Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
What is a doula? Survey
Not in the Bay Area and able to attend the first meetings? You can be apart of the organization anyway!
Please take this quick survey to help us make What is a doula? an amazing, informative, and inspirational group!
Click here to take survey
Please take this quick survey to help us make What is a doula? an amazing, informative, and inspirational group!
Click here to take survey
What is a doula? The non-profit
I'm excited to be starting the non-profit, What is a doula?--something I've been dreaming of for a long while now.
The organization will serve as a tool to educate the wider public on the role and benefits of a doula, as well as promoting education on options in childbirth.
What is a doula? is still in it's infancy, but you can already follow some of the "makings of..." sorts of things and start to get some great info on resources and options through the What is a doula? tumblr and twitter accounts (#Whatisadoula)!
If you're interested in becoming part of the movement, email me at empoweredbirthdoulas@gmail.com
The organization will serve as a tool to educate the wider public on the role and benefits of a doula, as well as promoting education on options in childbirth.
What is a doula? is still in it's infancy, but you can already follow some of the "makings of..." sorts of things and start to get some great info on resources and options through the What is a doula? tumblr and twitter accounts (#Whatisadoula)!
If you're interested in becoming part of the movement, email me at empoweredbirthdoulas@gmail.com
What is a doula, anyway?
A doula is a non-clinical birth attendant who is there to help guide you through pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period by offering physical and emotional support. Doulas provide a range of comfort measures, such as massage, counter pressure, reading affirmations, etc., to support you and your partner in labor.
A doula is there by your side for the entirety of labor, regardless of length and outcome. You have the power to choose your doula, interviewing her in the last few months of pregnancy, and meeting with her two or three times before you are due and usually two to three more times in postpartum. For many women, having this level of support made a world of a difference in their birth experiences.
Studies have shown that women who choose to have a doula present during labor:
* tend to have shorter labors with fewer complications and interventions;
* request pain medication less often;
* have lower incidence of operative delivery including c-section;
* and have more positive opinions of their birthing experiences.
* request pain medication less often;
* have lower incidence of operative delivery including c-section;
* and have more positive opinions of their birthing experiences.
Having a doula can help ease your tensions and fears around birth, physically as well as emotionally. During prenatal visits and throughout labor, a doula can demonstrate techniques for relieving pain, calming and massaging away tension and fear, and reassuring the mother of her awesome ability to deliver her baby safely. Though many women choose to have a doula to assist them through natural (un-medicated) births because of this strong support, this service is not exclusive to women who have made that particular decision. All women can benefit from a knowledgeable support person who remains with them through the prenatal and postpartum weeks ahead.
Doulas are also great support for your partner, too! Some women are told that doula will replace the partner by making him feel unnecessary. To the contrary, doulas are there to ensure both mother and partner are able to fully participate in the labor and enjoy this amazing experience with the guidance of a professional labor assistant. Many partners feel that they were able to be fully included in the birthing process and felt better informed of what was happening because of the additional prenatal education and this constant support.
There are so many choices to be made in the journey to motherhood and doulas are there to educate and empower you to make meaningful decisions that work best for you, your partner, and your baby.
In the prenatal visits, doulas educate expectant families of their options, the benefits and potential outcomes of some standard procedures as well as helping discuss the alternatives. They can recommend books, movies, articles, and professionals in your community who specialize in certain areas of pregnancy and birth to help better guide you through your decisions, too. A doula will never make a medical decision for you and regardless of the decisions your choose to make, a doula stays by your side to support you through your birth.
Friday, October 22, 2010
MOM vs. MOM
This past July, my new idol, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-California), brought before Congress the Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services (MOMS) For the 21st Century Act. This groundbreaking proposal to vastly change the way maternity care is handled in the U.S. has the potential to change the lives of millions of women, making childbirth safer and more satisfying for all expectant moms.
This act has been supported by Amnesty International, who earlier this year released a shocking report on the rising maternal mortality rate and the overall disparity in care amongst racial and socioeconomic groups. The MOMS Act specifically addresses these issues, while promoting an overall change in maternity care to a more holistic model. The bill proposes an increase in midwife-attended births as well as a broad-reaching educational campaign to educate women on their options in childbirth.
Not surprisingly, ACOG has jumped in with a bill with an almost identical name, with similarly worded content that nonetheless, would keep the level of maternity care in the U.S. at its current, dismal status. The bulk of this initative is to focus on research on why there has been a rise in complications in pregnancy and thus the rise in interventions, citing obesity, and poor record taking as some of the main causes. As PushGirl Friday of the Unnecesarean put it, it's, "[b]ecause as we all know, the problem with maternity care in the US is with the women who receive it, not with the care they receive," and if you look at the slew of recent studies regarding these trends--the "Too Posh to Push" meta study in the UK and the flurry of obesity studies--it seems like the obstetrical community really does look to the women first to find the problem.
Midterm elections are fast approaching and what better time to write or call your representative and tell them that you hope they will support Rep. Roybal-Allard in her effort to reform maternity care. I promise I'll have a template letter written by early next week, but an impassioned phone call will certainly serve more for the cause than any formal letter I can muster. Visit OpenCongress.org to find your local Reps and send them a letter directly from the site!
This act has been supported by Amnesty International, who earlier this year released a shocking report on the rising maternal mortality rate and the overall disparity in care amongst racial and socioeconomic groups. The MOMS Act specifically addresses these issues, while promoting an overall change in maternity care to a more holistic model. The bill proposes an increase in midwife-attended births as well as a broad-reaching educational campaign to educate women on their options in childbirth.
