Birthing Spirit

The AMA has attacked Ricki Lake for popularising Homebirth in her Doco: The Business of Being Born and she has replied along with Filmmaker Abbey Epstein and Jennifer Block, author of Pushed in an article called: Docs to Women: Pay no attention to Ricki Lake’s Homebirth and you really should read the whole thing, but I will start you off with a few excerpts:

Ladies, the physicians of America have issued their decree: they don’t want you having your babies at home with midwives.

We can’t imagine why not. Study upon study have shown that planning a home birth with a trained midwife is a great choice if you want to avoid unnecessary medical intervention…

…When healthy women are supported this way, 95% give birth vaginally, with hardly any intervention…

…The trouble is, they have no evidence to back up their safety claims. In fact, the largest and most rigorous study of home birth internationally to date found that among 5,000 healthy, “low-risk” women, babies were born just as safely at home under a midwife’s care as in the hospital. And not only that, the study, like many before it, found that the women actually fared better at home, with far fewer interventions like labor induction, cesarean section, and episiotomy…

But please do read the whole article.

Doula support reduces cesarean and epidural rates
Source: Birth 2008; 35: 92-7

Examining the perinatal effects of doula support for nulliparous middle-income
women accompanied by a male partner during labor and delivery.

MedWire News: The continued presence of a doula during labor significantly
reduces cesarean delivery rates and the need for epidural analgesia in middle-
and upper-class US women accompanied by their male partner or another family
member, researchers report.

They suggest that maybe fathers should not be expected to fulfill the role of
primary labor companion.

Susan McGrath and John Kennell from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland,
Ohio, USA, investigated the potential benefit during labor of an experienced
doula to provide both emotional and instrumental support. A total of 420 women
were randomly assigned to either have a doula present throughout labor in
addition to their male partner or no such additional support.

Women who had the support of a doula had a significantly lower cesarean
delivery rate than the control group, at 13.4 percent versus 25.0 percent. They were
also less likely to need epidural analgesia, at 64.7 percent versus 76.0 percent,
respectively.

Among women with induced labor, just 12.5 percent of women with a doula had a
cesarean delivery, compared with 58.8 percent of those without a doula.

All women and their male partners who received the support of a doula rated
their experience as positive.

“Continuous labor support by a doula is a risk-free obstetric technique
that could benefit all laboring women and should be made available in all maternity units” the researchers conclude.

Bumisehat Bali is in desperate need of some more space, they have mothers labouring in the office! And they are calling for a million mothers to donate $1 so that they can grow the birth centre so that they don’t have to turn mothers away.

Please take just a few minutes to go to the website and donate $1 (although if you are going to use Paypal they can only take $10 minimum, but what is $10 to you who gets to birth in your own home or a hospital rather than an office!)

Birthy Blessings,

Heatherx

C-sections are life-saving, major abdominal surgery and it’s great for those women and babies that need them that they have become so much safer. But this safety is relative (vaginal births are safer with better outcomes for mother and baby) and our c-sections rates are more than 30% which is way above the 5-15% deemed safe by the World Health Organisation.

Caesarean Fact Sheet

There is lots you can do to prevent an unnecessary c-section, the main one being - GET INFORMED about birth and hospital interventions. It is too late when you are actually in labour to be thinking about the implications of CTGs, inductions or epidurals. For links see my previous post and I highly recommend Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth

A couple of great doula articles out in the world this week, one about a Doula in Newfoundland and another teaching the Bradley Method in Michigan. But more and more Doulas in the news is what we like to see.

Also, Alexandra Pope was on Radio National this week talking about the safety of the pill and asking women to think twice about their contraception choices. She has a new book written with Jane Bennett which you can read about in my previous post on the Pill.

So beautiful…

I have been looking forward to hearing Michel Odent speak about the “ormones of lorve” for ages and I was not disappointed. The Birth, Breastfeeding and Beyond conference was just wonderful and each speaker was as equally inspiring as Michel.

Michel spoke first about c-sections and how ’safe’ and easy they have become, but that this ’safety’ is measured without taking into account the effects of c-sections on the quality and duration of breastfeeding. Of course references to research into the ‘ormones’ played a big part in his presentation although he gave too many wonderful examples for me to remember or jot down, but I am now armed with pages of references to peruse.

Later he did a whole presentation on oxytocin, which did you know was discovered in 1909? Me neither. First of course they discovered and researched the mechanical effects (speeded up labour, milk ejection reflex etc). But it took a long time for scientists to start looking at the behavioral effects. And synthetic oxytocin (used in inductions, “failure to progress” - don’t get me started on that one, and in the 3rd stage of labour for delivery of the placenta) doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier and so it has only the mechanical effects, not the lovey dovey behavioral ones.

Then came the really good stuff, which we have all read about or know instinctively, but Michel is right, if we are to get our message across, we need to be bilingual and speak in scientific language aswell as that of the heart.

So the scientists had discovered oxytocin receptors in the body, uterus etc, but in the 80s they found them in the brain. When these receptors in the brain were destroyed in rats, the rats could give birth, but they had no mothering instinct. Oxytocin is the hormone of love And Michel called it a ’shy’ hormone…ie there needs to be privacy for peak levels. He quoted some Swedish studies that showed that the highest levels of oxytocin EVER is in the period just after birth, which is essential not just for the physiological actions (delivery of placenta, milk ejection etc) but for that magical bonding and goey mother-love (my words, not his).

