More Birth Podcasts

After enjoying a large number of great podcasts from the La Leche League website, I discovered today that MIDIRS also has a selection of fabulous podcasts available as well (do be aware that you have register for the site in order to access the podcasts). They have several by Ina May Gaskin as well as other good speakers. I'm listening to one now called The Importance of a Smile: "In this cameo podcast, Ina May recalls her first images of a labouring woman, particularly the woman's face - her "rosiness" and "beauty" during labour and birth. Ina May uses this example to highlight the importance of midwifery care that increases the body's levels of neuroendorphins (nature's opiate)."

I get so much good information from the Passion for Birth blog--thanks, Teri, for tipping me off about these podcasts.

--
Molly
CfM Blogger

Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding Podcast

Last year I wrote a post about birth practices and breastfeeding. I recently found out that La Leche League has a free podcast available with Linda Smith (co-author of Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding). During the podcast she mentions midwives and also talks about doulas.

In the past I've also written about Diane Wiessinger and her wonderful presentations about mammals, birth, and breastfeeding. So, I was very excited to see that LLL also has a free podcast available from Diane! The podcast is called, "What other mammals can tell us about nursing."

There are many more wonderful podcasts available for free on the LLLI website. What a great resource!

--
Molly
CfM Blogger

Case Closed: Breast is Best

Peggy O'Mara of Mothering magazine has written a wonderful response to the breastfeeding article in The Atlantic that I posted about a few days ago. Called Case Closed: Breast is Best, the article closes with these excellent thoughts:

"Hanna Rosin's article exposes the dichotomy between the high value we place on breastfeeding and the low value we place on mothering, but it is cowardly to blame breastfeeding. Slandering breastfeeding because our society makes it inconvenient is like vacillating on equal pay for women because it's difficult to achieve."

"This is no time to waver: Powerful economic and political forces are continually undermining breastfeeding progress. Surely, we need state and federal protections for breastfeeding—that's a given. To achieve our national health goals, we—like our sisters around the world—also need guaranteed health care, paid family leaves, and caregiving credits. Bottle-feeding is an old-school feminist solution to inequality. The equal-rights arena of today is breastfeeding."

--
Molly
CfM Blogger

Scottish Government Nomalizes Birth by Putting Midwives in Charge

Today I was fascinated to read about the Scottish Government's approach to normalizing birth for women--by using midwives as the first choice! What a very different attitude than the U.S. holds.

The article is called GPs to be bypassed in move to 'normalise' childbirth and opens as follows:

WOMEN will no longer see their GP during pregnancy following a controversial Scottish Government decision to cut medics out of maternity services.
The decades-old tradition of women visiting their family doctor to have their pregnancy confirmed and undergo health checks will be scrapped and the job taken on by midwives.

The new rules, to be launched throughout Scotland later this year, are aimed at healthy women with normal pregnancies who are not experiencing any complications.

But GPs last night expressed their 'anger and frustration' at the scheme, insisting they are best placed to spot potentially dangerous problems. When GPs conduct the first antenatal appointment, health and any child protection issues are usually discussed.

Under the new system, women who have tested positive in a home pregnancy test and are phoning their GP surgery for an appointment will be booked with a midwife unless the woman voices a specific objection or has serious health problems such as diabetes or obesity.

The move is part of a Scottish Government strategy, Keeping Childbirth Natural and Dynamic, aimed at 'normalising' pregnancy, and putting midwives in charge of most women.

GPs will be asked to send relevant health records to midwives whose job it will be meet the woman and carry out a risk assessment of the pregnancy by around six weeks of her pregnancy.

If she is assessed as being 'normal' then she will continue to see her midwife but she will be referred to an obstetrician if the midwife deems it necessary.

I was particularly interested in the "Keeping Childbirth Natural and Dynamic" government strategy, so I looked that up. There is a whole section on The Scottish Government website.

Keeping Childbirth Natural and Dynamic "...aims to maximise opportunities for women to have as natural a birth experience as possible, through: providing evidence based care; reducing unnecessary intervention; ensuring informed choice; and developing multiprofessional care pathways. Key objectives are to support the following at NHS Board level:

· Implementation of national referral criteria and care pathways

· Implementation of the midwife as the first point of professional contact in pregnancy

· Implementation of the lead maternity professional based on risk

· Implementation of normal birth pathways regardless of birth setting"

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Molly
CfM Blogger

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

--
Molly
CfM Blogger

Cesarean Awareness Month!

