Birth Support.Net

News Briefs (thanks DONA Edoula!)

 

Support birth legislature in the U.S.
U.S. doulas can become more politically active in supporting birth friendly legislation. Contact your senators and state representatives about the Medicaid reimbursement for birth centers bill and check out OpenCongress.

The Big Push for Midwives Campaign in the U.S.
Visit the web site to find out more about this national campaign to license certified professional midwives and increase access to out-of-hospital maternity care. If you agree with the campaign, sign the petition.  

Guidelines for induction
ACOG has revised their guidelines for labor induction. See the press release.  
 

Stripping or sweeping membranes
The Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health prepared a handout on Stripping Membranes that may be useful for our clients. Access it here.
 
Other articles from the Share With Women series offered copyright free by the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health can be found here.  
 

Mother's Advocate
A service of Injoy Birth & Parenting Education, Inc., Mother's Advocate is a web site providing free PDF print materials and videos on How to Have a Better Birth.   

 

Fetal heart rate monitoring guidelines
ACOG revised their guidelines for interpretation of fetal heart rate tracings and clarified the terminology. Read the June press release.
 
VBAC babies are healthier than their elective repeat cesarean counterparts
Compared to babies born by VBAC, babies born after elective repeat cesarean have significantly higher rates of respiratory morbidity, NICU admission and longer length of hospital stay is the finding of a retrospective cohort study published in the June issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Read it on Medscape.  
 
BirthMatters Virginia video contest winners
Winning videos were chosen out of 40 entries for short videos representing childbirth options and evidence-based maternity care. Check out the top three prize winners and finalists.

Delayed Cord Clamping--We Can Be Much Kinder

A lovely, expert-filled video on delayed cord clamping.We Can Be Much Kinder

Going Green with Baby

"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn," Ralph Waldo Emerson once said. When it comes to little acorns, Mother Nature's wisdom doesn't fall far from the tree.  When it comes to building healthy babies, however, a Mom awakens to her own Mother Nature and  to the immense responsibility of creating a safe environment for her child both inside and outside the womb. Suddenly everything around her from the food she eats, the cleaning products she uses  to the baby-gear she purchases become not just the landscape of her life but the friends or foe's to her child's well-being and future. It can be overwhelming and time consuming to research. 
 
Going green means more than just buying the organic vegetables (although that's a great start!). It means taking a look at the impact the environment will have on the baby, a highly sensitive being whose foundation for health starts with it's source surroundings. That means revisiting the lead content of your lovely old house to the chemical cleaners you use in the sink to the paint you use in the nursery. 
 
It also means understanding the impact that a baby has on the environment (a baby generates three times more garbage than grown-ups). Multiplying 12 diapers a day times 360 days times three years for starters. Or considering the huge investment you will be making in toys and gear in the years to come and how much energy it took to create those high-end gadgets, strollers and wipe warmers.  These are just a few of the considerations a family faces as they become aware of their choice to bring a child gently into the world. 
  
And of course, there's the birth to educate herself about and prepare for too.  There are more studies every day supporting that a gentle birth is made more possible when a woman enters the laboring process as healthy as possible--well nourished and in a safe environment free from physical and emotional hazards. Another reason for her to consider the health of the baby as her own. They are intertwined... 
 
 
Of course, the idea of going green sounds wonderful in spirit and she may be more inspired than ever. But she is also in a state of complete and utter transformation of her own body, lifestyle, partnership, job and identity. Turning inspiration into determination is no small feat in the face of such changes to a woman's life. As doulas, we support families every day who are struggling with making the most nurturing choices for their child and for the environment. Providing support for families in the childbearing year, we ourselves have struggled with keeping up with the latest and greatest inventions. 
 
At long last this is the green friendly baby guide that can give families the resources they need to make those choices with a peaceful mind, knowing their babies are being received gently as Mother Nature intended. 
 
Going Green With Baby is like one of those little acorns with a thousands forests inside it! A must have for every parent whose hopes lie in our newest generation of little ones.

