Archive for Media
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. [...]
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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. [...]
Today Show’s “Perils of Home Births”
On Friday morning The Today Show ran a very detailed story called “The Perils of Home Births.” As the title suggests, it questioned the safety of home birth and midwifery—even going so far as calling home birth “the equivalent of a spa treatment.” However, it does put the topic on a national stage for discussion. Part of me wants to jump in right now and respond, but I’d like your help first. Please tell me what you think! My plan is to go through your comments and write a blog post reflecting the thoughts of the birth community and our Bloom readers. [...]
BirthGirlz Featured Mama
I never intended to use the Bloom Blog to toot my own horn, but today I will do just that! I promise…it won’t become a habit. I just had to share the news that I am the Featured Mama on the BirthGirlz website this month. BirthGirlz is a non profit organization, working to normalize and revalue all aspects of motherhood in our society via education, outreach, community events and activism. Their goal is to empower women and families to create their own network of resources and make informed decisions related to pregnancy, birth, nutrition and sustainable family living. I thought this statement encapsulated everything I’m trying to do with Bloom here in Spokane and couldn’t be happier to support their organization. [...]
The Controversy Over Home Birth
I have recently twitted about two news articles concerning the safety of home birth. For those of you who don’t follow me on twitter, I’ll catch you up on the news. Here’s the scoop: The Huffington Post article, “ACOG Up to Dirty Tricks,” reported on the organizations efforts to collect stories solely about unsuccessful out-of-hospital births from its members to use as “data” in it’s lobbying efforts against independent midwives. And on the brighter side, USA Today published the article “Study: Home Birth With Midwife as Safe as Hospital Birth” which finds that planned home births may in fact have a lower mortality rate and fewer complications that physician-attended hospital births. [...]
Birth Blogs I Like
I spend a good amount of time every week looking at websites and blogs covering topics like natural childbirth, women’s rights, parenting, breastfeeding, eco-green-organic-natural living, etc. There’s a lot of great stuff out there and I’d like to share a few of my favorite recent discoveries with you. Let me know if you have any recommendations you think I should include on future posts. I’m always on the lookout for great sites and want to share them with Bloom readers. [...]