As the recent Grassroots Network message referenced, April is Cesarean Awareness Month. There is an article available from Associated Content about it here. There is also more at ICAN, the home of cesarean awareness, prevention, and advocacy.

Appropriately, articles about cesareans have been catching my eye this week. From a newspaper in Sydney, Australia we have: Caesarean beliefs 'misguided.'

From the article: "WOMEN who choose to have an elective caesarean in the belief that it will prevent incontinence and genital prolapse are 'misguided' and may be putting their health, and that of their baby, at unnecessary risk.

That is the view of Jenny King, a urogynaecologist at Westmead Hospital, who questions the right of women to choose surgical births to avoid pelvic floor problems.

Evidence is mounting that repeat caesareans cause harm and there are doubts that they provide the protection they were thought to provide, she said."

From a completely different perspective there is also a recent article called In praise of the c-section: I'm not sorry I didn't have a natural birth. There is a lot of food for thought within this article and I hope to have a chance to post about more it soon. There are fundamentally different worldviews among women when it comes to birth and birth issues (a medical model/view and a normal/health/holistic/midwifery model/view). Though it can be extremely difficult to read "the other side" and try to really "hear" what someone from that worldview is saying, I think it is really important to pay attention to differing perspectives. Having your "ideology" challenged causes you to deepen, refine, evaluate, and analyze your perspective and beliefs (and sometimes to change them).

There is also a cesarean awareness video called Frozen Smiles linked to from the Passion for Birth blog (this is one of my favorite blogs to check in with every week!).

--
Molly
CfM Blogger

Grassroots Network: Cesarean Awareness Month

Dear Friends,

The International Cesarean Awareness Network Team wants to remind you that April is Cesarean Awareness Month (CAM). This year's theme is "Real Women. Real Lives" and is all about all of our stories!!

The ICAN community is counting on all of you bloggers, twitterers, and Facebookers to help us spread the word! Please share your story and asking others to share theirs on your page, and of course link to ICAN and tell about all of the different types of support that we have to offer.

ICAN has discounted subscription rates this month to honor CAM:

Individual $25
Professional $50
5 year Childbearing $100
10 year Childbearing $200
Organization $75

If you have a local chapter of ICAN, contact them to subscribe as part of the subscription fee will stay with the chapter! There will be recognition for the chapter who has the most new subscribers during CAM. Otherwise, subscriptions can be purchased through the ICAN bookstore online.

For more info, go to ICAN online.

Sincerely,
Arielle Greenberg Bywater, "sidekick"

Grassroots Network: Midwifery Legislation Triumph in Idaho!

Dear Friends,

The Big Push for Midwives campaign, TheBigPushforMidwives.org, has issued a press release with the following very exciting announcement:

Idaho Pushes Midwife Movement to the Tipping Point
Physician and Midwife Groups Forge Unprecedented Alliance as Idaho Becomes the 26th State to Pass Legislation to Legalizing Certified Professional Midwives

BOISE, ID (April 1, 2009) Governor C.L. Butch Otter signed into law today a bill to license and regulate Certified Professional Midwives, making Idaho the 26th state to legally authorize them to provide out-of-hospital maternity care. In a notable reversal of longstanding anti-midwife policies, medical groups worked together with legislators, midwives, and advocates to reach consensus on a law that provides for independent practice, mutual collaboration, and the rights of parents to choose where and how their babies are born.

"This is a great day for midwives and home birth advocates all across the country," said Kyndal May of Idahoans for Midwives. "We truly have reached the tipping point, breaking through the medical lobby's longstanding opposition and developing a legislative consensus model that other states are looking to follow."

Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs), who practice primarily in hospital settings, are legally authorized in all 50 states, while Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs), who specialize in out-of-hospital birth, until today were legally authorized to practice in just half the states. Representatives from The Big Push for Midwives Campaign noted that Idaho typifies recent legislative trends across the country, as a growing number of states come closer to passing CPM legislation.