The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project

Did you know...that the United States ranks behind at least 40 other nations in maternal mortality rates according to the World Health Organization. In 2004, the United States reported 15.1 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, up from 7.5 per 100,000 in 1982.

Did you know...that black women in the United States have 4 times the risk of dying from childbirth or childbirth related complications. Hispanic women in the United States, similarly, are 1.6 times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to die from pregnancy-related causes.

Did you know…that the Centers for Disease Control estimated in 1998 that the US maternal death rate is actually 1.3 to three times that reported in vital statistics records because of underreporting of such deaths.

Did you know…that reporting of maternal deaths in the United States is done via an honor system. There are no statutes providing for penalties for misreporting or failing to report maternal deaths.

Did you know…that the Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than half of the reported maternal deaths in the United States could have been prevented by early diagnosis and treatment.

Maternal Mortality Fact Sheet

The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project is a national effort developed to draw public attention to the current maternal death rates, as well as to the gross underreporting of maternal deaths in the United States, and to honor those women who have died of pregnancy-related causes since 1982.

The Project is the vision of Ina May Gaskin, midwifery pioneer and author of Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and the classic Spiritual Midwifery, who has been instrumental in bringing this issue to the public light.

The Quilt Project's sponsor is the Safe Motherhood Initiatives, USA, an organization founded to improve maternal mortality rates in the United States.

The Quilt

The quilt is made up of individually designed squares; each one devoted to a woman in the U.S. who has died of pregnancy-related causes since 1982. One quilt square is designed and dedicated to each mother's memory and may mention the date and place of death and the name of the woman. The Safe Motherhood Quilt is the voice for women who can no longer speak for themselves.

To be honored and remembered on The Safe Motherhood Quilt:

    * The woman died as a result of a complication of pregnancy or birth
    * The woman's death occurred since 1982
    * The woman died within a calendar year after the end of her pregnancy (documented by an obituary, death certificate, relative's or witness' account).

Do you know of a woman's story you'd like to share? Get more information on how to prepare your quilt block and submit it for inclusion in the Safe Motherhood Quilt.

For More Information

The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project
149 Apple Orchard Lane
Summertown, TN 38483
InaMayGaskin@GMail.com

The Extinction of Birth?

Knowing that the number one surgery for women today is a Cesarean and it is on the rise world-wide reaching 90% in countries like Brazil and over 30% in the United States--we have but one choice and that is to stand together this month in awareness.

What is the impact of such a dramatic change in the way women give birth? As French Obstetrician Michel Odent said so frighteningly and eloquently at the 2009 Midwifery Today conference, birth as defined as women birthing their babies under their own power is nearing ZERO percent.

In other words, birth as we know it is nearing extinction.

What can we do to make a difference? How can we move to see a reality that fits the mama-wisdom that is held in memory in our bones?

Start this month with supporting Cesarean Awareness and Prevention.

SEVEN STEPS TO CESAREAN PREVENTION

(Adapted from an article by Judy Edmonds, CPM)
1. Understand Why
-Cultural beliefs, medical advancements/acceptance, Disruption of the natural process
2. Realize the Danger
-maternal mortality is 4-8x higher than in vaginal birth, 200% increase in pelvic injury and uterine infection, 2-6% of babies accidently cut/injured during the delivery, increase in postpartum complications (hemorrahge, gallbladder diseases, genitourinary problems), breastfeeding problems, increase in baby intervention/"work-ups", large permanent physical scarring, emotional trauma.
3. Consider the Cost
Immediate cost of a cesarean is about twice a vaginal birth and does not yet include the long-term costs of additional healthcare needed for mom and baby
4. Acknowledge the Aftermath (postpartum healing/bonding with baby)
A significant number of women will require post-cesarean rehospitalization for associated complications and some even maternal death. Subsequent pregnancies may have additional complications. Postpartum depression and emotional trauma to the family can extend the dangers associated with cesarean delivery.
5. Educate Others
The only way that we as a society will be able to see a paradigm shift is to find ways to educate eachother on the value of natural, organic birth.
6. Take Action
 Seek Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC), Join ICAN . Support a Mom Today! Blog, write, share, discuss. Seek good nutrition and supportive providers. Hire a doula (reduce Cesarean Birth by 50%)
7. Provide Leadership
Become a Doula . Donate to the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project founded by Ina May Gaskin

