Home Births on the Rise in Ohio and across Nation

There was a five percent increase in out-of-hospital births in 2005, says an analysis just out from the National Center for Health Statistics. Some of the states with big increase: Alabama, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The proportion of births outside hospitals held steady in 2006. That year, more than 38,000 babies (of more than 4 million babies born) came into the world somewhere other than a hospital.

There was a five percent increase in out-of-hospital births in 2005, says an analysis just out from the National Center for Health Statistics. The proportion of births outside hospitals held steady in 2006. That year, more than 38,000 babies (of more than 4 million babies born) came into the world somewhere other than a hospital.

Sixty-one percent of non-hospital births are supervised by midwives, most often at home but also at birthing centers that aren't attached to a hospital.

Sixty-one percent of non-hospital births are supervised by midwives, most often at home but also at birthing centers that aren't attached to a hospital.

See the City Mommy Directory for midwives, doulas and lactation consultants in the Columbus area: http://columbus.citymommy.com/?q=place/view/term/17

source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/03/home_births_rise.html

Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week

A sad story with an important message from Kristine, a friend of Heather's, over @ http://thespohrsaremultiplying.com

The Spohrs are Multiplying. CHD occurs in 1 in 125 babies in the United States. After your baby's born, ask for the pulse oximetry test.

here's Kristine & Cora's story:

Leaving the hospital as a first-time mom, I felt scared, but confident.

My daughter, Cora, scored a nine on both her Apgar tests, breezed past the hearing test, wasn’t jaundiced, and I bragged to the nurses, had already had several wet and dirty diapers (always a good sign, I’m told).

After she was born, my husband stayed with her when she went to the nursery for her first checkup. He came back with a huge smile on his face. “A perfect report,” he said with triumph.

We breathed a deep, and relaxing, sigh of relief. Our baby was here, and she was healthy. And, oh yes, she already had a new nickname. Mega Cheeks. The physician’s assistant (who had quite pinchable cheeks herself) took one look at Cora and with a huge grin announced, “She’s got some MEGA cheeks.”

We called her that for the next five days. My little Mega Cheeks.

Two days later and the time to go home as a family was here. I sat with Cora in the back of our minivan (yes, we had already switched to the mom mobile in anticipation of a new family). The scene was lifted straight out of a cheesy movie. My husband drove about 10 miles under the speed limit.

The next three days brought extreme and absolute happiness as Cora and I spent our days listening to music and snuggling.

One early morning I was breastfeeding her. I looked down and she was dead. Just like that. Happily suckling one moment, a brief look up to tell my husband something, look back down, and Cora is covered in blood, limp, pale and not breathing. Dead.

Of course, I was extremely confused. All those nurses and doctors at the hospital had reassured me she was the picture of good health.

I learned from the coroner my daughter’s heart was seriously malformed. She had a congenital heart disease, or CHD.

After the battery of tests at the hospital, how could they have forgotten to check her heart? Why did we leave the hospital thinking she was a perfectly healthy baby? How could this have slipped through? Her heart. With all the tests run in the hospital, surely one of them closely examined her heart?

****

Cora and I save lives now. I learned a simple pulse oximetry (a non-invasive, simple, cheap, and quick) test performed at 24 to 48 hours successfully screens for some CHDs, especially the most lethal. But, they aren’t routinely conducted on newborns. I hope that changes soon. I also learned currently no test can catch all congenital heart diseases. I’m working frantically to find a way to change that.

I was a bit embarrassed. I had to look up congenital heart disease when I hung up the phone with the coroner. I’d never heard of it. Congenital heart disease is the most commonly occurring birth defect. The numbers vary a bit by country and organization, but according to the March of Dimes, CHD occurs in 1 in 125 babies in the United States. Others say that number is closer to 1 in 100. Not all CHDs are as severe as Cora’s. Thousands of adults and children live with a CHD every day.

Heather reached out to me shortly after Cora’s death and virtually took me under her wing to comfort me as I started on the sad path of mourning my baby. I’m in awe of her fearless work to save babies and help mommies and thank her for helping me spread Cora’s Story. I picture us hand and hand fighting to save these little lives. I think somewhere Maddie took Cora under her wing, too. Even if they only meet through my imagination, I picture them playing, laughing, and sparkling in the sunlight.

February 7 to 14 is Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week. Please spend a few minutes learning more about CHD. I wish every day that I had taken a few moments while I was pregnant.

http://thespohrsaremultiplying.com/2010/02/for-cora/

Fertility Massage

If you are preparing to conceive, having a challenge conceiving or using Assisted Reproductive Technology...

