Choosing a Maternity Care Provider
Choosing a care provider for your pregnancy and birth is the first, and often the most daunting, task in pregnancy. Here in the Spokane/CDA region we are lucky to have many wonderful options. And yet, it’s surprising how often I meet women who pick the first OB or midwife recommended to them without an interview. [...]
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Why I Chose a Hospital Birth
When I was pregnant for the first time I thought long and hard about my birth location. With so many hospitals, birth centers, and home-birth midwives to choose from in the Spokane area it was no easy task. In the end I decided to birth my son “the old fashioned way” (vs the VERY old [...]
Birth Advice from Labor & Delivery Nurses
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
In the U.S., approximately 90% of women give birth in hospitals. It is the cultural “norm” in this country and the birth setting where most parents feel comfortable. However, the latest studies point to an unnecessary overuse of technology during pregnancy and birth. As Jennifer Block writes in Pushed, “Decades of research show that the healthiest birth for you and your baby — and that means your partner, your family, and your community — is a normal, vaginal birth with minimal intervention and maximum support.” [...]
Deaconess Labor and Delivery Gets an Upgrade
NOVEMBER 10, 2010
I stopped by Deaconess Medical Center’s open house yesterday to check out the recent improvements they’ve made to the labor and delivery rooms in the Women’s and Children’s center. Laboring moms, you will be happy to know that each room now has a deep-soaker, jetted bathtub with handles all around. You can cover your entire belly with warm, flowing water and the larger tubs allow for easier side-lying, squatting or other labor positions moms might want to assume. As many of us know, laboring in water is one of the best ways to ease the intensity of contractions. [...]
Go Ahead. Eat During Labor.
A new article published today on Reuters’s website begins, “There is no reason why pregnant women at low risk for complications during delivery should be denied fluids and food during labor, a new Cochrane research review concludes.” The entry, titled No Need For Pregnant Women to Fast During Labor cites the new research findings that show that there aren’t any adverse outcomes by allowing women the option of liquids and/or a regular diet in labor. [...]
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. [...]
Our Local Hospital C-Section Rates
2008 Washington State Hospital Cesarean Birth Rates
The data on this website is compiled from the Washington State Department of Health comparison of 33 hospital’s cesarean rates based on their reported complicated delivery rate. Interestingly enough, the hospitals with the highest cesarean rates aren’t always the hospitals with the highest percentage of complicated deliveries. Here’s how our local hospitals stacked up against each other. Click on the link above to see how Spokane-area hospitals compare to other hospitals state wide. [...]
Choosing a Doctor or OB
Since Bloom was launched a few weeks ago, I have had a couple of inquiries from women wanting recommendations for local doctors and obstetricians (OBs) who have good reputations for attending natural births. While I believe midwives are the best care providers for low-risk, normal pregnancies I understand that there are women who require the prenatal medical care of a physician but are still interested in a natural labor and delivery. I have heard it said that most OBs may only give lip service to “natural birth” or consider any vaginal birth—even those with induction, medication and other interventions—a natural birth.
However, there are a few doctors and OBs who gain reputations for being supportive of natural childbirth. I have spoken to a few of our local doulas with a lot of hospital birth experience and done some online research to be able to provide these recommendations to Bloom readers. [...]
Is Natural Birth Right for You?
There is probably no topic more hotly debated amongst mothers and healthcare professionals than the one of using pain medication versus natural childbirth. How a woman and her partner plan for the birth of their child is an extremely personal decision-making process. Every expectant mother has heard birth stories, whether positive or negative, which influence her thinking about labor and birth. Her hopes and expectations have been shaped by her own family history, television shows, pregnancy books and her friends’ birth experiences. [...]
