TATIA’s STORY

In Dec. 2001, Tatia Oden French entered a well-known and well-respected hospital to deliver her first child. She was 32 years old, in perfect health, and looking forward to a natural childbirth, without any interventions or drugs. There were no problems during the pregnancy. According to her doctor’s calculations, she was a little under 2 weeks overdue. She was given the drug Cytotec to induce her labor. Cytotec, also known as Misoprostol, is a drug manufactured to treat ulcers. It is NOT approved by the FDA, or the drug company, to induce labor. Ten hours after being administered Cytotec, Tatia suffered hyper-stimulation of her uterus, an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) was released, an emergency C-Section was performed because the baby was also in distress. Both Tatia and her baby Zorah died in the operating room. The Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation, a non-profit corporation, was formed in March 2003 to give ALL women of childbearing age complete information concerning medical interventions and drugs which are administered during childbirth. We do this hoping that women may then be able to make FULLY informed decisions regarding the birth of their children.

The articles, links and projects that you find on this website deal with the issues facing all women who will give birth in the US. The articles are updated regularly and contain information about interventions used in childbirth, drugs, C-sections, maternal mortality, informed consent, and adverse events of various drugs and interventions. This information will help give you a more rounded perspective on what goes on during childbirth. We do this with the hope that you will ask your health care provider about these issues and about alternatives to such interventions such as pain medication, epidurals, inductions etc. We do this seeking the most wonderful, awesome birth possible for every woman and child.

Dedication

“To the baby, birth is about being received. We unfold the world and know our value when received with love and acceptance, in our own perfect timing. If someone yanks us out of a place intrusively, we naturally recoil and go within in order to maintain balance against this outside force.” The difference of being “received” compared to being “forced” results in opening to this world or shielding ourselves from it. Out of this experience comes baby’s first decision: either “the world is a friendly place” or “the world is a hostile place.” “This decision is the initial filter that determines if baby opens to or shields herself from the world, from then on.”

The experience of birth determines the vibration of life that a soul will live and filters the way that person experiences the world. This vibration becomes their blueprint. Only by creating a birth of absolute safety, gentleness, warmth and acceptance, internal peace, love and a state of wonder can we have a baby who knows within, “I am all this. I am secure and loved.”

Quote excerpted from “Making A Difference: A Blueprint for Harmony” by Sunni Karll from Midwifery Today Issue 58