ICAN's Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Checklist:

www.icanofportland.org, www.ican-online.org

1. Read good pregnancy and Vaginal Birth After Cesarean books. “The VBAC Companion” by Diane Korte and “Natural Childbirth After Cesarean” by Karis and Crawford and Ina May Gaskin’s Guide to Childbirth.
2. Focus on good nutrition and moderate exercise. For information on nutrition, we recommend: “What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know” by Dr. Tom Brewer www.blueribbonbaby.org
3.  Take a VBAC, refresher or other quality independent childbirth preparation. Even though you may have taken classes in a previous pregnancy, a review will help you prepare and process for this birth.
4.  Enlist the support of an encouraging care provider. Find a birthplace and caregiver who already provide the options you want. Find someone who believes in VBAC, has a VBAC success rate over 75% and a cesarean rate that is lower than the community average. If you are unsure about any recommendations given, get a second opinion. Trust your intuition.
5. Hire a Doula. It is worth every penny to be reassured and supported during labor by someone who believes birth is a natural function.
6. Write a birth plan. Birth plans can facilitate discussion between you and your care provider. Having a birth plan does not guarantee that you will get the birth your ideal birth. Discuss everything that is important to you with your care provider, putting it all into your birth plan. Make extra copies to be put in your chart. Know your hospital’s VBAC policies and negotiate well before the birth for anything different.
7. Establish a safe and supportive birth.
8.  Artificial induction should be avoided, if possible. Medical induction is linked with high rupture rates and many interventions.
9.  Try a variety of positions. Instead of lying down, try standing or walking. Try the birth ball. Squatting to push can be most effective. Try walking the halls. Try dancing with your partner.
10.  Ask for additional time to try non-medical methods to stimulate labor if your labor is not progressing. These include: change of position, walking, nipple stimulation, aromatherapy, and acupressure. Every labor is different.
11. Continue your calorie and fluid intake. Labor is work and takes energy.
12. Avoid medical intervention whenever possible. Continuous electronic fetal monitoring (EMF) may restrict your movement. Ask for noninvasive options. Ask what will be done with the results.
13. Avoiding an epidural may increase your chance for a vaginal birth. An epidural interferes with the baby getting optimally positioned and will reduce your ability to push effectively. Try other pain relief measures, such as: hot/cold compresses, bath/shower, tens unit, massage, relaxation, guided imagery, birth ball. If you start to think you really need an epidural, give yourself a few more contractions, or request that you be checked one more time. You may be moving quickly into transition without realizing it.
14. Practice relaxation and visualization throughout your pregnancy.
15. Many cesareans are done for posterior presentation. We recommend, “Understanding and Teaching Optimal Fetal Positioning” by Jean Sutton and Pauline Scott.
16.   Work on leftover emotions from previous cesarean births. Two wonderful books are: “Rebounding From Childbirth” by Lynn Madsen’s and “Ended Beginnings” by Claudia Panuthos.
17. Feel good about yourself and your relationships. It is important to keep a positive outlook.
18.  Enlist the sincere support of family and friends. Remember that according to medical studies VBAC is usually safer for both you and your baby than a repeat cesarean. Let your family know how much you need their unconditional emotional support.
19. Trust, cooperate with and listen to you body and baby. Establish a rhythm with your own unique labor pattern.
20. Connect with other women who share you same experience. Attend VBAC support meetings. Read “The VBAC Experience” by Lynn Baptisti Richards and “Artemis Speaks” by Nan Koehler
21.  Believe in yourself and the birth process. Believe that you are capable of delivering your baby vaginally. Connect with your inner self, resources and abilities. Focus on the positive aspects of your pregnancy.

