Talk Birth

The induction rate in our country has gone way up. It has nearly doubled since 1990 (when only 1 in 10 women were getting their labors induced). In 2006, that rate went up to 1 in 5 labors being induced! Call me a skeptic, but it seems highly unlikely that in 16 years time, a woman suddenly became incapable of going into labor on her own, or of having a baby without any type of labor augmentation. In a world of instant gratification, fast food, “time is money”, and all of our modern conveniences, we are seeing this same “McDonaldization” when it comes to birth. Medical practitioners are putting stricter time limits and numbers on everything related to pregnancy and birth (such as due dates, length of labor, etc.), usually out of convenience for themselves, fear of being sued, or hospital/medical practice “protocol”. There are also many mothers who are eager to go in for an induction because they are so uncomfortable at the end of their pregnancy, or they want to plan around a specific date. Unfortunately, this is putting women and babies at great risk for short and long-term complications–perhaps just being uncomfortable for an extra week or two until the baby is ready to come on its own could prevent many of these issues. continue reading »

Putting together a written birth plan is an important way to communicate with your care providers about the exact kind of birth you wish for.  If you are planning a hospital birth, you don’t want to be expending your energy while you are in labor fighting with the nurses because what you want might not be what they want.  They have some protocol that they generally follow as a part of their job, so they may want to do certain procedures as a sort of “default”, not always as a “necessity”.  You may or may not agree with some of this, so it is up to you to plan ahead!  Another great thing that comes out of putting a birth plan together—it requires you to do research!  With a higher level of informed consent, you will be more confident in your decisions.  So, where do you begin? continue reading »