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Dedicated to Saving The Lives of Those Giving Life to Others
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Hospital Policy Pains Expectant Mom
Mom Fights to Get the Birth She Wants
CNN Dec 2009
In Page Hospital in Lake Powell, a mother who had already had one successful VBAC ( vaginal birth after C-Section) was prohibited from having her fourth baby naturally by the Hospital policy. Saying that they just didn't have the emergency resources available if anything went wrong, the hospital routinely denies mothers to deliver vaginally after a previous C-Section, regardless of how healthy they are and regardless of how "unremarkable" their current pregnancy is. Page is not the only hospital in the US to prohibit VBAC's , forcing moms to go else where to deliver.
PAINS
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No Need For Moms to Fast During Labor
by John Gever, Senior Editor
Medpage Today
Jan. 2010
This article points out what midwives, doulas and many health care people have been saying for years. That it is not necessary to avoid food and drink when a mom is in labor. The energy and strength that she will get from eating far outweighs the possibility of having to go into surgery for an emergency C Section.
Moms need their energy, babies need their energy. Eating during labor is a good thing.
No Need to Fast
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Premature Births Are Fueling Higher Rates of Infant Mortality in US., Report Says
NY Times, Nov. 4, 2009
by Denise Grady
The article below states that "the high rates of premature birth are the main reason the US has higher infant mortality than do many other rich countries..." The infant and maternal mortality rates are two of the primary indicators of how "healthy" a county is. The US is doing very poorly. We rank 41st in the world in maternal deaths ( World Health Organization 2008), and 29th in the world for Infant Deaths ( 2005). The article points to the high rate of premature births as "fueling the high rate of infant mortality". Evidence points to the very high rate of inductions as a significant contributing factor to the high rate of premature births. Perhaps if we let birth take its natural course, and interfere ( ie induce) only when proven to medical necessary based on scientific evidence and not just "hospital policy", the infant mortality and morbidity AND the maternal mortality will see a significant decline in the US.
Premature
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The Transparency Project is a project which CIMS ( Coalition for Improving Maternity Services) has created so that women will be able to not only tell their birth stories to other women, but everyone will be able to look at the particular statistics of an individual hospital. This information is a good foundation for knowing what you chances are of having a C section, or which type of medical interventions are used and how often in which hospitals. Right now the stats are only involving NY hospitals , but the more women who fill out the survery, the more accurate information we will all have. Help support this effort by clicking on the following link. Birth Survey
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Drug, Knives and Midwives
UTNE, by Elizabeth Larsen
Nov 2009
The following article is about a first time mom who is going to be induced with Cytotec, "even though tests show that her baby is doing well, her obstetrician decides to induce labor with Cytotec."
"Shortly after birth, the mother starts to hemorrhage and goes into shock. The baby dies 35 minutes after birth. The mother dies a few hours later from AFE." This is not an atypical situation and is one of many that Marsden Wagner points out in his book Born In the USA. The increased use of medical interventions and subsequent outrageous C-Section rate is not a new discovery. What more and more evidence is clearly pointing out is that not only are many of the mortality and morbidity situations totally preventable, but the exorbitant rate of interventions are unnecessary.
KNIVES
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Media out of Focus on Midwifery
The New Haven Register
By Holly Powell Kennedy, Charles J. Lockwood and Edmund Funa
Oct. 15, 2009
Recently the media has been reporting that homebirths are not as safe as hospital births, when the evidence and statistics point to the exact opposite. This articles points to the quality of midwifery care and the humanistic approach to birth that midwives provide.
"A recent review of midwifery-led care across 11 randomized controlled trials with 12,276 women found that those cared for in midwifery-led situations were more likely to have a spontaneous vaginal birth, know their midwife, feel in control during labor and initiate breast-feeding. They were less likely to have regional analgesia or an episiotomy.
Midwives adhere to a philosophy that birth is an inherently natural process, eschew intervention when the process is unfolding normally and reserve appropriate use of interventions and technology for current or potential health problems."
Hospitals need to provide a much more natural approach to childbirth then they do currently.
Media
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