I’m offering a drawing for a free copy of the Complete Tightwad Gazette over at American Family Now, please check it out! Offer ends September 30th.
Here they are, all the links I’ve saved in the past month (or two!) in my Favorites folder. For non pregnancy/birth/postpartum links, please visit our family blog American Family Now to see our favorite September Reads and Clips.
Cookie Cutter Obstetrics by Birth Sense
An interview with Daniel Wilson regarding his article titled “Childbirth and Social War”
Birth plans from the point of view of a nurse – my thoughts exactly!
Why you should consider having your baby at home, the first time!
In Defense of Doctors by Bellies and Babies
Finally! A home birth on TLC’s A Baby Story! (Video)
Crisis in the Crib: Saving Our Nation’s Babies (Video)
Canadian obstetricians to learn how to deliver breech babies vaginally!
The U.S. circumcision rate is currently in a free fall.
Two articles by Gloria Lemay on the scam called “low amniotic fluid” can be found here and here.
CNN reports on the rising number of home births.
The first issue of Squat: An Anarchist Birth Journal
Rethinking the posterior position - I love this!
Really enjoyed this birth story, so encouraging!
An interesting discussion about doulas can be found here
Midwifery Today writes about the suspicious diagnoses by biophysical profiling.
“VBAC’s now encouraged, is this for real?” by kikilaroo
Looking for a new home for your used cloth diapers? Consider donating them to the Cloth Diaper Foundation where they will be distributed to families who can’t afford diapers.
The trailer for At Your Cervix, a documentary about how care providers learn to do gynecological exams.
Parts 1 and 2 of an interview with Ina May gaskin by Mindful Mamas about loss in childbirth.
Happy September everyone! And don’t forget to subscribe to Birth a Miracle Services blog by clicking on the Sign Me Up button at the bottom of the page.
Naomi and Haley will be representing Birth a Miracle Services at the Health and Happiness Fair this year! We hope you can join us, and feel free to invite your lady friends! Below is the invitation from the host of the fair, Richard Bader Physical Therapy.
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Richard Bader Physical Therapy would like to announce that we are joining with Blue Moon Midwives to bring the first annual Health and Happiness Fair to the Oxford Hills area.
The event will be held Saturday October 16th, 2010 in our Norway Clinic at 39 Main St. (Route 26) from 10 AM-3PM. This fair is dedicated to women of childbearing years; this may be before, during, or after having children.
Often we find ourselves telling our patients “taking care of yourself will help ensure that you can take care of those you love”; this statement has become a driving force for us in this event.
We have health care providers attending to answer questions and bring to light several different options for health care services that are close to home. These providers include midwives, chiropractors, physical therapists/assistant, doulas, a dentist/hygienist, a pediatrician, a lactation consultant, a diabetes counselor, a nutritionist, and more.
In the event that women have questions about where to turn for help and resources, we will have information from non profit groups such as Community Concepts, WIC, REACH, AWAP, and Healthy Oxford Hills. Attending staff members will be able to guide women how to start the application process.
Finally, who couldn’t use a little pampering? In attendance we have several vendors from meditation, exercise, belly dancing, tai chi, and yoga studios. Also spas, jewelry makers, developmental toys, and purses/diaper bags companies. A Reiki practioner and an apothecary will also be joining us.
Door prizes will be drawn, light refreshments will be available. Women will be able to meet participants, participate in and watch demonstrations and purchase items or gift certificates from various contributors. We hope this event will continue to grow each year.
To learn more, visit www.rbpt.com.
First of all, I am having an insanely difficult time getting my pictures to do what they want. For some reason if I can manage to get captions they won’t allow me to type between the pictures. Just one of those blog days I guess. So for your reference, the pictures below are (in order) Nemo’s first reaction to food (hesitant, but willing to try), Daphney’s first reaction (“where has this stuff been all my life?!”), and Atlas’ reaction (“how could you be so mean to me?!”).
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It’s that time again. My third child is turing six months old this week and we’re having to think about solid foods. My method of weaning has certainly changed since I began this wonderful career as mom, and I wish I knew then what I know now (don’t we all say that at some point?)
