Archive for October, 2009
Do Men Hinder Birth?
One of my Facebook friends sent me a link to an article titled, “Having an all-female environment is the best birth plan.” In it, the revered (in some circles, mostly female) obstetrician Michel Odent has declared that “women are better off giving birth in an all-female environment because the presence of a male partner—or even a male doctor—may make her feel pressurised and/or distracted.” Yeah, I can see how that would be true. [...]
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Turn Your Baby Head Down With Moxibustion
A breech baby is a concern for the expectant mother. Regardless of where you plan to deliver your baby, you know that crown down is the best way to go. In many cases breach babies between 33-36 weeks will turn head down spontaneously. In rare cases breech babies can turn during labor. So what should you do if you discover your blessed bundle is bottom down? [...]
Taking Back Our Right to Birth
In a recent article on Huffington Post titled, “A Woman’s Nation: Reclaim Your Right To Birth Right,” Christiane Northrup, M.D. encourages women (who now make up half the work force!) to use that power to influence the future of health care in America, beginning with labor and birth. She argues that the media’s portrayal of birth as a medical emergency and the actual medicalization of birth has done us more harm than good. She makes great arguments, loaded with fascinating and unbelievable statistics that should be making headlines. [...]
Insurance Coverage for Doula Services
How many times have I heard pregnant women say that they aren’t hiring a doula for their hospital birth because it is too expensive? TOO MANY TO COUNT. And it always saddens me because I know that they stand a much better chance of achieving a natural birth in the hospital with the assistance of a doula. As Doula.com says, “For the time and services that goes into doula work, you get an excellent deal for your money.” I have always believed this to be true, but understand that in these financially-troubling times families are hesitant to spend any extra money on something that isn’t absolutely necessary. [...]
Bloom in the News
Just a quick post to announce that Bloom was featured in a Spokesman Review article on the blog DwellWellNW. The article, Bloom Spokane—a local resource for natural childbirth, tells the story of how Bloom came to be, almost purely by chance. If I hadn’t been frustrated trying to find local natural birth resources during my second pregnancy and didn’t also happen to have years of experience building websites, Bloom might not even exist. But I’m glad that it does! [...]
VBAC Support and Info
I have been asked a couple of times now if Bloom has information about VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean), and I realized that it doesn’t. Well, at least not much. I LOVE emails requesting new information because this lets me know what women in our community need. I may not be an expert on the subject—never having had a c-section myself—but that’s not reason enough to stop me from writing a post all about VBAC. Keep the requests coming and I’ll do my best to bring you the best information and resources out there!
As always, my aim is to provide Bloom readers with the most recent, solidly-researched educational information that I can find. I hope this list is helpful to you. If you know of other websites or local providers who support VBAC and want to share your resources with us, I encourage you to leave a comment below. We are a community of women and families who must help each other by sharing the wisdom garnered by our own experiences of childbirth!
Prevent Cesarean Surgery is a short inspirational and educational video, using real quotes spoken by women who have had both a cesarean and vaginal birth. It was the winner of the Birth Matters Virginia video contest.