BIRTH BOOK CLUB! How to Cook Your Life and The Farmer and the Obstetrician

It's 4:30 am. It's a dangerous thing to do...staying up all night while "waiting for a birth". My client is a day from her due date and I found myself compelled into a double feature until 4 am this morning! But the nourishment I was receiving from these simple and powerful messages as I curled up on the couch with a cup of tea seemed better than sleep!

I returned home last night to a How to Cook Your Life -- a gentle lesson in "BEING"  presented by Zen Master Edward Espe Brown in Filmmaker Doris Dorrie's exploration of the Buddhist saying "you are what you eat" to explain the guiding principles of Zen Buddhism as they apply to the preparation of food and life itself.

Being a doula often requires just that...BEING. But much of our efforts to bring women the best possible care are often thought to be in DO-ulaing. Which "trick should I pull out of my tool bag? Position? Massage tool?" Yet we know that being present to her every contraction, every moment, offering her privacy and comfort....Hold her hand, breath, rub her back, breath, smile, breath, murmur encouragement, breath....This is the practice of being a doula.

Set in a lovely mountain retreat in California, Zen Master Espe Brown reminds us of the holiness and power of these simple acts of being present to the nourishment all around us. Whether it's baking bread, slicing carrots, washing pots or offering pie to children...these simple acts are truly the domain of what Mother's and doulas "do" too.

You are what you eat.  Michel Odent in "The Farmer and the Obstetrician" takes this message a step further.  Synchronistically, I found it in my hands (at last after 7 years) after the movie and devoured it's message of applying our new found insights into the destruction of our massive industrialized farming practices and industrialized childbirth. Ravaging Mother Nature through over-industrialization--whether it be in fertilizing and nurturing the soil or the fetal life reaps the same distinct challenges. He illustrates that  the prenatal life and birth of our children is the single most important societal factor to creating culture---that how we treat the way we welcome our newborns into the world is the blueprint for how we want our society to look. Do we want an aggressive, technological, impersonal, hostile world? Then that's how we bring in the babies. Do we want a peaceful, loving, self-aware, conscious, creative and abundant world--then that's how we need to welcome the babies. He challenges us to consider that we have until 2032 to make this leap in awareness and plants seeds for the coming "catalyst" that will breakthrough into the culture at large. Will it come from our new proliferation of ideas on the internet (ex. UTUBE, Discovery Channel's Birth House, blogs like this one) or will it come from a new author that is able to reach mainstream minds? Or will it come like a tidle wave from the huge numbers of women that are hearing a new call towards their responsibility of protecting their link to Mother Nature whether as mothers or doulas or midwives?

It's now 5 am and I can see the first pink light in the sky illuminating the stars, the moon and the tallest trees outside. I feel called to action. I feel excited to think that in farming at least, we are reaquainting ourselves with local, sustainable and organic tools. That means their is hope for birth too. If Safeway now can carry an Organic line of food...well then maybe...just maybe...we will consider that the way that is safe to birth babies in this next generation will be through Organic Birth.

****For more on The Farmer and the Obstetrician see Michel Odent at the 2009 Midwifery Today Conference. 

JOIN the Birth Book Club! E-mail me at jesse@mothertreebirth.com with your ideas for a book reader. Post your comments here on January's selection The Farmer and the Obstetrician by Michel Odent.

New Year's Resolution #1: Banking Points for Dear Doula-Dad

My husband* announced this week that he was planning on going to see his friend in another town 3 hours away for the weekend sometime this month. I'm not usually the controlling type when it comes to his free time but as the mother of two and a doula, I had a freak-out moment because this month I'm on call for a birth.

