Archive for Media
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. [...]
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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. [...]
Why Are There So Many C-Sections?
You probably know a few women who have had c-section births and may wonder “Will I have to have one too?” The answer may lie in the type of prenatal care provider you choose and how much personal responsibility you take for the birth of your child. Recent studies put the c-section rate in the U.S. at over 30% and show it trending upward still. Because health care typically pays doctors and hospitals more for a quick c-section than it does for long, drawn-out vaginal births, there is more incentive to perform surgery and get patients in and out quickly. It’s safe to say that the health care system is providing incentives for c-sections and if you put your birth in the hands of a doctor or hospital who is paid by the insurance providers you likely have a 30% chance of having a c-section yourself—unless, of course, you have carefully selected a provider with a low c-section rate, educated yourself about the birth process and are willing to advocate for what’s in the best interest of your health and that of your unborn baby. [...]
Take Action on MomsRising
If I had a “Site of the Month” on Bloom (which perhaps I should), I would make MomsRising.org the first featured website. I hear from working mothers all the time about the difficulties they encounter trying to get paid maternity leave, taking time off of work to care for sick children, lack of good health care and how they wish employers would provide flexible work hours or career options that would allow parents to meet their families needs. I think a lot of moms would take more time off of work after having a baby if they could afford to do so and if their jobs were guaranteed to be waiting for them upon their return. [...]
Top 100 Natural Birth Blogs
Top 100 Natural Birth Blogs
This list of the top 100 natural birth blogs, compiled by MRI Tech’s Health Blog, pulls together their favorite sites, resources, and tools that provide information about natural birth. The featured bloggers include midwives, doulas, moms, hypnosis experts, childbirth educators and other natural birth advocates. While I haven’t peeked at every blog on this list, I am familiar with several of them through my own research on the topic. Here are a few of my personal favorites, not listed elsewhere on Bloom, in case you don’t feel like perusing a list of 100 sites. [...]
Every Woman Should See This!
If you are pregnant or even planning to have a baby, I highly recommend watching this documentary. It will strip away any illusions you may have about the experience of giving birth in a hospital or at home.
After having her first child, actress Ricki Lake (of talk show fame) decided to explore and question the way most American women are having babies. “The Business of Being Born” is a controversial documentary that will open your eyes about the shocking state of our current maternity care system in the U.S. It presents intimate birth stories, juxtaposing standard hospital deliveries against the growing movement of women who are choosing to have natural births at home. [...]
