tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6974006125509431212024-02-19T18:17:11.261-08:00Midwifery RamblingsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-75713132115118819512014-11-22T09:52:00.000-08:002014-11-22T09:52:49.893-08:00"I Realized That I Had Been 'Powerbirthed'" - Further Testimonial of a Supposed Non-Existent PracticeEver since I watched the Powerbirth promotional video, in 2009, I have watched as women came out of the woodwork to talk about their traumatic experience with the technique - only, most didn't know that it was a "technique" or had a name at all. They only know what was done to them by a person they had trusted.<br />
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Recently I attended a birth in which a family member asked about my training, and once she learned that I was not trained here in Southern Utah (To my knowledge, I am the <i>only</i> midwife in the area who was not trained here), she began to tell me her story. As I cleaned up the birthing tub that had just been used, she explained how a friend had passed on information from my blog about Powerbirth, and her friend had asked her if that's what had happened to her. She said that she hadn't known anything about "Powerbirth", so she didn't think it had anything to do with her. And then she began reading the explanation of what midwives have done to women - forced pushing with their knees hiked up, and the midwife manually dilating the cervix.<br />
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This woman recounted how she was checked to be 2cm dilated, and the midwife (I won't name names) asked her if she wanted to have labor go quickly or slowly. She said that as a first time mom, of course she wanted to have the baby soon, so she told her that she wanted to go quickly. She said the midwife instructed her to pull her knees back as far as she could, and to push as hard as she could, while the midwife stretched her cervix. She said, "It was horrible." And even more sadly, it was discovered during her next labor that she had scarring on her cervix from what was done to her by her first midwife.<br />
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Yet, the midwives who have, and still do practice this method/technique, deny that this is what is done. The Powerbirth founder cries out for people to read the Powerbirth manual, in which there is no mention of forced pushing or manual cervical dilation. And one midwife has publicly denied these practices, saying that women have lied.<br />
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Each time I think that these stories won't affect me nearly as much, I have yet another woman tell me her story of trauma, deception, and outright manipulation. It makes me angry, as midwives have no business calling themselves such as they so egregiously violate women and put babies at such risk of harm ... and it breaks my heart as that is the experience that some women walk away from, thinking these things are simply normal for home birth.<br /><br />To any woman who has read any of this and questioned your birth experiences ... you're not alone. Even if you don't ever decide to speak out, you are not alone. And this violation is <b><i>not</i></b> what home birth and midwifery is about.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-11303974667629518032014-11-19T09:22:00.001-08:002014-11-19T09:22:34.996-08:00Natural Cold and Flu Remedies <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's that time of year again. I woke up at 3am feeling like I had swallowed some razor blades. I went to bed with a slightly scratchy throat, and woke up to full blown awfulness. While I am not pregnant, I have already had two clients ask me what they can do for illness while pregnant.<br />
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In our home, we rarely use medication. Instead we use foods, herbs, and essential oils. Many of these are not only safe while pregnant, but are often much more effective than anything you'll find over the counter, and safer than antibiotics or pharmaceutical medications.<br />
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So what are the best options for the cold or flu while pregnant?<br />
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<b>1.</b> <b>Raw Garlic</b><br />
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I know. It sounds hard to stomach - and it can be. However, the active element in raw garlic is Allicin, and it is a natural antibiotic. This antibiotic though only kills the bad bacteria, leaving the good bacteria to help fight the illness. Here are some ways to eat/swallow garlic:<br />
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• Use a garlic press and press a clove of garlic onto a spoon. Swallow it and chase with juice. I have found that orange juice works well to cover some of the garlic taste.<br />
• Drown the pressed or chopped garlic in a teaspoon of honey (raw honey is best, but use whatever you have), and swallow.<br />
• Chop 2 cloves of garlic to add to your favorite guacamole or hummus dip. Eat away!<br />
• Cut an onion in half, and place in a small saucepan. Add enough water to cover the onion. Add 1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped. Add juice from 1/2 a lemon. Let it simmer on low, covered, until the onion is transperent. Drink. This is actually quite delicious, in my opinion!<br />
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<b>2.</b> <b>Elderberry / Sambucus Syrup</b><br />
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This stuff is awesome. It contains high amounts of vitamins A, B, and C and helps to stimulate immune system function. It is safe while pregnant, and you can even <a href="http://wellnessmama.com/1888/elderberry-syrup/">make it yourself</a>! You just want to be super cautious about fully removing the stems before processing. You can also buy it affordably <a href="http://www.vitacost.com/natures-answer-sambucus-black-elder-berry-5000-mg-4-fl-oz">here</a>.<br />
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<b>3.</b> <b>Sea Salt / Neti Pot </b><br />
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This is especially helpful for sore throats and sinus infections. Add about a 1/2 teaspoon sea salt to 1 cup of warm water (you can add 1/2 teaspoon of honey if you can't handle the taste) and gargle. Do this 2-3 times per day to loosen mucus, and reduce bacteria in the mouth and throat.<br />
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Neti pots can be especially useful in sinus infections. You can find a neti pot <a href="http://www.vitacost.com/himalayan-all-natural-neti-wash-eco-neti-pot-nonbreakable">HERE</a>. And <a href="http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/products-publications/neti-pot-products/neti-pot-demo-guide/">HERE</a> you can find a recipe, and video instructions.<br />
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<b>4. Essential Oils</b><br />
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Essential oils are GREAT to use when sick - especially with a diffuser. NOW brand just came out with an oil diffuser for under $40 that works just as well (if not better) than the much more expensive brands that I have bought in the past. I can get at least 3 hours of diffuse time from mine, as it uses 1/2 cup of water.<br />
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Some great blends for illness (and I don't endorse one brand over another): <br />
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• 10 drops of Eucalyptus, 10 drops of Tea Tree, and 10 drops of Lavender.<br />
• 10 drops of Camphor, 10 drops of Lavender<br />
• 10 drops of Eucalyptus, 10 drops of Tea Tree, and 10 drops of Lemongrass<br />
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You can also make your own chest rub by diluting 5 drops of camphor and 5 drops of eucalyptus in 1 cup of carrier oil (I use coconut oil). You can rub onto the chest and soles of the feet.<br />
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<b>5. Lots and Lots of Rest </b><br />
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We are a busy culture. Constantly on the go. A cold takes a real toll on the body, especially when you're pregnant. Getting plenty of rest (even if you have to break a rule and have a full movie day with kids while you camp out on the couch) and drinking plenty of fluids is going to be essential in kicking the cold or flu as quickly as possible.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-17096003866513942062014-10-08T10:44:00.001-07:002014-10-08T10:57:08.742-07:00Options in Childbirth: Does It Really Mean What You Think It Means?<br />
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Just over a year and a half ago, I spoke at a VBAC information event at Dixie State University. To my surprise, the labor and delivery hospitalist along with a nurse or two showed up. The hospitalist and one of the nurses asked several questions - unfortunately while I was in the middle of my presentation - of which some I clarified, and some of which I disagreed. What stuck with me more was something she said a few times - she said that hospital birth <i>can be just like home birth, </i>if women <b>just ask for it to be so</b><i>.</i><br />
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While I will wholeheartedly agree that sometimes, with a midwife who does not respect autonomy, home birth can be just like hospital birth in some ways, I cannot agree that hospital birth here in our small town, can be like home birth for whomever (low-risk) asks for it to be so.<br />
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Why do I disagree?<br />
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1. Dixie Regional Medical Center does not allow for complete refusal of an IV line - they are adamant that women receive a hep-lock just in case an emergency occurs.<br />
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2. DRMC does not allow for water birth. You may labor in the tub, if you happen to get into one of two rooms with a tub, but there are no exceptions for birthing in the tub. I know of a doctor who tells his patients that he cannot force them to get out, but what he does not tell them is that the tub can be drained in 90 seconds, and the nurses will drain the water immediately.<br />
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3. It is hospital preference to break the amniotic sac (water) within a few hours of admission for all patients - and is often presented as a benefit (can speed up labor, etc) without giving patients full disclosure of risk, which also includes a subsequent time limit since they worry about infection after the protective barrier is gone.<br />
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4. I have heard of some fathers/partners being able to catch their own baby, but it is rare and certainly not encouraged. You need to have the right doctor, and the right circumstances in order for this to happen.<br />
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5. You will not be able to eat and drink freely without either sneaking food, or repeatedly defending your right to do so.<br />
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6. Achieving a successful VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) depends on so many factors, that the odds seem nearly stacked against many women. IF circumstances line up perfectly - right size baby, no blips in prenatal care, right doctor who is not only 'VBAC friendly' but actually VBAC supportive (HUGE difference), right pregnancy week, right amount of time in labor, zero variation in how baby sounds during labor, etc - you might just end up achieving a VBAC.<br />
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7. You are highly unlikely to have a full hour, completely uninterrupted, with baby immediately following birth. Right doctor, right nurses, right circumstances...maybe, if you're adamant and repeat your wishes often.<br />
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8. You are unlikely to be able to refuse routine checks and tests on baby, without receiving information about how risky it can be to forgo. (I personally cover tests, options, etc prenatally and don't need to ask again after the family has done research and made a decision).<br />
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9. Depending on the season, your children are not likely able to be present for the birth.<br />
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10. Intermountain Health Care has a policy in place which bans photography and video at the time of birth. It is my understanding that you are allowed to photograph or video tape before and after, but not during birth. This is again, something that can vary widely. Some doctors allow it (there's that pesky word again - allow), others strictly reinforce the policy. It will also depend on the nurses in the room at the time of delivery.<br />
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I am not vilifying hospital birth. I am incredibly grateful for the technology and skill of hospital staff, when a hospital birth is medically warranted or chosen. I needed the hospital with my last baby.<br />
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What I am saying is that a simple statement, such as, "hospital can be just like home for those who ask", is risky. It may give women false hope, only to find that there was much fighting for this simple right, and/or the right doctor, right nurses, right circumstances.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-52982742754448971012014-07-07T09:30:00.001-07:002014-07-07T09:30:37.557-07:00Summer Baby PSA It's summer in Southern Utah (and all over, obviously), which brings temps often between 105-110 throughout the summer. It's <i>HOT</i>. But it's not just hot for adults, it's hot for everyone. Even that itty bitty new baby. The general rule of thumb for summer with a newborn is to dress her how you're dressing.<br /><br />This is why I want to cry every time I see a new mama whose new baby is not only fully clothed in the summer heat (meaning onesie, shirt, pants, socks), but also has one of those adorable car seat covers draped over the car seat for the duration of a shopping trip to Target, Costco, or wherever.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUng9IHBQg9jNHOSwbncSwCzmj-I8MP5Mdk2fvPsK0AZspdOxdDU4eOnKGDRRJ5VIE1AE7jhF979URH7G-Co8JAS_-RFzNetAwkOI1D8gBYbfTA3tWNDw2S8A1_2S-dKkKTzerDBXZgGE/s1600/IMG_4083_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUng9IHBQg9jNHOSwbncSwCzmj-I8MP5Mdk2fvPsK0AZspdOxdDU4eOnKGDRRJ5VIE1AE7jhF979URH7G-Co8JAS_-RFzNetAwkOI1D8gBYbfTA3tWNDw2S8A1_2S-dKkKTzerDBXZgGE/s1600/IMG_4083_thumb.jpg" height="292" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2010/04/car-seat-cover-aka-greeter-deterrent.html">Cluck Cluck Sew Tutorial</a></td></tr>
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Mamas, I know you mean well. I do. But imagine if you were baby. Not only is it hot out, but someone has you fully dressed, even if in light clothing. Now you're in a car seat - lying on fabric that is going to heat up with your body temp as well as the heat outside. Add to it a cover that cuts off any fresh air. So now not only are you hot, uncomfortable, but you're shortly going to be recycling your own CO2.<br />
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I'm an advocate for leaving car seats...in the car. I recommend baby wearing baby instead. Yes, it gets hot, but baby is still going to be more comfortable on you, barely dressed (think a diaper and onesie), breathing fresh air throughout the shopping trip. And you can find slings in breathable summer fabrics! But if you can't, or choose not to wear your baby ...<i><b> please only use the cover for the wind and/or sun outside</b></i>, and flip it back during your shopping trip so that baby has fresh air and isn't exposed to even higher temps under the cover.<br />
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Same goes for nursing covers, mamas! Sure, they may be super cute. But they're unnecessary, and they lead to the same as the above. Only now baby is cradled against fully body heat, in the heat of summer, <i><b>and</b></i> cut off from fresh air. There are a number of ways to nurse very discreetly without wearing a cover. In fact, wearing a cover screams, "I'm NURSING!" (which, I personally don't care whether or not people know what I'm doing), whereas most people don't even know what you're doing when you nurse discreetly. It usually looks like you're just cradling your baby.<br />
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This summer (and always), please remember that babies need fresh air more than you and I do. They are still regulating their tiny bodies, and we need to do whatever possible to not hinder this. Cute covers just aren't worth overheating your baby, and drastically decreasing fresh oxygen intake.<br />
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For rules on appropriate breastfeeding, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bunmi-laditan/how-to-breastfeed-appropriately_b_5530806.html">read this</a>. It's hilarious! ;)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-60585337306757876022013-07-31T12:17:00.000-07:002013-07-31T12:19:00.625-07:00The Value of Waiting One of the most valuable things I have learned in the past 7 years of attending births, is to wait and do nothing. Yes, the emergency skills are incredibly important. Yes, knowing when to step in and intervene is incredibly important.<br />
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But in my opinion and experience, it is even more important to learn that when everything is going beautifully, you do <i><b>nothing</b></i>. Even if labor is on the longer end of normal. If baby and mama are doing well, do nothing. Check heart tones as often as mama has agreed to, provide emotional or physical support if mama needs it. But otherwise, do nothing. If you need to bring a crossword puzzle or a knitting project or a book to keep your hands busy, do it. But don't interfere with the beautiful dance of hormones just because you feel like you're doing nothing. You <i><b>should</b></i> feel like you're doing nothing, because nothing is exactly what's needed in the vast majority of normal births.<br />
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When I have couples thank me after a birth, I tell them that I really didn't do anything. Because most of the time, I don't. And I'm quite happy with that fact. There have been a few recent births in which I have needed to step in and be more hands-on, and it is hard for me to do. I am constantly weighing whether or not anything could have been done differently to have avoided things leading up to needing intervention. At a recent birth, I should have asked the large number of family members present, to go upstairs earlier than I did. Their presence was clearly inhibiting her labor. I saw it, my apprentice saw it. Yet, I didn't want to overstep my bounds because I know that this mama had wanted her family there. In the end, it was necessary, and should have happened sooner. And I will be writing soon about what the consequences can be with having too many people in the birthing space.<br />
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Doing nothing is what, again - in my opinion, all Midwives should strive for in the vast majority of their births. If they learn to do nothing, women are learning at the same time that their body works beautifully as it was made to work in birth. <b>This</b> is what is essential in women taking back their birthing rights in our culture. They must first learn that the birth process works most efficiently when left alone. They don't need vaginal exams, being told when/how to push, they don't need someone else catching their baby (unless mama and her partner don't wish to), and they certainly don't need someone assaulting their baby with a towel and a bulb syringe and a stethoscope as soon as the baby is out of the womb.<br />
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I say that it is one of the most important things to learn, because it is one of the hardest. During a longer labor, it is hard to not want to check dilation to see what progress mom is making. But there are other ways that can measure the progress of baby's descent without being invasive. There is the ever-so-interesting "<a href="http://birthwithoutfearblog.com/2013/06/06/alternative-methods-of-checking-dilation-the-purple-line-and-more/">purple butt crack line</a>" (purple line on natal cleft), but the most telling is where you are finding fetal heart tones. You'll notice that it'll start somewhere near where the usual spot is, from prenatal appointments. Then as labor progresses, you'll find it lower in the belly. After mom has been laboring well and is vocalizing low through contractions, you'll find it in the center of the belly, above the pubic bone. This clearly shows the descent progress of the baby, without ever stopping mom's hormonal dance to put your hand up her vagina. And at this point (once heart tones are found right over pubic bone), if mom needs a boost of energy and resolve? She can check herself, and will, more often than not, find baby's head not far inside of the vaginal opening. I have watched a mom go from utterly exhausted and feeling defeated, to a sense of renewal and excitement when she feels her baby's head for herself.<br />