And here's a bit more on the Big Push:

Through its work with state-level advocates, the Big Push is helping to forge a new model of U.S. maternity care built on expanding access to out-of-hospital maternity care and CPMs, who provide affordable, quality, community-based care that is proven to reduce costly and preventable interventions as well as the rate of low-birth weight and premature births.

Also, the Big Push is convening this summer in Alabama. For more information, go to: http://pushsummit.eventbrite.com/.

Sincerely,
Arielle Greenberg Bywater, "sidekick"

CfM Achieves All Maternity Care Goals!

Citizens for Midwifery is pleased to report that, with an extra bit of effort, we have achieved all of our organization's stated aims over the course of the last two months. The following goals have been met:

--All women now have equal access to high-quality care that follows the Midwives Model of Care, and, due to recent federal legislation, all maternity care is fully subsidized and/or covered by insurance, and the government has launched a comprehensive effort to encourage lower-cost out-of-hospital and non-medicalized birth.

--All midwifery licensing is now federally recognized, and the government's recent reports on the vast benefits of midwifery care are encouraging more and more women to seek out midwifery services.

--Due to the above, new Cesarean rates are starting to come in, and the percentage is down to about 15% of all births.

--Also due to the above, new Epidural rates are starting to come in, and the percentage is down to about 20% of all births.

--All American hospitals have recently adopted the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative and have replaced standard L&D wards with 90%+ birthing rooms fully equipped with tubs, birthing stools, and free doula services.

--Due to the new across-the-board Baby-Friendly Hospital standards that have come out of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative, 95% of all American women are now breastfeeding for at least a year.

--The World Health Organization is now promoting the American model of maternity and midwifery care, what with its excellent outcomes and evidence-based policies, as the gold standard in the world.

In light of all of this, Citizens for Midwifery has decided to disband its board, but only after we use our remaining funds for one last annual board meeting at an all-inclusive Caribbean resort.

Happy April 1st, everyone! May it one day not be such a joke!

--Arielle Greenberg (CfM Board)

Midwives Model of Care Reduces Cesarean Rate at New England Hospital

Got a link to this article in the Berkshire Eagle today: C-section births fall. "North Adams Regional Hospital performs significantly fewer c-sections than other hospitals around the state — an average of 18 percent of all births at the hospital compared to the state average of 34 percent..."

The reason? The Midwives Model of Care, of course! The article goes on to say:

"'I think what is being reflected in our numbers is that we are taking a more 'midwifery' approach with our practice then before,' Robin Rivinus, a certified nurse midwife with Northern Berkshire Obstetrics & Gynecology at the hospital, said last week. 'It means that we do fewer unnecessary interventions — inductions, Cesarean sections, episiotomies. We treat childbirth as the normal, natural thing that it is. We only step in when it's medically necessary, which is much better for both the mother and the baby.'"

--
Molly

BMJ Study on Eating During Labor

A study from the British Medical Journal has confirmed (again) what midwives, doulas, and childbirth educators have known for a long time: eating during labor is fine. I have written about this topic before, so I don't have much more to add now, except that I find it very unsurprising to learn that women's bodies can handle light eating during labor. Giving birth uses a lot of physical resources, it is only logical that the body would need to be replenished periodically during labor! As I read on someone else's blog, sometimes the only answer I can find for "world breaking news" like this, is "well, duh!" ;-)

--
Molly

Book Review: Mother Nature

Yesterday I finished reading a sweet little booklet titled Mother Nature by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie. The subtitle is "thoughts on nourishing your body, mind, and spirit during pregnancy and beyond." The booklet is a nice, quick introduction to several attachment parenting concepts. It covers a lot of ground in its 32 pages and would make a nice gift for a pregnant woman who is interested in exploring ideas beyond What to Expect. The author was deeply influenced by her experience attending her friend's birth at the Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center in Manhattan (now closed). When the time came to give birth to her own children, she chose midwife-attended home births.

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Molly

Idaho Midwifery

There have been some exciting developments in Idaho's legislative work this session. The legislature has approved a midwifery licensing bill and the bill is now awaiting the governor's signature. You can read more in this article from The Olympian and also at the Idaho Midwifery Council's website.

--
Molly

Grassroots Network: Become a "Citizen" for Midwifery for only $10!

