http://arubanbreastfeedingmamas.blogspot.com/2009/10/birthing-positions-and-effect-they-have.html
In Aruba, especially when a women is under the care of an obstetrician, she is automatically put in the Lithotomy position. A Certain ob/gyn absolutely refuses to let you go in another position, such as on hands and knees because he doesn’t want to have a rear-side view. With midwives however, there are infinite possibilities, and most if not all, aim to comply with your wishes, and even suggest alternative positions that help the labor along. Here are Birthing positions 101. Included are the advantages and disadvantages for the mother, fetus and birth attendant.
http://birthissues.blogspot.com/
The official blog of the Controversies in Childbirth Conference being held in Tampa, Florida February 19-21, 2010. This blog covers current birth issues of interest to birth care providers, such as: obstetricians, midwives, doulas, nurses, administrators, educators and regulators. We also examine current issues that are important to birth care professionals, such as health-care reform and tort reform.
http://www.terrylarimore.com/BirthRites.html
Why is childbirth, which should be such a unique and individual experience for the woman, treated in such a highly standardized way in the United States? No matter how long or short, how easy or hard their labors, the vast majority of American women are hooked up to an electronic fetal monitor and an IV (intravenously administered fluids and/or medication), are encouraged to use pain-relieving drugs, receive an episiotomy (a surgical incision in the vagina to widen the birth outlet in order to prevent tearing) at the moment of birth, and are separated from their babies shortly after birth. Most of them also receive doses of the synthetic hormone pitocin to speed their labors, and give birth flat on their backs. Nearly one quarter of them are delivered by Cesarean section.
In the past two weeks, I have seen several postings in various forums, blogs, and on birth related news sites about the show Mad Men which depicted the shows character Betty Draper giving birth to her third child with something called “twilight sleep” which unfortunately was very common during this period of time. A great description of the episode itself was from Science and Sensibility writer, Amy Romano :
Last week, the main character’s wife, Betty Draper, gave birth to her third child. While her husband, Don, sits in the waiting room drinking scotch with another nervous expectant dad, Betty is subjected to 1960’s “standard of care” obstetrics. Left alone in a labor room, she is shaved, given an enema, and then receives the crown jewel of her modern childbirth experience: medications to induce twilight sleep, which also induce a mad stupor and land Betty in restraints because of her erratic, combative behavior. As a midwife and a mother, the most difficult part for me to watch was when Betty awoke from her stupor, swaddled baby in arms, with no memory of the experience. You can watch all of the birth-related clips from the show at Jezebel.
http://blog.ctnews.com/elwood/2009/09/29/going-back-in-time-twilight-sleep/#comment-52
When it comes to delivering a baby, it really does matter where a doctor was trained: some residency programs produce better obstetricians than others.
This is the conclusion of a study that evaluates programs based on how well the patients treated by the programs’ graduates fared.
The researchers analyzed the records of 4.9 million deliveries in Florida and New York State from 1992 to 2007, looking for complications like infections and bleeding after vaginal and Caesarean section deliveries.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/health/29baby.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8147179.stm
The pain of childbirth may have benefits on which women who opt for painkilling epidurals miss out, a senior male midwife has said.
Dr Denis Walsh, associate professor in midwifery at Nottingham University, said pain was a “rite of passage” which often helped regulate childbirth.
He said it helped strengthen a mother’s bond with her baby, and prepared her for the responsibility of motherhood.
Marc Stephens said he had to act quickly when his wife Jo went into labour three weeks early as she had a history of fast births with her previous three children.
The 28-year-old Royal Navy air engineer, from Redruth, Cornwall, searched “how to deliver a baby” on the internet and after viewing a few clips said he was ready to help deliver healthy baby Gabriel.
Mr Stephens said: “I didn’t even have time to panic. She started complaining of pain around 10.30pm. I went on Google and watched a couple of clips on YouTube.
“At 2.30am she woke me up, but when I rang the midwife to come out she said they were busy at the hospital.
MIAMI – I was in the bathroom just after midnight, wishing I’d skipped that extra piece of my husband’s birthday cake. At nine months and a day, my pregnant body didn’t have room for extra anything.
A bit too slowly it dawned on me. This wasn’t about cake. My heart began to beat as if it too, like the tiny person inside me, were ready to break free. Then I shivered. What had I gotten myself into?