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Walk through the checklist - Does baby's heartrate sound normal and reactive? Is mom's blood pressure normal (I usually only check upon arrival, unless I have a client whose blood pressure has been elevated at the end of pregnancy)? Are you noticing descent progress via heart tone location? Is mom making progress as far as contractions being consistent and becoming more intense? Does mom have the option of total privacy?<br />
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If all are normal - do nothing. :)<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-56869450572656323412013-07-29T14:50:00.001-07:002013-07-29T15:12:30.830-07:00The Bitter Homebirther's Wish List I have a lot of friends who homeschool. There are a multitude of misconceptions surrounding not only kids who are homeschooled, but parents who homeschool. It becomes annoying. I was one of those homeschool kids who was asked, as I was at a social event, "Do you have any friends?". Nope. None. Mom keeps us in the basement, and today's the first time out in a year! :facepalm:<br />
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Question layout credit goes completely to <b>Deborah Markus</b> at <a href="http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/index.html">Secular Homeschooling</a>.<br />
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My homeschooling friends posted an article, <a href="http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/001/bitter_homeschooler.html">The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List</a>, on Facebook today. And I thought it was brilliant! I also thought that us homebirthers should have one that is just like it, since there are just as many misconceptions about homebirthing. So, here goes:<br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">1. Please stop asking us if it's legal. Women have been having babies at home since the beginning of time. Literally. And even in states where it's not technically legal, women birth at home anyway, exercising their rights as an autonomous human being. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">2. Learn the differences between a woman choosing to have a home birth after she's researched it and has decided it's best for her family, and a teenager who gives birth in a bathroom stall because she's too afraid to go to the hospital. These are not one in the same. Statistically, the latter may be thrown in as "out of hospital birth", but bears no resemblance to the first. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">3. Quit asking my husband if he is allowing/okay with it. Even if he wasn't, I am the one who is birthing the baby. I have done extensive research, I am not choosing to birth at home because it seems "cool". Just as he would not be able to order me to have a cesarean for no reason, he is not able to order me to have a hospital birth for no reason. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">4. Don't assume that every homebirther you meet is birthing at home for the same reason, or will have the same experience. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">5. If the homebirthing woman you know is actually someone you saw on TV (and probably on <i>I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant)</i>, the above especially applies. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">6. Please stop enthusiastically informing us of the horror stories you've heard of when babies are born at home. Because really, I have dozens of horrifying stories to tell about hospital births. If you want a pissing match, I'll happily beat you. I guarantee that I'm more informed than you are of the research and statistics regarding the safety in home vs hospital birth. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">7. We don't look horrified and start questioning you when you say you're birthing your baby in the hospital. Even though we want to. Because it is far more terrifying to birth in the hospital. Look at the statistics. I firmly believe the, "You're so brave!" sentiment should be given to women birthing in the hospital, not to those birthing at home. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">8. Stop assuming all homebirthers are religious. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">9. Stop assuming that if we're religious, then we homebirth because of religious reasons. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">10. I didn't go through all of the research and consideration and weighing of all of the information just to be a "rebel", or to be a hero. This was a very personal decision, one based on my experiences with childbirth. Stop thinking that it is your public duty to make us aware of the option of hospital birth. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">11. Please stop questioning my ability to give birth outside of a hospital, without drugs, without intervention. Once again, women have been giving birth since the beginning of time. Will it hurt without drugs? Sure. But to me, avoiding those is very important. Laboring in the hospital with drugs readily available is hard to resist, and I have committed to doing this not only for my baby, but for me. So I'm going to give myself the best shot possible at doing so. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">12. If we're birthing unassisted (sans Midwife) and you ask me how we'll know what we're doing, I will happily give you the equivalent of a 5-page rundown on how hormones work in labor, as well as the history of childbirth. If I didn't feel confident in birthing with just my partner, we'd hire a Midwife. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">13. Stop asking me if my baby will drown when I give birth in the water. Please take 2.5 seconds to think about what environment the baby lives in during his stay in my uterus, and if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">14. Stop assuming that if I give birth at home, I'm going to eat my placenta. I might, but you shouldn't assume it. I'm more likely to encapsulate it, or plant it under a bush or tree. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">15. Stop asking, "But what about the birth certificate?" I'll say it again. Babies are born at home every day, all over the world. A good chunk are intentional, some are not. It's not going to be impossible to get a birth certificate or social security card, just because we birthed at home. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">16. Quit assuming that I am a hippy freak because I choose to birth at home. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">17. Quit assuming that I am more concerned with the experience, than I am about safety. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">18. Quit assuming that because I <i>am</i> concerned about what kind of experience I will have, that I'm <i>not</i> concerned about safety. A woman will remember the way she was made to feel at birth, for the rest of her life. Is it really such a wild idea that a woman cares to give birth in the most peaceful environment possible?</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">19. Quit assuming that my Midwife has only read books about childbirth, but has no actual training; only carries a biting stick and a bundle of sage to births; and wears Berkenstocks. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">20. Stop talking about all of the "luxuries" I'll miss by being in the hospital to give birth. I'll be in my own home, sans strangers walking in and out of my room, eating and drinking throughout labor, and then snuggled into my own bed with my baby and not being bothered in the middle of the night. You'll have strangers coming in and out of your room, an IV and ice chips as your only sustenance, transferred to a terribly uncomfortable postpartum bed, and you'll be woken up every few hours to have you and baby checked on. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">21. Quit asking me, "Your doctor <i>let</i> you do that?". First of all, where I birth is not my doctor's decision and I did not ask him/her for permission. Second of all, I feel sorry for you if you ask this question. Because it means that you probably have authority-figure beliefs about doctors, and would base your decisions on what he/she says. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Now, I am happy to give information to those who are genuinely interested in learning more about homebirth. But, let's face it. Most people who come up with these comments or questions do so because they simply cannot believe that we'd actually plan to birth at home. A good chunk just want to argue, or call us stupid without actually calling us stupid. </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-50251565731340918102013-03-23T10:44:00.002-07:002013-03-23T10:45:30.793-07:00ACOG Smartens Up While DONA Throws Baby Boys To The Wolves...I know. Has the world gone mad?! You read the post title right. I woke up this morning to find a published position from ACOG that <b style="font-style: italic;">discourages </b>elective inductions and cesareans overall, and especially discourages either for macrosomia (big baby). Whaa??<br />
<br />
Here are a few highlighted quotes from ACOG's <a href="http://acogpresident.org/2013/03/22/with-delivery-times-defer-to-mother-nature/">statement</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Let nature take its course.” Over the years, I’ve found this saying particularly applies to the process of giving birth. My personal experience as an ob-gyn and reams of scientific research demonstrate that Mother Nature knows best when a child is ready to be born." - James Breeden, President of ACOG</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
Wait. Did you read that too? He said to let nature take its course. Sadly, I fear that these words are going to fall on the deaf ears of women who will still believe, due to long-time conditioning by Obstetricians themselves, that as long as baby is "term" then baby is ready. The funny thing is, state medical boards are ALL OVER regulating Midwives, citing the safety of women and babies as the reason. Where has the regulation been with Obstetricians who are happy to perform elective inductions and cesareans, which put baby's life at higher risk than home birth does? Where is the outcry for public safety?<br />
<br />
Okay, okay...I give ACOG serious credit for taking a stance on this again. Yep, ACOG has long since discouraged elective anything, in favor of labor starting naturally. But, it seems that Obstetricians have not been held responsible when they do otherwise. Here's another quote from an <a href="http://www.improvingbirth.org/2013/03/march-20-2013-news-from-acog-re-elective-procedures/">article on Improving Birth</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444;">"For one, induction or surgery for
“suspected big baby” (macrosomia) is not medically indicated.
This is one myth we hear about all the time, even though ACOG has
been talking about the “imprecise” nature of diagnosing
macrosomia for at least ten years. Bottom line: induction for big
babies is NOT medically indicated.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444;">Elective inductions prior to 39 weeks
gestation is, again, not recommended. Studies have shown that babies
do better when they are able to remain in utero until 39 weeks. In
the article above, ACOG sais, “Early-term infants have higher rates
of respiratory distress, respiratory failure, pneumonia, and
admission to neonatal intensive care units compared with infants born
at 39 to 40 weeks gestation. Infants born at 37 to 38 weeks also have
a higher mortality rate than those born later." - Dr. Capetenakis, OBGYN in Encinitas, CA</span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
So again, I have to ask where the accountability is? I am very excited that ACOG has published this. However, I am skeptical that all of a sudden Obstetricians will start practicing evidence-based medicine when it is more profitable for them and the hospital in which they have privileges to keep doing what they've been doing. And going back to the factor of women in all of this - it's going to take a LOT of effort if there is ever going to be a hope of women waking up and realizing that being uncomfortable is better than putting their baby at risk.<br />
<br />
I was recently told a story. A friend of a friend is a L&D nurse. She kept saying that she was not going to term. She got a stomach bug at 36 weeks, contracted from the vomiting, and went in to L&D. Even though it was not causing any cervical change, she decided it was just time to get baby out. Because she was 36.6 though, they waited until just before midnight to induce, because otherwise it was against hospital policy. But she went ahead with it, with an epidural in place before the induction was started. Kept saying that she KNEW she wasn't going to term. After the delivery, she told everyone about what a blessing it was that she was in the hospital (and not at home, like my crazy friend) because baby ended up having complications.<br />
<br />
I will keep my comments to myself here, because they aren't nice. They even include much foul language. But THIS - THIS is the type of system that women are in. The one where it's perfectly acceptable to choose to rip your baby out of the womb, just because you don't feel like being pregnant anymore. The one where it's perfectly acceptable for Obstetricians to manipulate, coerce, and even FORCE women into intervention, procedures, and consent when they had previously denied consent. My heart is heavy in knowing that we have a loooong way to go.<br />
<br />
I also woke up this morning to a find that DONA (Doula certification organization) has published an article in their magazine that is in favor of routine infant circumcision.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #444444;">"A family's decision about circumcision should come from personal values. Religious and cultural reasons usually win out over all other arguments. Otherwise, you can make the case that circumcision is mainly a cosmetic procedure, with some potential medical benefits. It typically takes less than five minutes, and complications are very rare."</span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Nm-w9b9C0FSy73YISrGwA0dKpE0GMiwI3ayFSyUE5nTUa5YXE_LnQM6VrkA0y3j-mns7qzinGdJG581e3NoXmwEdOdqrJc4Qnn2JgGPYlkTxGocVKPbVWDEMzxR9WscehT4tDs9iIoE/s1600/circ.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Nm-w9b9C0FSy73YISrGwA0dKpE0GMiwI3ayFSyUE5nTUa5YXE_LnQM6VrkA0y3j-mns7qzinGdJG581e3NoXmwEdOdqrJc4Qnn2JgGPYlkTxGocVKPbVWDEMzxR9WscehT4tDs9iIoE/s320/circ.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
:scream: Actually, the medical need for a circumcision later in life is less than the risk of DEATH from routine circumcision. Complications are not, "very rare". From <a href="http://www.drmomma.org/2010/01/cut-vs-intact-outcome-statistics.html">Dr.Momma.org</a>:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #f6e7bc; color: #502d08; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000; font-weight: bold;">Out of 100 Circumcised boys:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f6e7bc; color: #502d08; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
<br />
75 will not readily breastfeed post-op<br />
<br />
55 will have adverse reactions from the surgery<br />
<br />
35 will have post-op <a href="http://www.drmomma.org/2010/05/death-from-circumcision.html" style="color: #a7641a; text-decoration: none;">hemorrhaging</a> to one degree or another<br />
<br />
31 will develop meatal ulcers<br />
<br />
10 will need to have the circumcision surgery repeated to fix prior surgical problems/error<br />
8 will suffer infection at the surgical site<br />
<br />
3 will develop post-operative phimosis<br />
<br />
2 will have a more serious complication (seizure, heart attack, stroke, loss of penis, <a href="http://www.drmomma.org/2010/05/death-from-circumcision.html" style="color: #a7641a; text-decoration: none;">death</a>)<br />
<br />
1 will require additional immediate surgery and sutures to stop hemorrhage<br />
<br />
1 will develop fibrosis<br />
<br />
1 will develop phimosis<br />
<br />
1 will be treated with antibiotics for a UTI (urinary tract infection)<br />
<br />
1 will be treated with antibiotics for surgical site infection<br />
<br />
Of those who do receive pain medication for the surgery (about 4% of those boys undergoing circumcision in the U.S.) some will have adverse reactions to the pain medication injected</div>
<div style="background-color: #f6e7bc; color: #502d08; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #f6e7bc; color: #502d08; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
<div>
<span style="color: #000099; font-weight: bold;">Out of 100 Intact boys: </span><br />
<br />
2 will be treated with antibiotics for a UTI (<span style="font-style: italic;">fewer</span> if the foreskin is never <a href="http://www.drmomma.org/2009/09/only-clean-what-is-seen-reversing.html" style="color: #a7641a; text-decoration: none;">forcibly retracted</a>)<br />
<br />
1 will be told to get cut later in life for one reason or another (<span style="font-style: italic;">fewer</span> if the foreskin is never forcibly retracted)<br />
<br /></div>
<br style="text-align: start;" />
<span style="text-align: start;">Note: One reader of these statistics (a man cut against his will at birth with 4 intact sons today) critiqued (quite accurately) that it is actually 100 of 100 circumcised boys who experience negative consequences as a result of circumcision. Each and every one has lost an organ responsible for a great deal of his life-long normal </span><a href="http://www.drmomma.org/2009/09/functions-of-foreskin-purposes-of.html" style="color: #a7641a; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;">health and functioning</a><span style="text-align: start;">.</span></div>
<br />
DONA is taking a defensive stance, saying that the article does not reflect the organization's belief as a whole. If that's the case, I wonder if they would allow a guest post about elective inductions and cesareans being a perfectly acceptable choice? Or, as Gloria Lemay put it to them, what about an article endorsing the cutting of females? They have now pissed off a whole lot of people. Personally, I'm not a fan of DONA. Or of any organization, really, that capitalizes on making labor-support a certified position. I've always found that to be completely and utterly ridiculous, especially when said organizations are clear in restricting many Doulas from attending women who choose to birth unassisted, and who have made it a thing of status and income in disproportionate ways. And, as I have heard Nancy Wainer speak about the atrocities that occur in hospitals every day, and the doulas who stand by and are essentially part of the rape and injuries that happen, by holding the woman's hand and telling her that "it's okay".<br />
<br />
But this is really a low point for DONA. Another quote from the doctor who wrote the article:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #444444;">"Often dads have strong feelings about circumcision, so fathers should definitely be included in the decision-making. If the parents care about their son looking different from other boys in the neighborhood, they may research the rate of circumcision in the area." </span></blockquote>
<br />
Right. Forgot about teaching our children that they need to look like everyone else. Except for the fact that intact is, right now, the majority. Does this apply to girls in the neighborhood who have smaller or larger breasts than average? Should we encourage breast enhancements or reductions in order for our daughters to not be made fun of? Should we start young children on contact lenses so that they will not be made fun of for wearing glasses? What about those who need to wear braces? What about children with Autism and Downs Syndrome? Should they be hidden from the general public so that they never face teasing?<br />
<br />
This is a really shitty reason to permanently alter an infant's body without his consent. Period.<br />
<br />
