Five stars for nursing go to Sheila Voigt at Northside Hospital for excellent support of a mother and baby early this morning! Sheila did not ask to take the baby away from the mother, or just take the baby to “warm her up” or any such lame reason. She repeatedly said, “you take your time” and left the parents alone to greet their newborn in peace. She helped the mom get comfortable for breastfeeding. I left my client 90 minutes after the birth and the baby still had not been separated from the parents arms for more than a 10 second blanket wrapping. That’s a record for hospital births that I’ve attended! Big thanks to Sheila for letting the mom bond with her baby for as long as she wanted without any pressure to move on with hospital procedures.
Posted by Jenn Purdy, CLD
Excerpt from The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth, by Henci Goer, pp. 55-56.
“The conventional forty-week pregnancy length is completely arbitrary. It was established by a German obstetrician in the early 1800s. He simply declared that a pregnancy should last ten moon months, that is, ten months of four weeks each. However, when researchers in a 1990 study followed a group of healthy, white women, they discovered that pregnancy in first-time mothers averaged eight days longer than this, and the average was three days longer in women with prior births…. While even the forty-two week limit isn’t sound, in recent years, the “time’s up” date has backed up to forty-one weeks, with some researchers recommending forty weeks. Based on the above study, first time mothers are not only not “late” at forty-one weeks, they haven’t even reached the average pregnancy length.”
“You are a birth helper: you are assisting at someone else’s birth. Do good without show or fuss … If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in charge. When the baby is born, the mother will rightly say, “We did it ourselves”.
- Dao De Jing, 500 B.C.
Trendy Birth: An Odd Dichotomy
Recently the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a statement against homebirth, calling it, among other things, a dangerous popular trend in modern times. Oddly enough the latest trend in birth truly isn’t homebirth (an occurrence that has existed since the beginning of time) but elective cesareans, or “Too Posh to Push,” as the media has dubbed it. A few years ago ACOG released a statement about elective cesareans, acknowledging the serious risks to choosing major abdominal surgery for birth, but stated that it was a choice that should be left up to the doctor and his patient.
When I started looking into existing research on both issues I was quite fascinated to note that, contrary to ACOG’s opinion, quite a bit of good research shows the safety of homebirth. In fact the one study used as the reason to restrict homebirth was actually flawed to the point of uselessness, due to, among other things, poor controls. Other than that one flawed study, used as the basis for ACOG’s opinion, I could find no other studies that showed homebirth to be riskier than hospital birth for low-risk women. In addition to the latest large study on homebirth published in the British Medical Journal in 2005, I also found over ten years worth previous studies that showed the safety of homebirth for low risk women attended by midwives.
Conversely, one of the sad benefits of the latest trend toward elective cesareans is that we now have enough of a population to determine the pros and cons of an extreme choice like elective cesarean. The results show some very extreme negative risks that are punctuated by increases in maternal and infant mortality.
So why, if there is this laundry list of serious risks to elective cesarean, but no real studies showing serious risks for low risk moms having homebirth, is ACOG coming out full force against homebirth, but not against elective cesarean? Very strange, and very scary.
— Amy V. Haas, BA, BCCE
Community Resource Coordinator, Rochester Birth Network
www.rochesterbirthnetwork.com
Certified Childbirth Educator
www.healthybirth.net
Here’s a story I read recently on the email group for my childbirth professional association. It’s quite empowering!
“I had a fellow student in the Bradley class that I attended when pregnant with my first baby who’s husband was an airforce captain and quite used to being listened to. The one thing he felt pretty strongly about was not cutting his wife and not cutting the baby’s cord.
They told us at the “show off your babies” part later what happened at their birth – their doctor, known for being an old-school cutter, had grabbed up the scissors and the husband (wisely watching the DOCTOR and not watching for the baby) said “No – no cutting” and put his hand in front of his wife. The doctor said “OK” and put the scissors down. NEXT contraction (the baby fully crowning) he picks up the scissors again and moves to cut.
This air force captain does NOT tolerate “insubordinance” and he literally grabbed the scissors and threw them against the wall. “I SAID no cutting on my family!” he said in a very strong, measured “no-nonsense” voice. The doctor was in such shock he barely caught the baby.
The husband then moved in with a towel, took the baby out of the doctors arms and said “Since I can’t trust you not to perform unconsented medical procedures on my family you may NOT hold my son. You may do whatever medical procedures I allow while I hold him but you will carefully explain what you are doing and why.”
Sure enough – everything basically waited until after the baby had finished nursing, including cutting the cord.
All I can say is “Way to stand up for your family Daddy!” **laughing** Unfortunately military families are often limited in care provider choices. This dad just made the best of a poor situation by taking charge. His wife just bragged about him all over the place at the party….”
by Angela England
“For many women, early social conditioning creates the belief that they are unable to give birth normally. this misconception must be replaced with an understanding of the philosophy of gentle birth and the science behind it. When women realize that their bodies really know how to give birth and that their babies know how to be born, they gain confidence. Only then is gentle birth a possibility.”
Excerpt from Gentle Birth Choices by Barbara Harper, Healing Arts Press 2005, pp. 12.
Posted by Jenn Purdy, CLD.
If you are hungry during early labor, you can safely snack on foods that low fat or have no fat and are therefore quickly digested. Some good options are:
~ Clear beverages – apple juice, grape juice, tea, ginger ale, diluted sports drinks
~ Clear soups or broth, soups with pasta/rice and vegetables
~ Popcicles
~ Toast or bagel (no butter), saltine crackers (whole grain if you have it), graham crackers
~ Plain pasta
~ Fresh fruit & vegetables
~ Apple sauce or other fruit purees
~ Avoid meat and dairy products, and anything you would not mind seeing again later!
Later in labor your digestion will stop because your blood flow is directed to the work that is being done by your uterus. You likely won’t feel like eating, so make sure to get some nourishment earlier in labor for some needed energy. Keep well hydrated through labor, too!
Posted by Jenn Purdy, CLD
