinatal Education provides endless amounts of support for normal birth and evidence-based care, and of course there's CIMS advocating mother- and baby-friendly care.

Then I happened upon Birthing the Future, a Colorado-based 501(c)3 working on birth advocacy and education, headed up by Suzanne Arms.

In the "Take Action" part of the site, there's a list of 52 actions you can do to advocate birth, to "make every birth better for everyone," and other links to follow. 52! And these are things the average person can do. There's work to be done here, folks. May we all be busy!

Will Tori Spelling Have a VBAC?

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:56:08 -0400

Tori Spelling of Beverly Hills 90210 fame is expecting her second baby. Her first child was born after her water broke and an induction that failed by cesarean section. Tori had been outspoken about taking Lamaze classes and wanting a vaginal birth.

After Liam was born she was initially very happy and said nothing negative about her birth. But as the weeks and months followed she admitted to being disappointed that she wasn't able to have a vaginal birth. She never said she was upset about the cesarean or felt like it was a bad thing, but merely that she was sorry to have not had a vaginal birth - two very different thoughts.

When she got pregnant this time, with a daughter due any day, I really thought that she was someone who had a great chance of having a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). Now the rumors are flying that she's in surgery, probably as I'm typing this, to give birth to her daughter. If that's true I wonder why. She's been healthy, looked great and been active. She had a non-repeating factor for her cesarean. So my guess is that if she's having a repeat cesarean, it's her doctor. One quote she made about him immediately after Liam's birth stuck in my head:

"I asked Dr. Rothbart if he'd do a good job, and he said, 'Well, Angelina didn't complain.' So I was like if Angelina let him do a C-section in Africa, I am ok. I felt comforted by that."

Yikes. She talked about the pain of recovery and how hard it made life. Tori discussed her difficulties with breastfeeding, which, while she never connected it to the c-section, studies show us it was the most likely culprit. I wonder if she's thought about how hard that will be with two babies? But she was seen getting a pedicure yesterday and her hair done last week. I just pray she's only nesting and not pre-surgical nesting.

Breastfeeding Officer

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:25:57 -0400

A few weeks ago, I received an inspiring photograph of a police officer breastfeeding a baby. She is in uniform, but it is unzipped and unbuttoned, in order to nourish this tiny baby. The woman looks worried and the scene around her is filled with chaos. She is in an earthquake shelter, with people and blankets everywhere.

Many thousands of families were affected by the recent earthquake in China. It had been estimated that 50,000 people were killed. In the shelters, there wasn't enough dry food for babies.

The officer in the photograph was breastfeeding two babies when interviewed and had actually fed 8 babies over the last two days. Five babies were orphans, and 3 babies had mothers who were unable to nurse. The officer was quoted as saying, "My babies are babies, other people's babies are all momma's babies."

CIMS New Website

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:24:09 -0400

CIMS, the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services, is a fabulous resource for parents and practitioners who are seeking information on healthy maternity care.

In the 1990s, CIMS formed with the mission "to promote a wellness model of maternity care that will improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs. This evidence-based mother-, baby-, and family-friendly model focuses on prevention and wellness as the alternatives to high-cost screening, diagnosis, and treatment programs."

Perhaps you're wondering what Mother-Friendly or Baby-Friendly care entails? You can read the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative on the new CIMS website, http://www.motherfriendly.org/.

Cesarean a "Pre-Existing Condition"?

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:21:08 -0400

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted a new problem that women are facing after a cesarean. Some women who apply for individual insurance policies are being charged higher premiums and some are being denied coverage if they have had a previous cesarean section. It looks like insurance companies are now counting the financial risks of repeat cesarean on their bottom line and they aren't willing to take the risk. However, more and more hospitals are banning the option of a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) altogether, citing vague recommendations by ACOG and pressure from their own malpractice insurance providers, revealing they aren't willing to take the risk either.

Building Confidence in Pregnancy

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:19 -0400

Confidence is a real issue in pregnancy. We do so much to destroy the confidence of other women, mostly unknowingly. This doesn't negate the damage done. However there are some glimmers of hope!

Lamaze International has just launched it's new Building Confidence Week by Week free email newsletters. They actually span from week 6 to week 42 of pregnancy, just like my pregnancy calendar does, so you know I'm partial to it! This is one piece of pregnancy mail I bet you'll look forward to every week and it's something that doulas, childbirth educators (of all walks), midwives and doctors can all feel confident about sending their client to read.

C-Sections = More Preemies?

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:40:07 -0400

Not only has the rising caesarean rate been a concern to those devoted to mother-friendly maternity care, but now a correlation is more publicly being made between caesareans and premature births. An article on MSNBC, "C-sections May Be Behind Rise of Preemie Births" suggests that arbitrarily picking a date for delivery may indeed lead to the rising number in premature births.

From the article: "Premature babies are at greater risk for a number of medical and developmental problems such as troubled breathing, bleeding in the brain, birth defects and death. Premature birth is defined as delivery before the 37th week of pregnancy, rather than the typical 40 weeks."

Due dates are estimations based on generalized numbers and cycles. Unless a mother goes into labor naturally, there is really no one hundred percent accurate way to tell when a baby should be born. Exceptions would be for complications, of course, which according to the World Health Organization should be less than ten percent -- more accurately around four percent.

"There was an increase of 60,000 (between 1996-2004) who were pre-term, and 92 percent of them were by Caesarean section," cites Dr. Alan Fleischman, medical director and senior vice president of the March of Dimes infant health advocacy group. He is particularly concerned about the number of unnecessary cesareans.

Between mothers recovering from major abdominal surgery and infants in critical health condition, our health providers should be concerned as well.

ACNM Publishes Guidelines for Eating in Labor

Thu, 29 May 2008 11:08:19 -0400

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!

Mon, 26 May 2008 07:40:44 -0400

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