Not surprisingly, ACOG has jumped in with a bill with an almost identical name, with similarly worded content that nonetheless, would keep the level of maternity care in the U.S. at its current, dismal status. The bulk of this initative is to focus on research on why there has been a rise in complications in pregnancy and thus the rise in interventions, citing obesity, and poor record taking as some of the main causes. As PushGirl Friday of the Unnecesarean put it, it's, "[b]ecause as we all know, the problem with maternity care in the US is with the women who receive it, not with the care they receive," and if you look at the slew of recent studies regarding these trends--the "Too Posh to Push" meta study in the UK and the flurry of obesity studies--it seems like the obstetrical community really does look to the women first to find the problem.
Midterm elections are fast approaching and what better time to write or call your representative and tell them that you hope they will support Rep. Roybal-Allard in her effort to reform maternity care. I promise I'll have a template letter written by early next week, but an impassioned phone call will certainly serve more for the cause than any formal letter I can muster. Visit OpenCongress.org to find your local Reps and send them a letter directly from the site!
Friday, October 15, 2010
The 10 month-old fetus
An interesting article from our neighbors up north:
Lobbying grows for the 10 month-old baby
Just how long does it take to make a human baby? Nine months is the going answer, but a small lobby of women believes that it’s more like 10 months and beyond.
Guardian columnist Viv Groskop gave the debate some gravitas with her Oct. 1 story of giving birth to her third child 20 days after his due date. “My first two babies were 15 days late,” she wrote. “But a day shy of week 43? That is virtually record-breaking – and, some would say, slightly mad.”
Generally, a baby is considered full-term when it reaches a gestational age of 37 weeks. A “post-term” baby is one that been gestating up to or beyond 42 weeks...
Read more
I've heard a lot of women tell me that their due date is not what they think it should be, knowing for sure the date they conceived, but they still go along with the doctor's estimates. When they reach 38 weeks, they start being pressured into having their membranes swept or being scheduled for inductions. I have to think that this standard adjustment is part of why I see so many women who are not at all in labor walking to their hospital rooms while I'm attending other births. Are they all considered "late"? And are the ones who are told that they're "overdue", are they at 38 weeks? 42? 40 and 3 days?
I was a three week late baby and was born with no complications and minimal interventions. No one was pressuring my mother to induce when she hit 38 weeks. I know many other people who have a similar story. Interestingly, since becoming a doula, my mother has shared more of her birth story with me than I had previously ever known. After a lengthy talk on due dates recently, she realized that the doctor's due dates for her were most likely off due to a number of factors that she never had the chance to even bring up with her OB when they took out the gestational chart and circled September 2. I was born September 29 without a sign of post maturity...unless my whopping 9lbs 10 oz were solely the result of a few extra weeks.
Are there similar stories out there? This article came from Canada and as far as I know, their induction rate is somewhat lower than ours (which was reported to be 20.6% in 2003, but some smaller recent surveys are showing rates closer to 40%) and it may be likely that the pressure to induce in Canadian hospitals for post-term dates could be even less significant than in the U.S. I don't know of very many women who are allowed to go even two weeks past their due dates in the U.S., let alone to 43 weeks. Am I wrong?
Lobbying grows for the 10 month-old baby
Just how long does it take to make a human baby? Nine months is the going answer, but a small lobby of women believes that it’s more like 10 months and beyond.
Guardian columnist Viv Groskop gave the debate some gravitas with her Oct. 1 story of giving birth to her third child 20 days after his due date. “My first two babies were 15 days late,” she wrote. “But a day shy of week 43? That is virtually record-breaking – and, some would say, slightly mad.”
Generally, a baby is considered full-term when it reaches a gestational age of 37 weeks. A “post-term” baby is one that been gestating up to or beyond 42 weeks...
Read more
I've heard a lot of women tell me that their due date is not what they think it should be, knowing for sure the date they conceived, but they still go along with the doctor's estimates. When they reach 38 weeks, they start being pressured into having their membranes swept or being scheduled for inductions. I have to think that this standard adjustment is part of why I see so many women who are not at all in labor walking to their hospital rooms while I'm attending other births. Are they all considered "late"? And are the ones who are told that they're "overdue", are they at 38 weeks? 42? 40 and 3 days?
I was a three week late baby and was born with no complications and minimal interventions. No one was pressuring my mother to induce when she hit 38 weeks. I know many other people who have a similar story. Interestingly, since becoming a doula, my mother has shared more of her birth story with me than I had previously ever known. After a lengthy talk on due dates recently, she realized that the doctor's due dates for her were most likely off due to a number of factors that she never had the chance to even bring up with her OB when they took out the gestational chart and circled September 2. I was born September 29 without a sign of post maturity...unless my whopping 9lbs 10 oz were solely the result of a few extra weeks.
Are there similar stories out there? This article came from Canada and as far as I know, their induction rate is somewhat lower than ours (which was reported to be 20.6% in 2003, but some smaller recent surveys are showing rates closer to 40%) and it may be likely that the pressure to induce in Canadian hospitals for post-term dates could be even less significant than in the U.S. I don't know of very many women who are allowed to go even two weeks past their due dates in the U.S., let alone to 43 weeks. Am I wrong?
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
National Health Services Releases Video on Birthing Options
A new birth center in a local hospital prompts a video sponsored by the NHS (UK) to release a video on the various options afforded women in that area. Could you imagine a video like this being released in the US? Where homebirth is seen as a safe and viable option, where one-to-one nurse care is standard, where laboring in a birth tub is the norm, and where midwifery care is given to all low-risk women? Let's hope so!
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