Another gem:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #444444;">"But once they decide, they should be encouraged not to drive themselves crazy with second guesses - in the long run, it will probably be fine either way." - Marjorie Greenfield, MD. </span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
Yes. We wouldn't want parents to consider the gut feeling that they may be doing the wrong thing. After all, that's lost money! Err, I mean a child who might be ridiculed by his peers! I'm sorry, am I the only one seeing dollar signs here?!? Am I the only one seeing, "Doulas, keep your mouths shut. Do not encourage in-depth research into circumcision."? <br />
<br />
Shame on you, DONA. Shame on you for allowing an article of this type in your print. Shame on you for essentially agreeing with the idea that Doulas should NOT be encouraging parents to keep their sons whole. I'm not sure it's possible, but I'm less of a supporter now, than I was before. You just made a joke of your entire organization. <br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-15460850005440125862013-01-03T11:20:00.002-08:002013-01-03T11:23:27.434-08:00Midwifery Under Attack in CaliforniaAfter serving not just women, but women who need Midwifery care the most for 22 years, Brenda Capps was arrested in California for "Practicing Medicine Without a License". However, she did no such thing. She didn't break any laws. She never perpetrated herself as anything but what she is - a Traditional, Christian Domiciliary Midwife. She had every single one of the families under her care sign a religious exemption that outlined the fact that she was NOT licensed by the state of California, and that she is practicing the ART of Midwifery, not medicine. Most families chose her <b><i>because</i></b> of her calling to not be licensed, not in spite of.<br />
<br />
The Licensed Midwifery Practice Act of 1993 states that it is a misdemeanor (not a felony, as she has been charged with) to perpetrate oneself as a Licensed Midwife when one is not. Brenda never did this. She was flagged and warned to stop practicing after she was named in another case against a Midwife a few years ago. She upheld her commitment to her families, and agreed to be the Midwife of a couple who was undercover, posing for the Medical Board. That's it. No one died. No one reported her. Brenda's record is IMPECCABLE!<br />
<br />
The medical board is saying that women are too stupid to choose a safe care provider. The irony here is that women in CA have had far more injury, permanent consequences after births with fully licensed Obstetricians than ever with Brenda in 22 years. She has a safety record to rival MOST Obstetricians, when comparing her clients to an OB's low-risk patients.<br />
<br />
If this pisses you off, and it should, please sign this petition. The hope is to reach at least 2,000 signatures (we're almost there!) and take it to the Governor's office. We want to show them that WOMEN should have the right to choose their care provider. As of right now, the Medical Board is shuffling their feet. They know they don't have a case. Court dates have been cancelled because of this, and Brenda hasn't even been formally charged yet! This is nothing more than a circus.<br />
<br />
Please sign it. Please share it. Pass it on!<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/california-medical-board-drop-the-case-against-brenda-capps-a-traditional-midwife-4?fb_action_ids=3873216799827&fb_action_types=change-org%3Arecruit&fb_ref=__SFzurwTWlY&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B%223873216799827%22%3A343102889122225%7D&action_type_map=%7B%223873216799827%22%3A%22change-org%3Arecruit%22%7D&action_ref_map=%7B%223873216799827%22%3A%22__SFzurwTWlY%22%7D">Petition to the Medical Board of California - Brenda Capps </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-89538801648680513762012-08-24T15:30:00.001-07:002012-08-24T15:32:19.771-07:00St. George Home Birth Article and My Response<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This article came out online yesterday. I take issue with much of what is said in it, and even the picture of the Midwife holding baby while mom is nothing but a blur in the background. One thing that I have learned is that I have to fight to be seen as credible. I do this by knowing what the research says. Writers and Obstetricians need to be held to the same accountability. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.5px;"><a href="http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2012/08/23/mothers-midwives-physicians-reckon-with-home-birth-options/">Mothers, midwives, physicians reckon with home birth options</a></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
</div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My Response: </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dear Alexa Morgan,</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I recently read your article about home birth in Southern Utah, and find myself asking where the research is. I am a Home Birth Midwife here in St. George – one with a zero transfer rate in labor – and a birth advocate. I see that you mentioned a study that was released, highlighting why some women might choose to birth at home, but then you erroneously stated:</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<em>A myriad of studies have been conducted on the risks of home birth versus hospital birth with no conclusive results, due mainly to the low percentage of babies born at home.</em>”</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, many studies <em>have</em> been done comparing home birth to hospital birth among low risk women since the 1970s. In fact, there have been 17 studies in the last 15 years alone. Even more when you include the number of studies done outside of the U.S. which shows better outcomes over all, outside of the hospital. But they all have one thing in common: They all show, very conclusively, that not only is home birth just as safe as hospital birth but that there is a much lower incidence of maternal morbidity when birthing at home. Fewer unnecessary interventions such as induction/augmentation of labor, artificially rupturing the amniotic sac, delivering in the lithotomy position, episiotomy, and instrumental deliveries lead to much better outcomes on the level of injury to mom and/or baby. </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While I have had nothing but an amazing professional relationship with several Obstetricians in town, and while I thoroughly respect Dr. Fagnant for the positive changes that he has made within the labor and delivery department of DRMC, I disagree with a few of his statements. </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is no research to back up his blanket statement of which conditions preclude birthing at home. While there are most definitely situations and circumstances that may preclude a woman from birthing at home with a Midwife, it is not evidence-based to simply state: </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Any woman who has an illness, has had uterus surgery, is before or after their (due date), (is carrying) multiple babies, a large baby or (breech) baby should not deliver at home,”</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It entirely depends upon which illness he speaks of. One cannot simply state that any women with an illness should not birth at home. While there are certainly illnesses that would necessitate a hospital birth, some chronic illnesses may not require it. Some conditions that might require hospital birth would be uncontrolled, insuline dependent diabetes; illness with medications that caused abnormalities in the fetus; certain heart conditions, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As a mother who has had a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) at home, as a woman who has been researching VBAC for the past seven years, and as a Midwife who fully supports women who have had prior cesarean surgery, I also disagree that this precludes women from birthing at home. The research shows us that the main risk associated with VBAC is uterine rupture, and this occurs in 0.3-07% of VBACs. Less than other emergencies, such as cord prolapse, that would necessitate immediate hospital transfer. With a care provider who knows the research, who is experienced with VBAC, and who isn't afraid to transfer if anything seems to be off, VBAC at home can be very safe and continues to be a reasonable choice. For many women, it is the hospital or physician protocol which puts them in the position of choosing to birth at home after a prior cesarean. Some hospitals have banned VBAC altogether. Most have certain criteria for VBAC labors that must be closely followed. Sadly, many VBAC hopefuls find themselves in the operating room again, and know it was avoidable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As to his statement about not birthing at home if you are before or after your due date, again I ask where the research is. Any skilled Midwife that I know would not attend a woman at home who is less than 36/37 weeks gestation. However, 37 weeks is full term and is normal for some women. For others, it can be completely normal and a part of their maternal history to gestate until 42/43 weeks. With proper monitoring, research shows us that expectant management is completely acceptable in terms of risk/benefit. Many women do not understand that normal gestation length is 38-42 weeks. Most believe that they are "overdue" and at risk beyond 40 weeks. This is simply not true. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Twins and breech babies can also be birthed at home without complication, with a skilled care provider. A Midwife who is experienced with multiples and breech knows what to look for in risk assessment, and knows which women should be in the hospital and which are safe to deliver at home. In the hospital, moms of multiples or of breech babies are often limited to cesarean surgery. Or may be allowed to birth twins vaginally, but in the operating room. Understandably, some women don't want to spend this most incredible and life-changing event in a cold, bright operating room with the thought of surgery being so close. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As a mom of ten pound babies, I am concerned with the blanket statement that women carrying a large baby should not birth at home. Weight is not nearly as relevant as head circumference. So much is misunderstood about the ability to birth babies of all sizes, particularly when there are no abnormalities causing the size of baby. There are things that make a dramatic difference in the ease of birthing a large baby. Mobility, ability to get into different positions that open the pelvis more than the semi-sitting or lithotomy position, and patience. Most often, these things are not available in the hospital. While there are wonderful Obstetricians who are thoroughly researched and are willing to offer these things to women, it is more the exception than the norm. One also takes into consideration that it is the structural size of the baby that matters, not how many pounds the baby weighs at birth. I have often heard of care providers stressing induction of labor at 40 or 41 weeks because, "The baby looks to be getting quite large.". However, the baby's structural size does not change between 40-42 weeks. For example, my 10lb 10oz VBAC baby, who was born onto my bed at home, had the same exact head, shoulder, and chest size as my friend's 8lb baby. It is simply not evidence-based to say that all women with a large baby should not birth at home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can completely understand Dr. Fagnant's concern with the transfers that he sees each month. I am concerned with particular things as well, regarding the health and safety of moms and babies at home. There are certain practices and beliefs in our community which have caused incredibly concerning transfers. I know that sometimes all care providers are lumped together, and I find this particularly true of the reputation of Midwives as a whole. But it is damaging for Dr. Fagnant to mention transfers, and then mention the deaths that he has seen in his time as an Obstetrician. An Obstetrician is simply going to see more death than a home care provider, because Obstetricians deal with not only higher risk pregnancies, but also have much higher rates of intervention in labor. Obstetricians deal with things like labor-inducing drugs which have side effects - including death - to go with them. They deal with emergencies that are more prevalent with intervention, such as cord prolapse, hemorrhage, and embolism. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So many aspects of pregnancy, labor, and birth are misrepresented and risks are inflated. Unfortunately, most people are less likely to do research than they are to take an authority figure's word as gospel. The concrete research is there. It is vitally important for families to thoroughly research their options in childbirth, and their potential care provider. But there has to be balanced information based on empirical research. </span></div>
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http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/myth-safer-hospital-birth-low-risk-pregnancies</div>
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http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/myth-safer-hospital-birth-low-risk-pregnancies http://www.cmaj.ca/content/181/6-7/377.abstract</div>
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http://www.bmj.com/content/330/7505/1416.abstract</div>
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9271961?dopt=AbstractPlus</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-45625999095208356362012-06-17T20:24:00.000-07:002012-06-17T20:24:39.158-07:00Honesty and EthicsOne thing that I value probably far above most other things in my relationships (spouse, family, friends) is honesty. Due to some emotional events when I was a teenager, I developed the inability to put up with bullshit. And yes, I cursed. I won't apologize for the word used, because it fits this all too well. One thing that I cannot tolerate is dishonesty, manipulation, or flat out underhandedness.<br />
<br />
If you're an adult - for crying out loud, act like one. If you don't want to get caught in bad behavior, in a lie, in treating a friend in a really crappy way, or lying about your "competition"...it's simple. Don't. Do. It. Don't lie to avoid having to take responsibility for your words or behavior. If you're going to say or do something, make sure it's something that you can stand by.<br /><br />I fully admit that sometimes I speak badly about people. Sometimes I'm not so nice when I see someone else treating people badly, or I see stupidity spill out into one's behavior. However, I only say things about people that I would say directly <i>to</i> them. And no, that's not a justification for speaking badly of someone or gossiping. But I'm human. And I make sure that I can take responsibility for my words and behavior if/when I get called out on it.<br />
<br />
This is called being a big girl.<br />
<br />
I also have the inability to pretend that everything is okay when it's not. I have seen memes on the internet which say that it is the adult thing to do (and it not being fake), but while I can be civil and professional, I cannot pretend like things are honky dory if you've treated me like crap. And especially lately with my experience of calling people out on behavior towards me, and flat out being lied to. <b>I know the truth. You know the truth. You know I know the truth. And yet, you still lie to me.</b> All to avoid further confrontation and acceptance of responsibility for really crappy behavior. Really?!<br />
<br />
I recently found out that a Midwife in town - Elizabeth Camp Smith - has been telling women that I am <b>UNTRAINED, DANGEROUS</b>, and <b>INEXPERIENCED</b> with VBAC. This is 100% untrue. I have the proof to back up the fact that I am trained (and trained by the best!) in a wide variety of birth possibilities - like VBAC, twins, breech babies, hemorrhages, shoulder dystocias, etc - and I have the references of former clients, both VBAC and non alike, to back up my experience. I have b een living and breathing VBAC research for the past 7 years. In fact, I actually discussed VBAC research with this particular Midwife on a midwifery list, and she flat out admitted that she doesn't think following medical research is relevant to her. Hmm. Interesting.<br /><br />I am not lying down and giving up yet. This Midwife was notified that if she continued to slander my name, she would hear from my attorney. And really? I hate attorney involvement. I think it's ridiculous to have to "tattle" in an adult way. But what else can be done when the other party is underhanded, lies, manipulates, and is threatening your "business"?<br />
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The people-pleaser in me wants to apologize for the angry post. But I can't apologize for feeling the way that I do. Being screwed over (and I watched my language there!) sucks. Especially when it's by friends, or it has to do with your calling/profession/business.<br /><br />I am trying to move on, and clear any toxic people from my life. I don't need, nor do I want, drama of any kind unless it's in my favorite television shows. ;) I am tired of letting it affect me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-6175563931813279922012-02-17T10:24:00.000-08:002012-02-17T10:43:51.316-08:00More Business of Being Born VBAC SegmentI was so excited to watch this. I thought that I would enjoy lending it to clients of mine, and had even prematurely asked if my Professor friend over at the college would help me set up another campus screening with a followup Q&A about VBAC.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtELFbNAqnrK6Yfwz-2CufMxieYKtJ6e_7Zdl_-proIZPPjRapJLmq6ocHHslfM93P1Yb-DeTIrnyLb4TxqIepdQE38dphSKcKjpe7EPpQlOTNwitvtdDomFqu6vuqdEV7xs3bL_CiNA/s1600/DVD4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtELFbNAqnrK6Yfwz-2CufMxieYKtJ6e_7Zdl_-proIZPPjRapJLmq6ocHHslfM93P1Yb-DeTIrnyLb4TxqIepdQE38dphSKcKjpe7EPpQlOTNwitvtdDomFqu6vuqdEV7xs3bL_CiNA/s320/DVD4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Boy was I wrong. So, so wrong.<br />
<br />
The VBAC segment was not only mostly one-sided, the risks were over inflated and misrepresented. The title of the segment is a load of crap, because it really DOESN'T talk much about what a woman's options are. It shows the incredible amount of unbalanced information that is out there, especially from OBs. A sound resembling a dying cat escaped my throat every time I heard the words, "attempt a VBAC", "try to have a VBAC", and "trial of labor". Yes, this is OB lingo. And while I will agree that in the hospital it really IS "attempting" a VBAC, because hospital VBAC "attempts" are rarely successful...and even less so if we look at the big picture and include women that start out interested in having a VBAC, and then are dissuaded by the OB...it is hurtful language. I believe in the power of words. What if we told each mom who wanted a natural birth that she was, "attempting a natural birth", or that she could, "try for a natural birth"? What does this imply? This, to me (and many other women) implies great room for FAILURE. Never mind that most natural birth "attempts" are hindered by the hospital staff, or by lack of support, or by lack of knowledge.<br />
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What if I told my clients that I would be happy to help them "attempt" a home birth? Holy cow, that would be scary! That would leave their minds open to the idea that they are likely to end up in the hospital, and not with the home birth that they planned for.<br />
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One thing that they did portray accurately - though I'm sure wasn't the intention - is the fact that the Obstetric system is NOT set up to support VBACs. The doctors interviewed spoke openly about issues with hospital protocol, and mainly, liability insurance. And that's what it comes down to. Not risk. Not a woman's ability to have a VBAC. Politics.<br />
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One of the most common things I have heard from women and OBs is that a VBAC isn't allowed at a certain hospital because they are not equipped to handle emergency surgery. Let's think about this for a moment. A uterine rupture is HARDLY the only emergency that can come up during childbirth, necessitating immediate surgical delivery. Cord prolapse, placental abruption (both of which occur more often with intervention, for the record) both would fall in this category. If a hospital isn't equipped to handle a VBAC, it isn't equipped to handle ANY birth. Period.<br />