Fertility Massage is specifically designed to help cleanse, balance and relax a woman's body, helping her to create a harmonious emotional, spiritual and physical environment for conception. This bodywork includes massage (deep tissue, abdominal, Swedish), foot reflexology and CranialSacral work .*

Conception is a dance of hormones that must align just so in order for the production, release, fertilization and implantation of the egg to happen. Stress greatly affects this hormonal process and can cause changes in ovulation, cycle length and tubal spasms. Those stressors may be major life-changing events, the day to day challenges of living in a busy world or the process of trying to have a baby.Studies have shown that massage lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Massage also improves circulation, lowers blood pressure, boosts the immune system, reduces depression and improves overall health. Improved circulation brings a more efficient flow of blood and lymph to carry away toxins, while bringing in oxygen and nutrients to all body tissues - including the reproductive organs. When all these bodily systems function at their optimum levels conception is more likely to occur.

Fertility Massage also focuses on releasing restrictions within the body such as adhesions or scar tissue. These adhesions often impinge on the fallopian tube's ability to function. Women who have had abdominal surgery, endometriosis, inflammatory disease or other abdominal/ reproductive health challneges are more likely to have adhesions. Abdominal massage and trigger point work can help release these restrictions. This brings improved blood flow to the pelvic basin and the reproductive organs.

Each massage session is tailored to a woman's specific needs and include a combination of massage, CranioSacral work*, foot reflexology, abdominal massage, Reiki and trigger point work.
The initial session includes a consultatioin/intake process and may run 90 - 120 minutes. Regular sessions run between 50 and 75 minutes. Fertility Massage is most effective when combined with a healthy diet and exercise.

For scheduling information, please go to mamas-body.com (don't miss the dash) or email me at
mamasbody@gmail.com


* see the June '09 post for info on CranioSacral Work for moms-to-be @
http://mamasbody.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html



photo: http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00230/sperm_230299t.jpg

Posted by Phoenix at 4:00 PM

Talking to Kids about Haiti, and where to donate

Ideas about what to say and do

~ Listen to what they have to say - what have they heard & seen so far? The aim is not to worry them with the devastating details, but to protect them from misinformation

~ Give them simple, clear answers. If you don't know the answer, say that and look for the answer together

~ Help them to feel safe, don't brush away their fears - help to dispel them

~ Give them creative outlets: draw pictures, pound on pots & pans, move their bodies like an earthquake

~ Show them where Haiti is on a world map

~ The earthquake in Haiti is an opportunity to for children to gain a sense of empathy for children from different parts of the world and cultures different from their own

~ It's important for children to understand that not all countries of the world are like America. Some people don't have sturdy homes or food or fresh water or clean clothes or toys. They've never see a TV or the internet

~ Children develop a sense of awareness, sensitivity and charity by knowing these things

~ Don't let them watch TV news coverage alone, sit with them, monitor their response and answer questions. Ask them how what they're seeing makes them feel.

~ Open, yet non-frightening discussions about how fragile life is, the responsibility of privelege, and charity are appropriate for older children

~ Do something concrete - gather a box of unused clothes and toys and take them to a donation center, collect change from family and friends and send to UNICEF, etc., participate in a local relief effort

~ Encourage a sense of humanity, awareness and empathy

Please consider donating to one of these organizations:

~ Red Cross = Text “HAITI” to “90999″ to donate $10

~ Doctors Without Borders = www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/

~ Donate to Partners in Health = www.donate.pih.org

~ Architecture for Humanity = www.architectureforhumanity.org/donate

~ charity:water = www.charitywater.org/donate

~ World Vision = you can pick exactly where you want your donation used http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10820

"The Business of Being Born"

The Business of Being Born grew out of director Abbie Epstein's connection to The Vagina Monologues actress Ricki Lake. Shocked at the results of her own research into the birth industry, Lake asked Epstein to make a film about childbirth.

The movie reveals how the medical profession excessively and detrimentally intervenes in women's pregnancy and labor. It addresses how many hospital births are motivated more by the hospitals' financial and legal considerations than patients' wishes, or even best interests. The film makes a compelling case for a return to traditional (and often safer) midwife-assisted births.

The film's website states: "Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business. Compelled to explore the subject after the delivery of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to question the way American women have babies.

The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal.

Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?"

The New York Times called the film "a passionate ground-level examination of home childbirth," and while "not overtly political, ( its) feminism is palpable but unspoken."