Since my thoughts are on food, I figured it would be appropriate to tell you what I consider to be the 7 most important things to remember about babies and food.
1. Breastmilk is awesome. If you are nursing exclusively, breastmilk will give your baby everything he or she needs for nutrition. Even as you gradually wean your babe onto solid food, the most important food in the first year of life is your milk.
2. Have confidence in yourself as the mama of your child. Do not give in to pressure. Everyone has their own ideas of what’s right, and you need to feed your child based on what you believe is right for your child since you are the only mother for that child.
3. Listen to your babe. Don’t follow any feeding method for the sake of doing what some expert in some book says is right. Your baby will tell you what and when he/she needs to eat, you simply need to relax and listen. This is part of attachment parenting.
4. Please do not start your baby on cereal at 4 months unless you have a very good reason to. The American Academy of Pediatricians says there is no research backing up the long-held tradition of feeding cereal to a baby first, and they are now saying that 6 months is a much more reasonable approximate of when a baby’s digestive system is ready to handle food.
5. Make your own food. It’s more nutritious, makes an easier transition to eating what you feed the rest of your family, and it’s way cheaper. This is the website I refer to in considering what and how to make baby food.
6. Don’t assume you have to start feeding your child full sized baby meals all at once. If they are getting breastmilk, you can feel free to offer him/her licks or nibbles of food and wait for their interest to decide when they are ready to eat more. Let them suck on a piece of fruit, a cooked veggie, or meat. Perhaps a nibble of oatmeal, or another tiny tidbit. If they like it, great! If not, do not rush your babe! You’re not on a time limit, your milk does not expire!
7. Take pictures and video! However you begin, these memories will be precious to your family.
Obviously, some of these ideas overlap, but I felt each point was worth being stated. It mostly comes down to these two things: trust yourself, and trust your child.
After my 1st child was born, there were members of my family who began asking questions and making suggestions about how soon I should start feeding him cereal. I knew he wouldn’t be biologically ready until around 6 months, but the pressure was too much. I figured, other people do it, right? And I gave him his first coerced feeding at 4 months. on. the. dot.
Granted, I didn’t give it to him every day, but I still regret not waiting. Which is why I waited until almost six months to offer food to my 2nd child, when I felt she was signaling the desire to try. She took to it right away.
Now, with child #3, I’ve let him suck on a few foods, which he loved trying, but the one little bit of cereal and the one little bit of mashed banana I gave him totally grossed him out. And, I noticed the tongue ejection reflex is still largely present, so I think for a while longer we’ll stick to taste testing, and if that’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.
I have written before on the topic of breech babies, but I found this story by Anthony Stewart to be very interesting. Who knew that essential oils could do so much good! Here are a few snippets, but I encourage you to read the entire story here.
We had been planning all along to have the baby at
home, as we had with our two previous children. However, the baby being breech gave us some concern,
since certain complications can arise during childbirth with a breech that probably would not happen with a vertex baby.We had been trying for about a week to turn the baby
by using the slant board technique… We did this three times a day and also tried playing baroque music with headphones at the area of the abdomen where we wanted the baby’s head to be. We prayed. We even talked to the baby trying to convince it to turn on its own. All the while we were applying myrrh to Sarah’s abdomen-two or three drops at a time. After about a week the baby still had not turned.When we arrived, Ina May felt around on Sarah’s tummy
and confirmed that the baby was definitely still
breech… Before doing the version, Ina May wanted to do an internal exam just to be 100% sure and to assess
exactly how the baby was lying in the breech position.
“I’ll be back in a little while,” she told Sarah. “I need to leave for a few minutes to get a sterile glove from the clinic.” Meanwhile, Sarah made herself comfortable at Ina May’s home. She took the myrrh she had brought and proceeded to douse herself with the oil. She used much more than usual, and rubbed it all over her tummy. She then lay down and went to sleep-a very deep sleep. When Ina May returned, she decided not to disturb Sarah and let
her sleep until she woke up on her own-about an hour
to an hour-and-a-half later. When Sarah awoke Ina May proceeded with the internal exam. Feeling slowly and carefully, she looked up suddenly and said, “I think this feels like a head down here!”It was both a miracle and a relief that the baby
turned on its own. We had been trying for some time to
get the baby to do this, but without success. Then,
only moments before the midwife was going to step in,
and shorty after Sarah had applied a generous amount
of myrrh, the baby decided to turn.