<br />
I screamed outright at the screen when a woman was interviewed who had found a supportive OB, and planned for a VBAC. She labored at home before going in. Once in the hospital, her OB discussed the need for her to progress consistently and timely (?!?!?!?!) in order for her to have her VBAC. He discussed breaking her water to speed things up if need be. (!?!?!?!?!?!?!) She was a good girl and progressed from 7cm to 8cm in an hour. Then an on-call OB came in 2 hours later and checked her AGAIN, and found her to "still" be at 8cm. Started talking cesarean immediately. She mentioned breaking her water (!!!!!!) and asking for her OB to be called in. The doctor was upset that she was refusing medical advice. Her baby was fine. She was fine. But she had not progressed in 2 hours - or so the new OB said. Her OB was called back in, and in this Mama's words was, "So gracious to allow me more time". OMG! So gracious to ALLOW you and your perfectly healthy baby more time in labor?!?! Let's give her OB of the year award, shall we? The OB said she MUST progress to 10cm quickly, and baby must be descending.<br />
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She got to 10cm. But baby was not descending. What did she do?<br />
<br />
She said that she had already put her OB in a difficult situation, and she knew it wouldn't BE FAIR to her OB to expect more. She agreed to a cesarean.<br />
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SHE AGREED TO A CESAREAN AT 10CM, BOTH HER AND BABY WERE FINE. ALL SO THAT HER OB WASN'T MADE TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?<br />
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This is what happens to a HUGE chunk of women who think they are going to have a hospital VBAC. They get HUGELY manipulated into thinking that they should be FAIR to the person they *hired*. At the expense of their body, and their baby. They agree to surgery that is NOT medically warranted...because they love their doctor.<br />
<br />
One OB who was interviewed said that the risks of VBAC may *seem* low, but that those low risks can come with catastrophic results. Hmmm...so can induction of labor. How many women has he ordered induction for, in his years as a doctor? How many amniocentesis has he performed? An amnio comes with a higher risk of death to the baby than a VBAC does. (1 in 200-400 vs 1 in 2000)Yet, many women wouldn't blink an eye at having an amnio done if their doctor said it was best.<br />
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I recently read a study that said that women are more likely to go along with whatever their doctor says is the right course of action, regarding a VBAC or a ERCS. Regardless of empirical research that shows that a cesarean comes with a 2-4x greater risk of death for both mom and baby, if a doctor says it's best to do - most moms will go with it.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">The study was a survey provided to women upon admission for their elective repeat cesarean section (ERCS) or trial of labor after cesarean section (TOLAC). I am really shocked at the level of knowledge most of the women had. 73% of the women admitted for a ERCS did not know the chances of a successful VBAC and 64% did not know the risk of uterine rupture. 54% of women choosing a TOLAC did not know the chances of a successful VBAC and 45% did not know the risk of rupture.</span></blockquote><br />
So then I question - are WOMEN really making the choice if they are presented with inaccurate information? If they are willing to agree to major abdominal surgery on the suggestion of their OB? This is NOT informed consent. This is manipulation in the most base of forms. Women need to do their research. I've said it before - women research the type of car seat to buy, crib, diaper bag, more than they research their options in birth and weigh the risks/benefits of each. In our culture, however, we are pretty much brainwashed to view our doctor as our authority figure and not question. I have seen this with friends. Their OB lied to them or misrepresented risk, and they ended up with a cesarean. They go BACK to the same OB and talk to him/her about a VBAC. One of two things occurs most often:<br />
<br />
1) OB says, "Well, you could TRY, but with your history of __________, the chance of needing an emergency cesarean - which is more dangerous for baby - is high. It's up to you though." (yeah RIGHT)<br />
<br />
2) OB says, "Sure, you can TRY for a VBAC. It doesn't LOOK like your issue should repeat." and then finds a reason at the end of pregnancy as to why a VBAC isn't going to happen. OB seems supportive, and then lovingly (HA!) finds a gentle way of telling mom that it doesn't look like a good idea after all.<br />
<br />
Do you think she's going to switch care providers? For most women, no. It's this sick dependency thing we have going on, along with a very twisted romancing of complications and emergencies in birth and "needing" to be saved. Apparently this ranks higher than empowerment and an innate knowing that we are MADE to birth.<br />
<br />
Anyway, back to the film. A doctor who was interviewed was asked to touch on the subject of HBAC - Home Birth After Cesarean. He inflated the risks. He talked about needing an OR available immediately - which is NOT GUARANTEED in the hospital!!! Nor is it evidence based. Studies show that you have 20-30 minutes to get to baby after a uterine rupture is suspected. Guess what? They can't have the OR prepped and ready in less than that in the hospital. But then he followed with, "Of course, a woman has to make this decision for herself." HA! How many women do you think would choose this, or even do her own research if she was told that her baby is likely to die if she ruptures at home? (Let's go back to the fact that uterine rupture occurs in only 0.3-0.7% of VBACs, and those include the most common, asymptomatic uterine dehisciences, and that the risk of catastrophic rupture is a fraction of the 0.3-0.7%!)<br />
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Even Dr. Moritz admitted that in the hospital a VBAC has to go PERFECTLY. He called it a "Cinderella Birth." Which is realistic, how?? He also admitted that if there are ANY fluctuations in baby's heartrate, that it would be an immediate cesarean, without waiting any time at all to see if things were fine. Never mind that external consistent monitoring is highly inaccurate.<br />
<br />
If I had been a mom watching the film for information on VBAC, I wouldn't be compelled to do my own research. I would walk away from the film with the idea that I should talk to my OB, and should act on his/her recommendation. I wouldn't look into my options, I would acquiesce to my doctor's advice and not think twice about it.<br />
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Ricky Lake and Abby Epstein had the opportunity to REALLY explore the problem with our current cesarean rates, and the extremely low rate of VBAC in our country - and they failed miserably. The only SLIGHTLY redeeming factor of this film is the birth story at the very end. Mom refused to bow to scare-based protocols of her local hospital, and planned a HBAC instead. Even in the face of the OB who refused her a "TOL" (trial of labor) calling her at 34 weeks to say that he would ALLOW her to TRY after all, she continued with her plan. It showed the very emotionally damaging effect that cervical exams can have, especially in a VBAC, when she was checked to be "only" 1cm, and wanted to give up and go in for a cesarean. Instead, her husband rallied by her side and helped her pick back up her resolve. She had a beautiful HBAC in the water - where she caught her baby herself.<br />
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But really, More Business of Being Born?? ONE positive, empowering story in all of an hour?? ONE? And the ONE woman you had talking about the risks of repeat cesareans - which are MANY - was not a "professional", but a mom. How does that look to people? The "professionals" are reiterating the risks and limitations of hospital VBAC, and a non-formally educated woman is citing the risks of surgery. Totally biased in presentation of risk/benefit. The risks of repeat cesareans were skimmed over, and the HUGE problem of care provider manipulation, hospital protocol, and misrepresentation of VBAC risks were barely touched on in the right way.<br />
<br />
A study done on the morbidity rates of repeat cesareans:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">METHODS:<br />
Prospective observational cohort of 30,132 women who had cesarean delivery without labor in 19 academic centers over 4 years (1999-2002).<br />
RESULTS:<br />
There were 6,201 first (primary), 15,808 second, 6,324 third, 1,452 fourth, 258 fifth, and 89 sixth or more cesarean deliveries. The risks of placenta accreta, cystotomy, bowel injury, ureteral injury, and ileus, the need for postoperative ventilation, intensive care unit admission, hysterectomy, and blood transfusion requiring 4 or more units, and the duration of operative time and hospital stay significantly increased with increasing number of cesarean deliveries. Placenta accreta was present in 15 (0.24%), 49 (0.31%), 36 (0.57%), 31 (2.13%), 6 (2.33%), and 6 (6.74%) women undergoing their first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth or more cesarean deliveries, respectively. Hysterectomy was required in 40 (0.65%) first, 67 (0.42%) second, 57 (0.90%) third, 35 (2.41%) fourth, 9 (3.49%) fifth, and 8 (8.99%) sixth or more cesarean deliveries. In the 723 women with previa, the risk for placenta accreta was 3%, 11%, 40%, 61%, and 67% for first, second, third, fourth, and fifth or more repeat cesarean deliveries, respectively.<br />
CONCLUSION:<br />
Because serious maternal morbidity increases progressively with increasing number of cesarean deliveries, the number of intended pregnancies should be considered during counseling regarding elective repeat cesarean operation versus a trial of labor and when debating the merits of elective primary cesarean delivery.</blockquote><br />
And these are JUST the risks associated with repeat cesarean for MOM. This also doesn't take into account the rates of infection, the increased risk of DEATH, nor does it take into account the difficulty of healing from major abdominal surgery while having multiple children (and a newborn) to care for.<br />
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Once a woman has had a successful VBAC, her risks actually DECREASE for future pregnancies.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">RESULTS:<br />
Among 13,532 women meeting eligibility criteria, VBAC success increased with increasing number of prior VBACs: 63.3%, 87.6%, 90.9%, 90.6%, and 91.6% for those with 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 or more prior VBACs, respectively (P<.001). The rate of uterine rupture decreased after the first successful VBAC and did not increase thereafter: 0.87%, 0.45%, 0.38%, 0.54%, 0.52% (P=.03). The risk of uterine dehiscence and other peripartum complications also declined statistically after the first successful VBAC. No increase in neonatal morbidities was seen with increasing VBAC number thereafter.<br />
CONCLUSION:<br />
Women with prior successful VBAC attempts are at low risk for maternal and neonatal complications during subsequent VBAC attempts. An increasing number of prior VBACs is associated with a greater probability of VBAC success, as well as a lower risk of uterine rupture and perinatal complications in the current pregnancy.</blockquote>The problem is that when women are given the MISREPRESENTED information about VBAC, very few who are initially interested end up having one. So they end up in the category above - at higher risk for serious complications with each subsequent pregnancy. We have a HUGE issue on our hands here, and most days I feel hopeless for change. With women refusing to do research on their own, because it might mean choosing a different OB (or - :gasp: - a Midwife, increasing her chance of a successful VBAC!), or standing firm and choosing a VBAC against the advice of her care provider....we are going to continue to see a very high rate of uninformed women choosing repeat cesarean. We will also see higher rates of complications in pregnancy, and eventually, higher infant mortality.<br />
<br />
And the root of the problem lies in the lack of ethics and evidence based protocols in Obstetrics, where it is commonplace to manipulate, scare, and even bully a woman into intervention that increases her risk of that primary cesarean. Women NEED to become better informed of what empirical evidence says about the common issues that arise in pregnancy, labor, and birth. Until women make a stand and demand better care, these risks will only continue to increase.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-83911333617516146822012-02-14T09:49:00.000-08:002012-02-14T09:49:06.245-08:00Free Waterbirth Information Night - Cedar City<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;">FREE Waterbirth Information Night! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;">Saturday, February 25th at 6:00pm</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/braunbooks">Braun Books</a> - 25 N. Main St. Cedar City, Utah </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwZeCLvifhOXKHPbyzLOsAdbPEZdDt5apuKHaT9PMvjDaqLYTqHlIdHThzaC5M0fh335AErj0rR0fe9p2TGqTsIvsLgwb5vZixyQdiirUp1N9PzDIm1l6dEukIsB0_6CNGj2vruZjp5c/s1600/253561_2116545551583_1184054780_2539773_920016_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwZeCLvifhOXKHPbyzLOsAdbPEZdDt5apuKHaT9PMvjDaqLYTqHlIdHThzaC5M0fh335AErj0rR0fe9p2TGqTsIvsLgwb5vZixyQdiirUp1N9PzDIm1l6dEukIsB0_6CNGj2vruZjp5c/s1600/253561_2116545551583_1184054780_2539773_920016_n.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">Free information packets, Free Food, and Free Giveaways!<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">I am also doing a free raffle for $250 off of my birth fee.</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">For more information please email: BirthkeeperMidwifery@gmail.com </div><div style="text-align: center;">or visit the Facebook Event page at: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/271303672934465/">Waterbirth Info Cedar</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-21726480222559113272011-11-14T10:05:00.000-08:002011-11-14T10:39:18.883-08:00Strength Has Different FacesThroughout the years I have been "given" (thrown into?) opportunities to show me that I am stronger than I ever thought I could be. Cutting through all of the lies after my very unnecessary and damaging cesarean in 2004, to have a triumphant and empowering home VBAC in 2005. Going through that labor in 2005 after weeks of exhausting prodromal labor, only to end up with a stubbornly posterior baby whose gift to me was 100% back labor on my injured back. But, I did it. I gave birth to my 10lb 10oz, posterior baby girl only 19 months after I was told that I could not safely birth my 8lb 8oz son safely because of his size. Oh, I wanted to give up. Several times. But due to the support of my husband (which was a surprise, because he had been VERY against the home birth), and my amazing Midwife - I did it. It was an amazing feeling. <br />
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I didn't think that I would go through anything as physically challenging as that labor and birth. Boy was I wrong. <br />
<br />
One year ago, three days after my due date with baby #4, I was in early labor. I knew he was breech. I knew he was larger. And I was struggling with knowing that he wasn't in a good position for breech. I am trained in breech deliveries. I have caught breech babies. And due to this, I knew the position that he was in wasn't favorable. Added to that - my intuition, my heart, my gut told me that things weren't going to go as planned. However, I wasn't willing to change my plan of me birthing with my husband. I had no idea that early labor would continue tomorrow, then heavy (and very hard) active labor would go on for a full 48 hours before I met my son. <br />
<br />
I actually began early labor on November 12, one day after my due date. It was definitely early labor, but it was spaced out enough so that I could get some rest and try to get things done. In the wee hours of November 15, labor developed into something harsh. Contractions were still decently spaced, but they were incredibly rough. I'd not experienced contractions like this until *much* further along in labor. The next day, November 16th, was my HBAC baby's 5th birthday. I tried as best I could to celebrate with her, in between contractions that were wreaking havoc on my body. Labor spaced out a little bit in timing, not intensity, in the middle of the day...but then came back with a vengeance that evening. Several times in the course of the week or so before meeting my son, I cried. And I sobbed. You see, in my heart I knew something was wrong and that I wouldn't meet him the way that I had planned. And this was nearly impossible for me to accept. In fact, I didn't accept it until after I decided to go into the hospital for a cesarean. <br />
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And yes - here's where the skepticism, the questioning, and the downright unbelief comes in. Women are told to trust their intuition in birth....except when it comes to accepting intervention. A home birth Midwife went into the hospital to ask for a cesarean. I've been told that things were said about me, everything from, "She went in and asked for a cesarean because she was scared of breech. She didn't labor or push as long as she said.", to, "Karma's a bitch." The latter is because of how outspoken I am about birth. I speak often about breech being a variation of normal, and long labors sometimes being necessary. I still stand by them. I have also, when asked, critiqued a birth story so that the mom can have a better understanding of what choices she can make differently in a future labor/birth, in order to have a better shot at a different outcome. There *were* times, I'm ashamed to admit, that I critiqued a birth without invitation, though not TO the mother, but with friends. Not that it justifies it, but these were almost always hospital birth stories where it came out that mom decided to allow intervention, or home birth stories that started with mom inducing "naturally" and allowing intervention. The only comfort that I have is that *I* know what I went through. *I* know that I did absolutely everything I could, and everything "right", and still ended up in the operating room. Also, I have the comfort of knowing that anyone who knows me well, knows at least that my story is <i>likely</i> true - though, I got questions from people who I thought knew me well enough to know that I would NEVER step foot in a hospital, never mind ask for a cesarean, if it weren't 100% necessary. :shrug: I'm not sure many people will ever understand the agony involved in this journey. The decision to go into the hospital was necessary, and I was actually at peace with it at THAT point. But the agony before that point is indescribable. And people have told me that I shouldn't care what people think, or want to believe, and I know I shouldn't. <br />
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Knowing that doesn't stop it from hurting. <br />
<br />
I have received incredible validation from Gail Tully, of Spinning Babies. I met her at the ICAN conference in April. She was doing a lunch session on breech births. She pulled out a sketch of the exact breech position that Caleb had been in and said, "I wasn't going to draw this one for this session. But last night as I crawled into bed after reviewing my notes, I had this tugging feeling that someone here needs to see this.", and she went on to explain how this particular position more often leads to bad outcomes. That the way he was sitting can cause major complications when the baby rotates. I sat there in disbelief, and began crying. Whether anyone believes this to be intuition or fear - it was there. I had an increasingly unnerving feeling about head entrapment as my labor went on with Caleb. And I've never seen one. The breech births that I have attended have all gone beautifully. But it's what kept grabbing me. Now, I will never know for sure if that's what would have happened had he been able to descend. Some have told me that him not being able to descend is probably what saved him. I don't want to be that dramatic, because I don't know. I never will. Maybe he would have been born just fine had he been able to descend. Maybe he wouldn't have been. I can't keep thinking of "maybes", because it'll drive me nuts. But this validation from her is invaluable to me. In the past week I found a comment from her on my birth story, from last January. Three months before I even met her. I didn't see the comment before last week. She reassured me that I did absolutely everything I could, and that sometimes these breech babies are just not able to descend, and a cesarean is necessary. I know that mine was, but having the validation from a woman who has seen breech more times than I probably ever will, and who very much believes that it can be normal and totally fine ... it was amazing. <br />