Count your voice among our membership and help us boost our maternity care reform efforts by joining Citizens for Midwifery now for only $10, our new "Citizen" rate.

If you already support CfM's work with an official paid membership, fantastic! Your support has enabled CfM to develop, grow, and network so that consumers have a voice in maternity care reform.

Many of you have shown interest in CfM through these Grassroots News messages but never officially joined the organization. Now we are inviting you to donate just $10 so you can be counted as a member. Increasing CfM's membership will give us an even more powerful voice for positive changes in maternity care, especially the Midwives Model of Care, for all women, in all settings!

It's easy: just donate $10 (you can pay online) to join CfM at the basic "Citizen" level and receive a colorful postcard (so attractive you'll want to display it!) acknowledging your membership as a "Citizen" for Midwifery. The postcard includes the Midwives Model of Care definition along with information about CfM and the website URL for handy reference to all of our online tools and resources. This level of membership does not include a subscription to the CfM News, but lets us count you as a member of CfM.

If you are a midwife, doula, childbirth educator, or other birth professional, and you would like to get your clients involved, we're glad to offer this inexpensive option. We have tools for talking to your clients (our Dear Client letters, which can be customized) and a rate you can afford on our Join CfM page.

And of course, you can upgrade your membership at any time to join at the suggested rate of $30 or more per year and receive copies of our advocacy newsletter, the CfM News. Our student rate of $20 per year includes the CfM News as well.

We hope you will show your support for Citizens for Midwifery by becoming a member and help CfM become an even stronger, more effective advocate for the Midwives Model of Care! Learn more on our website or join online here.

Orangutan Birth

Some time ago I wrote several posts about orangutan birth. Today, coincidentally, I got a link to a YouTube video of a lovely, undisturbed birth of a baby orangutan. It was interesting to see the parallels between this birth and human births without interference (I will "warn" you that the mama orangutan eats the membranes and other birth accompaniments, which, based on the comments box, some people may find unnerving). I did wish the mama had a little bit more straw with which to make a little "nest" for herself!

In totally unrelated media, I read an article today about the Baby Boomlet. As we have heard, more babies were born in 2007 than in any other year in U.S. history. The focus of media coverage of the recent birth stats seems to be heavily on this "baby boom" and also on the teen pregnancy rate, instead of on the ever-increasing cesarean rate.

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Molly
CfM Blogger

Grassroots Network: Useful press releases about new CDC stats

Dear Friends,

Several organizations have posted informative press releases with different points regarding the new CDC birth statistics, especially the issue of increasing cesarean rates:

From CIMS: “Need for Transparency Increases as Cesarean Section Rates Rise” (scroll down to see this press release listed near the bottom of the page). Points out the variations among hospitals and providers, and the need for information and transparency to enable pregnant women to make informed decisions about their care, and highlights the work of The Birth Survey projects.

From ICAN: “Cesarean Rate Jumps to Record High; 1 in 3 Pregnant Women Face Surgical Delivery More Women Forced into Surgery; Few Mothers Recognize They Can Reduce Their Risk of Surgery” Notes that a big contribution to the rise in the cesarean rate is the underuse of VBACs, including the facts that VBACs have been banned at more than 800 hospitals, and are not available at another 600 plus hospitals.

From Lamaze: “Evidence Increases for Risks in Cesarean Surgery as National Rate Continues to Rise” Emphasizes the accumulated evidence of risks associated with cesarean sections, for both mother and baby.

As Lamaze concludes (and Citizens for Midwifery agrees): “Two of the most important decisions a woman can make are where she gives birth and who she chooses as her care provider.” Regarding cesarean sections, a healthy pregnant woman can significantly decrease the chance that she will “end up” with a cesarean section by choosing midwifery care, especially in an out-of-hospital setting. (See “Out-of-Hospital Midwifery Care: Much Lower Rates of Cesarean Sections for Low-Risk Women”). In the face of these facts, it is incomprehensible and unreasonable that the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists continue to make policy statements in opposition to midwife-attended home birth, particularly when they have no evidence to back up their positions. (For more information about ACOG’s anti-home birth stance, see: “ACOG 2008 Press Release on Home Birth- CfM Rebuttal and Talking Points” and for more about AMA and ACOG organizations see “BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE AMA AND ACOG”)

Do take a look at these press releases! It is likely that news media of various kinds will publish articles about the latest national statistics. We can all write letters to the editor and respond on blogs, making use of the information in these press releases and additional information in this message, and emphasizing the need for midwives, in and out of the hospital, to improve maternity care and birth outcomes in the US.