A week ago I taught a class about vaginal birth after cesarean. Although I was quite familiar with the topic, I had never taught it to a group of people before and it was a learning experience not just for them but for myself as well.
I have not had a cesarean birth. I have not had to recover from cesarean surgery. I have not had to challenge the status quo by planning a VBAC (90% of women schedule their repeat cesareans). But I do know what it’s like to have a difficult birth, and I do know what it’s like to face my fears in future pregnancies. And it’s not easy.
While the class was very interactive and lots of discussion was involved, the most emotionally loaded part had to do with recovery from the previous cesarean. And I don’t mean the physical part although that was a big issue to my students as well. No, it was the psychological impact of having a cesarean.
We discussed some of the most common fears associated with planning a VBAC, and among them was the fear that “my body can’t labor and birth like other women’s bodies.” I knew this topic was uncovering wounds because as we watched a short video clip including a VBAC mother’s testimony of others telling her that some women just weren’t made to give birth, one of my students nearly jumped off the couch and shouted, “I HATE it when people say that!”
It was at that point that I realized we could do a whole series of classes just on this one issue: the stigma that women who have cesareans are somehow built differently than women who manage to have vaginal births. My heart aches when I see this belief etched onto the very skin of healthy women who will forever doubt their ability to give birth. That is, until they give birth normally in triumph.
It irks me that some believe women who plan VBACs are selfish. They believe there is no benefit to normal birth, that cesareans are “just another way to have a baby”. They believe that giving birth vaginally after a cesarean only poses risks, that there are no benefits other than “adding to the mother’s self-esteem”. Boy, do they have it all wrong.
Fear. It haunts every woman who is put under the knife. It permeates their body, and is most highly expressed when they become pregnant again. “What if my scar ruptures? My baby will die!” “What if this baby is too big to fit through my birth canal?” “What if my body really is broken?” “If I get my hopes up, I’ll just be disappointed.” “My last birth will just repeat itself.” And, “I fear the unknown of birth.”
But fear is not normal. We were not meant to fear birth. Even Dr. Cragin who coined the term “once a cesarean, always a cesarean” was a proponent of VBAC. Fear is common, but it does not determine the future, and THAT is what needs to be impressed upon women who have been scarred.
If you have had a cesarean birth, do not, I repeat DO NOT repress your feelings. Express them. Find someone who will listen, give yourself permission to feel, and do not ignore what your heart is telling you. Join an ICAN support group, get to know other women who have had VBACs, read and reread VBAC stories, visualize your body growing and giving birth normally, create a personal mantra that affirms your body, create birth art. And don’t forget to spend your current pregnancy loving your baby and your belly. Celebrate life, think positive energy, avoid criticism.
Your body is beautiful. Your body is healthy. Your body is strong. You CAN give birth.
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I have found a lot of great videos and blog posts this month and I’d love to share all of them with you, but honestly it might be overwhelming. However, the hot topic of the month seems to be the newest home birth meta-analysis released by one of Maine’s “finest” physicians. I could share plenty of my own thoughts on the issue, but many of my favorite bloggers have already spend considerable time on the issue, so instead I recommend that you read what they have to say.
Birth Activist – Sorry Guys, Homebirth is Still Safe
Wonderfully Made Bellies and Babies – Tricky Research
Jennifer Block – New AJOG Homebirth Study Political?
Midwifery Today – Response to Study Questioning Homebirth Safety
Science & Sensibility – A New Era of Home Birth Research
Science & Sensibility – Meta-analysis: the wrong tool (wielded improperly)
And, I am very excited to announce that Netflix now has Orgasmic Birth available for rent. If you have Netflix, I strongly recommend that you view this documentary. Where the Business of Being Born was primarily about what birth has become, Orgasmic Birth shows us how normal birth can be. A must see for all women!
Ever since I stumbled across this site, I had this nagging feeling like I really should be taking the time to make my own skin care products, or at least purchasing products which have the fewest toxic ingredients. This blog also made an impact and I encourage you to take a peek yourself.