One of the issues the movie addresses is the common practice of having the birthing in the “lithotomy” position. This requires the mom to be lying on her back as she is encouraged to “push.” Anatomically, this shifts the pelvis into a narrowe postition, one that increases the chance of a forceps or a vacuum extraction delivery. Historically and anatomically, squatting is much less stressful for the mother although it makes it more difficult for the doctor to catch the baby.

The United States' infant-mortality rate is the second-highest in industrialized countries. “The Business of Being Born” suggests that this is one of the high costs of our blind trust in hospital technology.

"The Business of Being Born" is available from Amazon for under $10

photo: http://filmmakermagazine.com/directorinterviews/uploaded_images/The_Business_of_Being_Born_01-750478.jpg

Video Winners from Birth Matters/Virginia

Birth Matters/Virginia is a group of parents and professionals who support women and families in making informed choices about birth. BM/V works to empower women in discovering their inherent feminine strengths during the transformational experience of childbearing and birth.

Recently BM/V sponsored an international video contest about maternity and delivery care. The United States ranks 41st world-wide in maternal mortality, and the U.S. cesarean rate is over 30%! Now, more than ever, it is important for women to educate themselves about their birth options.

The video topics included personal birth stories, the role of doulas, midwifery care, cesarean sections, birthing in an Amish community and birth in Ireland. Each video carried a message about how changes are needed in the way our culture/s relate to pregnancy and birth. Nearly 40 videos were received, and they have had nearly 1 million views on YouTube.

The judges were all mothers, from various backgrounds, some working in the birth field professionally - all united by the vision of change. Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein from The Business of Being Born and Dr. Sarah Buckley (gentle choice adovocate and family physician) joined the judging.

Here are the winners, and links to their videos. (YouTube requires that viewers be at least 18 yrs. old.)

First prize went to Ragan Cohen of California for her piece "Prevent Ceasarean Surgery." Dr. Buckley called it "myth-busting."

http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?&next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DEZy0JPtubiQ

Laura Alvarez's "The Nature of Natural Birth." Her second place winner is a combination of valuable information and gorgeous photos of home births. Alvarez is from Wisconsin.

http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?&next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DOrIPtVEjVnc

"Misconception" by Becky Carey of Virginia won the Honorable Mention. The judges noted its conversational tone, original music and authentic women's wisdom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxRmVciXy-g


For more info, visit BirthMatters/Virginia here:

www.birthmattersva.org

photo: http://api.ning.com/files/WWr3SEnP8RZTimEbYIRBp5TMmLy4VZx2c9EOj023XbB85-HT9rcnoKjGFXn0209r46gqCozyfnfhWfHU4tHsK7kSp4S4YSQ5/pregnancy.jpg

Sugary colas increase risk of diabetes during pregnancy

Women who drink five or more sugar-sweetened colas a week are more likely to develop diabetes when they become pregnant, according to a new study. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the most common complications of pregnancy and affects about 4 percent of all pregnant women, according to the American Diabetes Association. Though its cause is unknown, scientists know that women with the condition develop insulin resistance, causing an increase in blood-glucose levels.

A team led by Dr. Liwei Chen of Louisiana State University studied 13,475 women who are part of the Nurses’ Health Study II, an ongoing project involving more than 116,000 female nurses. The women, who were 22 to 44 when the study began, became pregnant during the next 10 years and 860 were subsequently diagnosed with GDM. Women were asked how often they consumed Coke, Pepsi, or other colas with sugar (with and without caffeine); and about their consumption of diet colas and other drinks.

About one-third of the women reported drinking 5 or more sugar-sweetened colas a week, and they were 22 percent more likely to develop GDM than women who had fewer than 3 sugar-sweetened colas a month. There was no significant increase in risk from consumption of diet colas or other drinks. “Based on these findings, I would advise patients to stay away from sugar-sweetened beverages’’ if they are trying to get pregnant, said Dr. Paul Robertson, professor of medicine at the University of Washington and president of the American Diabetes Association.

BOTTOM LINE: Women who regularly consume large quantities of sugar-sweetened colas before pregnancy are more likely to develop gestational diabetes.

CAUTIONS: Cola consumption wasn’t tracked during pregnancy, but Chen said other studies suggest that pregnant women don’t change dietary routine.

source: http://www.boston.com/community/moms/articles/2009/12/07/sugary_colas_increase_risk_of_diabetes_during_pregnancy/

photo: http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ZdyW1sSvWQJvpM:http://sylviagarza.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/pop-cans.jpg