Peak levels of oxytocin cannot be reached if the mother is distracted in ANY way eg. cutting the cord, which makes her look at what’s happening rather than at her baby, or anyone talking to her, or my personal favourite, the partner calling people on his mobile. This brings her back to earth when she should be off the planet in mother-baby-bonding-land where nobody else can go, with peak levels of oxytocin (and other hormones - the ultimate cocktail, ah if we could bottle it) which has far-reaching influence on mothering, breastfeeding, baby development…you name it, this influences it.

What happens as a matter of routine in most hospitals at the moment, is that the mother is given an injection of synthetic oxytocin to “assist the delivery of the placenta” (we’ll save a full 3rd stage discussion for another day). If you introduce ANY synthetic hormone into the body, it blocks the release of the natural hormone, so what are we doing here? We’re blocking the release of the mother’s own “hormone of love” and replacing it with one that will still perform the mechanical functions of the natural hormone, but not the behavioral functions. I don’t think I need to spell that one out, it’s always always all about the love

Every step of the way, our modern birth culture and practice is disrupting the woman’s own hormonal symphony and the implications of this are beyond our comprehension. It will take decades for science to catch on to the heart and soul of what mothers and birthworkers intuitively know about this magical time.

As Michel said, this stuff is not just for those of us that were there at the conference, but “for all those interested in the future of humanity” because what are we doing to generations of people if we are messing with the “love” part?

After a question from the audience Michel also briefly touched on partners at birth and the often negative impact this can have. There are many many factors around this issue which could be a seminar in itself and before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, of course I recognise that not only are they an integral part but they can have a very positive influence also (sometimes they may be the only familiar, loving face a woman sees!). What Michel was referring to, was the contagiousness of adrenaline. It can be a terrifying and distressing experience for many partners and their adrenaline is transmitted and can negatively influence the delicate hormonal dance going on between mother and baby. Partners are EXPECTED to be there these days and they may not want to be. It’s not just women who need to be empowered to trust birth…and while I generally disagree with blanket policy, enforced confiscation of mobile phones in the birth room would be warmly welcomed!

A theme that kept coming up over and over again is that the women need to claim their power and not hand it over to ANYONE at anytime, this includes doctors, midwives, their mother, friends or societal expectations. Question EVERYTHING and apply the following questions to absolutely everything that your carers might suggest to help you make an informed decision. I learnt this the other night and I think it’s a great tool reminding you to use your BRAIN:

• Benefits - what are the benefits of this procedure/drug?
• Risks - what are the risks?
• Alternatives - what are the alternatives?
• Intuition - use it!
• No - what if I say No? (Many women who birth in a hospital don’t realise that when they say “this is hospital policy” you can still negotiate! You are a paying customer in that hospital with either your tax dollars or cash and at all times you can actually just say “no”)

Trust your body, birth and your ability to breastfeed and know whats best for you and your baby.

OK, so I got a bit carried away and this is a bit of a long post, so I will save the James McKenna co-sleeping stuff for another day. Resources below:

• WombEcology.com
• Primal Health Research
• Birth Psychology
• Ecstatic Birth: Nature’s hormonal blueprint for labour

Unbelievable! I just did a quick clipart search to look for some breastfeeding pics and there are all of 6 images, 3 of which are cartoons and none of which actually show a breast. I shouldn’t be so suprised and will remind my self of this quote that one of the midwives posted the other day:

“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars,
or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human
spirit.”

Helen Keller

I stumbled on this great blog post, worth a read

And while we’re talking c-sections, here are some links:

• International Cesarean Awareness Network
• Caesarean Awareness Network Australia
• CARES SA
• Birthrites
• vbac.com
• The VBAC pages (UK)
• Caesarean Voices

Link suggestions welcome

Writings of Jeff Foster

The reality is simple, obvious, present. Thoughts appear now: they are not “my” thoughts, they are just thoughts. They are not “my” problems, they are just problems. This is not “my” life, this is just life.

Life plays out, and I am both utterly immersed in it, and utterly absent. And these are not polar opposites: to be immersed fully, is to be fully absent.

Fully immersed, fully absent. And yet there is still the noise of traffic outside, still the click-click of the boiler switching on and off, still the sound of breathing, still the tap-tap of the rain at the windows, still the tiredness in the body, still the sensations, moment by precious moment…

And so, even though I am fully absent, life carries on.

Even though I am nowhere to be found, life cannot, will not cease, not now, not ever.

I have just added lots of links under a new title of “Advocacy” under Resources. I’m not going to go quoting Ghandi on you or anything…but if not YOU then WHO?

If you are in Australia, then go to the Joyous Birth website to find links to members and senators and some ideas on what to write. The American group Citizens for Midwifery have an advocacy page with tonnes of useful resources no matter which country you’re in or you can check out the other links I have added.

If you don’t know why or what we are advocating for you could have a look at the Maternity Coalition site.

Blessings,

Heatherx