Inspiring Quotes

We are made to do this work and it's not easy...I would say that pain is part of the glory, or the tremendous mystery of life. And that if anything, it's a kind of privilege to stand so close to such an incredible miracle.
-Simone in Klasson 2001

Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile…initially scared me to death.
-Betty Bender

I think one of the best things we could do would be to help women/parents/families discover their own birth power, from within themselves. And to let them know it's always been there, they just needed to tap into it.
-John H. Kennell, MD

We have a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong.
-Laura Stavoe Harm

The whole point of woman-centered birth is the knowledge that a woman is the birth power source. She may need, and deserve, help, but in essence, she always had, currently has, and will have the power.
-Heather McCue

Just as a woman's heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.
-Virginia Di Orio

Mothers need to know that their care and their choices won't be compromised by birth politics.
-Jennifer Rosenberg

The wisdom and compassion a woman can intuitively experience in childbirth can make her a source of healing and understanding for other women.
-Stephen Gaskin

There is power that comes to women when they give birth. They don't ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it.
-Sheryl Feldman

There is no way out of the experience except through it, because it is not really your experience at all but the baby's. Your body is the child's instrument of birth.
-Penelope Leach

I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude.
-Judith M. Knowlton

If I don't know my options, I don't have any.
-Diana Korte

Q&A

With Dr. Michel Odent. Very interesting. In here he even says "In an ideal world, we should not contrast home birth and hospital birth. Yes, this is from a doctor. When an effective communication has been established between the home birth midwife and the obstetrical team, it should be possible to combine what the privacy of the home can offer and what the hospital facilities can offer."

http://www.waysofthewisewoman.com/dr-michel-odent-notes-obgyn-studies.html

Recommended Childbirth Books

If you are looking for a great book to prepare you for pregnancy and childbook, are some that I recommended. Not that other really popular one that starts with the words, "What to..." Not that it's a bad book - it's a good book. But if you want a really great education not only on pregnancy but especially CHILDBIRTH, you should check out these books. Besides, if you don't know your options, then you don't have any... :) I'm all about "choices in childbirth."

Interventions

I am grateful for medical technology... for doctors and medicine. But I feel that we have to be careful. I want a doctor and the medical technology to help me if I have a complication! To save lives. But I don't need medical technology if everything is going fine on it's own. Again, childbirth is not a medical proceedure. It's a very natural occurance.

Interventions Gone Awry

One of the most frustrating things for a nurse or midwife who supports normal birth is the overuse of obstetric interventions. Most interventions were designed to help with complications of childbirth, but have become so commonplace that they are routinely used for no reason at all.

Oxytocin augmentation or induction: According to the CDC’s 2005 report, 474 out of every 1000 women received oxytocin augmentation or induction of labor! I find it incredible that nearly half of women giving birth in the US today are assessed as being unable to begin or complete labor safely on their own. I believe the overuse of inductions and augmentations is the primary cause fetal distress and cesarean sections in the United States today.

One such situation that comes to mind involved Debbie (not her real name), who was in labor with her first baby. The first stage of labor had lasted only four hours, and now she was pushing. The nurse kept checking her and urging her to push harder and longer, as she was not progressing as rapidly as the staff thought she should. The physician ordered oxytocin (Pitocin) to be added to her IV to make her contractions longer, stronger, and closer together. During the next half hour, Debbie worked hard with her contractions. Suddenly, the baby’s heart rate plummeted to 50 beats per minutes, and despite position changes and oxygen, it did not improve. Nurses were rushing Debbie to the operating room for a c-section, when it was noticed that her IV bag containing the oxytocin was running at full speed, rather than the very slow drip that had been ordered. The baby was quickly delivered and did well, but the accidental overdose of oxytocin undoubtedly cause an unnecessary c-section for this mother and baby.