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On the night of the 16th, once the kids were in bed, labor picked back up to an excruciating pace. I texted back and forth with a friend. I told her that I didn't think I could emotionally survive another cesarean, yet I knew unless some miracle happened in the middle of the night, that it's what I would end up with. Things were wrong. I sobbed, and I raged, and I sobbed some more in between contractions. I cried to my husband, who tried to reassure me that everything would be okay. He didn't get what I was saying, he thought it was from exhaustion and the intensity of labor, and how long the intensity had been going on without progressing further. I tried to lay down to get some sleep, and labor picked up to another level I didn't think possible. The pain was unbearable. I had never felt pain like this, not even in my posterior labor. But I had made an agreement that if things didn't change by morning, that I would go in for a consult to see what was going on. I was determined to keep going, trying to hold on to some last hope that things would totally change and he would be born into my hands in the water as planned. <br />
<br />
At 3am my waters released. I was renewed with excitement, determination, and hope. Maybe that's all I needed. Maybe that's all HE needed, in order to come down. I woke Jeramy up and got in the water. My waterbirth tub was my comfort. I labored in there with candles lit and my playlist playing. <br />
<br />
When pushing sensations started to take over my body at about 8, I was once again renewed. He would finally come! I had no idea that six more hours of unstoppable, excruciating pushing would be my labor. <br />
<br />
48 hours of hard, active labor, and six hours of physiological (unstoppable) pushing later ... I saw that my son wasn't descending. He hadn't moved down even an inch. He was in the same exact spot, same exact height, as he had been in the last few weeks of pregnancy. His hard little head was still right underneath my left breast. Waters releasing, and pushing hadn't changed it. I knew this was the sign that it was time to ask for help. His heartrate was still strong, and I knew he was okay ... but I wasn't sure how much longer he and I could endure a labor like this. It took *forever* to get to the car, because contractions weren't only a mere 2 minutes apart, but they were well over a minute long, and double peaking. The car ride was excruciating. I've never felt so trapped, so immobile, and in so much pain. <br />
<br />
Caleb Eliuddin Fiscer was delivered via cesarean section at 2:39pm on November 17th, 2010.<br />
<br />
In the end, we were treated with respect. They honored our wishes. I was spoken to like a human being while on the operating table, which is a far cry from my first cesarean. I was awake. And I held and nursed my son - all 10lbs 6oz of him - within 20 minutes of his delivery. Caleb didn't have any drugs whatsoever - I refused any narcotics in my IV, much to the disagreement of the anesthesiologist who tried his best to convince me that I would be in horrible pain as soon as the spinal wore off. He didn't have any shots, vaccinations, eye drops. He was handed to daddy <b>in</b> the operating room. So very, very different than 2004.<br />
<br />
I still cry. I still hate how this birth went. I still mourn the loss of my home and water birth. I mourn the loss of a peaceful, safe, and easily healed vaginal birth. My body is wrecked from this labor, in ways I won't go into detail about here. <br />
<br />
But all in all, it showed me (much to my anger some days) that I am much stronger than I previously believed. I made it through the labor from hell, through 6 hours of incessant and excruciating pushing, and ultimately through surgery again. I didn't think I could make it through the latter. But I did. For a while I was angry because I didn't think I needed another birth "lesson", as to what can happen, and what we as women are capable of. I didn't think I needed to have another experience to be an example. All I wanted was a peaceful, beautiful birth. I didn't have a peaceful birth. To me, I didn't even have a beautiful birth. But it taught me some things that I will never forget. <br />
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I'm not sure how long it will take me to be able to think about this labor and delivery without crying, and mourning. Hopefully the sadness will continue to decrease in intensity. <br />
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Happy 6th Birthday to my HBAC Princess, who showed me just how amazing and empowering birth can be. And Happy First Birthday, my Caleb. My heart and joy, who showed me that I am capable of strength even in the face of heartbreakingly hard circumstances.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLUZlJwVFwYccHVUeM73mpsXV_gdXMbVyTMHiKmzj2YvBEXcP2Q4OZlPM3Z7ryD0JcWKWJJ3lrmKc8VeJRfg8KkAvMeNVzshjDtjxOpytMsZJ3OoPss8XHNNgmne4T_bFq09xBhh3xn0/s1600/179363_1817433193961_1184054780_2125975_7091267_n%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLUZlJwVFwYccHVUeM73mpsXV_gdXMbVyTMHiKmzj2YvBEXcP2Q4OZlPM3Z7ryD0JcWKWJJ3lrmKc8VeJRfg8KkAvMeNVzshjDtjxOpytMsZJ3OoPss8XHNNgmne4T_bFq09xBhh3xn0/s320/179363_1817433193961_1184054780_2125975_7091267_n%25281%2529.jpg" /></a></div><br />
"<b><i>You were not born in the way that I had intended.We did not meet in the way that I had hoped.You cried with confusion and hunger. I cried with confusion and pain.<br />
We returned to our cocoon together. When we emerged – transformed. Beautiful and with delight. For we had fallen in love in the way I had dreamed.</i></b>" - Karyn Peabody<br />
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</br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-62083051341595209842011-11-07T17:53:00.000-08:002011-11-08T11:16:24.316-08:00CircumcisionI tried to think of a witty blog title for this, and finally came to the conclusion that everyone just simply needs to become informed about routine infant circumcision. Simple. Nothing complex about it. I circumcised my 7 1/2 year old son. I did not circumcise my 1 year old son. "When you know better, you do better."<br />
<br />
Let's start with the basics: <br />
<br />
<b>Circumcision is an <i>elective</i> surgical procedure that removes healthy tissue from a healthy body. And, there's no solid medical basis behind non-medically indicated circumcision.</b><br />
<br />
<blockquote><i>At this time, there is insufficient data to recommend routine neonatal circumcision. Although there are potential benefits and risks, the procedure is usually <b>not essential to the child’s well being</i></b>.</blockquote>i<br />
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<b>Approximately 117 infant boys die each year of circumcision complications. These deaths were 100% avoidable. </b> <br />
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<blockquote><i>Baby boys can and do succumb as a result of having their foreskin removed. Circumcision-related mortality rates are not known with certainty; this study estimates the scale of this problem. This study finds that approximately 117 neonatal circumcision-related deaths (9.01/100,000) occur annually in the United States, about 1.3% of male neonatal deaths from all causes. <b>Because infant circumcision is elective, all of these deaths are avoidable.</b> This study also identifies reasons why accurate data on these deaths are not available, some of the obstacles to preventing these deaths, and some solutions to overcome them.</i></blockquote>ii<br />
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<blockquote><i>The prepuce is highly vascularized, so it is likely to hemorrhage when cut, and severing the frenular artery is very common. Infants have a miniscule amount of blood in their tiny bodies and can tolerate only about a 20 percent blood loss before hypovolemia, hypovolemic shock, and death. A 4000 gram male newborn has only 11.5oz (340 ml) of total blood volume at birth, 85 ml per kilogram of weight. Blood loss of only 2.3oz, (68 ml), 20% of total blood volume at birth is sufficient to cause hypovolemia. Many newborns, and especially premature infants, weigh much less and a smaller amount of blood loss would be sufficient to trigger hypovolemic shock in those infants. Circumcision of infants, therefore, carries the inherent danger of hypovolemic shock and death.</i></blockquote>iii<br />
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<b>Circumcision should be a human rights issue, not parental choice.</b><br />
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I talk to women all the time who are horrified over the idea of female circumcision. Why? Girls get infections FAR more often than boys do. Yeast, UTI, irritation (especially in young girls), etc. If you claim that male circumcision is necessary for infection prevention, then we should be circumcising our daughters as well. Bottom line? If you are horrified over the idea of girls being strapped down and circumcised, you ABSOLUTELY need to be horrified over the idea of boys being strapped down. <br />
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Watch this video. Is this okay to you? Would you be okay with someone strapping you down without your consent, forever changing your genital anatomy? Decreasing the amount of nerve endings, increasing the risk of sexual dysfunction, and putting you at pointless risk of death? All to look "nicer"? <br />
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SRJdlUrd10E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<b>Circumcision changes sexual function for both men and their female partners.</b><br />
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<blockquote><i>Now researchers prodding dozens of male penises with a fine-tipped tool have found that the five areas most receptive to fine-touch are routinely removed by the surgery. </i></blockquote>iiii<br />
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<b><i>Circumcision removes the most important sensory component of the foreskin - thousands of coiled fine-touch receptors called Meissner's corpuscles. Also lost are branches of the dorsal nerve, and between 10,000 and 20,000 specialized erotogenic nerve endings of several types. Together these detect subtle changes in motion and temperature, as well as fine gradations in texture. </i></b>iv<br />
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<blockquote><i>The New Zealand study found that females experience an orgasm twice as often from an intact man than the cut one. When it is cut, the coronal ridge is abnormally exposed, which causes undue friction on the vaginal walls that would not occur if the lubricating and gliding mechanism of the foreskin remained intact. The cut penis usually prefers an unnatural elongated an arrhythmic stroke, breaking the delicate build up the female arousal system.</i></blockquote>vi<br />
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<blockquote><i>Most likely, reported vaginal dryness and the related clinical designation ‘female arousal disorder’ is but a normal female response to coitus with a man with an iatrogenically deficient penis.</i></blockquote>vi<br />
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<blockquote><i>The prepuce is primary, erogenous tissue necessary for normal sexual function. The complex interaction between the sensitivity of the corpuscular receptor-deficient glans penis and the corpuscular receptor-rich ridged band of the male prepuce is required for normal copulatory behavior. – </i>Dr. Christopher Cold, M.D. and Dr. John Taylor, M.D.</blockquote><br />
<b>But I don't want my son to look different than his father/peers!</b><br />
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There are SO many things wrong with this reasoning, most of the time I don't even know where to begin. First of all, don't MOST of us parents try to instill in our children that they should strive for individuality? That they don't need to look like everyone else, or act like everyone else? That they should be themselves? What about when your daughter comes home from high school every day after P.E. in tears because her breasts are smaller/larger than the other girl's? Will you take her in for breast augmentation? Or will you explain to her that her body is her own, and she is beautiful? <br />
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I could also go into the possible hidden implications of a father wanting his son's genitalia to become disfigured just so that he looks like him...but I'll leave that as something to ponder. I still have to wonder - how many men would *volunteer* to undergo the experience that the baby had in the video above? Would they still if they knew that it would remove vital tissue containing extremely sensitive nerve endings? If not, then why on earth are they turning around and inflicting this on their sons, just to look the same?! <br />
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I have women tell me constantly that the decision is not theirs. That it is out of their hands, up to their husband/partner. WHY? Why is the decision to permanently alter your son's body, putting him at risk of death and sexual dysfunction as an adult, any less YOUR decision? If someone was holding a knife to your baby's ear, wanting to remove it, would you not risk life and limb to rescue your baby? HOW is this any different? My husband wasn't fully on board when I said that I would not allow any of our future sons to be circumcised. He thought I had gone nuts. Until I showed him the research. Until I showed him just what purpose a foreskin has, and what risks we took by doing so to our older son. Stand firm. Most intelligent, caring men will be receptive if you show them why you are so concerned about this. Many then question why their parents did it to them. We are living in a society full of men who were robbed of their full sexual function. Why don't more people see a problem with this?<br />
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<b>Circumcision cannot be claimed as "religious" unless done in a Synagogue by a Mohel</b><br />
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I get so tired of hearing people claim religious reasons for routine infant male circumcision. However, not only is this 100% irrelevant and UNbiblical for those who are not Jewish, many Jewish people are shying away from the practice as well. If you had your baby strapped down to a plastic board and circumcised in a hospital or doctor's office, there was nothing spiritual about it. For those who aren't Jewish, Paul in the New Testament speaks about NOT circumcising, that it is ritualistic and holds no favor. Circumcision of the heart is much more valuable to God, than complete removal of the foreskin that He designed with a purpose. There are scholars who have studied Biblical text regarding how circumcision was done. Most of the circumcision spoken about on the Bible was done to adult males. And when it was done, it was NOT the complete removal of the whole foreskin. Some suggest that there is evidence of it being a nick in the skin, as a blood offering. Others suggest that it is a fraction of what is removed in routine infant circumcision done by hospitals and pediatricians. And again, Paul in the New Testament speaks out against circumcision.<br />
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<blockquote>Gal. 5:6: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision <b>avails anything, but faith working through love.</b>"<br />
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Gal. 6:15: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation."<br />
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Col 3:9-11: "Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all."<br />
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1 Cor. 7:17b-20: "This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. <b>Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.</b> Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything. Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.' </blockquote><br />
<b>"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."</b><br />
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Healthy male foreskin has many purposes. Your son's foreskin is "knit together" in his mother's womb. There is no valid medical reason to routinely strap infant males down to a plastic table and remove it. It puts his life at risk, his sexual function and pleasure at risk, and robs his wife of a normal sex life. I don't even know what my sex life could be like with an intact man. My husband is circumcised, and he's the only man I have ever been with. It frustrates me to know that because of this routine, senseless procedure I will never know how much better sex can be with a man whose body is just how God intended it to be. It frustrates me even further that we have this idea in our culture that removing healthy tissue without our sons' consent is OKAY. I did it to one son. Not to my other one. The son I did it to, I did it to out of complete ignorance. I will never make that mistake again. <br />
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Parents, I urge you to do your research. The only thing that cannot be undone is a circumcision. If later in life your son experiences problems that cannot be resolved with other measures, by all means pay for him to have it done. At least he will be the one making the decision. Take a long, hard (no pun intended) look at what you are thinking of doing to your innocent baby, who has absolutely no choice in the matter. Please, keep your whole baby whole. <br />
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"I support the choice to circumcise when the man whose body will forever be changed is the one making the choice." <br />
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i: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1477524/">American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statements on Circumcision and Urinary Tract Infection</a><br />
ii: <a href="http://www.mensstudies.com/content/b64n267w47m333x0/?p=488e687276f346699601a0275fc5827b&pi=2">Lost Boys: An Estimate of U.S. Circumcision-Related Infant Deaths</a><br />
iii: <a href="http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/view_online.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org%2Fpdf%2Fspecialstatement.pdf">Increased Danger of Neonatal Circumcision</a><br />
iiii: <a href="http://www.livescience.com/1624-study-circumcision-removes-sensitive-parts.html">Study: Circumcision Removes Most Sensitive Parts</a><br />
iv: <a href="http://www.norm-uk.org/circumcision_lost.html">Losses from Circumcision</a><br />
vi: <a href="http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/116-1181/595/">Effects of male circumcision on female arousal and orgasm</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-88952467843441242072011-10-12T11:16:00.000-07:002011-10-12T11:22:31.321-07:00Caution: Choose CarefullyA woman thought she had chosen her care provider carefully. One whom she thought would facilitate the peaceful, calm, beautiful birth that she envisioned for her first baby. She was comfortable with her care provider, confident that she would have the type of birth that she was dreaming about. <br />
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Then, at the end of pregnancy she is bombarded with stress from her care provider. Pressure to undergo tests that weren't based on evidence of anything going awry. A strict dietary change, which she needed to report to her care provider. When her water breaks and there is no labor yet, her care provider is unable to follow evidence based research, and have patience as long as mother and baby are doing well. Care provider talks heavily and often of intervention. Begins forcing induction techniques on the mother. The care provider's nervousness exudes from every action, in turn causing stress on the family. Soon the mother is able to force-start her labor, even though her intuition tells her that everything was fine. Her care provider ordered the birthing woman's mother to get out. When it came to pushing, she wasn't given an option of birthing anywhere but on her back. Her care provider instructed people to hold and pull her legs all the way back, while roughly hooking fingers into the mother's vagina to stretch and pull. Stretch and pull. Mom kicks at her care provider's hands, and says, “This hurts. Please stop.” Her care provider continues, saying that if mom doesn't want to tear, this is what needs to occur. Baby is born. Yet, it isn't the calm and beautiful meeting that either parent had hoped for. Within minutes, the care provider was pulling roughly on the umbilical cord, even though the mother said it hurt. Pulling tore the placenta off of the uterine wall, and heavy bleeding began. Before the family knew it, the care provider was gone, citing fatigue. The husband was left to worry about his wife's bleeding, and his child's breathing, without the professional that they had paid for. <br />