Add to this our family’s growing desire to become more self-sufficient and you’ll understand why I decided to start by making our own diaper rash cream, affectionately referred to in our house as “butt paste”. And imagine my delight when I learned that my beloved comfrey plant could be used as the primary ingredient! Here, in brief, is how you can make your own.
The first step is to make an herbal oil using the herbs you want to include. I only used comfrey this time, but if you do your research you’ll discover many plants you can grow and find that are good for skin. Begin by harvesting enough of the plant material (leaves, flowers, root, etc.) to fill a jar after roughly chopping it. I used an 8oz jar I think. Next, fill the jar with oil right to the brim. I used olive oil, but you can also use coconut oil. Poke out air bubbles with a knife and add oil to finish it off before screwing on the top. Label, and store in a cool environment for six weeks, flipping the jar over every day.
At the end of six weeks put a sieve over another clean jar and pour the oil into the new jar, leaving the plant material in the sieve. Once you have most of the oil out, sqeeze the plant material to make sure you’ve gotten as much of the oil as you can. Until you are ready to use the oil, store it by wiping the brim, screwing on the top, labeling, and storing in a cool dark place. Some recommend pouring the oil into a new container after couple days when any water that might be present is sitting on the bottom of the first oil jar, but that is mostly beneficial if you plan to store it for a long time.
When you are ready to make your “butt paste”, pour oil into a sauce pan and warm on very low. Add shavings of beeswax and melt into the oil. I had to experiment with it a bit, the proportions I came up with was a cup and a quarter of oil to one and a half ounces of beeswax. This filled three small containers with the finished product, but if you want to do something smaller, I’d start with 3/4 cup of oil to 1 oz of beeswax, grated. Once it is melted, mix well and pour into appropriate containers. When it hardens you can decide if it’s the right consistency. If it’s not, melt it again and add more oil if it’s too hard, or more beeswax if it’s too soft. Oh yes, you can also add essential oils while melting the beeswax if you wish.
And there you have it! Organic and home grown butt paste for your precious baby’s bottom… that you can also use as a multipurpose cream for other skin ailments!
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After a client of mine was induced because her amniotic fluid level was low, I received my next Midwifery Today E-News in the mail (E-News 10:16 – HIV (July 30, 2008), and wished it had arrived a few days earlier. Here was the weekly question posted in the newsletter:
“You have too little water. The ultrasound shows oligohydramnios, which means decreased amniotic fluid. Your baby is in trouble! We’ll induce labor and try to avoid a cesarean.”A lot of women these days seem to be getting their labor induced because they have oligohydramnios, or too little amniotic fluid. How is this determined? And how accurate is the test that is done to show that this “problem” exists? Is it a real problem? If so, what causes it? — Anonymous
How true! I have been seeing SO many women who say their doctor wants to do a repeat ultrasound or just go ahead and induce on a certain day because it looks like the amniotic fluid is “a little low”. Unfortunately, when I first stumbled upon that situation, I didn’t realize just how innaccurate the test was, and couldn’t warn my client that she needed to think twice before agreeing to the induction. But seeing as most interventions carry risk, and many reasons for induction are invalid, I was not surprised when my suspicions about the diagnosis of borderline oligohydramnios were confirmed by the answer given to the question posted above:
These are words pregnant women often hear from well-meaning obstetricians. The only problem is that the reason given for interfering with nature has no medical basis. Too little water or too much water are associated with problems in the newborn. That is true. But it is not possible at this time to accurately estimate whether there is too little or too much water until after the baby is born. This is similar to the problem of estimating the fetus’s weight. The estimated fetal weight is most accurate for average size babies and not as accurate for very small and for very big babies. Those of course, are the babies for which the estimate is needed. A study in the November 1998 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the journal of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (Obstet Gynecol 92:5: 823–27) looked at 1038 women who had their amniotic fluid measured by ultrasound near the end of pregnancy. The technician measures, in centimeters, the length of the pockets of amniotic fluid that are seen on the screen and then takes an average of the some of the pockets surrounding the fetus. The pockets surrounding the fetus depend on its position at the time of measurement. The conclusion of this study is that indexing amniotic fluid by measuring the pockets of amniotic fluid—Amniotic Fluid Index (AFI)—is “a poor screening test” to identify infants at risk. AFI is simply not sensitive or accurate enough to be used as a diagnostic tool. This is the only tool that is used to date. The study mentioned that scientists are trying to develop a tool that will be useful for diagnosis of fetuses at risk. Unfortunately, sometimes women are told that they have too little water or too much water, without any ultrasound measurements, after the doctor palpates the uterus. Clearly, it is impossible to accurately assess that there is too much water or too little water by just feeling the abdomen. — Judy Slome Cohain
Apparantly it’s not enough for doctors to induce for convenience or because baby is “too big” or the other standard excuses given. Instead they feel compelled to continue digging up false premises for induction and cesarean when the best thing for that mother and baby are for them to be left alone.