Amniotomy: Breaking the water is done in every labor where the water does not break spontaneously on its own. There are occasions when breaking the bag of waters is necessary–for instance, if the baby is born with the bag intact, it must be broken so that the baby can begin the breathe air. Occasionally, breaking the water will speed the delivery, but statistically it only shortens labor & birth by about 40 minutes. That forty minutes carries a high price for many women. Ellie (not her real name) was in very early labor. She came to the hospital with mild contractions about 10 minutes apart. The nurse checked her cervix and found her to be only one centimeter dilated, and the baby’s head still high in Ellie’s pelvis. The nurse wanted to send Ellie home to rest and walk and await active labor, but the physician preferred not to take the chance that she would come back in labor that night. He decided to break her water, even though the baby’s head was not engaged in the pelvis, and with the cervix open only one centimeter, the physician could not know if he had the amnihook (tool for breaking the water) in a safe position. Moments after he broke Ellie’s water, the baby’s umbilical cord swept down in front of the baby’s head. As the baby engaged in the pelvis, his head compressed the umbilical cord, cutting off his circulation. Ellie was rushed to surgery in a knee-chest position, riding through the halls on a gurney with the nurse’s hand in her vagina, elevating the baby’s head off the umbilical cord. Another completely unnecessary emergency, cause by an unnecessary intervention.

Operative vaginal delivery: This term refers to any use of forceps or vacuum to speed the vaginal birth of a baby. Fern was in labor with her second baby. Labor had progressed normally, but as Fern pushed with each contraction, the baby’s heart rate would drop for a few seconds before returning to its baseline rate. This is completely normal, and only becomes problematic if the heart rate is unable to return to normal. The physician, however, was concerned that the heart rate would at some point not return to normal, and decided to deliver the baby with a vacuum. The baby did not come out easily, and subsequently was found to have a subgaleal hemorrhage which caused bleeding into the brain followed by death.

What if this birth had been managed with the goal of non-intervention unless necessary? There could have been three possible outcomes:

-The baby would have continued to descend and the heart rate would have continued to return to normal between contractions, and baby would have been born without the hemorrhage.
-The baby would have stopped descending at some point, and it would have become apparent that he was not going to fit through the pelvis. As long as the heart rate remained reassuring, more time could have safely been allowed for this to occur.
-The baby’s heart rate would have become pathologic, indicating the need for cesarean birth.

Instead, a provider’s impatience with the process of labor and fear of the normal, physiologic changes in fetal heart rate during pushing led to this baby’s death.

In these cases, the hospital failed to be a “safety net” in case of disaster, and instead became the cause of the disasters.

Doula at a Cesarean?

Many women who are facing a Cesarean Section—scheduled or otherwise—may wonder whether a doula can be helpful at their birth. The answer is yes!

Doulas attend all kinds of births: unmedicated, medicated, VBAC, and Cesarean, at home, at a birth center, or in a hospital. Part of a doula's role is to create a bond with the mother so as to provide reassurance and comfort. As you meet with your doula in the weeks leading up to your birth, you will develop a friendship that will make your doula an ideal person to have at your side during a stressful situation. A C-section is major surgery that is likely to cause anxiety or distress, especially when an emergency C-section is ordered, but also when a C-section is scheduled ahead of time.

A doula can inform you of some of the aspects of the surgery, stay by your side to calm and comfort you during surgery, and be with you afterward to help with breastfeeding. In the case of an emergency Cesarean, if the baby needs to be quickly treated for medical problems, your doula can stay with you, allowing your husband or birth partner to go with the baby. If the baby needs to stay in the NICU, the doula can act as a link between the mother in recovery and the baby in the NICU, bringing positive news to the mother.

Another very important role a doula can play in a Cesarean birth is talking about the birth with you, helping to fill in gaps and holes in the birth story, helping you process the experience and resolve negative emotions. This can be especially important when a woman has planned to have a vaginal birth and ended up with an emergency C-section. Seeing all your plans fall apart in the case of an emergency can make you feel out of control and can bring up feelings of failure that you were not able to proceed with the birth as you planned. A doula can help you understand the necessity of what happened, talk through parts of the birth that frustrated, angered, or frightened you, and leave you with an overall feeling of positivity toward your birth.

A postpartum doula can also be especially helpful in the case of a Cesarean birth. The recovery from a C-section is long and difficult. A postpartum doula can help with laundry, cooking, cleaning, and baby care, allowing you to get the rest necessary to recover and to focus on bonding with your baby and establishing breastfeeding. A postpartum doula can also help manage visitors, ensuring you get the rest and alone time you need to recover as quickly as possible.If you're having a planned C-section, or find yourself in the position of needing an emergency C-section, remember that a doula can still be a friend, comfort, help, and advocate for you, helping to make your birth a positive experience and a happy memory to carry with you for the rest of your life.

-Written by Missy www.dreambirthdoulas.blogspot.com