Date Night

At Your Cervix is one of my favorite birth blogs. It's written by a registered nurse who currently works on a L&D unit at a large teaching hospital. She's also in-training to become a midwife. Very interesting stuff, from a perspective that I won't have from personal experience.

She was recently invited to guest blog on another blog, and wrote "How to Take Charge of Your Labor and Delivery". Two things that she wrote in this post really stand out for me:

"Dads: what can you do to help Mom? Go to childbirth classes together. Consider it a date night before the baby arrives."

What a lovely idea! If a couple decides to do four classes with me, that's four date nights. Maybe they'll go out to eat afterwards, depending on time and finances. Or maybe they'll go for a nice long walk and talk. All of a sudden, what may have seemed a bit like a chore-commitment is a springboard for a really nice day together!

Also:

Why do people date? To get to know each other! And getting to know each other's ideas and preferences and fears around labor and birth is such an important part of the process.

Do dates cost money, at least some of the time? Yes. And so do birth classes. But for the cost of a night on the town, with a nice dinner and movie, a couple could attend birth classes that teach them life-long skills... classes that help them during an exciting and sometimes challenging time of life as individuals and as a couple... they get to explore, with each other, their ideas and dreams around meeting the life they created.

Dates sometimes take some planning, and some setting-aside-of-time during hectic daily life. So do birth classes. But is a date worth it? Yes. And so are birth classes!

Why?

Well, that's the other thing about At Your Cervix's guest post. She wrote, "Planning ahead and knowing what you might expect are important to your labor and delivery experience" followed by questions about the routine management of labor in most hospitals: fetal monitoring for how long? getting out of bed? IVs? Etc.

Of course it's important for moms & partners to know what the routine is at the birth place they chose. It's not good to think your date is to an elegant restaurant and then the car stops at McDonalds! But before women can choose where they want to give birth, they need to know their options! In order to know what we want, we need information.

Which takes me back to childbirth classes... independent childbirth classes to be specific.

If you're in the Central Maine area, and are having a baby - let's set up some date nights! They may be the most life-changing, important dates you ever go on.

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
Mamas & Muffins: New Moms Group

More on Eating, Drinking and Labor

This is just a quick post to highlight an article in today's New York Times Health section (by the way, I love getting this free, weekly, via email). The article is called, "In Labor, a Snack or a Sip?", and in it, an obstetrician is quoted giving the same example situation I give in my classes:

'“My own view of this has always been that you could say one shouldn’t eat or drink anything before getting into a car on the same basis, because you could be in an automobile accident and you might require general anesthesia,” said Dr. Marcie Richardson, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in Boston, who was not connected to the new study.'

I wonder if more people need emergency general anesthetic after a car accident or during a Cesarean birth?

I imagine this article in the Times was prompted by the recent Cochrane review of the seven-decades-long ban on eating and drinking in labor enforced by many (but not all) hospitals. The review, Restricting Oral Fluid Intake and Food Intake During Labour is available online.

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
Mamas & Muffins: New Moms Group

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's another way to celebrate: go on a cyber-journey... beginning at "Celebrate Women's Real Birth Wisdom"!

Wishing you all peace and strength and joy, mothers and mothers-to-be.

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
New Mothers Support Circle

Exciting Birth Cyber Event!

Spreading the word:

Join Independent Childbirth in a birth community cyber event next week!

All you have to do is blog about birth wisdom whether it's refuting an obstetrical myth or sharing a birth story of a woman who experienced spontaneous birth outside 'textbook' birth (i.e. a posterior birth, cesarean prevention, VBAC, twins, international birth voices are of great need, etc.). In your post link back to the independent childbirth blog post on birth wisdom (it will be on the site tomorrow).

When you complete your post send us a link to it to view it for inclusion in the IC blog post. In addition, if you visit those posts that are listed on the IC blog post and leave comments on a couple that inspire you to comment we'll send you a 'button' for your blog that you may wish to include on your blog.

Many of us have readers who follow our blogs but may not be aware of other blogs that also have great information to share. Together we are an awesome resource is what the IC birth wisdom cyber event is about. The birth community is global yet we, what we know, are/is all available wherever a mother resides.

If you are interested in joining the event please email us offlist at births @ comcast dot net. Please feel free to forward this email to other birth groups.

Thank you in advance for sharing what you know and inspiring mothers in your neighborhood and "ours."

Dale
www.independentchildbirth.wordpress.com
www.independentchildbirth.com

I'll have my International Birth Week post up tomorrow! Happy reading!!

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
New Mothers Support Circle

Birth: Assuming Control

The word assume has several meanings - three that I want to highlight here:

Assume can mean to take for granted or without proof; suppose. Clearly, this is the definition the well-known quip "assume makes an ass out of u and me" comes from.

Assume can also mean to take upon oneself; undertake, as in assuming responsibility for a task.

And, assume can mean to appropriate; seize; usurp - when a dictator assumes power, for example.

