Today Show Investigates - The Perils of Midwifery 5
This morning as I was brewing my coffee, I overheard that the Today Show was going to be doing a segment on home birthing. I ran to the television immediately to hear what they had to say on the topic. The first words I saw written on the screen were “The Perils of Midwifery”. Perils? Was this going to be an entire session lashing out at midwives? I was already disgusted, and quickly re-evaluated whether or not I wanted to watch the piece. But I continued on. Then they referred to home birthing as “extreme birthing” because there would be no drugs, and no doctors. How can one refer to something that is so normal and natural, something women have done from the beginning of time (with midwives) as extreme (Click here for full article on “A Short History of Midwifery”)? This is not to say that there is not a time and place for a doctor or a hospital when it comes to childbirth, especially with high-risk pregnancies. In fact, most women choose to birth in a hospital setting. It makes them feel safer, and that is understandable. But we now know that home birthing, in a low-risk pregnancy, is just as safe as a hospital birth. continue reading »
mother should be the one fully in charge of her birth. Sometimes this means the request for an epidural. With cases of really long labors, or a mother who may on a rare occasion go into panic from labor contractions, this may be the best decision for the mother to make to be able to relax to have her baby. As with everything in birth, it is wise to educate yourself on all procedures so that when you come to make your decision, you are fully aware of all the pros and cons. Epidurals are not always safe. Any medication in life has risks. Epidurals included. And there are risks not only to the mother, but to the baby as well. I did not write this particular article, but since talkbirth is meant to inform and educate women and families about the truth, I wanted to include it in here. It is not meant to judge women for their decision, but rather to explain the possible risks involved in this particular medication. As always, informed consent is key. The article comes from the ICAN website.
reasons/emergencies, our culture has been putting more and more mothers and babies in danger due to the abuse of this method when unnecessary. What is especially shocking is reading a recent article about the overuse of pitocin (one of the main drugs used to induce labor) to the point where it is intentionally administered in the highest dose possible to purposefully cause fetal distress so that the doctor has a reason to perform a c-section. Not only does this put the mother in danger of rupturing her uterus (especially if she is aiming to have a VBAC), but the danger of the oxygen deprivation that this is causing the fetus is quite alarming. And unfair. The term for this procedure is “Pit to Distress”. And yes, it is happening. Please be aware of this and educate yourself. I advise you to read this link below about the procedure from the Unnecesarean website.