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For those of you who know the difference between home and hospital birth, this sounds like a hospital birth. It wasn't. This was birth at home. With a Midwife. Unfortunately, just hiring a Midwife to attend a home birth does not guarantee you a peaceful, safe, calm birthing experience. And there are things you can look for in the interview, and in the prenatal process. The problem for most families is that they blindly trust in their care provider. They don't question, and they don't do independent research. And the Midwives that I know of that have caused these kinds of birthing scenarios are extremely smooth with how they present things. It is almost a grooming technique. They tell you exactly what you want to hear. If you question things, they have a well-thought-out reason for why they will intervene in an otherwise healthy pregnancy, labor, or birth. <br />
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Red Flags in a Midwife: <br />
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*She has strict requirements for what you can and cannot do for your own birth. For example, she has the rule that you cannot birth on your own bed. You must birth in water (if she “lets” you actually birth in water – does not pull you out when you start pushing), or on the floor. This is controlling, not evidence based, and quite frankly – disturbing. There is nothing evidence based about not allowing a woman to birth in her own bed. A birthing woman should be able to birth wherever and however she chooses. Period. <br />
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*She becomes visibly nervous over things that are within normal or normal variation. A professional, experienced, and competent Midwife will make the family feel at ease, even if she internally feels nervous about something. This is the time for her to do research, collaborate with a peer, and then make a calm recommendation if evidence shows a reason to step in. <br />
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*She starts doing or wanting to do vaginal exams in the end of your pregnancy. Whatever reason she may give you, this is NOT evidence based. It holds no purpose whatsoever. It will not tell you when you will give birth, how well your labor will progress, or how baby is doing. <br />
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*You begin to feel like less of a peer with your Midwife, and more of a submissive party. You view your Midwife as an absolute authority figure who shouldn't be questioned, or one who will “disallow” you to do something. Your Midwife is your SUPPORT during a physiologic event in your life. Not your authority. <br />
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*She begins to come up with reasons why the things you may desire, or have planned for your birth, are not going to work out. For example – birthing in water. If she mentions that she “may have to pull you out” of the water for pushing, HUGE red flag. If she mentions that your partner or the person whom you have chosen to catch your baby can do so only with her help, huge red flag. There is nothing special about a Midwife's hands. She can sit back and carefully watch, and step in if there are any issues. Otherwise, she doesn't need to be involved. <br />
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*She answers, “We'll have to see how things are going...” in response to your desires for your birth. <br />
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And finally, for those of you who may be questioning what the heck happened during your birth...if your Midwife: <br />
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*Had you begin techniques to soften and prepare your cervix.<br />
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*Pressured you to begin intervention in your otherwise normal, healthy pregnancy.<br />
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*Began induction techniques because your waters released and labor didn't start yet, even though you and baby were not showing any signs or symptoms of infection. <br />
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*Was nervous during your labor – didn't seem like she was confident with what was occurring. <br />
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*Didn't allow you to birth anywhere but on the floor.<br />
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*Discouraged waterbirth, birth on your bed, or someone else from catching your baby. (including YOU!) <br />
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*Did multiple vaginal exams either without you asking, or because she had convinced you that they were necessary to assess progress and safety. <br />
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*Had you push before you felt the urge – your body will undeniably begin pushing on its own without any effort from you.<br />
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*Kept asking if you felt like pushing. A Midwife worth her salt knows that if you have to ask, mom definitely does not feel like pushing. Then mom wonders why she doesn't have to push yet. Is something wrong? When will I feel like pushing? <br />
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*Roughly applied perineal massage and stretching. If she told you that this is how to keep from tearing. If she told you that this was necessary. If she wouldn't stop when you mentioned how it hurt, was uncomfortable, or you didn't like it. Doing perineal stretching and massage is not evidence based. Research has shown that it does not reduce the risk of tearing, especially since the position that mom is in for this, is the LEAST optimal position for birth. <br />
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*Spoke to you in a controlling way. “Give me that baby!”, “You can either get down to business and REALLY push, and have this baby soon. Or you can keep going like this for hours.”<br />
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*Pulled on your placenta instead of waiting for the third stage to complete physiologically. By doing so, she put you at high risk for uterine and cervical prolapse, not to mention hemorrhage.<br />
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*Left shortly after your birth. A Midwife should remain in your home for a MINIMUM of two to three hours after birth. The first hour after birth is VITAL to mother-baby bonding, and should not be disrupted by newborn examination, birth certificate worksheets, or anything else if all has gone well. The time after birth is to assure that mom and baby are doing well, that they are snuggled into bed, that baby is nursing well, mom has eaten, and everything is cleaned up.<br />
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If she did any of the above, she did not practice in a safe, evidence based manner. <br />
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Overall, your Midwife should practice in a way that supports evidence based research and protocols. Not fear based, and definitely not control based. Women are perfectly capable of birthing out in the middle of the forest without anyone else around. They definitely do not need an overbearing, controlling Midwife to step in and make things unsafe. <br />
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Ask for the contact information of her last 3 clients. Ask them questions about their birth. Ask them about the demeanor of the Midwife during pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum. Ask about her transfer rate. Does she end up taking a lot of her clients in to the hospital? Call the hospital. Talk to the nurses. What is the reputation of the Midwife there?<br />
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If you have seen any of these red flags and feel it is too late to switch, it's not. Call around. Explain your situation. Make other arrangements for your birth, instead of continuing with these red flags, and possibly putting yourself, your baby, and your birth experience at risk. <br />
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Be careful with your choice in care provider. There are no do-overs in birth, and you will always remember the way that you were made to feel during your birthing process. Always remember that YOU are the one in charge of your birth. You hire your care provider – they work for you....not the other way around.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-17354626761228116452011-09-22T16:50:00.000-07:002011-09-22T17:30:40.254-07:00Brilliant Repeat Cesarean Patient Plan<b>Step 1:</b> <br />
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Convince first time moms that pregnancy and childbirth is so dangerous and so scary that they need to hire a trained surgeon (OB) to care for them. Even though pregnancy and childbirth are physiologic events. After all, things can go wrong at <b>ANY MINUTE</b>, right? <br />
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<b>Step 2: </b><br />
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Convince women that heavy monitoring and/or induction and/or epidural and/or cesarean is going to be necessary. Small pelvis. Past due date. Low fluid. Big baby. Small baby. One or two higher blood pressure readings. Water broke without labor. <br />
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<b>Step 3:</b> <br />
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If women refuse labor induction, find a reason to scare the <i>shit</i> out of them. Most often? "YOUR BABY WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T ACQUIESCE!" Your baby will be too big, and will get stuck in the birth canal. Your baby is in distress because we found meconium on the bio-physical profile at 41 weeks. Your baby has little to no fluid left, and can die. Your pelvis is just too narrow...we'll LET YOU TRY, but you will probably need a cesarean. If you attempt a vaginal birth with a breech baby, you will kill/harm/damage him. If you attempt a vaginal birth with twins, you will kill/harm/damage them. <br />
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<b>Step 4:</b> <br />
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Begin induction on a woman whose Bishops Score is unfavorable. Crank up the pitocin, even though the woman's cervix is not low, soft, or dilated. (Or barely so) Recommend an epidural so that the pain of the unnaturally strong (and unnaturally occurring) contractions can be taken away. Break her water artificially. Do internal exams every 2-4 hours. <br />
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<b>Step 5: </b><br />
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As soon as the baby goes into distress <strike>as planned</strike> <strike>as you knew he would</strike> unexpectedly/mom gets a fever/placenta abrupts, explain to woman that she needs an emergency cesarean NOW, otherwise baby will die/be harmed. You DO WANT WHAT'S BEST FOR BABY, DON'T YOU? <br />
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<b>Step 6:</b> <br />
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Do not share with woman that according to evidence based research, it was a failed induction because her baby was not ready to be born. Or that inducing for "suspected macrosomia" is going against evidence based protocols. Or that inducing at 12/18/24 hours after water breaks is not evidence based. Or that inducing with a low Bishops Score is formula for cesarean. Or that inducing for low/no fluid is not evidence based. <br />
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<b>Step 7:</b> <br />
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Convince the woman that it was her body's fault, or baby's fault, that she had a cesarean. Your pelvis wasn't large enough. Your labor wasn't fast enough. Your body didn't create enough fluid at the end. Your baby didn't tolerate labor well. Your baby was too big. Your baby didn't come out when he was supposed to. Your baby wasn't in the right position. <br />
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<b>End result?</b> <br />
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<b>Scenario 1:</b><br />
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A woman who is now even <b>more</b> scare of pregnancy, labor, and birth. A woman who believes that her body is broken, and that her body put her baby in danger. A woman who will be far too terrified to plan for a normal birth with the next baby. Who will plan her repeat cesarean for 39 weeks, since her body is too dangerous to try again. <br />
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<b>Scenario 2:</b><br />
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A woman who will ask her "wonderful, natural friendly" OB (surgeon) if she can "try" for a VBAC, and will not do so because her OB (surgeon) reminds her that her body didn't do well the first time around, and it's safer to have repeat surgery.<br />
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<b>Scenario 3:</b><br />
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A woman who <i>will</i> plan a VBAC, but will once again hire a trained surgeon (even though she's trying to AVOID surgery) and most likely will allow interventions in a normal pregnancy and/or labor (VBAC is still normal!) for the same reasons listed above. <br />
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Obstetrics, even though <b>2/3 of their protocols are NOT based on scientific evidence<i></i></b> (according to the latest research), continues to claim 99% of women as "patients". Some people wonder why our cesarean rate is so high nationally, and our infant mortality rates are inexcusable. It's really pretty simple. Take healthy, low risk women with healthy, low-risk babies and convince them that they need Obstetric (surgical) care. Add this to the above formula, and you have almost guaranteed repeat cesarean clients. Higher revenue for doctors, insurance companies, and hospitals. (Let's not forget that with cesareans comes a higher rate of NICU admission - even more revenue)<br />
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Women - start thinking wisely. Research your options more carefully than you research the car seat, crib, diaper bag, or latest accessories. Childbirth is nothing to fear. Really.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-15838367042503686552011-09-18T11:03:00.000-07:002011-09-18T11:03:04.205-07:00Vaginal Birth a Safe Option After *Multiple* CesareansWhen you understand the actual statistical risks associated with a VBAMC (vaginal birth after multiple cesareans), you understand that the risk is really very small in terms of uterine rupture. Because of my personal history with VBAC'ing, it frustrates me when care providers of all types are afraid of rupture. They obviously haven't done the research, because if they had they would understand that the risk is just as low as other birth emergencies (such as cord prolapse). There are emergencies that can come up in *any* labor and birth, which is why it is important for care providers of all types to be prepared. But to be scared of VBAMC? It's just not evidence based fear. <br />
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Dr. Mark Landon has done multiple studies on vaginal birth after multiple cesareans, showing a risk of 0.9% for rupture in women who have had multiple prior cesarean sections. <br />
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You can read the bulletin <a href="http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/viewer/Pages/index.aspx?NewsID=2835">here</a> , and here is a quote from it: <br />
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<blockquote>Landon found that the risk of uterine rupture was 0.9 percent in cases of women with a history of multiple prior cesarean deliveries undergoing a trial of labor, compared with 0.7 percent in the cases of patients who had experienced only one previous cesarean delivery. These data challenge the notion that women with more than one prior cesarean are at dramatically increased risk for uterine rupture with a VBAC attempt.<br />
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“We looked at the outcomes associated with uterine rupture, including catastrophic outcomes such as stillbirth, or hypoxic brain injury to the baby,” says Landon. “And the good news is that the vast majority of uterine ruptures fortunately are associated with healthy infants. The absolute risk of catastrophic rupture with poor outcome is, in fact, quite small.”</blockquote><br />
So ladies - take heart! Not only is a vaginal birth POSSIBLE after multiple cesareans, it is also considered safe. Don't take no for an answer. If you are told no, if you are told that you don't care about your baby's life, if you are told that you will kill your baby ... find another care provider.<br />
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And here is a YouTube slide show of VBAMC to enjoy. :)<br />
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yK0K0HAgLDM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-82978001711378725812011-08-09T22:44:00.001-07:002011-08-09T22:44:52.891-07:00When I Talk About ...When I talk about and encourage birthing at home, it is not because I am crazy or anti-hospital for those that need it. It is because too many women end up unnecessarily having to heal from a major incision (both cesarean and episiotomy) , and too many babies are put at risk by the drugs and intervention commonly used in the hospital. That is fact, not opinion. For low-risk women, more complications occur in the hospital than they do at home. That is fact, not opinion. The maternity ward is the only space in the hospital where healthy, strong people willingly go to complete a physiological event in their life … surrounded by the sick, wounded, and dying. For low-risk women, you and your baby are at higher risk of developing a life-threatening infection in the hospital, or suffer the consequences of a severe medical error, than you are of having a life-threatening complication that cannot be handled at home. A recent study in Emerging Infectious Diseases found that hospital-acquired infections are the sixth leading cause of death nationally . An average of 195,000 people in the USA died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a study of 37 million patient records that was released by HealthGrades. At least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000 people die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented. I talk about these things because women walk away from the often traumatic hospital birth believing that it was their body that failed them and their baby – and sometimes put their baby at risk – rather than the very practices that are common in the hospital. Nearly all of the complication-ridden, scary hospital birth stories that I hear of were avoidable. They included misinformation, or outright lies, by their care provider followed by intervention in the physiologic process. Their body never failed them or their baby. Their care provider and the medical system did.<br />
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When I talk about keeping your sons whole, it is not because I have never been in the position to believe this to be best. In fact, one of my sons is circumcised. I talk about it because no one did so when we were in that position. No one encouraged us to look into the research that shows the risks – not only of death, but of permanent injury and disfigurement. No one encouraged us to do some Biblical research to find that for Christians, not only is circumcision not required, it is spoken against by Paul. No one provoked the thought process of circumcision being a irreversible, permanent alteration of someone else's body … even though that body “belongs” to us, so to speak. I often hear people say that circumcision is a personal decision for each parent. The one thing that is lost in this is that the baby has no choice in something that is done, rather brutally, to his body. He has no power to say no. He will only have to live with the results (and possible complications) for the rest of his life. For some men, this includes sexual dysfunction. God created the foreskin for a reason. It is not without function, it is not without purpose.<br />