If your doctor tells you that your amniotic fluid level is too low and calls for another ultrasound, start drinking extra water. Most of the time, if the technician is measuring accurately, a lack of maternal fluid is the reason the lack of amniotic fluid. If drinking more water is not enough to bring the AF level back up, it may be that the measurement is off, or your placenta is not functioning as well. But research has consistently shown that unless the AF level is VERY low or VERY high, the risks of induction are still far greater than the risks of low or high amniotic fluid.
Here is what Adventures in {Crunchy} Parenthood had to say on the topic:
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this subject, because the error lies not in the fear, but in the determination of a true problem. Low amniotic fluid levels are indeed cause for concern. However, all too often, for fear of liability, doctors will suggest induction for anything even borderline concerning, and without considering alternative treatments or testing first. If a pregnant woman comes in for measurement of her amniotic fluid, and it is found to be borderline or low, the next step should NOT be induction, but a confirmation of the first finding. The woman should be sent home, told to drink lots of water, as the amniotic fluid is constantly replenishing itself, and return the next day for another measurement by a different technician. If her fluid levels continue to be low, then she may consider the next step. That being said, if you are told that your fluid levels are low, and then are sent for induction in which the doctor artificially ruptures the membranes, you are being duped. It makes no sense to rob the baby of what they just said they were about to die from having so little of in the first place.
What I have found is most often, a woman will refuse induction on or around her due date. The doctor, for fear of liability, will order her to come in once or twice a week for non-stress tests (NST) or other such diagnostic tests, in which they measure her amniotic fluid. He will then tell her her fluid level is low, and they now have a medical reason to induce, and will promptly send her to the hospital. This tactic seems to be a way to convince a woman to do what the doctor tells her to by scaring her with medical-ese. (And in fact, is a recurring pattern amongst doctors who have a moderately educated woman on their hands. In general, I would be very wary of a doctor who “finds” some medical reason to perform the procedure you refused for lack of evidence in the first place.)
Do your research, ask questions, don’t be afraid to demand a second opinion. You know your body better than anyone and must take responsibility for decisions that will affect you and your baby for the rest of your lives.
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Came across this note by a midwife somewhere, perhaps Midwifery Today, or a yahoo group for midwives I’m a part of. Thought it might be useful for those who have had a postpartum hemorrhage before.
Utrophine is a uterine glandular developed to feed the uterus. When I have moms with babies close together, or a previously sluggish labor, I have them take it through the next pregnancy. Don’t know if it’s coincidental, but the next labor goes well and I’ve not seen a PPH.
Here’s another one from Midwifery Today’s E-News 11:19 regarding prolapsed uterus and postpartum hemorrhage.
I have found that Utrophin PMG and Ligaplex II, both Standard Process products, work very well for restoring the uterus after prolapse. I have a mother whose uterus prolapsed, actually coming inside out with severe hemorrhaging after her 11th birth. We used the two products (after resting the uterus for over a year between pregnancies) and her 12th and 13th births have been wonderful. She also was able to carry the babies much higher, whereas before she had carried them very low for at least three months before delivery.
Here is an article by a company who sells Utrophin PMG, along with more information about this supplement can protect your uterus. If you are interested in purchasing some for yourself, I think you will need a referral from a healthcare professional who has an account with Standard Process, which you can find through their website, or you may able to find some elsewhere by googling Utrophin PMG.