I’d decided to go natural, relying on the fast-growing practice of hypnobirthing. Despite the name, there’s no swinging pendulum, no “your eyes are getting heavy” mantras — just deep breathing, imagery, meditation and massage.
http://www2.mcdowellnews.com/content/2009/apr/24/how-reporter-became-fan-natural-childbirth/
More than 4.3 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2007, the highest number ever registered by the CDC.
That’s according to the CDC’s preliminary data on 2007 births.
The new CDC birth statistics show a rise in the birth rate for women 15-44, new records for births to unmarried women and for C-sections, and slight drops in the rate of preterm births and low-birthweight babies.
The details:
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20090318/us-births-hit-record-high?ecd=wnl_prg_032909
EATING while in the throes of childbirth should no longer be a medical taboo, according to a study released today.
The duration of labour, the need for assisted delivery, and caesarean rates were all unaffected by munching between contractions, found the study, published by the British Medical Journal.
Doctors the world over have long discouraged women in labour from eating, for fear that it could lead to breathing food into the lungs in the case of an emergency caesarean while under general anaesthetic.
But such incidents have declined dramatically in recent years, mainly due to the use of local anaesthesia.
I wanted to look at whether as an educator I did enough to prepare the men in class? Do they want to be present during the labour and birth? Are they the most appropriate person to be adequately supporting women through the birthing process?
I also wanted to know if the men felt under pressure to be present during labour and birth and where did that pressure come from their partners or their peers. I also wanted to know if their intention was to be supportive or was it more about witnessing the birth of their offspring? But whatever the questions I wanted to know if there was more I needed to be doing as an educator and midwife to prepare the men to be more effective as a support person.
When it’s time to bring a new baby into the world, there’s a lot to be said for letting nature take the lead. The normal, hormone-driven changes in the body that naturally occur during delivery can optimize infant health and encourage the easy establishment and continuation of breastfeeding and mother-baby attachment. Childbirth without technical intervention can succeed in leading to a good outcome for mother and child, according to a new report.
http://auguriesofinnocence.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/childbirth-back-to-basics-is-better/
It is already known that caregivers’ attitude and behavior is important in determining whether a woman has a satisfying experience of childbirth. But our knowledge about memory of labor pain is still limited. Is satisfaction with labor linked to memories of the pain?
Professor Ulla Waldenstrom and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden explain that the memory of labor pain usually reduces over time, but for some women it increases. The team set out to investigate the memory of labor pain after two months, one year, and five years, and whether it is linked to the pain relief used and the woman’s feelings about her experience.
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2009/childbirth-experience-determines-memory-of-pain/
As a step toward our goal of educating women about their choices and options, we are soliciting short videos about evidence-based maternity and delivery care. We want videos that will appeal to and inspire new audiences that may not have previously been exposed to any model of childbirth other than the version we see on television and in movies: dangerous, uncertain, excruciating, and usually in need of extensive and often emergency medical interventions. Birth doesn’t have to be this scary, and people need good information in order to make good choices.
We are thrilled to announce guest judges:
Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein, acclaimed producers of The Business of Being Born.
Sarah Buckley, M.D., international birth expert and author of Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering.
The first-place winner will receive a cash prize of $1000. Second place: $500 and Honorable Mention: $100.
Deadline for Entry is 11:59pm on Mother’s Day, May 10, 2009
We are just finished up our new book called “Your Best Birth” which deals with exactly that question! The book will be out in May 2009. But I think you need to spend time educating yourself about delivery options and then deciding where you would feel most comfortable.
If you are interested in seeking out a midwife or a birth center, you need to make sure that you are a good candidate for that type of birth and that your insurance will cover it. For a hospital birth, you should check out all the options in your area and find out the hospitals intervention statistics and the C-section rate of the practice your are using.
New research to be published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology reveals the potential dangers of high water intake during childbirth.
287 pregnant women in Kalmar County Hospital, south-east Sweden were studied from January -June 2007. Women were allowed to drink freely during their labour. Blood samples were collected on admission and after delivery. Cord blood samples were also taken and analysed to see if the effects could be detected in the baby.
The number of medical interventions during childbirth is rising in Canada, prompting new calls from medical societies to promote normal childbirth and to reduce the practice of “routine” medical intervention during low-risk pregnancies.
http://www.zampbioworld.org/bionews/index.php/2009/01/29/15663
Did you know that some maternity units actually have more staff available during periods of full moon?
I’ve always been fascinated by the moon’s effect on nature, so when a friend’s wife conveyed to me what her midwife had told her during the birth of their daughter, I decided to find out more about childbirth, full moon and a possible link.