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When I talk about breastfeeding being one of the most important choices you can make for your baby, that is fact, not opinion. Breast milk is literally the only perfect substance for your baby for the first year of his life. Baby needs nothing else in that first year to grow, develop, and be happy. Breast milk is the only substance that a baby's digestive system can efficiently break down. Babies are literally hardwired to breastfeed. They know how to get to the breast without anyone putting them there. They know how to nurse without anyone showing them how. This is especially true when a mother has given her baby the gift of a physiologic birth – no drugs or interruption in the bonding process immediately following birth. When I talk about breastfeeding it is not because I am being judgmental of those women who don't, it is because every baby has a birthright to breastfeed, and many are deprived of this right. Breast milk is not only a complete nutrition, it also completes the baby's immune system with antibodies that will help shield baby from illness. It is a powerful healing agent – capable of wiping out eye infections, ear infections, diaper rash, and even acne. Breastfeeding your baby helps protect against SIDS, reduces the risk of childhood obesity, raises IQ levels, and increases both jaw and eye health. And let's face it ladies – we lactate for a reason. It is our God-given super ability. It should be used, if nothing else but for the health of our children.<br />
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When I talk about co-sleeping, it is not because I am afraid a predator will come and snatch away baby if he is in the other room. It is because studies have shown that co-sleeping (even if just in the same room) reduces the rates of SIDS, aids nighttime feedings, and makes baby feel more secure. A baby spends 10 months inside of his mother, listening to the beating of her heart, the sound of her breathing and her voice, and is comforted knowing that she is there. Imagine going from this place of comfort and security, to being isolated from the one being you trust to keep you safe. Here's where I get controversial : I find it cruel to put baby in another room. A baby should, at the very least, be allowed the security of being in the same room with mom and dad. Hearing the familiar sounds, and knowing that they are right there in case of need. The best advice that I can give new parents is to put the money into a savings account that they would have spent on a nursery. Baby doesn't need a nursery – baby needs you. They are very simple that way, it is us adults that make it much more complicated than it needs to be.<br />
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When I talk about baby wearing, it is not because I am a hippie – though I do not take offense to this. Ha! It is because baby feels the most safe and secure when in the arms of someone who loves him. Instead of being constantly buckled into a car seat, baby can be up on your chest, listening to you breathe, your heart beat, and your voice. As baby gets older, he can see everything that you see. He can be at eye-level with people, allowed to interact. Baby also stays content much longer through a shopping trip, walk, or even housework. It has also been shown that babies who are worn rather than placed in a seat have much fewer incidences of skull deformities. Some babies who are commonly placed in a seat end up needing to wear a corrective helmet due to the flattening of the back of the skull. I also cringe and feel twinges in my back and arms when I see moms toting around the heavy car seat with baby buckled in. With the right carrier, you won't feel pain, and baby will be content. It really is about making things easier for mom, and making baby feel the most loved and secure!<br />
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When I talk about any of these things, I am not being judgmental. Do I get sad when I think about what is done to babies unknowingly by well-meaning parents? Every day. It seems that parents do more research about the type of car seat, stroller, crib, and accessories to buy than they do about the things that matter most. I would love to see this change. I was once that mom, so I understand. It is easy to do, because these are the things that our society values. Research the “things”, hand the responsibility of childbirth and baby rearing to your Obstetrician and Pediatrician. Don't feel bad if you choose drugs, don't feel bad if you choose formula. Don't feel bad if you choose to place your baby in another room upon returning home from the hospital. Don't feel bad if you choose to displace your child's needs in order to maintain yours. Our society places very little importance on what is vital to health and happiness in the little beings that we are given responsibility of. It places more importance on the happiness of adults. It is no coincidence that the doctors who tell you that there is nothing wrong with choosing drugs in childbirth, are paid by the very pharmaceutical companies who supply them. It is no coincidence that the ads that tell you not to feel guilty about choosing not to breastfeed are funded by the mutli-billion dollar formula industry. Our society is not fueled by the importance of mother-baby bonding as it should be. And women fall prey to this – sometimes happily – every single day.<br />
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My question is, at what cost?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-41290470414089320782011-06-11T08:39:00.000-07:002011-06-11T08:40:04.682-07:00Guest Post: An Open Letter To the Who Trained My Midwife, RE: Sexual AbuseThis is from Mandala Mom. Recently the Powerbirth Midwives have shown that they have no willingness whatsoever to accept responsibility for the harm that they have inflicted on women. They continue to call them liars, continue to hide behind a "Philosophy" (though it was labeled a "technique" by them until it was brought out what they were doing with said "technique") that allows for no understanding whatsoever of the physiology of birth, only physically and emotionally harmful practices that serve the Midwife only. <br />
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Mandala Mom talks about the reason she continues to be vocal, and I couldn't agree with her more, nor applaud her more for her bravery and willingness to speak out. Women who have been traumatized at home NEED just as much of a voice (if not more) than those who have been traumatized in the hospital. <br />
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<blockquote><i>My purpose for continuing to write and talk about PowerBirth is to do what I can to make certain that mothers in my community are not having their rights to informed consent and informed decision-making stripped away during their home births. There are others championing patient autonomy and reform in hospital settings. But when women decide to have homebirths and end up with hospital-births-at-home, having hired midwives whose standards of practice include routine, unnecessary, not-evidence-based interventions that are not being disclosed prior to labor, I feel an obligation to sound the alarm.<br />
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Regardless of her history, every birthing mother deserves to be involved in all decisions that affect her body, her baby, and her birth. She deserves the truth right from the beginning about what prejudices and practices her midwife brings to birth.</i> </blockquote><br />
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<a href="http://mandalamom.blogspot.com/2011/06/open-letter-to-midwife-who-trained-my.html">An Open Letter To the Midwife Who Trained My Midwife, RE: Sexual Abuse</a><br />
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~*~Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-43764113676760962082011-06-04T15:52:00.000-07:002011-06-04T18:34:45.739-07:00Hands-On Midwifery Versus Instictive Birth:Lately there has been much discussion in my area regarding hands-on Midwifery versus hands-off Midwifery. There has been accusations that a hands-off Midwife is more dangerous than even a scheduled cesarean. However, this seems to be a diversion tactic amongst the Midwives here who believe that it is okay to control a woman's birth, and not let her know that it is the intention to do so, until the woman is at her most vulnerable. <br />
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I am a hands-off Midwife, and proud of it. I do not do unnecessary vaginal exams (and yes - an exam upon arrival and an exam when mom says she feels like pushing *ARE* unnecessary!), I won't induce labor at home unless there is a reason that would necessitate a hospital induction if labor didn't begin in x amount of time, I don't tell women how/where/with whom they can birth, and I don't tell women how/when to start pushing. Women are quite intelligent, believe it or not. Dr. Michel Odent and Dr. Sarah Buckley have written extensively about instinctual birth being the most optimal for women. I firmly believe that labor and birth happen in the best way possible when a woman is not directed, controlled, or interrupted. <br />
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The confusion surrounding this also lies in the same accusation that hands-off Midwifery is dangerous. It is assumed that a hands-off Midwife is hands-off no matter what. That apparently we hands-off Midwives (aka, "Instinctual Birth" supporters) would sit in the corner and twiddle our thumbs if a labor were abnormal, or if complications should arise with mom or baby. Quite the contrary. We are very well trained in handling complications - but the catch is that by not interfering with a woman in labor, we also do not *cause* complications to arise. <br />
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This is a blog post by The Mandala Mom that fits this so appropriately, from the standpoint of the consumer. From the standpoint of a woman and mother who has had both a hands-on Midwife, and then intuitive births. From the standpoint of a woman who has seen first hand how a hands-off Midwife supports a woman during labor and birth. <br />
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Enjoy! <br />
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<a href="http://mandalamom.blogspot.com/2011/06/bulls-in-china-shop-hands-on-midwifery.html"><b>Bulls in the China Shop: Hands-On Midwifery Versus Instinctive Birth</b> </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-86608118196517518962011-06-02T12:23:00.000-07:002011-06-04T20:33:19.292-07:00Not Your Typical CesareanThis guest blog post is an article from my dear friend Jessica Tiderman - ICAN sister and owner of <a href="http://www.specialscars.org/index.html">Special Scars ~ Special Women</a>. This was originally published in <a href="http://www.whole-woman.com">Whole Woman</a> magazine, Winter 2011. <br />
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Not Your Typical Cesarean</b><br />
<i>An Intro to Special Scars by Jessica Tiderman</i><br />
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Most people know at least one person that has had a cesarean. Not many realize that there are a variety of incisions that can be used on the uterus during that cesarean. The most typical incision is a low transverse incision, which is a horizontal cut in the lower portion of the uterus usually called the lower uterine segment (LUS). Due to the lack of shorthand to describe the more unusual uterine incisions such as classical, inverted T, J, upright T or any cesarean incision other than the low transverse incision, I started calling them Special Scars. Without a way to describe these incisions, women weren’t getting the information and support that they needed.<br />
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An inverted T incision starts out with a low transverse incision and then the OB makes a vertical incision upward in the center of the uterus. A J incision also starts out with a low transverse incision but the OB makes the vertical incision up along the side of the uterus rather than the center, perhaps because the placenta or the baby was in the way. An upright T incision can happen in two ways; either the OB started with a low vertical incision and then needed more room at the top of the incision or started with a low transverse incision and made a vertical incision down toward and sometimes reaching the cervix. These three incisions are usually used for babies that are severely malpositioned and/or very stuck. The vertical portion of these incisions can range from a few millimeters to several centimeters. These are also usually contained within the LUS, but can extend into the upper uterine segment (UUS).<br />
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Classical incisions are vertical incisions and can be placed just about anywhere on the midline (middle) of the uterus but tend to be in the UUS. There is some dispute about the standard placement of a classical incision. They are still commonly used for early preterm cesareans although some doctors have switched to using the low transverse incision for those as well. Finally, low vertical incisions are simply that, a vertical incision on the midline that is contained within the LUS. This is used when the baby is in a transverse lie or if the placenta is in a location where they would typically cut.<br />
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Clearly, the Special Scars are a more complicated matter. The cesareans that end up in these incisions tend to take longer due to baby’s position, which leaves the mom more vulnerable to infection or other adverse effects from being open for so long. Moms with these incisions are more likely to have a host of problems that are less likely to occur with low transverse incisions – wound infection, endometritis, septicemia, transfusion, ICU admission, hysterectomy, and maternal death. These incisions can also increase the mother’s length of stay in the hospital. Babies born from these incisions also have increased risks – stillbirth, neonatal death, APGAR less than 7 at 5 minutes, ICU admission.(1)<br />
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Emotionally, the moms may suffer from postpartum depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. It is very likely that they were told many times during their stay in the hospital after their cesarean that they would never be able to have a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) after that particular surgery. They likely heard that statement so many times that they believe it. When they find out that it is possible to have a vaginal birth after their Special Scar they may feel shocked, angry, betrayed or any combination of those. Sadly, there is no research about the emotional effects of these incisions on women.<br />
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Once the woman decides she wants to have a vaginal birth it can be very difficult to find a care provider who is willing to assist a VBAC after a Special Scar (VBASSC). The search usually requires calling many doctors and/or midwives before locating one that will attend a trial of labor. When a care provider is not initially open to the idea, it is usually best to not even try talking them into it. It is unlikely that you will be the one to change his or her mind. University hospitals tend to be more willing to assist due to their size and staff. Some home birth midwives are willing to attend VBASSCs when not legally restricted from doing so by their state.<br />
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Many care providers are unwilling to assist a VBASSC because the risk of rupture is slightly higher than the risk of rupture after a low transverse incision. The generally accepted risk of rupture for low transverse incisions is 0.4-0.9% while the risk of rupture for inverted T, classical and J incisions is 1.9%.(2) Interestingly, low vertical incisions have no more of an increase in the risk of rupture than low transverse incisions.(3) If the cesarean was performed preterm there is a minimal increase in the risk of rupture.(4) As we know from Dr. Sarah Buckley’s writings, if a woman is allowed to labor unhindered her birth much more likely to go as it was designed.<br />
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Clearly, there is a need for further studies on these scars, the effects on future pregnancies and the effects on the mother emotionally. The few studies that are available used a relatively small number of subjects. Therefore, without clear evidence of exceptional risk the woman and her partner should be the ones to make the decision whether or not she attempts to have a vaginal birth. Care providers should not be making decisions about VBASSC due to a level of fear or a lack of information. Indeed, if the care provider does have that much fear he or she should excuse themselves from serving the woman and let her find a care provider who is willing to serve her and trust her body to work as it was designed. There are already a number of women who have succeeded in having a VBASSC. To read their stories, for more information about this topic and access to the studies that I have mentioned, please visit <a href="http://www.specialscars.org/">http://www.specialscars.org</a>.<br />
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(1) <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Patterson-Mat-Peri_Mobidity_Assoc.pdf">Patterson et al. Maternal and Perinatal Morbidity With Cesarean.Obstet Gynecol 2002;100:633-7</a><br />
(2) <a href="http://www.blogger.com/2004-Landon_Study.pdf">Landon et al. Trial of Labor after Prior Cesarean Delivery. N Engl J Med 2004;351:2581-9.</a><br />
(3) <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Shipp_Study-Low_Vert.pdf">Shipp et al. Intrapartum Uterine Rupture. Obstet Gynecol 1999;94:735-40.</a><br />
(4) <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Sciscione-Prev_Preterm_CD_and_Risk_of_Rupture.pdf">Sciscione et al. Preterm Cesarean Delivery and Uterine Rupture. Obstet Gynecol 2008;111:648-53.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-45622038057394581592011-05-23T11:42:00.000-07:002011-05-23T18:23:05.111-07:00What do you say?What do you say when a woman comes to you, tells you the story of her traumatic birth experience that ends with her feeling that her body caused the traumatic chain of events, when you know that it was in fact her care provider's lack of evidence based practice that caused the trauma? <br />
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Scenario: First time mom feels the pangs of labor and heads into the hospital. She is nervous and excited when she finds out that she is 4cm dilated and will be admitted. She is anxious to meet her very first child, but nervous as she has no idea what to expect. She walks the halls endlessly, hoping that it will not be long. She goes to bed in hopes of some sleep before she begins her life involving sleepless nights. She wakes to the nurses explaining that a Pitocin drip will be started because her body simply hasn't progressed as much as they would like it to. She is not given any of the risks or side effects - nothing to worry about. Pit units increase hourly, her body still isn't responding as quickly as the doctor would like. Never encouraged to get up and walk around, move, sway, dance. Only stay in bed with monitors watching and listening. Within hours of starting the pit, the doctor comes in and explains that breaking the bag of waters will speed things along. She is excited at the idea, and allows it. She is not explained any of the risks. Immediately contractions are unbearable. She begs for anything to help. She is turned down for an epidural due to a back injury. She is offered a narcotic to help ease the pain, never explaining what it might do to her, or what side effects it may have. She gladly accepts, hoping for a reprieve from the horrible pain. <br />
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Finally - she begins to feel the urge to push. However with this urge comes instruction from the nurses, NOT to push. The doctor wasn't there yet. She needed to push. She couldn't help but push. She vaguely hears the heartrate monitor slow down. Rushing sounds around the room. Rushing, hushed tones. She looks up and there are so many people, looking at her. She is told that her baby is not responding well to labor, and that she needs to get onto her hands and knees to see if it helps. It doesn't. Baby's heartrate continues to slow, and takes a longer time coming back up. She is told to quickly flip onto her left side and begin pushing. Baby's heartrate slows. She is told that she has 5 minutes to get her baby out, or else it will be an emergency cesarean. She is terrified, and pushes with all of her might. They cut her, while pulling out a vacuum. No risks or side effects are explained. They simply say that they need to get the baby out. Now. Push now!<br />