Ah, yes, the old dilemma...maybe it's a missed date night, a weekend away, an important function at your child's school or just a night of being alone with a bath that you sacrifice when being on-call. Certainly,  finding ways to bank the relationship kudo point with the DP (dear partner) when it comes to juggling the lifes demands and wishes -- after all he didn't sign-up to be a doula--is one of my new year's resolutions.

So here's my top ten list for banking kudos for those important people who go on-call when you do.

#10. Money. In a down ecomommy (yes that's spelled right), this will work with almost anyone, including my five-year old (for his new discovery of Pokemon) and DH (for his online gaming guilt-free)

#9. Bonuses. You can have an extra one (cookies, nights out, etc)....when I'm not on-call

#8. Lavish thank you notes (you are my hero!)

#7. Be a "midwife" for a night. I have a friend who says doulas work from the waist up and midwives work from the waist down. Tell your DP that if (s)he's being your doula,  well then you can be his/her midwife...(well, you get the innuendo, I think I can stop there...)

#6. Dinner! Slide in your "I'm sorry honey, but I'm on-call, so I need your support in watching the kids and I'm so grateful to you for delaying your guy-weekend" while you slide over the mashed potatoes with truffle oil. Or in my husband's case (in our dairy-free household) the home-made macaroni and cheese works too..

#5. Tickets to the "Man  Park". Yes, if your DP is a man, then this ticket to Germany's Disneyland For Dudes will rock his world. Playing with backhoes, atv's and loud machinery. A great article in Wired Magazine will give you all the details!

#4. Ticket's to any of Portland's equivalent venues...The Avalon Theater for music or Regal Cinemas or even a GC to Powells' for a night out with his cell-phone can make an on-call month just as enjoyable when given an kid-free opportunity of escape.

#3. Surpise him with getting a back-up for them once in awhile. ie. I called your mother to come stay with us while I'm on-call and you are at your boys weekend. I'm sure she'll just love to see the kids! When he says "Cool!"....

#2. Suggest that next time you go away (most likely to a birth ie to work!) you can have your mother come stay with him and the kids while you are away so he'll have the support too. He might just change his plans all on his own.**

#1 To those really stubbon partners...OFFER DP a FREE TO GOOD HOME Deal. DP will most surely get the drift.
(When all else fails you can leave this little ad that was running around online by the bedside with the note...Gee honey, my doula work is not just a "pet project"...

*This was written expressly with the men in our lives in mind, so please excuse any gender specific comments for they were intended.
**Grandmother-Disclaimer. We love-love-love our mothers and love their (uh...)conditional support of our doula-family. Thanking them in advance for our allowance of humor when it come's to the old "in-law's" joke.

Full Circle Doula Care...Low Intervention Funerals.

 

Supporting The Circle of Life: 4 Generations

I stood holding the woman's hand as she sat up in the hospital bed. Her body arched as she moaned in pain. I instinctively helped her find her center and cope with the pain. "Look into my eyes... That's it... breathe with me...just like that...follow me." Her breathing started to regulate and she stared at me, her body visibly softening back into the bed.

A common moment in the world of doula work, but in this case, it was my dying 94 year old grandmother's hand while she gasped for air and signaled with the tautness of her body that the last round of pain medications had come to it's end. I was surprised by the familiarity of this scene, how closely it mirrored the birth process...except for as I saw her sink back into the bed, looking soft and dreamy again, like a baby, I realized that this woman--who had birthed 5 babies, who had been a school teacher from the age of 16, whom had kept up a perfect demeanor of steadfast Lutheran good cheer and appearances like most residents of Lake Woebegone (or in her case the Copper Country of Michigan), who had been born of strong midwife mothers--this woman was now birthing herself into the next life.

We've always known our skills as doulas were really life skills but  recently, we have seen our profession expand to encompass the other side: helping families care for their dead as well as their newly born.

 A story in the LA Times this week: Death Midwive as Funeral Alternative highlighted the come-back of of this age-old tradition that midwives and doulas historically have provided. These leaders of a home-based emphasis on caring for one's family through the transition provide families with the support, resources and rituals (along with the confidence to stand up for their own low-intervention funeral!). Does this sound familiar?

