Archive for Media
New Study on Home Birth is Skewed
All of my birth-obsessed friends on Facebook have been buzzing about a recent home birth study published by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AJOG). Everyone, including the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS), is outraged that the publishers of the study “accepted a poorly designed and methodologically unsound study in which authors concluded there is a 3-fold increase in neonatal mortality in planned home births compared with planned hospital birth.” You can read CIMS’s full response to the study on their website. [...]
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VBAC Less Risky Than Multiple C-Sections
The National Institute for Health issued a report this week titled, Vaginal Birth After Cesarean: New Insights. The report presents evidence to support the choice of a trial of labor (TOL) as a safe option for women who have had previous c-sections.
The conclusion of the report states, “Each year 1.5 million childbearing women have cesarean deliveries, and this population continues to increase. This report adds stronger evidence that VBAC is a reasonable and safe choice for the majority of women with prior cesarean. Moreover, there is emerging evidence of serious harms relating to multiple cesareans. Relatively unexamined contextual factors such as medical liability, economics, hospital structure, and staffing may need to be addressed to prioritize VBAC services. There is still no evidence to inform patients, clinicians, or policymakers about the outcomes of intended route of delivery because the evidence is based largely on the actual route of delivery. This inception cohort is the equivalent of intention to treat for randomized controlled trials and this gap in information is critical. A list of future research considerations as prioritized by national experts is also highlighted in this report.” [...]
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New Report Confirms “Breast is Best”
I was pleasantly surprised this week to see ABC News reporting that a new study confirms that babies who are solely breastfed for the first 6 months of life can ward off ailments, including diabetes, sudden infant death syndrome, childhood leukemia and stomach viruses. Breast milk is rich in antibodies that boost immunity and can help regulate insulin levels to prevent childhood diabetes. The study in this week’s Pediatrics Journal reads, “The United States incurs $13 billion in excess costs annually and suffers 911 preventable deaths per year because our breastfeeding rates fall far below medical recommendations.” [...]
New Controversy Over Babywearing (Slings)
Last week the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning “advising parents and caregivers to be cautious when using infant slings for babies younger than four months of age. In researching incident reports from the past 20 years, CPSC identified and is investigating at least 14 deaths associated with sling-style infant carriers, including three in 2009.” The CPSC announcement concerns “bag” slings, a very particular style of baby carrier. It does not mean that all infant slings are dangerous. [...]
Fighting for Vaginal Birth
A few months ago, some of my Facebook friends in the natural birth community were posting about a woman named Joy Szabo who was fighting her doctor and hospital for the birth she wanted. The hospital where she lived in Page, Arizona was refusing to allow a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) because they have a slightly higher risk for complications. After battling the hospital executives who wouldn’t budge, Joy and her family moved to Phoenix three weeks before her due date to give birth in a hospital that does permit VBACs. She got the vaginal birth she wanted and delivered a healthy baby boy without any complications. [...]
Oprah.com Reports on Alternative Birth Options
I am always beyond excited to see a non-sensationalist article about natural birth appearing on any mainstream website, television program or other media outlet. Though natural birth at home has been the norm throughout history, in recent times it has become a radical, outsider and even legally-banned practice in the U.S. That’s why I’m giving Oprah.com a gold star for raising awareness about the subject and letting American families know that they have other options besides hospital birth attended by obstetricians!
A recent article appearing on Oprah.com, by Fritz Lenneman, begins “With Caesarean section surgeries occurring in nearly one in three pregnancies and traditional hospital births by obstetricians costing an average of $8,000 to $10,000, some pregnant women are exploring other options. And the future of childbirth in America might start looking more like the past.” He then describes the roles of midwives and doulas in the birth process and talks about the legal challenges faced by some home-birth midwives. “Though about half of states allow at-home birth, it remains uncommon in the United States—just 1 percent of births occur in nonhospital settings including home births and birthing centers.” He also discusses alternative methods for inducing labor such as acupuncture, acupressure, walking, eating spicy foods and sex. Yes SEX! [...]
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. [...]
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! [...]
Natural Birth Can Be Funny
Tired of all the “inspirational” natural birth stories out there. Too serious? Too sappy? Too unbelievable? Well, then I have the perfect birth story for you. Heather Armstrong, author of the outrageous blog Dooce.com goes from wanting an epidural two days before contractions even begin to thinking about being one of those nutso women who birth at home in their bathtubs…surrounded by candles, of course. [...]
Hooray for Washington & Idaho
It wasn’t until recently that I realized how lucky we are to live here in the Inland Northwest. Did you know that Washington and Idaho are helping pave the way toward national regulation and licensure of midwives by legally authorizing Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) to practice in our states? Idaho passed this legislation just a few months ago in April of 2009. Visit the Idahoans for Midwives website to read about the journey to victory in that state. There are still 24 states in America where CPMs are not legally authorized to practice, including much of the Midwest and the South. Many of those states are currently working to change their laws, mostly through the efforts of grassroots advocacy groups. [...]
