Media Coverage of Birth Issues

A lot of good stuff came my way this week. In the Poughkeepsie Journal on March 29: Modern medicine increasingly intervenes in the birth process. The article opens with this: "In the decade through 2002, something momentous happened to babies in the wombs of American women, especially white women. The average time fetuses spent there decreased from 40 weeks to 39. The decline, reported in a 2006 study in the medical journal Seminars in Perinatology, appears to have little to do with nature."

"Instead, earlier births may be the outcome of 'increased use of induction (of labor) and other obstetric interventions such as cesarean delivery,' said a January report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Prematurity rose 20 percent since 1990, the report said, and the rate of low birth-weight babies hit a 40-year high."

"'We are shortening the gestational age,' said Dr. Carol Sakala, program director for the research and advocacy group Childbirth Connection. 'That is a big interference with mammalian evolution, human evolution.'"

The article then sidelines into a discussion of elective cesareans and concludes with a short paragraph subheaded, enjoyably, "Advantage of Midwives."

In the Livingston Daily was a short article titled Midwife mom discovers best of both worlds.

I also found out that midwifery was covered on a radio program called Health and Health Care Forum: Midwifery.

Then from The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing there was this article about second stage: Best Practices in Perinatal Nursing: Implementing Safe and Effective Practices for Second-Stage Labor (recommending against "purple pushing" [closed glottis/ forced/directed]!)

Jennifer Block was on the scene in a timely manner yet again with her newest piece in The Huffington Post. Titled Extreme Birth, Indeed, this article is a reaction to the "Extreme Birth" article that was recently in New York magazine. A good quote from Block's article: "The truth is, standard maternity care is not evidence-based care (see this recent report.) And this is why more women are interested in giving birth at home. Not just so they can have candles and music and a better 'experience,' but because they know that checking into a hospital means exposure to preventable risks."

Speaking of some of the evidence for people with questions about the methodology and findings of the well-known BMJ homebirth study, you can get answers: BMJ Homebirth Study: Questions and Answers

And finally, I enjoyed reading this blog post: My Thoughts on the Midwifery Model of Care

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Molly
CfM Blogger