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She pushes with all of her might, bursting blood vessels in her eyes. They use the vacuum on her baby's head, pulling. Pulling. Finally, woosh. Baby emerges. She only gets a short glimpse of her baby on her chest as they are rubbing her down violently. No gentle meeting, no emotional first look. They take her baby away to clean, weigh, and measure her. "No wonder she was stuck! She is over 9 pounds!", they say. They take 30 minutes to sew her up from the cut and then extended tear from the vacuum. No explanations are given still. When she finally receives the baby into her arms, she is wrapped up tight like a burrito. <br />
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Her recovery is full of pain and tears, as the pain from the wound on her perineum is excruciating and makes it difficult to sleep, to nurse or enjoy her baby. People told her how "lucky" she had been to avoid a cesarean, and how the birth she had was necessary because of how big her baby was. That thank goodness the baby didn't die from getting stuck, being over nine pounds. People nodded their heads in agreement when she told them that she would have a cesarean with the next baby, to avoid the trauma she endured the first time. <br />
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It isn't for another 3 1/2 years that she learns that her experience didn't have to be that way. It wasn't until after she had decided to have an elective cesarean with her son which resulted in a 9 day NICU stay due to severe respiratory distress. After the neonatologist pulled her into the "family waiting room" while her son was being fully intubated and explained that this was "a common side effect" of elective cesareans in particular, but also cesareans in general. She was never told any of the risks of a cesarean by the OB who was telling her the risks of a vaginal delivery with another large baby. <br />
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She wasn't told until nearly 3 1/2 years and a permanent scar later that Pitocin is a drug WELL known for causing fetal distress, and even death. She wasn't ever encouraged to get up and move around, to work *with* her body, instead of accepting drugs that put her baby in unnecessary risk. It wasn't until she birthed her 10lb 10oz baby girl onto her bed at home, that she knew her body was more than capable of birthing a large baby....without drugs, without intervention. <br />
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But her story is pretty easy to identify what went wrong, if you know enough about the physiology of childbirth and how the common drugs used can affect things. Some other stories are more involved, and women genuinely believe that their body was to blame. The sad part is - 98% of the stories that I hear of that involve major fetal distress and a cesarean involve an induction or augmentation with pitocin. And what is heartbreaking is that almost ALL of them shouldn't ever have been induced or augmented to begin with. They were given scary scenarios in which baby would be greatly harmed or even die if they didn't induce or move labor along faster. <br />
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They were lied to. <br />
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And no, I don't think that all doctors are evil. I genuinely believe that some of them have just lost touch with evidence-based medicine, and don't know what they're doing. But it doesn't remove responsibility from them. Some are too wrapped up in having too many clients, wanting to get them in and get them out. They are the ones responsible for causing a baby to go into distress - not the mother's body. Not the baby. The doctor, quite scarily, prescribes a drug well known for its damaging effects and then swoops in to save mom and baby from the very thing s/he put into motion in the first place. <br />
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Women and babies are paying for this. And what's worse is - there are so many women who will willingly sign up for a surgical delivery (and the many, many risks that come with it) for their next baby because they are terrified of repeating the situation from their first birth. What do you say? Do you cry out that they could have had a much different story to tell? Do you tell them that their doctor was completely misinformed, or outright lied to them? <br />
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Will they listen? Will they listen to save the next baby, or cling to their story to save themselves from any responsibility or feelings of guilt for the first? <br />
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We have to try. Gently, but we have to try. I am willing to risk sounding like a lunatic (even though the information I give is 100% backed by the medical literature that their care provider is supposed to know as well) and possibly bruise some feelings if I think there's even a TINY chance something will spark. My heart nearly literally bleeds for these women. Without having someone to get in *my* face, I never would have gone on to birth my 10lb 10oz baby at home. I would have believed that my body was broken and incapable of birthing the very babies that God allowed me to grow. I would have believed that the intervention that nearly damaged my first child, was necessary. <br />
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Sometimes it works. Sometimes they (we) listen. Please don't stay silent. You never know who is listening.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-71822732654034692822011-05-17T14:03:00.001-07:002011-05-19T08:32:59.595-07:00"Dear Ms. Birthkeeper" - A message from the PowerBirth founder:I received this today, and from what I understand about dealing with bullies who like to feel they can intimidate people, I am responding in a public manner instead of dealing privately. <br /><br /><blockquote>Hi Ms. Birthkeeper,<br />I pray that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you and heal you from whatever it is that makes you so unhappy that you feel the need to attack me and PowerBirth the way you and your peers have done for the last two years!<br />You really do not understand what it is that you are doing and how wrong you are in what you write and make the world believe, which I can tell you in truth, is wrong!<br />Know this, though, that for every negative untruth you speak or write about me, it will be turned around and used for good- in ways you don't even understand.<br />I pray for your healing!<br />Lydi Owen </blockquote><br /><br /><br />The people who need prayers, are the many women who have been traumatized - both physically and emotionally - from your technique. The women who need prayer are the ones who have ended up with recurring nightmares of what was done to them at the hands of you, and the Midwives like you, during what should have been a beautiful and peaceful time in their lives. Thankfully because of more women coming out with the truth, more are able to see that they are not alone and can begin to heal. Or the ones who had experiences like this and were happy with it, because they didn't know any better, can see that what was done to them was *wrong*. Just like the women who have cesareans or traumatic births in the hospital for no good reason, and don't know that there could have been better. They are simply happy to be alive, and to have a healthy baby. <br /><br />There is not one ounce of untruth in what I have written or spoken about - nor in any of the birth stories of the women who have been greatly harmed. It is shameful that their stories have been twisted, manipulated, and pointed out as being lies. Women have and are still coming forward with their stories. All along the same lines. Complications that have been twisted to say that there was cause to intervene - when all the while they were in fact iatrogenic. Control by the Midwife. Hands violently shoved into their vagina for every contraction. Being *told* to push, even though they didn't have the urge. Shoulder dystocias as a result of the forced pushing, hemorrhages, a feeling of being raped. This is not untruth. This has been proven on video footage. You cannot call something an "untruth" if there are both first-hand witnesses, and the act was caught on tape and in testimonials (albeit positive - again, going back to not knowing any better) for Powerbirth. <br /><br />You have said that you have never, nor have you advocated for a Midwife telling a mom when to push or manual dilation. However, you do this very thing on video. One of the moms actually turns to the camera and says how wonderful it is to have the Midwife open your cervix for her, so that she has less work. <br /><br />On one testimonials page, pushing because a Midwife says so and manual dilation are spoken of repeatedly, as seen in these comments: <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">"...I decided to go ahead and do the "powerbirth" that I had done with my first child. <span style="font-weight:bold;">This is where you push before you are fully dilated and your midwife helps to push your cervix aside until you are complete.</span> This was "invented" by Lydi Owen, the midwife I had for my first birth and the midwife who trained K."</span></blockquote> <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">"What a surprise I was at 8 and with a light push opened to 10 instantly."</span></blockquote><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">"She had me pushing</span> with some of the contractions after I was out of the tub and that opened me right up. I remember going from a 7 to a 10 in almost no time at all. Then I remember K saying, "<span style="font-weight:bold;">Your a 10, push that baby out!</span>" So I did."</span></blockquote><br /><br />And some anonymous comments from women who have been traumatized or know women who have been: <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">"I happen to know of the creator of powerbirth (from the same city), and all the women who I knew who walked away from her powerbirthing were traumatized like you were."</span></blockquote> <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">"Oh wow. I had no idea there was a name for it, but this very thing happened to me in Las Vegas with a very experienced mw. I was in shock for weeks, unable to believe it had really happened. I believe, though cannot prove, that her interventions led directly to birth trauma that affected my baby for weeks after the birth and led to a serious disruption in our breastfeeding relationship. I guess she thought I was taking too long <span style="font-weight:bold;">when she decided to dilate me from a 6 to a 10 all the while just telling me I had a "little lip." It wasn't until after the birth that she told me what she'd really done, complete with a giggle and a "aren't I cute?" look.</span>"</span> </blockquote> <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">"When I was a student midwife, I attended a few births with one of Lydi's associates and one birth with Lydi. I had no clue what I was witnessing at the time. All I knew was that there was <span style="font-weight:bold;">no way I'd ever have a baby with either of them</span>. It did shape the way I practiced though - It strengthened my resolve to be hands off, to shut my mouth and to keep the power and choices firmly in the birthing mothers hands."</span></blockquote> <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">"This is like reading a page from my own life! I also had a meddlesome midwife who manually dilated me and broke my water with her fingernail during both of my births. I found my own peace by becoming a midwife who genuinely respects women and the beauty of their births.</span>"</blockquote><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">"I didn't realize it until reading this but my experience with my first birth was the same! So, it just hit me, I too had a power birth that I was unaware of and totally against! I had a very hard time getting over it. I moved away from Southern Utah and had two other babies, natural, at home and they were both amazing experiences. I educated myself a lot but could never pin point what went wrong with that first birth, until now!!!"</span></blockquote> <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">"I am so sorry you had to go through this... but at the same time, I feel almost a relief that there is a name for this kind of abuse and it wasn't a figment of my imagination....What you wrote is almost exactly what I went through - the stretching of the cervix while being held down and yelled at to push, her hand up there with every push, lithotomy position, begging her to stop... I couldn't push like that! It's no wonder my baby never moved down. We eventually made our escape to the hospital and I'd never been so relieved to see an OB... until he tried to do a vaginal exam and I was already traumatized - yelling at him to stop and screaming. I still couldn't push my baby out and ended up with another c/s. But I was horrified with my experience and traumatized."</span></blockquote><br /><br /><br />At first I thought maybe you actually believed what you wrote. That you believed none of the stories could possibly be true. That women haven't been harmed because of what you have taught. But then your story changed. Multiple times. Your website has been re-written numerous times and has gone from a staunch opposition to the idea that you have ever manually dilated a cervix or have advocated for it, to a near admission of guilt when you posted an article by Ina May Gaskin about using forceful cervical pressure in an emergency. Except none of the situations in where you are viewed on video, and in none of the births of the women who have come forward contained emergent situations that necessitated the immediate delivery of the baby. <br /><br />Let me say that no Midwife is perfect. I am *far* from perfect. Every Midwife must continue to educate, research, learn, and most of all ... change the way she practices if she comes to an understanding that there may be harm in what she has done. I have changed the way that I am with laboring mothers since I began, and continually assess myself. Unfortunately, instead of seeing remorse from you or from the other Midwives who practice this technique, there has only been a continuation of lies and manipulation and slander. Slander their character, and in turn cry out that you have been slandered. With every beat of my heart I pray that you please just stop. <br /><br />As I have watched the PowerBirth promotional video, and nearly cry for how the women and babies are treated ... I have also had the founder of ICPA (International Chiropractic Pediatric Association) view a clip of it. This was her response:<br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"I have questions as to why the midwife is internal, why the mother is on her back and I am most concerned about the apparent amount of force applied to the baby's delicate spine by the midwife during the actual delivery. This is far from the usual 'hands off' approach I am used to seeing with midwives and I cannot help but wonder about the negative effects of these interventions on both mother and baby."</span></blockquote><br /><br />You say on your website that a woman would be better off having a cesarean section than to be attended by a hands-off Midwife. I am distraught by this statement, because of what damage it may do. Do you assume or tell women that a hands-off Midwife would sit in the corner and do nothing if an emergency were to arise? That because we believe that a woman's body is designed to birth without intervention and does *best* hormonally when she does so (as seen by the works of Dr. Michel Odent, Dr. Sarah Buckley and many others), we would not jump into action if something went awry? I cannot speak for all hands-off Midwives, but all of the ones that I know personally are <span style="font-weight:bold;">thoroughly</span> trained in the event of any type of birth emergency. But we understand that from a hormonal and physiological standpoint that birth is safest when not interfered with. <br /><br />I will reiterate that women have and are still coming forward who have been traumatized by Powerbirth and its practitioners, whether or not they (the practitioner) actually uses the term "Powerbirth". They are coming forward, no longer feeling alone. No longer allowing themselves to feel intimidated or manipulated. <br /><br />So to you, Ms. Owen, I wish you a good day and a sincere thank you for directing people to my blog. My writings, and the writings of the brave women who have come forward <span style="font-style:italic;">already</span> have been turned around for good. Victims of this no longer feel alone. That is a bittersweet victory in and of itself. As to the statement of what "me and my peers" have done over the past 2 years, I assure you that we are each working to expose this individually. I am not professionally associated with any of the other women who have spoken out about this. We are simply working to bring awareness to women that there is harm being done, and to allow space for the women who have been traumatized to come forward and not be alone. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">To the women out there</span> - if you have been negatively affected by this technique, even if unnamed by your care provider, please come forward. You are not alone. You can contact me, or any of the other women who have put their story out there, as seen in these blogs:<br /><br /><a href="http://mandalamom.blogspot.com/2010/12/power-birth-not-to-be-confused-with.html">MandalaMom</a><br /><br /><a href="http://completebeginnings.blogspot.com/2010/09/birth-of-my-third-everett-roger.html">Complete Beginnings</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-34806877917024973302011-04-05T11:09:00.000-07:002011-04-05T11:16:55.169-07:00FREE Waterbirth Information Night*~*Join us for a FREE Waterbirth Information Night on <br /> Saturday, April 30th from 5-9pm in St. George!*~*<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigYyuz8Uw6LNVZiqqvXHWs5bLTznT0yIxzTNrTNpJn_TbzeiairfYpIPHoTy8sv3hy6JCUPP-wT6dkAsYYed9-ot1rN8KaH4YRmu2FrVq1ZhJf9AGwY60gVDTdlmnA9kaFs2BfMqXvYQo/s1600/9423_146275362142_662612142_3119811_5638697_n.jpg"><img style="float:center; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 310px; height: 204px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigYyuz8Uw6LNVZiqqvXHWs5bLTznT0yIxzTNrTNpJn_TbzeiairfYpIPHoTy8sv3hy6JCUPP-wT6dkAsYYed9-ot1rN8KaH4YRmu2FrVq1ZhJf9AGwY60gVDTdlmnA9kaFs2BfMqXvYQo/s320/9423_146275362142_662612142_3119811_5638697_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592164326825638338" /></a><br /><br /><br />Have you ever wondered about the science behind giving birth in water? Have you heard myths about baby not being able to breathe, or gravity not helping in water?<br />Come with any and all questions! <br /><br />Free food, giveaways, information packets and more ... <br /><br />Visit the <a href="http://www.joyfulbirthservices.com/Events.php">Events</a> page for more information. Hope to see you there! <br /><br />Find additional information and RSVP on our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174641239254711">Facebook Event Page</a><br /><br />Date: Saturday, April 30th<br />Time: 5:00-9:00pm<br />Location: Sage Hills Yoga Studio in St. George<br />Cost: FREEUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-697400612550943121.post-30021870073758612952011-02-24T18:34:00.000-08:002011-03-27T21:19:55.981-07:00Prenatal Yoga in Southern UtahMandala Mom ~MotherBaby Services~ is offering prenatal yoga classes two times a week at Sage Hills. First class is free! <br /><br />From the Facebook page, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=19700068#!/pages/Mandala-Mom-MotherBaby-Services-St-George-Utah/131606616900435?v=wall">MandalaMom ~MotherBaby Services~</a>: <br /><br />Prenatal yoga is offered two times per week at Sage Hills: Tuesday at 6 pm and Saturday at 10:45 am. Please arrive a few minutes early to your first class, wear comfortable clothes, and bring a bottle of water and a yoga mat. Mats are also available for rent for $1/class. Your introductory prenatal class is <span style="font-weight:bold;">free</span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1