What does this have to do with birth? I was enjoying Anna Quindlen's back-page opinion article a few weeks ago in Newsweek, Dollars and Sense, when that phrase popped out at me and has been stuck in my head ever since. She was discussing how few of us understand the complexities of our financial world,

"the great unspoken issue behind the tanking of the market, the mess in subprime mortgages and the bailout bill is that Americans don't understand the basics of the economy. Faced with financial instruments increasingly arcane and complex and financial institutions increasingly faceless and vast, most outsourced knowledge and responsibility to those they assumed were ethical and responsible. The banker, the broker, the rating agencies: they would look out for us."

As I read this article, I was struck by how this whole article could also apply to birth. And towards the end of the article, she wrote

"Americans have given up understanding much of what passes for daily life . . . But there's also a precedent for assuming control, even of complex issues. Look at the way many Americans deal with health care today compared with a generation ago. Once doctors, like financial managers, were seen as keepers of a mysterious flame and patients as people who should simply do what they were told. Today many more patients think of themselves as partners and work hard to educate themselves about their health and their ailments before having surgery or taking medications."

Is this true, do you think: have American women "assumed control" of birth?

Unfortunately, I see and hear and read many, many more stories about women assuming (first definition) that they have control and many, many more stories about doctors and medwives assuming control (last definition). If I could make only one wish for my clients, it would be for them to assume control (second definition): not to assume that they can control birth, but that they would assume responsibility for making the choices that are right for themselves and their babies, with caring, responsive doctors and midwives to help them.

I want to share a blog with you that I think is absolutely amazing, called Nursing Birth. It's written by a labor & delivery nurse, and she's started a series called "Don't Let This Happen to You" because, as she says, "Throughout my time as a labor and delivery nurse at a large urban hospital in the Northeast, I have mentally tallied up a list of patients and circumstances that make me go “WHAT!?! Are you SERIOUS!? Oh come ON!”

Women need to read these stories and take them seriously. Just like any other aspect of life, don't just assume you're in control: assume control. What does that mean? Learn about birth and think about your options. Interview care providers and visit hospitals and birth centers. Find a good fit. If you find yourself in a situation that is not a good fit, make changes! Find support. Take classes (email me if you're in Maine!). Reflect, discuss, learn, practice what you've learned. Rehearse. Discuss some more. Assume control!

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
New Mothers Support Circle

The Birth Survey in Maine!

Did you know that The Birth Survey now has information about Maine??! The survey results are searchable by doctor/midwife and hospital/birth center/homebirth. The best way to find information for our state is to type in your zip code, and select the distance in miles you are able to travel.

Currently, there are only a few reviews for some of our local hospitals and some of our local doctors and midwives. Of course the information is still very well worth looking at! But how awesome would it be if it were even more complete?!! If you've had a baby in the past three years, and would like to help expecting families make an informed decision about the care they choose, consider sharing your experience! The survey only takes about thirty minutes to complete and is completely anonymous.

I would particularly encourage anyone who has birthed at our state's only independent, free-standing birth center (The Birth House), or with a homebirth midwife to share their experience, because there aren't any reviews yet, and I know there have been some fantastic experiences!

I would also particularly encourage anyone who has had care that they were not happy with to complete a survey. I think the tendency can sometimes be to "not make trouble" or take some of the blame for a negative experience on ourselves, and therefore decide not to share the experience... but I think it's crucial for as many women as possible to complete surveys, whether it's to recommend a care provider or location, or to express dissatisfaction with a care provider or location.

"Our goal is to give women a mechanism that can be used to share information about maternity care practices in their community while at the same time providing practitioners and institutions feedback for quality of care improvement efforts."

"We are dedicated to improving maternity care for all women. We will do this by 1) creating a higher level of transparency in maternity care so that women will be better able to make informed decisions about where and with whom to birth and 2) providing practitioners and hospitals with information that will aid in evaluating and improving quality of care."

Objective 1
Annually obtain maternity care intervention rates on an institutional level for all fifty states.

Objective 2
Collect feedback about women’s birth experiences using an online, ongoing survey, The Birth Survey.

Objective 3
Present official hospital intervention rates, results of The Birth Survey, and information about the MFCI in an on-line format.

Objective 4
Increase public awareness of differences among maternity care providers and facilities and increase recognition of the MFCI as the gold standard for maternity care.

I am so excited by this project, and the difference it could make for birthing mothers and their new babies! I urge you to participate by either spreading the news, or completing a survey!!

I'll leave you with this inspiring thought from Christiane Northrup:

"Imagine what might happen if the majority of women emerged from their labor beds with a renewed sense of the strength and power of their bodies and their capacity for ecstasy through giving birth. When enough women realize that birth is a time of great opportunity to get in touch with their true power, and then they are willing to assume responsibility for this, we will reclaim the power of birth and help move technology where it belongs--in the service of birthing women, not as their master."

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
New Mothers Support Circle

Links!

