Talk Birth

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 »

Unlike what you see in the movies, only a very small percentage of women have their water break spontaneously as the first sign of labor.  Most often, your water will break naturally while in labor, possibly during a strong contraction.  It may happen early on, it may happen towards the end, and in rare cases, the baby may actually be born in the bag of water.  Having your water broken artificially by an OB or midwife, also known as an amniotomy, is one of the most common medical interventions performed today.  A long, thin instrument with a hook on the end is inserted into the vagina, and through the cervix, to tear the amniotic membranes open.  The hope of the medical provider is to speed up your labor through this procedure.  But is it really working?  Is it really making labor faster?  Is it benefiting anyone?  Studies are saying no. continue reading »

All mothers need to make their own birthing choices. Unless there is a case of an obvious emergency, the 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.

Click here for full article on “Epidurals—Real Risks for Mother and Baby ”

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 »

Although labor inductions are sometimes necessary for medical 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.

Click here for full article on “Pit to Distress”

Several studies have shown very promising, positive outcomes from births when a doula was present. Women tend to report a greater satisfaction with their birthing experience, labors are generally shorter, the birth usually has fewer complications, pitocin is less likely to be used, the need for pain meds/epidurals is lowered, the incidence of c-sections are reduced, lower rates of post-partum depression are reported, and the mother is more likely to breastfeed.  With results like these, shouldn’t everyone hire a doula? continue reading »

When you plan a vacation, you do all of the research on the best hotels, dining, attractions, etc.  When you set out to buy a new car, you want to know the details like gas mileage, safety, and all of the possible options the car may include.  What about when you become pregnant?  No one wants to hurt their bodies or their babies, and we all wish for the safest birth of a healthy newborn. Yet, many women are still subjecting themselves to unnecessary medical procedures that may actually be hurting their bodies, their birth, their babies. continue reading »