I found myself reflecting on this idea as my feelings rose--exhaustion tinged with grief, yet hopeful and excited for her to find her peace and completion. Indeed my grandmother had given me one more gift before her passing--she had given me the strength and reflection to realize that the work we do in the world as doulas, as mothers, as women, is some of the most authentic work there is. I am forever grateful to her. She helped me see the truth in the circle of life in the most honest way possible.

Perhaps you too may find yourself expanding your practice to Full Circle Doula Care!

Edu-taining Birth

Speaking of sex...the very nature of birth is always keeping us educators on our toes to be responsive and sensitive to the most personal and intimate of subjects. Sex is up there on that list.

Sitting at a recent childbirth educator meeting, one of the attendees relayed a joke that was often told by one of the instructors. I imagined myself, never a good joke teller, speaking these words. I'm not prudish.  I don't think you can be in this line of work and feel prudish. BUT,  the last time I tried to tell a sex joke  was when I was a newbie educator and my mentor had mentioned casually that the pregnant cervix felt similar to the tip of the penis and I took that for meaning that I should tell my class this...(You are more alike than you realize folks!) Well, you can imagine all those very pregnant moms thinking now about their partners penises and the same goes for the guys in class. The room was very quiet.  It's the equivalent of talking about my own breastfeeding experiences. Having the men in the room imagining my breasts it's exactly what I had in mind to make my point.

Anyway, here goes!... A boy and his dad are walking along and they see two dogs mating "doggies style". The boy asks what they are doing and the dad says they are making puppies. Later that night the boy walks in on his parents and see's his dad on top of his mom. He says to his dad, "what are you doing?" Dad says, well this is how you make babies son. The boy replies. "Turn her over dad so we can have puppies instead."

So, what do you think? Cute, funny, tasteless....I'm all ears!

So, a quandary... how to be humorous if you not good at the canned joke?
Let's learn from the BEST!

"Great Ideas for Teaching Stuff"
September 27th, NACEF is hosting "Great Ideas for Teaching Stuff" by Michele Deck, MEd, BSN, LCCE, FACCE, G.A.M.E.S $120 at the Providence St. Vincents Medical Center.
REGISTER: www.nacef.net, Laura Mundt 503-280-9646
*All about teaching the TV Generation

Breastfeeding: New Strategies for Improved Outcomes
Portland, Th: Sept 25th, 2008: PESI Healthcare...www.pesihealthcare.com
All about breastfeeding updates for the professional

All about mama humor....

SUPPORT MAMA HUMOR: www.thecowgoddess.com

Birthing Wild Babies

It smelled like wild babies. Not the powdered, fabric  softener swaddled, binkied baby smell -- but the fresh, warm,  earthy smell of a new life emerging from the salty depths of  mystery.

Getting in touch with the wild lands of our souls is often what is so surprising and inspiring about birth--truly nothing can  prepare us for the moment that we meet the new being that lands  in our arms. We are forever changed. Transformed. We are ourselves born as mothers. Born as fathers.      

As birth assistants, we often ride the wave of this miracle with our clients every time we enter the birth room, but it's especially powerful and potent when we witness the open energy of birth when it is unhindered, non-intervened and generated "souley" on the power of the mom and baby in dance with spirit.

As we pass through the summer solstice I am reminded how close we really are to the cycles of life...how completely dependent we really are--despite our best efforts to push, power through, strive for some sense of control. How we must surrender to the real power lying just below the surface of our awareness.

A new season is born--our wildest dreams come alive...the potential of new our new life emerges.  A time to celebrate the little acorns that have sprouted into our lives this year.  A chance to honor the new beings whose wildness still reminds us of all that is yet to be discovered in the world.

For more on how to have your own wild baby see www.waterbirth.org; www.orgasmicbirth.com; www.mothertreebirth.com; www.waterbirth.net; www.almamidwifery.com;www.mothering.com