Thought I'd share:

If you live in central Maine, there's a great guide to low-cost or free (mostly free) places to be active, courtesy of Healthy Communities. There are trails, parks & playgrounds, schools, and local resources listed for Augusta, Chelsea, Farmingdale, Fayette, Gardiner, West Gardiner, Hallowell, Litchfield, Manchester, Mount Vernon, Pittston, Randolph, Readfield, Richmond, Wayne, Windsor, and Winthrop. Places to be Active

The April Peaceful Birth Project newsletter asks

"How are women making these fundamental choices? In a technology worshiping environment where can women find the information and support they need to make knowledge-based choices?

How can that first cesarean be prevented?"

And then goes on to provide some great resources to help families start answering those questions.

Nicole at Bellies and Babies wrote a post this past week called "Vagina Anyone?" that made me laugh and squirm at the same time ("ta-ta"?!!), and goes back to the post I wrote recently re: the impact of language.

The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog reviewed Your Best Birth, which I immediately put on my Amazon wishlist.

Kathy at Woman to Woman Childbirth Education wrote "Nothing by Mouth?" - a clear look at the history of "it's not safe to eat or drink during labor" rule and then links and explanations re: whether this standard routine is evidence-based (short answer: it's not!). Here's more on this topic by Rixa, at Stand and Deliver, "Eating and Drinking during Labor".

And finally, the juiciest for last, Navelgazing Midwife on "Freebirthing", the recent show on Discovery Channel.

Enjoy!

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
New Mothers Support Circle

Help from Good Guide

I know I'm not the only one who is sometimes overwhelmed by the number of choices available at grocery stores, health food stores, and pharmacies. Not to mention online options! For example, I would stand in front of the rows of bread, reading labels - which ones were 100% whole grain? which had no HFCS? how much protein per slice? About six months ago, I decided it would just be easier to bake my own bread, which I've been doing since. So that solved that decision - but what about body wash for the kids? dishwashing soap? etc & etc!!!

Well, the Mothering e-newsletter included a link to Good Guide this week and wow, let me tell you - I'm impressed. It rates products on a variety of scales, including the product's effectiveness, its ingredients, and how the company produces it. It also has links to buying products online.

If you find yourself picking up product after product to read labels, this website might simplify the process for you.

If you do go and look, could you please leave a comment about the products you looked up & what you learned? The only thing about this new site is it seems like it could be a little addictive! Maybe we could save each other some time if we compiled some information here...

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
New Mothers Support Circle

New to the Sidebar: Popular Posts

I've been blogging here for a little less than a year: my first post was on April 30th, 2008. I am amazed at the amount of traffic this blog has produced, though I realize it is small peanuts in bigtime blogging world.

Back in March 2008, I had 380 unique visitors, averaging 14 visitors a day. 86 people visited my Class Information page. I'd been thinking about writing a blog, but hadn't really thought seriously about it. Then my sister Michelle went to the Midwifery Today conference in 2008. She went to one a session on marketing and came back to tell me how much of impact blogging can have on web traffic, and I decided to do it. And my web traffic increased enormously: for February 2009, I've had 1620 unique visitors, averaging 95 visitors a day. 138 people have visited my Class Information page this month.

And, of course, lots of people have accessed information from previous blog entries as well. My most popular blog posts seem to divide into two groups: those about prenatal nutrition and those about birth choices.

I've decided to link to these popular posts on the side bar, and here they are in this post, too:

Good Breakfasts

Choosing Prenatal Vitamins

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Eating Protein in Pregnancy

Meals to Freeze



Offered Midwife-led Care

Choosing a Care Provider & Place

What are My Choices?

Where is Birth Going?

My most popular searches are things like "breakfast for pregnant women" and "graphic clips of vaginal childbirth" and "how to choose a prenatal vitamin".

There's always a search or two on colostrum and tandem nursing, and I'm so glad that maybe my post Tandem Nursing and Colostrum will be useful to a pregnant mom who continues breastfeeding. I just read a Mothering Q&A on colostrum & tandem nursing which might be helpful too.

And ones about specific foods: is Cesear salad okay? eggs benedict? a butter roll?

And a weird and/or disturbing one like: "birth babies - po*n" (!!)

Finally, there's a bunch about Maine, where to find birth classes, midwives, doulas, breastfeeding support. I'm thrilled that someone might connect with a midwife or doula or breastfeeding group that will help them on their birth & parenting journey by visiting my site.

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine
New Mothers Support Circle

Three Great Movies

Homebirth/Waterbirth of Judah Darwin

Just beautiful!



Seen on Woman to Woman Childbirth Education, accompanied by a thoughtful post on What Does Natural Birth Sound Like?


Women Talk about Natural Birth

From the Real Women, Real Birth, Real Options blog:




Painless Childbirth Trailer

Trailer introducing Painless Childbirth by Giuditta Tornetta



I don't agree with everything in this trailer - I personally don't agree with implicitly or explicitly promising a woman a painless childbirth - but it's a beautiful trailer and offers a very interesting perspective. I'm excited to read the book.

Christina @ Birthing Your Baby
Independent Childbirth Classes for Central Maine