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges “gatekeeper”

Responses to Breastfeeding Article

As many people are already aware, a lot of attention has been given to a recent article in The Atlantic called The Case Against Breastfeeding. The article was then covered on The Today Show. The article's claim that there is a little evidence truly supporting breastfeeding is a disturbing one--and also quite incorrect. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has issued a press release about the evidence basis and it is available here.

I was happy to see that the AAP also responded to the Atlantic article with the following:

AAP Responds to Breastfeeding Article in The Atlantic

You may have seen an interview on the Today show about breastfeeding based on an article that appears in the April issue of The Atlantic, entitled "The Case Against Breast-Feeding" by reporter Hanna Rosin. AAP President Dr. David Tayloe Jr. submitted the following letter to the editor of The Atlantic in response.

Letters to the editor
The Atlantic
Submitted via email
In the article, "The Case Against Breast-Feeding" by Hanna Rosin, the author skims the literature and has omitted many recent statements including the 2005 statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics which supports the value of breastfeeding for most infants. This policy references every statement with scientific evidence from over 200 articles which meet scientific standards for accuracy and rigor. The statement was meticulously reviewed by the Section on Breastfeeding, the Committee on Nutrition and numerous other committees and approved by the Board of Directors of the Academy. Breastfeeding and Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes in Developed Countries, a study released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (the AHRQ Report) strongly supports the evidence of benefits demonstrated in the breastfeeding research. The evidence for the value of breastfeeding is scientific, it is strong, and it is continually being reaffirmed by new research work.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages women to make an informed decision about feeding their infants based on scientifically established information from credible resources.

David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP
President
American Academy of Pediatrics

Since the evidence actually is quite clearly on the side of breastfeeding, the article made me more sad about the feelings and attitude of the author. She references feeling a good deal of pressure to breastfeed and that this is the new "problem that has no name." I feel for her. Mothers today have a LOT on their plates and a lot of pressure from every direction about every subject. Whether or not the pressure she felt about breastfeeding is real, her feelings are and I grieve for her.

Also, as happens whenever I read articles about breastfeeding, I have to marvel that the "burden of proof" rests on breastfeeding--why do we need to continually prove a physiological, specific-specific fluid superior to an artificial product? The science is reversed--researchers should be asking whether formula has any support or evidence and also for evidence that this non-physiologic substitute product does no harm. As Dia Michels says, the marketing task for formula manufacturers is to get women to withhold from their infants that which they already have and could freely give. This seems like it would be remarkably difficult to achieve (I often use an analogy about blood--it would be difficult to convince most people to have their naturally occurring blood removed from their bodies and a blood-substitute piped in instead...). However, as we are all aware, the marketing actually works very well. When reading the article above, I see again that answer as to "why withhold" is often cultural and social--mothers in the U.S. often do not live in an environment/life structure that is conducive to happy breastfeeding. And, bringing this on-topic, most do not give birth in settings, or with practitioners, or with birth practices that support breastfeeding as the normal, healthy, biological next step after giving birth (instead, over 30% of mothers are potentially launched into trying to create a breastfeeding relationship as they also try to recover from major surgery. Even more women are trying to do so after other less-than-ideal birth experiences and medical practices).

--
Molly
CfM Blogger

Grassroots Network: CDC releases birth stats for 2007

Dear Friends,

On Wednesday the CDC released the Preliminary Data for births in 2007. The birth rate is up, and so is the cesarean section rate, now nearly 32% of all births: "The cesarean delivery rate rose 2 percent in 2007, to 31.8 percent, marking the 11th consecutive year of increase and another record high for the United States."

The CDC's press release is included below. And you can find the entire report here.

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges "gatekeeper"


From: http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2009/r090318.htm
For Immediate Release: March 18, 2009
Contact: CDC National Center for Health Statistics
Office of Communication, (301) 458-4800


Teen Birth Rates Up Slightly in 2007 for Second Consecutive Year

The birth rate for U.S. teens aged 15 to 19 increased by about 1 percent in 2007, from 41.9 births per 1,000 in 2006 to 42.5 in 2007, according to a report Printable PDF released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the second year in a row that teen births have gone up. They increased 3 percent in 2006 following a 14-year decline.

Birth rates also increased for women in their 20s, 30s and early 40s, but remained unchanged for younger teens and pre-teens aged 10-14. Only Hispanic teens noted a decline in the birth rate, which fell 2 percent in 2007 to 81.7 births per 1,000.

Unmarried childbearing increased to historic levels in 2007 for women aged 15-44. An estimated 1.7 million babies were born to unmarried women in 2007, accounting for 39.7 percent of all births in the United States an increase of 4 percent from 2006. Unmarried childbearing has increased 26 percent since 2002 when the recent steep increases began.

The report, "Births: Preliminary Data for 2007," Printable PDF from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics [ http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_12.pdf ] is based on an analysis of nearly 99 percent of birth records reported by 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories as part of the National Vital Statistics System.

Other findings:

* Total U.S. births rose in 2007 to over 4, 317,119, the highest number of births ever registered in the United States.
* The cesarean delivery rate rose 2 percent in 2007, to 31.8 percent, marking the 11th consecutive year of increase and another record high for the United States.
* The percentage of low birthweight babies declined slightly between 2006 and 2007, from 8.3 percent to 8.2 percent. This is the first decline in the percentage of low birthweight babies since 1984.
* The preterm birth rate (infants delivered at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy) decreased 1 percent in 2007 to 12.7 percent. The decline was seen mostly among infants born late preterm (between 34 and 36 weeks).

The full report and a separate report with state births data are available here.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Homebirth & Safety

A topic that often closely follows a mention of homebirth is that of safety. Women often say that they would like to have a homebirth, but decided on the hospital for "safety reasons." As we are well aware, ACOG also feels that all women should birth in the hospital for safety. And, as I've posted about several times previously, there is the insidious claim that to birth at home is to place the experience of giving birth over having a healthy baby. So, I was very interested to read a recent study about the reasons why women stay home to birth. Co-authored by a blogger that many people are familiar with, Rixa Freeze, the article was published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health this month. One of the most common reasons given to birth at home was "safety" (the three other most common reasons were "intervention free," "negative previous hospital experience," and "control"). While obviously the study did not address physical outcomes, it backs up what I have always believed which is that women who choose homebirth are NOT choosing to do so because they value a "birth experience" over a "healthy baby."

Speaking of healthy mother, healthy baby, I shared a quote in another blog recently that I'd like to also share here. From the Winter 2008 issue of Midwifery Today:

"Although the popularly desired outcome is 'Healthy mother, healthy baby,' I think there is room in that equation for 'Happy, non-traumatized, empowered and elated mother and baby.'"

This is the equation that midwives and mothers who birth at home have figured out!

--
Molly
CfM Blogger

Round Up

Lots of great articles and resources came to my attention this week.

Advocates in Australia are facing the possibility of the elimination of private midwifery (and with it homebirth). You can read lots more about this on the Midwife Mutiny in South Australia blog. There is also an incredible video available here: Save Private Midwifery. The video is a collection of still photos with some text interspersed. the best part of this video is that is has phenomenal singing. Incredibly beautiful.

Just today I received a link to another beautiful video. This one is a French birth video with a voiceover poem in several languages. The mother labors in a peaceful setting and vocalizes really beautifully and deeply.

Speaking of negative legislation, there was an excellent post here: When You Can't Have It Your Way, Legislate! In it, I learned that in Ohio legislation was passed to mandate that childbirth educators cover certain information in their classes (in this case, it was about shaken baby syndrome, but it sets up a scarily slippery slope. Can you imagine what could happen to independent birth education if legislation of this type becomes common?)

In Nebraska this week homebirth had media coverage in Families Risk Law to Give Birth at Home.

Lamaze issued another great press release: Making Tough Decisions Without All the Facts: How Inadequate Informed Consent Puts Childbearing Families at Risk

And, the Huffington Post addressed How Safe are Infant Formulas?

Finally, speaking of infant feeding, this week I also read an interesting French article called Is Breastfeeding feminist or not?

--
Molly
CfM Blogger